Whats your dream videography kit?

[User]

I'm quite disappointed at how hard I've worked on personal projects - and what it takes to get into position to capture incredible moments of reality - only to then walk away with heavily compressed images on shitty codecs. I guess it's how it goes in the learning process and on limited budgets. Documentary film.

Dream (camera) kit

Camera:  Arri Amira

Lens: Arri Alura 15.5 - 45mm T2.8

Realistic (camera) kit

C300MkII

Lens: Sigma 18-35mm, Canon 70-200mm

- And in both cases a 'buggy whip'... as a subject motivator.

[KC Kelly]

I would rather have a crew with enough knowledge and experience to make things work with the equipment on hand.

[kye]

7 hours ago, Geoff CB said:

I don't like anamorphic  that much at very long or wide focal lengths. So any project I shot anamorphic would be planned out and shooting only that focal length, my favorite focal length and squeeze. I know that is weird

Great stuff.  I'm reminded of this article on shooting with a single focal length sent to me by @mercer 

https://noamkroll.com/many-iconic-directors-have-shot-their-feature-films-with-just-a-single-prime-lens-heres-why/

There are lots of advantages to having limitations and I've incorporated many of them into my setup, kind of unknowingly lol.  I also like the idea of a 40mm 2x lens - if you frame someone up vertically the way you would normally (head, mid, etc) then it keeps it closer to a 40mm lens, but just gives you a wider background, so although it's a 20mm from the horizontal view, that's typically not how you frame up shots of people.

You also 'learn' the lens and can see the framing without looking through it which helps creative vision, you don't need to change lenses so are faster on set, matching in post is much easier, so there are many advantages.  I use a 35mm equivalent lens as my default, potentially cropping to 2.35:1 which would make it a 46mm equivalent lens in vertical FoV, so we're operating in the same territory  

7 hours ago, Oliver Daniel said:

I actually own half of the above. I’m incredibly intrigued at the idea of getting a full cinematography kit in just one rolling, portable case. Inc lights, gimbals, everything. Can it be done? 

Sure!  Just put a handle on the bonnet of @IronFilms truck and if you look confident striding into the airport maybe they'll let you take it as carry-on!

Seriously though, lots of the peripheral stuff is getting smaller and smaller - I've seen a battery-powered smoke machine product that was half the size of a VHS cassette, we've got tiny LED lights now, so things are moving in your favour.  

[KnightsFan]

1 hour ago, KC Kelly said:

I would rather have a crew with enough knowledge and experience to make things work with the equipment on hand.

I'd take inexperienced people too, we'd all learn and become experienced together. I'd be out writing/shooting/editing every day after work if I had a crew.

But more in the spirit of the thread...

I shoot narrative short films and web series. I'd probably take a Z Cam E2 with cards and batteries, maybe a few Sigma Art Lenses like the 18-35, 20mm, 40mm. Honestly I'm pretty happy with the Nikon AI lenses I already use, and will probably continue using them on all future cameras, but a couple faster, wider lenses would be useful. I'd certainly take a Glidecam vest as well.

I think even given the choice, I'd take a small camera over an Alexa with huge cine lenses--though naturally if I was to sell the Alexa/Master Primes and keep the change after buying an E2 I'd do that.

[IronFilm]

1 hour ago, Video Hummus said:

You should make living quarters in there. Start a YouTube channel called cargo truck life.

Title of the first video should be: WHY Cargo TRUCK life DESTROYS Van Life”. You will need to photoshop bikini girl on top of your truck for the clicks maybe have the truck crushing a van with the front tire.

You know it’s gold. 

A very rough breakdown of the space in terms of the ratios (not completely accurate, the sound proofed studio for instance probably would take up much more space than the repairs desk, even if the interior of it would end up being a similar ish size):

A fifth of the space would be for a small bed (wellll.... I am talking about me, it would be a big bed! I'm a tall man).
A fifth of the space would be for a mini recording studio which is fully sound proofed. (for those wild lines on set! Much much better to do it on the spot, than to try to arrange a time in the schedule of a busy busy and important actor)
A fifth of the space for a comprehensive repairs desk / analytics / spares. 
Two fifths of the space for storage of all the gear needed for a feature film, big commercial, or a tv series shoot!

You can see why I'm worried the truck might not have enough space....

 

And yes, I have thought about living in a truck, I follow this blog:
https://frominsidethebox.com/

However the truck I shared an image of is by no means big enough at all to both live in AND have all my sound gear! Nope, couldn't possibly happen. (I barely have space in my apartment.... is a mess, overflowing with gear! And this is much much bigger than truck, and I have much much less gear than I would in my dream scenario!)
 

[MrSMW]

17 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Sometimes the smaller the better if you are a one man band.

Without question. It is the key.

I spent many years prior to being a 'hybrid' photographer/videographer watching vidiots at work with their huge tripods, sliders etc taking sometimes 10+ minutes to set up a single shot.

Wasting 10 minutes in my opinion.

It's all well and good capturing that one 'hero' shot because you saw it on someone else's wedding video, but the reality is you are denying the client so much more potential footage and story.

Unless the client just wants the hero shots which is then fair enough.

11 hours ago, KC Kelly said:

I would rather have a crew with enough knowledge and experience to make things work with the equipment on hand.

Indeed. Too many are always chasing the next bit of kit that will then allow them to realise their creative vision.

Just get on with it with what you have got and stop making excuses.

But then this is a thread about 'dream kit' so carry on ?

[mkabi]

My dream kit..... hmmmm....

An XH3 with the same specs as the Z Cam F6, but it doesn't have to have FF sensor in it.

May be the Orion 40mm & 80mm....

I know.... I know.... if money wasn't an issue and I could get anything from an Arri Cam + Arri Anamorphics.... I would still get the above for personal use.

I guess if money wasn't an issue, I would actually start more of my passion projects and hire a crew and rent equipment.

 

[barefoot_dp]

On 9/20/2019 at 5:21 PM, MrSMW said:

I spent many years prior to being a 'hybrid' photographer/videographer watching vidiots at work with their huge tripods, sliders etc taking sometimes 10+ minutes to set up a single shot.

I've spent many years watching hybrid "vidiots" at work trying to re-balance their tiny gimbals, running back and forth to check if their Zoom/Tascam is still recording, trying to get their tiny toy tripods to stay upright in the wind, explaining to the client why they're shooting video with a stills camera etc, and missing valuable shots in the process.

All of these problems could've been avoided with a bigger, shoulder-mounted cam with XLR & ND's which just lets them shoot without thinking about anything else.

I'm being a bit tongue in cheek, but just because somebody doesn't do things the same way as you, doesn't mean you need to call them an idiot.

[thebrothersthre3]

1 hour ago, barefoot_dp said:

I've spent many years watching hybrid "vidiots" at work trying to re-balance their tiny gimbals, running back and forth to check if their Zoom/Tascam is still recording, trying to get their tiny toy tripods to stay upright in the wind, explaining to the client why they're shooting video with a stills camera etc, and missing valuable shots in the process.

All of these problems could've been avoided with a bigger, shoulder-mounted cam with XLR & ND's which just lets them shoot without thinking about anything else.

I'm being a bit tongue in cheek, but just because somebody doesn't do things the same way as you, doesn't mean you need to call them an idiot.

I think its just very dependent on the type of stuff you shoot. There is definitely a market for SLR videos, where one handed gimbals and such are a necessity.

[barefoot_dp]

Yes I agree, there's definitely different markets - that is why almost all the replies in this thread have been so varied!

[kye]

I think that an aspect of all this is we don't talk about control and shooting ratios.

Ultimately we only get judged on the final edit, so if you have complete control over what you're shooting, you could (in theory) only record a single take of each shot, and basically just edit-in-camera.  You wouldn't want to do this in real-life, but you might only shoot 3:1 or so, especially if you really know what you're doing.  In these situations, it would make sense to take time, set things up right, and nail the shot.  In this sense it's much better to do one good take of the shot you use, instead of seven average takes.

However, in low-control situations we don't know exactly what is going to happen, and we don't know where all the gems will occur, so in these situations it's better to sacrifice quality for quantity.  This is because an average shot of the best moment is more valuable to the client than a great shot of an average moment.

And the other aspect of this is that shooting at 5x the speed doesn't mean each shot is only 20% as good - it's probably 70% as good, so the tradeoff is worthwhile in many cases.

It also comes down to style.  Even in wedding films (for example) there are film-makers who have a very formal style, with shots being very geometric, locked-off or ultra-smooth slider shots, and typically with elegant music and a slower editing pace.  On the other end of the spectrum is film-makers that capture weddings in a very informal sense, often having hand-held shots, free-flowing camera movement, getting close and even included in the events (like in the middle of the dancefloor) and potentially even having people look at or even address the camera.  Combined with a much looser style of edit, this approach can create a very whimsical, fun, and exciting viewing experience.

These differences exist in almost all types of film-making - high control / slower processes and low control / faster processes.  These situations will of course be reflected in equipment choices.  No-one would shoot action-sports with an ARRI and no-one should shoot set-based dramas with an action camera.  They're just representative of different priorities.

I'm going to repeat myself again - we often underestimate how different other people are to ourselves in terms of what they're shooting, the situation they're shooting in, and how they go about it.

[Mako Sports]

1 hour ago, kye said:

These differences exist in almost all types of film-making - high control / slower processes and low control / faster processes.  These situations will of course be reflected in equipment choices.  No-one would shoot action-sports with an ARRI and no-one should shoot set-based dramas with an action camera.  They're just representative of different priorities.

I'm going to repeat myself again - we often underestimate how different other people are to ourselves in terms of what they're shooting, the situation they're shooting in, and how they go about it.

NFL Films camera of choice is actually the ARRI Amira lol

[kye]

23 minutes ago, Mako Sports said:

NFL Films camera of choice is actually the ARRI Amira lol

Ah!!  I was thinking of filming where the camera had to be mobile, like skateboarding videos, skydiving videos, skiing and snowboarding videos, etc...  I didn't think about the situations where the action is taking place right next to large tripods that don't have to move!

???

[IronFilm]

1 hour ago, kye said:

Ah!!  I was thinking of filming where the camera had to be mobile, like skateboarding videos, skydiving videos, skiing and snowboarding videos, etc...  

You'd be surprised by how many of those types of cameras are shot on an ARRI Mini as well, when they've got the budget/resources for it. 

(although certainly RED is a more common choice, especially before the Mini was launched)

[MrSMW]

10 hours ago, barefoot_dp said:

I've spent many years watching hybrid "vidiots" at work trying to re-balance their tiny gimbals, running back and forth to check if their Zoom/Tascam is still recording, trying to get their tiny toy tripods to stay upright in the wind, explaining to the client why they're shooting video with a stills camera etc, and missing valuable shots in the process.

All of these problems could've been avoided with a bigger, shoulder-mounted cam with XLR & ND's which just lets them shoot without thinking about anything else.

I'm being a bit tongue in cheek, but just because somebody doesn't do things the same way as you, doesn't mean you need to call them an idiot.

I was being slightly tongue in cheek and mainly referencing the olde schoole videographers from 15+ years ago that usually took their wives along for no apparent reason other than company.

Usually found wearing a polyester jacket flecked with dandruff and standing within 3 feet of the B&G at all times with his shoulder monstrosity.

Gimbals. They can go do one also ?