I want to buy a 4k camera for video

[Advanced Photo]

I have one of these:
Sony PXW-FS7 4K XDCAM
and am very happy with the results I get with it.
There is also
Panasonic AG-DVX200
That has fewer features, but is still a capable camera and is less expensive.

Must be really nice, but I prefer to spend the extra 5k on the aquarium itself hahah. Otherwise I won't have anything amazing to film.

lol good point.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Yeah I was planning on using the sony A6300 but the A6500 just came out so I have to check what is new and see which of the two I prefer.

IIIIf you consider buying the a6500, you might even be able to go without tripod - didn´t know that you´d consider spending so much money on the camera only. It hast the same internal stabilizer than the A7II series, and these are nothing but fantastic. I´ve just recently shot some videos handheld over the head with a 55mm lens, and you wouldn´t believe how smooth that is. It sounds weird, but I just yesterday wanted to suggest getting the A7II and skipping tripod and maybe even slider. Then I deleted the text again, thinking that is too much money for your pockets for camera only. And now the a6500 is out. Yay!

Yeah I've watched a few videos and the internal stabilization is supposed to be great, but can it really replace the fluid head? Or can it make an average tripod good enough?

If I did jib like shots it would be to film equipment that Im going to add to the tank or to film a package of food or something. No unfortunately I don't live near New York, in fact I'm in a different continent haha. I live in Spain but Im going to move next year.

You know, there´s always something more you can do, but there´s always a point where you have to start. I totally understand your situation, and I am just like you. My goal is to make everything perfect. I guess it sometimes is better to just start out than to think what else you could use to make the 95% reach the 100%. The last 5% are the most costly and time consuming ones .
So we are just a few 1.000km apart - I´m in Austria, I already wondered about your timely answers .

Regarding the internal stabilization - it is outstanding. It can replace a fluid head for quite a lot of shots, but it can not make an average tripod good enough - sounds weird, but it can eliminate or heavily reduce very tiny shakes (like the one of your hands when holding it). What it can not do is eliminate rather big movement like those of bad tripod heads. So handheld probably yes, if you take care how to hold the camera - bad tripod: no.

Im probably going to get the A6500 and a macro lens to start with, and I'll see how the and held video looks, then I'l decide wether or not to buy a tripod with a good fluid head or a cheaper one just to use with the slider. What other gear would you recommend? Oh I'm also going to get a microphone to narrate the video when it's done and I'l use final cut pro x to edit my video.

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

How about a gopro? Then you could even put it into the water.

 

[bernyneedshelp]

IIIIf you consider buying the a6500, you might even be able to go without tripod - didn´t know that you´d consider spending so much money on the camera only. It hast the same internal stabilizer than the A7II series, and these are nothing but fantastic. I´ve just recently shot some videos handheld over the head with a 55mm lens, and you wouldn´t believe how smooth that is. It sounds weird, but I just yesterday wanted to suggest getting the A7II and skipping tripod and maybe even slider. Then I deleted the text again, thinking that is too much money for your pockets for camera only. And now the a6500 is out. Yay!

Yeah I've watched a few videos and the internal stabilization is supposed to be great, but can it really replace the fluid head? Or can it make an average tripod good enough?

If I did jib like shots it would be to film equipment that Im going to add to the tank or to film a package of food or something. No unfortunately I don't live near New York, in fact I'm in a different continent haha. I live in Spain but Im going to move next year.

You know, there´s always something more you can do, but there´s always a point where you have to start. I totally understand your situation, and I am just like you. My goal is to make everything perfect. I guess it sometimes is better to just start out than to think what else you could use to make the 95% reach the 100%. The last 5% are the most costly and time consuming ones .
So we are just a few 1.000km apart - I´m in Austria, I already wondered about your timely answers .

Regarding the internal stabilization - it is outstanding. It can replace a fluid head for quite a lot of shots, but it can not make an average tripod good enough - sounds weird, but it can eliminate or heavily reduce very tiny shakes (like the one of your hands when holding it). What it can not do is eliminate rather big movement like those of bad tripod heads. So handheld probably yes, if you take care how to hold the camera - bad tripod: no.

Im probably going to get the A6500 and a macro lens to start with, and I'll see how the and held video looks, then I'l decide wether or not to buy a tripod with a good fluid head or a cheaper one just to use with the slider. What other gear would you recommend? Oh I'm also going to get a microphone to narrate the video when it's done and I'l use final cut pro x to edit my video.

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

 

[bernyneedshelp]

How about a gopro? Then you could even put it into the water.

I want good quality video and I was really disappointed with the quality of video that the gopro shoots, I will be getting the next iphone when it comes out so I will use that for underwater shots.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Yeah I've watched a few videos and the internal stabilization is supposed to be great, but can it really replace the fluid head? Or can it make an average tripod good enough?

If I did jib like shots it would be to film equipment that Im going to add to the tank or to film a package of food or something. No unfortunately I don't live near New York, in fact I'm in a different continent haha. I live in Spain but Im going to move next year.

You know, there´s always something more you can do, but there´s always a point where you have to start. I totally understand your situation, and I am just like you. My goal is to make everything perfect. I guess it sometimes is better to just start out than to think what else you could use to make the 95% reach the 100%. The last 5% are the most costly and time consuming ones .
So we are just a few 1.000km apart - I´m in Austria, I already wondered about your timely answers .

Regarding the internal stabilization - it is outstanding. It can replace a fluid head for quite a lot of shots, but it can not make an average tripod good enough - sounds weird, but it can eliminate or heavily reduce very tiny shakes (like the one of your hands when holding it). What it can not do is eliminate rather big movement like those of bad tripod heads. So handheld probably yes, if you take care how to hold the camera - bad tripod: no.

Im probably going to get the A6500 and a macro lens to start with, and I'll see how the and held video looks, then I'l decide wether or not to buy a tripod with a good fluid head or a cheaper one just to use with the slider. What other gear would you recommend? Oh I'm also going to get a microphone to narrate the video when it's done and I'l use final cut pro x to edit my video.

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

 

[bernyneedshelp]

You know, there´s always something more you can do, but there´s always a point where you have to start. I totally understand your situation, and I am just like you. My goal is to make everything perfect. I guess it sometimes is better to just start out than to think what else you could use to make the 95% reach the 100%. The last 5% are the most costly and time consuming ones .
So we are just a few 1.000km apart - I´m in Austria, I already wondered about your timely answers .

Regarding the internal stabilization - it is outstanding. It can replace a fluid head for quite a lot of shots, but it can not make an average tripod good enough - sounds weird, but it can eliminate or heavily reduce very tiny shakes (like the one of your hands when holding it). What it can not do is eliminate rather big movement like those of bad tripod heads. So handheld probably yes, if you take care how to hold the camera - bad tripod: no.

Im probably going to get the A6500 and a macro lens to start with, and I'll see how the and held video looks, then I'l decide wether or not to buy a tripod with a good fluid head or a cheaper one just to use with the slider. What other gear would you recommend? Oh I'm also going to get a microphone to narrate the video when it's done and I'l use final cut pro x to edit my video.

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

I'm going to try to make the videos into a series explaining how to set up your own reef tank and what equipment to choose for your specific situation, I'm planning on starting with a 40gallon aquarium because it's what most people start with and after a year I'l get the 120gallon and show the process of upgrading to a bigger tank and I'l turn the 40gallon into a quarantine/breeding tank. I'l also show how to breed and feed many different live foods. The whole focus is on making the tanks as natural and simple as possible. I'm not going to start it this year because I'm going to move so I want to wait until im settled in, in fact I might move to Australia, if I do I'l try to go diving with the camera and film to give people inspiration for aquascaping a more natural looking aquarium. I will be getting the camera soon and I'l probably upload a few videos of my clownfish, my reptiles and my abyssinian cat, when I do I'll send you the link.

 

[bernyneedshelp]

You know, there´s always something more you can do, but there´s always a point where you have to start. I totally understand your situation, and I am just like you. My goal is to make everything perfect. I guess it sometimes is better to just start out than to think what else you could use to make the 95% reach the 100%. The last 5% are the most costly and time consuming ones .
So we are just a few 1.000km apart - I´m in Austria, I already wondered about your timely answers .

Regarding the internal stabilization - it is outstanding. It can replace a fluid head for quite a lot of shots, but it can not make an average tripod good enough - sounds weird, but it can eliminate or heavily reduce very tiny shakes (like the one of your hands when holding it). What it can not do is eliminate rather big movement like those of bad tripod heads. So handheld probably yes, if you take care how to hold the camera - bad tripod: no.

Im probably going to get the A6500 and a macro lens to start with, and I'll see how the and held video looks, then I'l decide wether or not to buy a tripod with a good fluid head or a cheaper one just to use with the slider. What other gear would you recommend? Oh I'm also going to get a microphone to narrate the video when it's done and I'l use final cut pro x to edit my video.

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

I do own reptiles and I use UVB bulbs for them to bask on but apart from that I need lights to light the terrarium so I could use those lights to illuminate the equipment when I film it.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Im probably going to get the A6500 and a macro lens to start with, and I'll see how the and held video looks, then I'l decide wether or not to buy a tripod with a good fluid head or a cheaper one just to use with the slider. What other gear would you recommend? Oh I'm also going to get a microphone to narrate the video when it's done and I'l use final cut pro x to edit my video.

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

I do own reptiles and I use UVB bulbs for them to bask on but apart from that I need lights to light the terrarium so I could use those lights to illuminate the equipment when I film it.

If your lights are not too purple (I think I've seen purple ones for reptiles) and bright enough, that should work. That sounds like a cool plan, looking forward to the results .

 

[bernyneedshelp]

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

I do own reptiles and I use UVB bulbs for them to bask on but apart from that I need lights to light the terrarium so I could use those lights to illuminate the equipment when I film it.

If your lights are not too purple (I think I've seen purple ones for reptiles) and bright enough, that should work. That sounds like a cool plan, looking forward to the results .

Won't be too purple haha, I really care about making setups look as natural as posible and I wouln't have purple light haha.

 

[bernyneedshelp]

Do you have an idea how the room in which you are going to film that will be? What background, size of the room, what else beside the tank will be in there, etc? You said you were going to film yourself narrating, right?

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

I do own reptiles and I use UVB bulbs for them to bask on but apart from that I need lights to light the terrarium so I could use those lights to illuminate the equipment when I film it.

If your lights are not too purple (I think I've seen purple ones for reptiles) and bright enough, that should work. That sounds like a cool plan, looking forward to the results .

And what about lenses, should I get a macro and the lens that comes with the camera or should I just buy the body and the macro and another lens? Also, how do I choose how many mm long it is?

 

[Advanced Photo]

I'd use a telephoto before a macro for aquarium animals. Macros are great when you can get in close, but with glass and several inches (or even feet) between the lens and the subject a tele will work better.

This is more about photographs, but it can be applied to video as well.

 

[AlanKlein]

What settings to eliminate the soap opera look?

 

[photo1x1.com]

Im not sure if I'l film myself,but I will add narration with audio for sure. The room is long and I the tank will be in the same direction as the room, the opposite side of the aquarium is all window but I can close the shades and make it 100% dark except for the aquarium itself. Apart from the aquarium Il have a desk and a bed, and in the future a terrarium with monitors in it (monitor as in the reptile not an actual monitor).

So if you don't film yourself, you may not need lights at the beginning. And you don't need to think about a teleprompter either. You could think about a black backgrund, or you can keep the wall as is - that depends on your preferences.
What kind of lights are you going to get and will the tank be open, or closed?
How are you going to present the equipment you've been talking about?

I don't know how big the tank is, but if it's possible to put in on wheels somehow, that might give you nice options later on. The desk might help you with the slider btw, in case you decide to get one.

Plus: consider some sort of timelapse. Therfore you'd need a place where the camera can be placed equally every single day, better 2-3 times a day. The difficult thing is: it will not have the same framing as soon as you touch the camera and I'm not sure if autoalign will work in post production when the content of the tank changes. But you could try it.

A very important thing is a storybook and a structure. Have your text and the structure of your videos ready way before you start the work on your tank.

The background of the tank is most likely going to be black, it will be open top and Im going to use LEDs and T5s for lighting, for the equipment I'm probably going to put it on the floor or a desk and film it with the slider or with a static tripod to show specific parts. I'm not sure abut the size of the tank but probably 120gallons or larger which will weigh about 500kg or more with the stand so adding wheels won't be possible haha.

Cooooooool 120 gallons . I'll definitely subscribe to your channel in case you create one!
Then I'd say you need some lighting for the non-tank shots. Well, and that I'd say depends on how much you really plan to cover.
You can get really good quality video with cheap 500w lights from the hardware store, if you are a little creative and don't want to spend too much money. It's all a question of light formers. But these too can be DIY, using gels and creating a frame of wood.
Buying expensive lighting equipment only pays off if you use it regularely, then you pay for convenience and ease of use. But light usually is light, that can be formed and color corrected to your needs (beside cheap LEDs and fluorescents). If you have the tank and the equipment in the frame at the same time, you need to color balance the light so that they both have the same color temperature. That's similar to white balance and can be done with gel filters. If not, you just white balance in camera for the kind of light you use.

I do own reptiles and I use UVB bulbs for them to bask on but apart from that I need lights to light the terrarium so I could use those lights to illuminate the equipment when I film it.

If your lights are not too purple (I think I've seen purple ones for reptiles) and bright enough, that should work. That sounds like a cool plan, looking forward to the results .

And what about lenses, should I get a macro and the lens that comes with the camera or should I just buy the body and the macro and another lens? Also, how do I choose how many mm long it is?

I have to slightly disagree with advanced photo and with the article. Using these techniques from the article in a public aquarium should work pretty well. While your 120 gallon tank is huge, public aquariums are massive sometimes, so they give you other options. Plus: at home you can control light and reflections and there is nothing wrong wearing a ninja outfit .
Getting so close to the tank that you use a lens hood for removing reflections won't work too well for video, because you can't track the fish. Even slight rotation to left or right will result in aweful fringing. Same with wideangle lenses. Getting close to the tank will blur the corners of your frame, while shooting from a distance keeps those angles smaller and with it refraction.
Lens choice is difficult and depends on how far away you can get from your tank - if you can't, a tele won't work because they typically have a minimum focus distance of 1m+. And if you can't get far away from your tank, you dont need a lens that pulls it closer.
The longer the lens, the better your tripod fluid head has to be, and the less likely handheld will work for tracking a fish.
So a macro is key to some of the shots from the video you posted. Sony just introduced a new 50mm macro. The downside usually is, that they don't focus quick. I don't know about the newer ones though.
In my opinion 50mm is the perfect focal length for full frame sensors. Unfortunately there is no wider macro option for crop sensots to give you the same field of view. But that too should work pretty well. So I'd start out with that in mind.
BTW: try it. With amazon you can usually do that. If you don't like it you can send it back.

 

[photo1x1.com]

What settings to eliminate the soap opera look?

Alan, are you referring to the fringing/refraction-blur?
I'm afraid no internal camera setting can reduce that because what you do when stopping down to increase sharpness in the corners of your images only affects your camera/lens combination. The glass outside your lens is not affected. All you can do is shoot as straight at the front glass as you possibly can.
I know from shrimp photographers, that they use tiny tanks with thin, white glass to reduce fringing as much as they can. But with a bigger tank you have to think safety first .