Categories: Gear Wednesday | Posted by: Jenavive
So you love DIY and you are thinking about putting together your first music video, but you don’t really know where to start. One of the first places you should start looking at investing your money is a video camera.
It is hard to find a good balance between quality, value, and ease of use when it comes to video cameras in the <$500 price range. The Flip Ultra HD might seem tempting, but realistically you will get better video, with more ease of use from your smartphone. Similarly, if you are looking to capture better audio quality in the same price range, you could check out the Zoom Q3HD. It features a pair of microphones in an XY arrangement for capturing stereo sound. I’ve also heard good things about GoPro, but I have not tested them myself.
If you are serious about capturing premium HD video on a budget, it is hard to beat DSLR cameras for video. The sensor quality is much higher than what you will get from any handheld video camera of equivalent price.
DSLRs also feature the ability to use interchangeable lenses. If you have watched any indie-filmmaker style videos on youtube or vimeo, you might have noticed the trend to have the subject in focus, while the background has a nice Gaussian blur. This is achieved by shooting with a wide aperture allowing for a narrow depth of field.
Notice how the subject is in focus, and the background is blurred.
The videos shot for Jenavive’s youtube channel were all filmed with a Canon T2I (550D) with a 50mm 1.8 lens. There is a steep learning curve to filming with a DSLR camera, but the payoff is worth it. You will get clean, crisp video, vibrant colors, all for slightly more of a cost than a Flip or Zoom Q3HD.
If you are interested in learning more about filming with a DSLR, there are a couple great blogs that can be used as learning tools.
I highly recommend checking out http://www.learningdslrvideo.com/. Dave has a great website, lots of tutorials, and a fantastic youtube channel. I give him full credit for training me on how to use my DSLR proficiently.
If you aren’t sold on a DSLR yet, as the initial price may be a bit off-putting, keep an eye out for sales. Canon releases new models every few years, and you can often by the last years model for a few hundred dollars less than it’s original sale price.
Until next Wednesday,
Brett
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