Lens Doubt! Wich on should I get ?

[Salivan]

Hello everybody..
This is my first time posting on this forum, sorry if I'm doing something wrong...

So, lemme explain my situation... I'm a musician and I want to upload music videos to youtube (just like many do).... So, I really know nothing about videos (ISO, FPS, Megapixels, bokeh, I don't know anything about that, and I think it's not gonna be necessary to understand about that now... Maybe I'll need to learn about that to understand how the camera works, and to know how to improve the quality, but it is not the point now) but I really wanna make some nice looking videos..
The point is: I'm gonna buy the canon T3i (comes with 18-50mm f/3.5 - f/5.6 lens) and gonna only shoot videos inside my studio with some good lights... I wanna know if the lens that comes with the T3i is good enough to record nice looking videos ( FullHD ) with lots of details or if I should buy another lens, I read a lot of the sigma f/1.4 50mm. Is it worth the money buying the sigma, or will the canon lens be just fine for my needs ?

What I meant with "nice looking videos with lots of details" is something like this: ... With the back (like, the place out of focus) looking nice, with that warm look, and so on... Hope you get the point

Sorry for the bad english and for using such generic (noob) terms, it is not my main language and as I said, I know almost nothing about videos... Hope I was clear enough tough...

Hope the question makes sense and waiting for someone to answer it =D
Thanks a lot already everyone!
Cya

 

[MTVision]

Why not a video camera?

 

[Salivan]

Well two main reasons... Maybe I'm gonna use the camera to take photos of trips and something like that (but I really don't care for outdoors pictures quality right now, I'm focusing on my "in-studio" videos) and the second reason is because it is a lot more expensive, isnt it ? If it is not, would have any suggestions ?

But, really not thinking of getting a video camera...

 

[cgipson1]

If you want to primarily shoot videos.. a video camera would cost you a lot less than a decent body with decent lenses. The Sigma 1.4 you mention is an excellent lens, but costs as much, just for the lens... as many excellent video cameras.

for instance: ( and these will take stills also.. just like a camera..)

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Camil...=sr_1_1?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1317188446&sr=1-1

Amazon.com: Canon DC310 DVD Camcorder with 37x Optical Zoom: Camera & Photo

A lot of decent youtube videos are recorded with a lot less than these...

You realize of course that the video you posted also had a lot of hours of editing by someone that knew what they were doing, on some expensive video editing software / hardware? Just a video camera wont do that! Proper lighting is not cheap either... and learning to light video is a lot different than lighting for stills.

 

[enzodm]

+1 for the above (knowledge, experience, lighting, editing, etc). Making good videos is like making good music, you have to know what to do.
Anyway, actually if you shoot with the kit lens you likely will have more "details" than in this video due to the greater depth of field. If you look at it, background is always blurred (so, no much details), and this is likely obtained with a lens with a larger aperture (like Sigma, but perhaps with shorter focal length). Also cheap videocameras will give you more depth of field due to their lenses, as far as I know.
By the way, this video is not fullHD.
On the other side, if you buy a 50/1.4 only, you will be constrained in taking pictures at just one focal length. Someone tells it is educational, but you will miss some pictures .

 

[TiCoyote]

As a camera, the T3i is a great body. But, so is the T2i, and so is the T1i. You probably won't notice a difference between the 3 and the 1, and the lower price of the 1, particularly used, can go towards a really nice lens.

As for video, a SLR will not allow you to track your focus with a video. That means no live autofocus. A dedicated video camera, however, will allow this. If you want to stick it on a tripod, only do one shot of a stationary object, you can probably set it to a narrow aperture and be fine.

However, if you want a professional-looking video to launch a professional singing career, you probably need to hire a professional who uses professional equipment.

 

[Salivan]

Thanks everyone for the help!!
About the software/hardware, I have an iMac 27" 3.4ghz 16 RAM and it has the iMovie 11, isn't that cool enough ? If it is not, I could buy final cut pro, or adobe premiere, or any other video editor, that's cool... And maybe it's gonna be hard to understand how those programs works but there thousands of tutorials on youtube... It was hard when I started at pro tools too, I guess in a month or so, I'll be able to know what I need to know to shoot music video (Maybe I'm wrong tough)

Anyway, I'll be thinking about the video camera you guys mentioned...
But lemme ask a question, I didnt understand one thing: If I buy for example the canon DC310, will the video look as good as the T3i with the sigma, or you recommended that just because it is more reasonable ?

And the way I'm gonna shoot the videos is putting the camera on a tripod, focusing on a specific place and let it there... For the movements I was thinking of editing them on the software with key burns (talking about iMovie)... What do you guys think ?

About the lights, I really don't know how to light, but I have some good lighting equipaments... Maybe searching for tutorials on how to light a video on youtube gonna help me ? Or it is not that simple ? (I don't even know if there are lighting tutorials on youtube, never searched for that)

And @Ticoyte , I tought of the T3i because of the screen...

Thanks a lot again!! And sorry for being really noob at this!

 

[KmH]

The T3i isn't completely configured for shooting video or even stills, and you will have to buy and add several not inexpensive accessories so you can see what you are shooting well, do follow focus, light, and some other things.

Redrock for video DSLRs

DSLR & Film Camera Accessories

 

[cgipson1]

I posted those video cameras just because of the lower prices they had (in comparison to the cost of the Sigma 50 1.4) .. and the fact that they are fully HD capable. If you want pro quality videos, you will probably need a more expensive, pro quality video cam..... as well as good continuous lighting setups. Your Imac is also going to limit you in any serious video editing... it will be slow, but you could still do it. Video editing requires some serious hardware if you want to do it real-time.

 

[Salivan]

Omg, are you serious about the iMac ? I mean, it is the best iMac in the market oO (at least I think so)... Are you saying that i'm gonna need a mac pro or something to edit my videos ? ... And, I dont want a ultra duta super video, just something like I posted on the first post (the tyler ward video)... I don't believe he has thosands dollars on camera, maybe he has good lighting and so, but to get that quality is it it all necessary ? ... Omg, video making is more expensive then audio, and I tought nothing were more expensive than making a studio hahaha.. Anyway, thanks again!

 

[cgipson1]

Omg, are you serious about the iMac ? I mean, it is the best iMac in the market oO (at least I think so)... Are you saying that i'm gonna need a mac pro or something to edit my videos ? ... And, I dont want a ultra duta super video, just something like I posted on the first post (the tyler ward video)... I don't believe he has thosands dollars on camera, maybe he has good lighting and so, but to get that quality is it it all necessary ? ... Omg, video making is more expensive then audio, and I tought nothing were more expensive than making a studio hahaha.. Anyway, thanks again!

I said you could still do it, but that it would be slow, and you wouldn't be able to edit in real time (depending on how it is recorded - high quality HD video is huge... needs a lot of processing)! Audio is just one aspect of recording, and yes.. it is expensive to do it right. When you add video to the mix, it gets much more expensive if you want quality. If you just want something to throw on youtube, use your cell phone! You could do a decent job with any decent video camera, with some decent lighting, minimal movement on the subjects part (makes the lighting easier).. and some time and perseverance. It is NOT easy to turn out top quality video.. that is why is expensive to have it done professionally. But you could do one well enough to demonstrate your talent, with a little work.

 

[enzodm]

I don't believe he has thosands dollars on camera

I don't believe too, also because this is not a recording made fixed on tripod. I believe he used a professional video service, or a friend very involved with video (more for the expertise than for the equipment). Look at the video, e.g., minute 3: there are at least three superimposed different recordings. This means 3 cameras, or 3 recording sessions with further, accurate, synchronization (in some scene you may see two singing and guitar).

iMovie may do these things, slowly if in HD. You need all those recordings, before all. However if you are fine with effects like Ken Burns, anything is good. By the way, since you cannot automatically focus during video, you may save money by buying some cheap old manual focus lens, plus adapter. Optically they are good, and in any case FullHD is just a fraction of usual image resolution.

 

[cgipson1]

^^^^ Exactly.... that video was made by someone that KNEW what they were doing, with a lot of time in it, and a lot of experience, hardware and software! As mentioned earlier!