Camera and Lens for Filming Videos in Dim Lit Situations

[jameszhan]

Hello!

I'm a totally newbie on camera gear so please bear with me!

I'm looking to buy a camera and a lens to film guitar videos for YouTube (here's an example) and film daily footage for my band (gigs, behind the stage, in the studio, rehearsal etc); I want the videos to be 1080p 60 FPS.

Here's the most crucial thing: there won't be professional lighting. The lighting will be dim. But the last thing I want is grainy videos.

Therefore, I need a camera and a lens that is able to film non-grainy videos in dim lit situations. I don't need zoom--all I care about is the ability to film non-grainy 1080p 60FPS videos in dim lit situations. It also helps to have a very big depth of field because I will mostly likely film in small places.

My budget is $1100 USD.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[chuasam]

if you have a bigger budget: Sony A7S II with 24-70 f/2.8 GM
given your budget I would recommend the Sony A6300 with 16-50

 

[jameszhan]

if you have a bigger budget: Sony A7S II with 24-70 f/2.8 GM
given your budget I would recommend the Sony A6300 with 16-50

Thanks man! What made you recommend mirrorless over DSLR?

 

[chuasam]

if you have a bigger budget: Sony A7S II with 24-70 f/2.8 GM
given your budget I would recommend the Sony A6300 with 16-50

Thanks man! What made you recommend mirrorless over DSLR?

In terms of video, Sony reigns supreme.

 

[KmH]

You're really lucky it's the digital camera age, because the photos digital cameras make can't have grain.
What do have is image noise.
Unfortunately, the lower the light levels the worse the signal-to-noise ratio and the greater the chance video shot in low light will have image noise.
Digital Camera Image Noise: Concept and Types
Image noise - Wikipedia

 

[jameszhan]

You're really lucky it's the digital camera age, because the photos digital cameras make can't have grain.
What do have is image noise.
Unfortunately, the lower the light levels the worse the signal-to-noise ratio and the greater the chance video shot in low light will have image noise.
Digital Camera Image Noise: Concept and Types
Image noise - Wikipedia

But what about video? Compare this and this; they are both filmed with DSLR cameras but the first one is disgustingly grainy. I just really don't want that. And my filming situations will mostly be bedrooms with normal lighting, really dim lit band rehearsal rooms and venue backstages, and places like that.

 

[JonA_CT]

The first one has fill light in front of the musicians. The second one doesn't (and compounds the exposure difficulties by being back lit, in fact).

What you're looking for will be pretty difficult without some lighting help, honestly. They sell lots of cheap shoe options for constant lighting that might help.

Personally...if you are just looking for video, I'd probably go with that Sony too. It's lighter and smaller. You'll probably also want to invest in a nice tripod and maybe a gimbal set-up too if you want to move it around without a lot of camera shake.

 

[greybeard]

If you are looking for a camera that is balanced good for both stills and video, the Sony A6300/A6500 is tough to beat. If you are only wanting it for video then I'd look at one of the Sony 4K cameras like Amazon.com : Sony 4K HD Video Recording FDRAX33 Handycam Camcorder : Camera & Photo It would be a little less money and would most likely produce better videos.

 

[KmH]

But what about video?

Applies to video too. Video is a series of still images shot and shown at a rate of 24/25 frames per second, or faster.

It's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to make high quality video without adding light to the scene.
Light direction and quality are paramount considerations for making both stills and video.
If the light direction is poor and the light quality is poor, expect to have a video that looks poor.

Technology has progressed quite a bit, but the quality of what gets produced is still mostly about the skill and knowledge of the videographer/photographer, not the camera used.

And unlike lighting still photographs with a short, and intense, burst of light (flash), lighting videos has to be done using lights that are on constantly because flash units can't re-cycle anywhere near as fast as the frame rate video is shot at. The other problem with constant lighting is that is has to be quite powerful to deliver enough light to be useful.

 

[Derrel]

Without decent lighting, no matter what camera you buy, you'll have substandard, non-engaging videos.Now, if you were to set up some GOOD lighting, you could shoot the videos on an iPhone or a Galaxy and make videos people would want to watch. You are I am afraid, focused on the wrong end of things...awful lighting will make for awful videos. Dimly-lit, catch-as-catch-can video footage is barely tolerable when compared against well-done video. Sorry if my comments sound harsh, but as KmH writes, light direction and light quality are paramount considerations: in video, lighting is simply one of THE most-obvious things that differentiates a bad video from a good video.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

You don't need pro lighting to get good lighting results, you just need lots of light...

Most if not all of the modern DSLR's will shoot good video and a prime lens (35mm or 50mm F/1.8) would be more than enough. To work with what you have you can go for say a Nikon D3300 (which will shoot 1080 and has a mic input, or any of the stuff mentioned above.

The key is to get production quality lighting for cheap which can be done. In my experience you can really great, bright, useable video light with a $20 1000W halogen light array from your local hardware store. Video lights are effectively the same things with dimming control in a fancy housing and cost far far more. I would earmark $100 of your budget to buy some halogen lights, and if you want to add some mood, buy a sheet of gel from rosco and cut it to fit. My only advice is to remove the metal protective grates from the halogen lights as their shadow can often be seen in video. A diffuser gel wont hurt either.



Regards
Dave