(upbeat electronic music)
- I decided to take the long way to the office
for two reasons:
A, because it's actually pretty nice outside;
it's sunny, it's not too cold; it's pretty good.
And then B, I got this guy.
It's called the Insta360-1X,
it's a 360 camera, and I just wanted to test it out.
So, probably the intro clip for this video
was shot on this guy.
So, Christmas is approaching, and with that come all
the fun days like Black Friday, all those sales,
and all that stuff.
For me, that kind of just automatically
puts my mind focusing on gear.
And the question that I ask myself all the time
is which piece of gear do I actually need?
And which piece of gear do I need next?
So, kind of like, the priority of what gear to get.
And film making, we all know, is crazy expensive.
It's really expensive, so you don't wanna but those things
that you don't end up using, really.
You and I both know, we've done this before.
You buy something, you think you really need it,
and then it just sits on your shelf
and you haven't used it for a month.
If I had to recommend, let's just say,
hypothetically, what gear you should be buying,
I don't really like telling you guys what to buy
because it's your money and I really feel like
you need to do the research instead of me
just telling you what you should buy,
but if I had to tell you, in kind of, order of priority,
what kind of film making gear you need to be a film maker,
the list would probably go something
like this, hypothetically:
So first up on the list is obviously a camera.
You need a camera, and you could film with something
like your smartphone, your iPhone, Android, whatever,
but I always recommend to get at least
a dedicated camera that's meant for photography/film making
because it's built for that.
And more specifically, something with interchangeable lenses
I think that's really key.
You know, you could go for a Sony, you could go for a Canon,
there's Panasonic, there's so many different choices,
and none of them are wrong.
I would just say, get something
with an interchangeable lens.
I think the best bang-for-buck cameras right now
are probably the Sony A73.
And probably still the GH5.
If you don't have to film yourself,
if you don't need auto focus, GH5 is a great camera.
And if you can't afford those,
just get something with interchangeable lenses,
like an M50 or something, I don't know.
But right now I'm using the Eos R,
and then I still really like the Canon 1DX2,
and the Sony A73; great cameras.
Number two, you definitely need a lens.
There's a lot to choose from.
I just did two videos on zooms versus primes.
I talked a lot about lenses, you can watch those videos.
I would say go for this guy, the Sigma 18-35 F/1.8.
If you're not using a full-frame camera.
If you are using a full-frame camera,
if you can afford this guy
that I'm using right now, the 16-35.
Or then just go for like, a kit lens,
and like, a Nifty 50 or something like that.
You need to invest in lenses; lenses are a great investment.
A lot of these lenses I've had for a really long time.
They still work perfectly fine and I can still sell them
for about as much as I bought them for.
Next you're gonna need a memory card,
and I would say go for a more legit brand like Lexar
or Scandisk or one of these well-known companies.
Try not to go for knockoffs because there is nothing worse
than a corrupted memory card.
And yeah, just because it's the legit company
doesn't mean that it's never gonna corrupt,
but I would say, you know, don't chins out
on the memory cards; and these are great for protecting 'em.
They're waterproof Pelican little cases.
Even if you drop your camera bag in the water,
your memory cards are still good.
You need a memory card.
Next I would recommend getting some sort
of stabilizer for your camera, whether it's a Gorilla Pod,
probably not this one because this one's really cheap
and crappy, or a mono pod, a tri pod,
something to stabilize your camera.
It doesn't need to be anything fancy.
Make it simple.
Don't go too cheap on it.
Something to cut out all that gross shake, a stabilizer.
But not a gimbal or a Glide Cam yet, that will come later.
You don't need that yet, not yet.
Before you get a gimbal, I think you need two things:
First off you need a microphone.
At least some sort of microphone.
And I usually recommend getting something like this,
the Deity or the Rode VideoMic Pro
that I'm using right now.
But you could also get a Lav mic if you're always
just filming other people sitting down,
corporate videos, that kind of stuff, interviews,
a Lav Mic is great.
And then the second thing before you get a gimbal
is a ND filter, you need a ND filter.
This is one of those things that doesn't seem
like you're really really need one,
and it costs like, $200, I think some are $300.
They're kind of expensive, but it's so crucial
to have an ND filter because then you can film
at wider apertures outside and not have
to crank your shutter speed super high,
which just ruins the look of your video.
So yeah, you need an ND filter, but don't worry,
you don't need to get one for every single lens
that you have, you just use these things:
I've said this before as a pro tip,
you just use these little step-up rings.
So you just buy the biggest ND filter.
This is an 82.
And then you use a whole punch of these step rings
to use it on different lenses.
So if it's a smaller front, you just use
one of these little adapters,
and these only cost like, $20 or something like that.
So instead of buying a whole bunch of $200/$300 filters,
just buy these little adapters, which cost like, 20 bucks.
I'll link 'em down below.
Once you got all that stuff, then I think you're starting
to get ready to look at gimbals, a moving stabilizer.
So, a stabilizer that helps you get moving shots.
Yeah, and I think here there's two clear winners.
One is the GlideCam XR2000, this is the one I would go for.
And I think they might have actually renamed it the XR Pro.
This guy cost me $200, I bought it used
because, just mechanical parts.
As long as there's nothing visibly broken on it, it's great.
So, super cheap, or you go with a gimbal,
and these guys are gonna be a little bit more expensive.
But I would recommend the DJI Rode S now.
This is my favorite little gimbal.
Yeah, if you're ready for a gimbal,
you have all that other stuff,
check out this one or just get a GlideCam.
(gimbal clatters)
If you're like me, you've probably survived
up till this point with just, you know,
putting your camera gear in whatever bag you have.
But you should probably be looking into a camera bag.
My favorite right now is this guy,
the Lowpro Protactic 450 AW.
This one's the mark II, version two.
I had the mark I for a while, but I just got this one.
I'm really liking this one; it's a really nice bag.
Fits a lot of stuff, it's mostly empty right now.
I also like that you can buy these little bags
and then I can kind of, you know,
depending on what type of shoot it is,
I can take a different version of that bag.
I have one for my drone, I have one for filters
and adapters and all that stuff.
So yeah, look into a bag.
And then we're getting into the really fun stuff.
Drones, everybody needs a drone.
If you don't have a drone yet,
and you're up to this point, and you're kind of
camera gear gathering/buying process,
I highly recommend getting the Mavic Air.
DJI makes a lot of great drones,
but I've really enjoyed the Mavic Air.
It's so small, easy to carry around.
And the image is actually decent.
It's not quite as good at flying as some
of the other DJI drones, but it's a great drone
for a great price.
I would recommend getting this one
if you don't have a drone yet.
And then you need some lights.
Now, the reason why I didn't mention lights before,
even though lights are crazy important,
is that lights are fairly easy to rent.
So you don't really need lights;
they're pretty cheap to rent.
But once you're at this point,
I do recommend that you get at least one light.
At least one light, and if you only had enough budget
to buy one light, I'd definitely buy this one.
It's the Aputure 120d mark II.
And then I would get this soft box, the light dome.
With this combination you can do a lot.
I light with this source of light
for so many different types of videos.
This is the light that I would get if I were you,
and you didn't have any lights yet.
And now we're getting to a point
where you kind of have everything.
Yeah, you could buy more lenses our microphones
or filters or whatev, there's a bunch
of different stuff that you could buy.
But then there's this whole category of little things
that you kind of have to buy once you need them.
There is no like, really like, order or priority
for these things; there will come a time when you
just need it and that's kind of
when you're gonna have to buy it.
For example, gaff tape, car mount,
articulating arm, monitor, GoPro,
cage for your camera, C-stand,
or a 360 camera.
A 360 camera's really great,
but it's not one of those things that you're gonna need
right away, it's kind of a specialty item.
Unless you're specifically focusing on 360 video,
you're not gonna need it most of the time.
I've never, ever, ever had a client ask me for 360 video.
Now, that will change, but as of right now,
this is kind of like a bonus item.
It's really fun to use, it's really cool,
it's a great way to get these really cool hyper laps,
bullet time thingies, but it's not a necessity.
So yeah, make sure you're kind of
prioritizing what you actually need
and what you should buy next.
It's not always the most fun thing
that you need to buy next,
and that's why you shouldn't look at kind of,
what's flashy because then you're just gonna go
for the gimbals and the drones, even though you actually
need things like microphones and filters
before you get those things.
So, hypothetically, if I had to help you buy your next piece
of gear, this would kind of be the list
that I would go by.
Hypothetically, hypothetically, do your own research.
Do your own research, I'm telling you.
(upbeat electronic music)
Lunch time with my best pals.
- Hi!
- [Host] Hi.
- It's cold.
- [Host] Remember that time we used to share an office?
- No.
I don't come to the office anymore.
- I haven't seen Peter in like,
it feels like a week and a half, at least.
- I'm a bit of a hermit when the winter comes.
I just like working at home.
I don't know, coffee, sweatpants: Yes please!
- [Host] Yes please.
Peter, have you ever bought something
that you totally regret or you didn't use?
- Oh, all the time. (Host laughing)
Camera bags is a big one for me.
I have bought so many camera bags
that I've used for like, a day.
Brand new, just in the basement.
I just like organization, and then something about it
bugs me and then I buy a different one.
It's a bit of an issue; been an issue my whole life.
- I definitely know that problem.
If you remember my bags video a while ago.
I have a few of those, but I think the biggest mistake buy
that I made was the Movi M-10.
I bought it and I was like, cool, I'll use this
for my DP gigs, and I never use it.
I've made zero dollars from that gimbal.
So, yeah, that was probably my biggest fail of a purchase.
- That's not just like, a small little backpack fail,
that's like a full size before gimbals were available fail.
- To be fair, I bought it when it was a crazy sale.
They started at 15 grand, I bought it for three.
I wasn't feeling-- - That's a lot of money!
- Yeah, it was a lot of money,
but then I sold it, years later,
for I think, like $1500 or something like that.
So, I still made most of my money back, most of it.
I don't know where I'm going, Peter.
- [Peter] This way.
- Oh.
Reverse, reverse.
All that to say, do your research and don't buy gear
that you're not really gonna need.
Hypothetically, follow my list, hypothetically.
Hypothetically.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Not actually that cold,
I was just doing it for like,
just in case I look good on video.
I'm really not that cold at all.
Quite mild out, actually.
- This is what I was talking about, that vlog life.
It's not fully real, but it's the closest thing to real.
- [Peter] It's real enough.
- It's close enough to real.
Give us a break.
We just went by a school
and the kids saw us on our One Wheels,
and I assume they saw my camera.
Right away they yell, "YouTubers!"
Apparently we are the official symbol
of YouTubers now.
Good times.
(upbeat electronic music)