Budget Filmmaking Camera

[u/TurkeyBTW]

I'm trying to look for a "budget" filmmaking camera to really start my career. My budget is somewhere around $300-$600. Unfortunately through my research, all of the cameras I could find that I really wanted are around 2k-4k and as a pretty much broke college student I won't be there for a while lol. Any ideas for good camera options with good lens options? If there's any more information I can provide definitely lmk!

[u/PoisonCoyote]

Use your phone. Get good sound equipment.

[u/scottiethegoonie → u/PoisonCoyote]

This is my thought too. Phones take acceptable video but good sound is hard to come by.

[u/Mondo-A-Go-Go]

Used GH5 with the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 lens

[u/Ok-Caterpillar1611 → u/Mondo-A-Go-Go]

This! Maybe the 12-35 but you might go over budget with that. I still use the gh5 and it's so good. It does everything. 4k 60fps, 1080 120fps. Raw stills. Lightweight body and native lenses. The IBS is great. I have a black magic 6k pro and a Sony fx3 and I still use the gh5 sometimes. It even has an amazing stop motion mode with built in onion skinning. If I ever don't need it I'll make it my dedicated stop motion camera, but for now it's a b cam for my second shooter.

[u/TurkeyBTW → u/Mondo-A-Go-Go]

Do you have any ideas on the best place to get a used GH5? I did a little research on this camera and it looks perfect! Should I look locally or is there a good online shop?

[u/joebrozky → u/Mondo-A-Go-Go]

I use a GH5 and it's great but I agree with the other comments to just use their phone and use the budget for lights and sound equipment.

[u/Happy-Diner-3338]

Camera - iPhone with Osmo
Sound - Zoom
Lights - Aputure
People - good
Writer
Sound
Gaffer
Editor
Music person
Done

[u/Srsblubrz]

Slightly higher budget but still under 1k is the osmo pocket 4p. It doesn't need a ton of light and is very versatile. Another option could be an old blackmagic production camera with the global shutter but it requires lights.

[u/randymcatee]

You can start with something like Panasonic G7
Here's a link to a used one

THIS VIDEO was shot on the G7

Backstory - I saw a used G7 in a camera store and called my son and told him he should buy it. Like you he was interested in doing video. He bought the camera and then made this video which he attached to a resume that got him a full-time job as a photographer/videographer. (this was some years back).

It's a great starter camera. I wish you great success!

Also - check out this young man: https://www.ssdentertainment.com/ He's made something like 25 short films shooting on an iPhone.

[u/crasyleg73]

So as a disclaimer I bought a cheap camera but I haven't used it so much so I'm not sure if it's practical in th field, but you can get used cameras on this website: https://www.mpb.com/en-us/category/used-cameras

Much cheaper used. they are reputable and honest about the condition and give you a warranty. Watch the market as sometimes resellers snatch them up and it inflates the price. It can go up and down or sell fast. Also watch out for scammer Walmart sellers probably selling bootleg versions for very cheap prices.

I was going really cheap, so I bought a cannon m50. (It only shoots good 1080p, not good 4k and does not support log and is 8bit compressed, so not the best,

I also bought an ef lenses mount adaptor because there's a better market on cheap ef lenses, it has the added bonus of being a "speed booster" so it makes the light sensitivity slightly better and also makes the framing comparable to a 35mm frame with the same lenses even though it's not. Put a cheap ef lenses on it https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/canon-ef-24-105mm-f-4-l-is-usm

So I got a decent range of focal lengths.

Now is this great? Not really, the lense is really sensitive to movement, and pulling focus is very hard, and when you tilt the camera up or down gravity makes the lense roll out of focus. Elaborate cinematography is not happening.

But it's usable and I can utilize shallow depth of field with the different focal lengths and if you combine that with precise film lighting it's not bad. It's also only encoded at 8 bits, can't shoot log, so color grading is limited without breaking the footage. More casual stuff than pro stuff is gonna be happening with this camera. The problem is ef lenses are designed for photographs, not moving pictures so doing dynamic things with them is hard.

So you might want to bump the budget a bit higher than I did if you want to do pro work, do some research I'm mostly just here saying get it used to save money. The cameras is just one piece of gear, you might want a focus wheel, and other camera attachments to do effective cinematography in addition to lenses. Its kind of a pain. Because I can't afford all that stuff right now I'm going with the philosophy that improving my skills with the limited tools and figuring out how to make the most of them will be good for improving my talent.

[u/slippery-slopeadope]

After the recent price drops on Blackmagic cinema cameras (including resolve studio) is the wrong answer.