Philip Bloom has been running a series of articles/videos by David Kong about how to shoot amazing video with very little equipment or budget. Here’s a video that Kong shot using only $1000 of equipment (including the camera):
Here’s part 1 of his tutorial:
Here’s part 2:
[Evidently there will be three more parts. I’ll try to update this post when those post but in any case, these two videos already cover a TON of useful info]
I love the whole ethos of this series. Too often, people can get caught up in the consumerist mindset in the world of videography/photography. As someone who has experienced this personally, I can say that it’s really tempting to spend days just watching/reading reviews, researching gear, and dreaming about the possibilities. And while good gear can help you achieve great results, the truth is that if you have at least a Canon T2i ($500) and a decent lens, you can create wonderful stuff.
It’s incredibly easy to use lack of gear as an excuse to get out there and shoot. I’ve tried to counteract that temptation by just doing everything I can to shoot a video on a regular basis. Shooting with what I have (a very capable Canon 5D Mark III) helps me to appreciate what is possible with it.
That being said, I am nonetheless still planning on a future post detailing the agonizing decision-making process behind purchasing my next video camera 🙂