Feedback on my company equipment budget

[HelsinkiZim]

I am going to do something unprecedented.

I am going to include you all on my 'shopping list' for a new company I am setting up.

I have spent many months (and months) narrowing down what I am going to buy for my new company and basically here it is.

I cam to the conclusion that I will invest next to nothing in the company camera. I will rent per project.

Some decisions sound silly to some, but tell me why. I am starting from scratch. I am filming corporate promos, have already done some work in this city but will be expanding.

My priority is movement of the camera, and then image quality.

XLR inputs and ND filters do not justify spending 2 grand more - but they are covered.

It is Europe orientated. Please acknowledge my vulnerability in posting such an acute detailed analysis of my thoughts and don't simply dismiss my thoughts altogether as I would like to know why you think I have over budgeted for one things and not others.

Anyways, have a look... or not...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ggvEMr4NXU0uprcwR2h9J99xBbfRf7l3Yu4tSACriIc/edit?usp=sharing

[DPC]

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing. It's hard to comment coherently if we don't know what you are planning to shoot and whether you will be alone or assisted. For example : I do mainly events and documentary with some interviews. I can't imagine leaving home without my Tokina 11-16 but very rarely use telephoto lenses. I have a Rode VideoMic Pro but have almost never used the audio from it. On the other hand the Rode Link wireless is great. I never use a Flycam because I find I would really need to leave a camera and lens permanently mounted. Having had almost all my kit stolen at the end of last year, I am far more careful about the total value of equipment I take on a shoot, especially if I'm working long days alone.

[HelsinkiZim]

I am always alone, with maybe an unskilled assistant 'intern' - but I pay them for he day.

37 minutes ago, DPC said:

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing. It's hard to comment coherently if we don't know what you are planning to shoot

It's all doc style promos, sit down interviews or green screen work.

[IronFilm]

Clients when paying the big bucks sometimes want to see a "big impressive camera" on set (not one their nephew has), so you might consider getting a Sony PMW-F3 (or even an FS700) as they've been going dirt dirt cheap secondhand.

[HelsinkiZim]

Just now, IronFilm said:

Clients when paying the big bucks sometimes want to see a "big impressive camera" on set (not one their nephew has), so you might consider getting a Sony PMW-F3 (or even an FS700) as they've been going dirt dirt cheap secondhand.

Thanks, i was looking at this as a micro/ mark III alternative. Although I honestly feel that I should not buy a camera for a client. EVeryone has been fine with the GH4, but I have had to hire all the options. I want a system where I can produce 'automated' and then eventually figure out the main big camera to invest in. My work is too sporadic to make that kind of jump as yet. If a client is unimpressed by how things 'look' compared to what the recent graduates are using, then I hire.

Can you say honestly that I am going to get better images from a fs700 than a 5DIII raw or cinema camera raw? Or is it just buttons and looks?

I don't think I am in the buttons and look game anymore. I need kit that does the job, people will hire based on my marketing skills.

[IronFilm]

FS700 has 4K and 240fps, which are massive leaps beyond what 5Dmk3 or BMD Cinema Cameras (Micro, Pocket, or Original) can do.  And with a recorder I'd say its image quality is indeed totally in the same ballpark (of course which is better than the other is debatable and subjective... so no point going down that path, but we can all agree they're within the same ballpark as each other). Having built in ND filters, easy access buttons on the body, SDI out, dual record, etc are all genuine benefits that help you during a production that 5Dmk3/GH4/BMMCC all lack. 

And as for the F3, well it is just so dirt cheap, why not? (as cheap ish as a new BMMCC! Less than a 5Dmk3!)

Yes you can always hire in another camera, but when an F3 is the same price as one or two rentals, or the FS700 is only the price of a few rentals too, why not just purchase and pocket the rental fees yourself?

[jax_rox]

On 7/19/2016 at 1:59 PM, IronFilm said:

And as for the F3, well it is just so dirt cheap, why not? (as cheap ish as a new BMMCC! Less than a 5Dmk3!)

Without veering too far off-topic, the F3 is incredible given you could buy an F3, recorder and a few lenses and get out of it for less than the cost of a 5DIII body.

I shot another commercial on my F3 this week and was once again super impressed by what I get out of it + my Shogun Flame.

I have no experience shooting raw on the 5DIII but the image out of my F3 is miles ahead of what I get out of my A7s or what I've gotten in the past out of any Canon DSLR.

[IronFilm]

On 7/21/2016 at 7:27 PM, jax_rox said:

Without veering too far off-topic, the F3 is incredible given you could buy an F3, recorder and a few lenses and get out of it for less than the cost of a 5DIII body.

I shot another commercial on my F3 this week and was once again super impressed by what I get out of it + my Shogun Flame.

I have no experience shooting raw on the 5DIII but the image out of my F3 is miles ahead of what I get out of my A7s or what I've gotten in the past out of any Canon DSLR.

Ummm... a secondhand F3 plus a BMD VA goes for about the same as a secondhand 5Dmk3 body. So no room for lenses!
Though for what I paid for an F3 last year.... yup, certainly a few hundred left over for lenses! ;-) Is awesome how cheap I got mine! :D 

[jax_rox]

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Ummm... a secondhand F3 plus a BMD VA goes for about the same as a secondhand 5Dmk3 body. So no room for lenses!
Though for what I paid for an F3 last year.... yup, certainly a few hundred left over for lenses! ;-) Is awesome how cheap I got mine! :D 

Well, yeah - depends what deals you're picking up...  Certainly, you can pick up secondhand Atomos HD recorders very cheap.