Kit and Kaboodle

my recommendations for indie film making gear

-or-

 where to start

Before we get started on the list of things that I recommend for an indie film maker or photographer, I want to say a couple things. My recommendations are based on personal experience and what works for me. There are a lot of options out there, and my way is ONLY a suggestion. HOWEVER, my work speaks for itself. This is only to establish that I have some idea what I am talking about. While I will mention specific pieces of gear, the point of said gear will be in bold italics.

Canon t2i.

1) Camera. I, personally, recommend the Canon D series of cameras. My baby is a Canon t2i. My reasons for choosing this camera are manifold. IF YOU ARE A FILM MAKER: Especially a film maker with limited funds... I will say this is the camera for you. With the magic lantern firmware add-on, the functionality is AMAZING. With a little knowledge of composition, and lighting, this camera and its sisters the t3i, 7d, and 5d mk II, can and do compete with the heavy camera hitters such as the Red Series of cameras. Now, I am NOT saying that it competes at the 4k resolution, but since most of the current theatrical displays are at 1080p, you're not at a dis-advantage. The imaging hardware produces smooth running files at 1080p and 720p and allows you to shoot at 24 frames a second - one step closer towards the coveted film look. The fact that the camera has interchangeable lenses with a wide selection of capabilities, and decent low-light capabilities make this camera a natural choice for the indie film maker. Don't get the kit lens. Save yourself a headache and get an after market lens. More about those in a moment.  As a photographer and film maker, this camera makes me extremely happy.

If you don't have the scratch (dosh or cash) for a camera of this magnitude... I give you the following advice - buy a camera that gives you the manual controls. My t2i can shoot full auto, and that has come in handy at events when things are going too fast to keep up with them, but the best photos are manual.

www.pcworld.com listed the top ten point and shoot cameras with manual controls here. I won't go into the pros and cons of each, but if you want to capture amazing photographs, you need to spend around $300 or more. I know it's expensive, but not nearly as bad as it can be.

2) lenses: I am going to assume that you went with a Canon D series or a nice Pentax or Nikon in the same class of cameras. If you went with a point and shoot - please move on to the next entry. Lenses are important. I will repeat it because it bears repeating... LENSES ARE IMPORTANT. This glass is how you will view the world when using your camera. I prefer to use prime lenses. (A prime lens does not zoom) It has a fixed focal depth. So, to zoom in, you have to move your camera. However much of a pain in the ass it can be... the optics in the prime lenses are MUCH better and will produce a superior result. If you HAVE to have a zoom lens, DO NOT GET THE CANON 18-55mm... The color return (what colors the camera perceives) are not true and the optics are not very clear. You save about $150 on the camera by not buying it with this lens and a decent one (like this) costs $199... and you will get a much better picture out of this lens for an extra $49. The two prime lenses we use are the Canon 35mm f2.0 (about $400) and the Canon 50mm f 1.8 (about $100). I know... this stuff is expensive, but really, you won't regret it. If you are planning on doing any event photography I recommend either the Canon 500mm (about $140)(there is a rig that comes with a shotgun mount, which is sweet) or the Canon 75-300mm. (about $250) These lenses well get you RIGHT UP IN THE ACTION. I cannot stress this enough... IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT, GO WITH THE L SERIES GLASS... BETTER GLASS MEANS BETTER RESULTS.

3) media. Today's cameras need memory cards. Make sure you get quality media for them. If you are a film maker you want to get a speed class ten card. The D series of camera requires that you have a write speed of at least 20mb/ps. I am testing this card - amazon basics 16gig sc10 card. It runs about $20 and seems to be fast enough to keep up. I will post more on card performance later. The sandisk extreme is only a few dollars more (about $25) and I can verify that the card is more than fast enough. If you invest in an sc10 card, you won't have any problems with your photos at all. 


4) tripod. There are two different options here. Photography - you want to get a photography tripod. The motion on a photo tripod head is not as smooth as a video head, but has a photo foot (the part the camera sits on) that will flip side ways, allowing you to take photos that are portrait oriented rather than landscape. This combination and flexibility is important. I use this tripod on my photo expeditions (about $20) and have no problems. If you make films, then you need a heavier duty tripod with a fluid pan head. My partner uses this tripod and head for his rig. Mine is a bit more expensive, but I bought mine several years ago before the prices started coming down. A fluid pan tripod head has a set of gears with a viscous fluid in the casing that makes the movement much smoother. This is necessary for pans and tilts. You CAN use a photo tripod, but your pans and tilts will not look professional. 


5) Filters. Honestly, filters are where it's at. I bought a matte box and rail system for my camera, but rarely use it. It has it's uses, but there are much cheaper options for the DSLR shooter. There are a wide variety of filters that we use in production and in photography. I am not going to link specific pieces here, because the specific packages you want depend on the lenses you have. Lenses have, on the front of them, filter rings. A filter ring is a set of threads at the front of the lens. This allows you to attach filters to the front of the lens. Filters can do amazing things. The following filters are what I suggest for any photographer and film maker and can, with a little searching, be found on amazon for about $10-$20 per set.

• ND filters. This is a MUST HAVE. ND stands for Neutral Density. If you like a shallow depth of field (where one part is blurry and another in focus), then you want ND filters. To achieve a shallow depth of field, you have to have your aperture open wide. (more on this in the "Now that I have all this shit, what do I do with it -or- I just spent my college fund on camera gear, how do I keep my parents from killing me?" post) This lets a lot of light into the camera, making it hard to get a decent exposure without blowing out the image (blowing out the image is TOO MUCH LIGHT, Makes it all bright and stuff). Honestly, with stills, the camera will let you make the exposure faster. This lets less light hit the sensor, so you really DON'T need this. But for an indie film maker ND FILTERS ARE A MUST. They let you expose your sensor to less light with your aperture wide open WITHOUT IMPACTING THE COLOR. To find these filters on amazon.com find the filter ring size on the front of the lens. Take a look at figure 1. See that Zero with 67mm after it? That is the filter ting size. Look for 67mm NDfilters. Keep hunting around till you find a set with an ND2, ND4 and ND8 in them. I found my set for the Sigma lens for about $15.

• Polarizers. I could go into a great deal of explanation about how light and reflection of light works, but that would bore everyone and really defeat the purpose of this blog... So... I will give a brief practical explanation. Polarizers filter your light. They enhance the colors you are looking at, make the sky pop, and reduce unwanted reflections. There are two kinds. (more really, but I don't think that the others will really matter). Circular and Linear. Circular will just cut the light and give you one result. Linear polarizers are set up to only block light aligned a specific way. By adjusting the orientation of the filter, it lets you get different results. I recommend the linear. I found the linear for my Canon 35mm and Canon 50mm lenses for about $10 on amazon.com

Figure 1.

6) Batteries. The sales people at Blue-Shirt Big Box Retailer will tell you that you should invest in the $50-$80 Canon brand batteries and that the after market batteries suck. THIS IS NOT TRUE. I purchased three packs of these batteries (that's 6 batteries for $39). They work fine. Since I am on set a lot, I got tired of changing out the batteries every couple of hours, so I built my own battery system which gets about 15 hours of continuous use on set for about $100. That set has 3 of those batteries and each one charges in about 20 minutes.