New to photography and videography.

[Jubwubz]

Hello, I'm justin and I'm 15 years of age. I have recently been inspired to start mostly videography but some photography. I am looking for equipment such as (CAMERA, MIC, TRIPOD) now my budget would be 2000$ for all of this. I will be doing cinematic footage. I will mostly be taking videos rather than photos. Also I have a question on lenses. I have no idea what 15-300 mm means. I don't know what any of that means. Could someone explain. That's the reason I am not asking for a lens because I would love to understand what it means first

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi Justin and welcome to the forum.
cinematic footage usually means :

• shallow depth of field. That´s what the aperture does along with a larger camera sensor (APS-C sized or "full frame")- so google "aperture shallow depth"
  
• low contrast
• and of course great lighting, composition,....

Many people will say buy a dedicated videocamera, but the ones in your pricerange won´t give you cinematic footage. You rather want a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. My suggestion would be the sony mirrorless system. I film quite a few weddings and I currently only use sony mirrorless cameras for that cinematic look. Look at the sony a6300, if that is too expensive, the a6000 is a good starter.

In regard to lenses - the "mm" tell you about the focal length of a lens. Take a look at this page: Sigma Imaging UK | Focal Length Simulator The red square shows the angle of view of an APS-C sensor (see point one above). Usually you´d get an APS-C camera because they are more affordable than full frame.

In regard to tripod: if you plan to use it for panning, or tracking people, etc. you want a really great fluid head, everything else will hardly work. Take a look at Sachtler - for example this one on b&h. They are expensive, but trust me you get what you pay for. If you don´t want to move your camera, you can look at much cheaper tripods.

In regard to mic: that depends a lot on what you are going to film. Every mic has a different recording pattern. That´s somewhat similar to focal length. Some record the audio all around, others focus more on several areas. For film you´d usually work with a shotgun mic, or a lavalier mic (with a recorder or transmitter) right on your talent. Rode mics has a good affordable lineup of mics.

In general: before you buy equipment, watch a lot of youtube videos and read the description of those to see with which equipment they were shot, for example this one for the Sony a6300 with the kit lens:


And then there is a nice video of Brandon Li that gives quite a few answers to your questions and the ones that may rise in the next few days for you
Particularely the part starting at 4:22 is a MUST SEE for everyone doing video!!!

 

[Jubwubz]

Hi Justin and welcome to the forum.
cinematic footage usually means :

• shallow depth of field. That´s what the aperture does along with a larger camera sensor (APS-C sized or "full frame")- so google "aperture shallow depth"
  
• low contrast
• and of course great lighting, composition,....

Many people will say buy a dedicated videocamera, but the ones in your pricerange won´t give you cinematic footage. You rather want a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. My suggestion would be the sony mirrorless system. I film quite a few weddings and I currently only use sony mirrorless cameras for that cinematic look. Look at the sony a6300, if that is too expensive, the a6000 is a good starter.

In regard to lenses - the "mm" tell you about the focal length of a lens. Take a look at this page: Sigma Imaging UK | Focal Length Simulator The red square shows the angle of view of an APS-C sensor (see point one above). Usually you´d get an APS-C camera because they are more affordable than full frame.

In regard to tripod: if you plan to use it for panning, or tracking people, etc. you want a really great fluid head, everything else will hardly work. Take a look at Sachtler - for example this one on b&h. They are expensive, but trust me you get what you pay for. If you don´t want to move your camera, you can look at much cheaper tripods.

In regard to mic: that depends a lot on what you are going to film. Every mic has a different recording pattern. That´s somewhat similar to focal length. Some record the audio all around, others focus more on several areas. For film you´d usually work with a shotgun mic, or a lavalier mic (with a recorder or transmitter) right on your talent. Rode mics has a good affordable lineup of mics.

In general: before you buy equipment, watch a lot of youtube videos and read the description of those to see with which equipment they were shot, for example this one for the Sony a6300 with the kit lens:


And then there is a nice video of Brandon Li that gives quite a few answers to your questions and the ones that may rise in the next few days for you
Particularely the part starting at 4:22 is a MUST SEE for everyone doing video!!!

I can't thnk you enough. This will be the foundation of photography and videography for me. So for that I thank you. Now will the Sony 6300 good for photos aswell?

 

[dxqcanada1]

Yes, it is pretty good at still imagery.

 

[photo1x1.com]

I´d say for your budget it is really good.
If you want, here is a comparison site that gives you great insights how it performs compared to other cameras: Upwardly mobile: Sony a6300 Review

Hi Justin and welcome to the forum.
cinematic footage usually means :

• shallow depth of field. That´s what the aperture does along with a larger camera sensor (APS-C sized or "full frame")- so google "aperture shallow depth"
  
• low contrast
• and of course great lighting, composition,....

Many people will say buy a dedicated videocamera, but the ones in your pricerange won´t give you cinematic footage. You rather want a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. My suggestion would be the sony mirrorless system. I film quite a few weddings and I currently only use sony mirrorless cameras for that cinematic look. Look at the sony a6300, if that is too expensive, the a6000 is a good starter.

In regard to lenses - the "mm" tell you about the focal length of a lens. Take a look at this page: Sigma Imaging UK | Focal Length Simulator The red square shows the angle of view of an APS-C sensor (see point one above). Usually you´d get an APS-C camera because they are more affordable than full frame.

In regard to tripod: if you plan to use it for panning, or tracking people, etc. you want a really great fluid head, everything else will hardly work. Take a look at Sachtler - for example this one on b&h. They are expensive, but trust me you get what you pay for. If you don´t want to move your camera, you can look at much cheaper tripods.

In regard to mic: that depends a lot on what you are going to film. Every mic has a different recording pattern. That´s somewhat similar to focal length. Some record the audio all around, others focus more on several areas. For film you´d usually work with a shotgun mic, or a lavalier mic (with a recorder or transmitter) right on your talent. Rode mics has a good affordable lineup of mics.

In general: before you buy equipment, watch a lot of youtube videos and read the description of those to see with which equipment they were shot, for example this one for the Sony a6300 with the kit lens:


And then there is a nice video of Brandon Li that gives quite a few answers to your questions and the ones that may rise in the next few days for you
Particularely the part starting at 4:22 is a MUST SEE for everyone doing video!!!

I can't thnk you enough. This will be the foundation of photography and videography for me. So for that I thank you. Now will the Sony 6300 good for photos aswell?

 

[Derrel]

WELCOME TO TPF, Justin! $2k ought to get you started off well.

 

[rosh4u]

Hey Justin,

Well, 2k budget is good for starting in well manner and wish you all the very best for great beginning. Suggestion by photo1x1.com is good enough to get initiate the work.

 

[jamescooper18]

Your budget for doing photography and videography is looking pretty good. MM indicates the focal length of the lens which is presented in number given in millimeters. It basically describes the field of view of the lens and its magnification. If there are two numbers then it means the lens is a zoom lens, where it is possible to vary the focal length over a range. The first number is the wide end of the range, while the second number is the telephoto end of the range.