(soft upbeat music)
- Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake
of RobertoBlake.com helping you
create something awesome today.
So today I'm gonna talk about the best equipment setup
for new DSLR video shooters.
So if you're somebody who's new to DSLR video,
you're gonna be an Indie film maker,
or you're gonna be a YouTube creator,
or you're gonna start doing video marketing
for your small business, there are a lot of things
that you need to consider and I'm gonna help you
figure out what the best equipment setup for you is
for just getting started.
Now I'm gonna preface this with assuming
that you have a budget that's under a thousand dollars.
If you have more, that's great.
And I'll still have some wonderful recommendations for you
in the description below, but let's really focus on
the bare minimums here and what you should be doing
when you first get started that you can go in low investment
and you can really make your money back
or feel very comfortable with what you have.
The good news is you won't have to break the bank
just to buy the camera.
You can buy a great DSLR video camera
by getting one of the entry level, Nikon or Canon bodies
for under $500.
In fact, if you wanna get the same type of camera
that I'm using for these videos,
which produces this kind of video quality,
then you can get the Nikon D3300 or D3200
for around $300 right now.
Sometimes with a kit lens,
so you're already off to the races
and you haven't even spent 500 bucks yet,
which is tremendous.
Don't underestimate the power of the kit lens
when you're doing DSLR video.
A lot of photographers are more likely
to buy high rend glass and as you evolve
as a video shooter, that's going to be helpful to you,
I'm not gonna lie, especially in low light situations.
But if you're gonna go ahead and use a lighting setup,
like the one that I have here,
then you know you don't necessarily have to go that far.
You can go ahead and use a basic camera body,
a kit lens, and be fine in terms of video quality
because you see what this has produced.
It's full HD video, and it looks pretty crisp and sharp.
The issue will be whether or not
you want to do depth of field,
which is the blurry background and film effect.
Which, if you are going to be doing some marketing
or some film making videos, there might be situations
where you need to do that.
But that's okay.
You can buy either a 35 or 50 millimeter lens
for around $200, $250 brand new.
Obviously if you buy it used or refurbished
it will cost less.
But, for again still around $500 of our budget,
we've got great glass now,
that can shoot in low light situations
and create the artistic style that we're looking for
and we have a decent, easy to use camera body
that can shoot full HD video.
So that's super important.
The next thing you need to think about
is the audio quality.
Audio quality is super important.
The audio in this video is actually pretty good,
because I'm using a Sony lapel microphone
that I've hidden out of frame.
This microphone was only about $25 or $30.
I have links to everything I'm talking about here
in the description below.
But that actually works out really well
as far as an affordable audio solution.
So if this type of audio is what you're looking for,
that's how much it costs.
While I know a lot of people prefer to use
a digital recorder and to use a clapper
and to sync their audio up to their video,
it's just something I'm not a fan of
because I prioritize speed and a lack of complications.
And if that's who you are, then I highly recommend
just plugging a microphone directly into the camera
and getting the sound and the video all in one file.
So, we've covered lenses, we've covered a little bit
of the audio gear that you'll need.
If you're shooting outdoors you might want to get
a boom microphone.
You might wanna get something like the
Rode VideoMic Go or the Rode VideoMic Pro.
This could be $80 to $100, but if you need something
a little cheaper you can use the TakStar microphone
that is in the description.
I've used that before and it's worked out great
for me at conferences.
You could also use the ATR, I think 6500
from Audio-Technica and I've used that in the past
and that's worked out well for me as well.
So again, these are solutions
that are a little bit more affordable.
So maybe you spend about maybe another $100
in audio equipment and you've got your audio setup covered.
So, we've covered audio, we covered the camera body,
we've covered the lenses and we're still within about
maybe $500, $600 of our spending.
We still got $400 to $300 to go.
So that's not bad at all.
What else can you do?
Well, we need lights.
Lights are super important
and the lighting kit that I'm using
to get this video quality didn't break the bank.
It was an SP lighting kit from Square Perfect.
It does about 2,000 kelvin and it's really good.
It has five bulbs, as far as spider lights, on each head.
And I can control them with switches.
And so that was about $130.
I also just started using a ring light from Neewer
that is actually helping, you know just add
a little bit more and take some shadows off my face.
And I think the quality has improved from that.
So I would recommend it, and that only costs about $35, $40.
So for about $150 you can get excellent lighting,
and we still have some of our budget left over
to invest in tripods, shoulder mounts,
things like that that are gonna help keep our footage steady
which is also very important.
Now if you're on a super tight budget with lights,
and you feel like you can get away with it,
I have something you can use.
You can get another piece of equipment from Neewer
and these are their 160 watt LED panels.
These are super small, so if you're travelling
or you're on the go,
or you don't have a lot of room to store things,
this could be great.
You get some stands for about maybe 10 or 15 bucks
from Cowboy Studios or whoever.
And these lights are about $25, $30 a piece.
So for under $40 each, you could get these very portable,
very small footprint lights.
They do chew up batteries though.
So be cognitant of that, but they're another great solution.
So again, under 100 bucks for lighting that way
if you need two of them.
Let's move on to stabilization gear.
If you're shooting indoors,
and you have the same setup all the time,
you don't have to invest a lot on a tripod.
You can go ahead and get a $30 aluminum tripod
and it'll work out just fine for you.
But, if you've been following the recommendations
up until now, we still have another
good $150-$200 in our budget.
So, if we want something a little bit more robust,
you can get a really good, steady, heavy duty tripod
from Fancier Studios, for about $130.
There are some affordable Manfrotto solutions out there
if you prefer that.
I would recommend that you consider possibly even getting
a travel tripod, just depending on your situation.
And you can get those from MeFoto
for about $100.
You could also get a Neewer tripod that is also a monopod,
that I've been looking at as a potential travel solution.
And it's about maybe $75.
So you could save a few bucks there
and you get two pieces of equipment for the price of one,
and it's travel friendly.
So, those are options for you.
If you got a little bit of money left over,
a Joby spider rig could be very convenient
for shooting in very specific situations
where you might wanna wrap your camera around a tree
or clamp it to something.
That could be convenient and you can get that,
the Joby Gorilla Pod for about $35.
Great value, I actually own one
and it is really good in a clutch where you have
very specific things that you're trying to do.
You could also get a Fancierstudios shoulder rig
very affordably.
Links are in description for all of this stuff.
But you can get one of those for around $50
and if you want a run it and gun it
that can be very helpful.
I use a more expensive one
that I did a review here on the channel,
and you know it works out for me for what my needs are.
That might be a little bit much for you.
You just have to do what's right for your situation.
But this is the best equipment setup
that I can recommend for a first time video shooter.
And it costs you a lot less now,
than when I started out.
So we covered lights, we covered your camera body,
your camera lenses, stabilization gear
like tripods and shoulder rigs.
We covered microphones and audio solutions.
So, you should be really good to go here.
The last thing I'm gonna talk about, very briefly,
is video editing software.
And you gotta use what you're comfortable with
and what you can learn.
I use Adobe Premiere Pro.
That might not be the right answer for you.
You might wanna use Final Cut or even iMovie.
I'm gonna recommend
a couple of budget solutions for you though.
I don't really prefer to use free software.
I just feel like if you're gonna spend money on equipment,
you might as well spend money on the editing
to just get the most out of it.
And so I would recommend Corel video editor
if you're on Windows.
And if you're on a Mac or a PC,
you can get Photoshop Premiere Elements.
Both of these are around $75 bucks.
They're tremendous solutions that will help you
get professional grade results without being
overwhelmed by a complicated application.
So, that is the best video equipment setup
for beginner DSLR video shooters that I recommend.
And again, links to everything are in the description below.
Those help me out and they also help you out.
Well I hope that answered
the majority of the questions you have, but if it didn't,
feel free to leave me some in the comments section.
I will try and answer as many of them as I can.
Anyway, like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe, in fact,
share it with a friend that you think it might help.
As always, you guys thanks so much for watching,
and don't forget, create something awesome today.