With the increasing interest in the affordable Canon 550d, I thought I’d take the time to contribute not to the innumerable reviews, test films, and camera comparisons, but rather to the accessories this and similar VDSLR’s require and benefit from. This discussion will be broken up into components divided by necessity, camera base, and budget. Many of these pieces will overlap, but in doing so should provide a broad overview of accessories and kits in the VDSLR world.
The Budget Core Kit
With the release of Canon’s latest video DSLR darling, the Canon 550d/T2i/Kiss X4 depending on your place of residence, the ability to create an incredible low budget filmmaking rig has manifested itself to even the poorest of students and amateurs (relatively). The kit covers only the most basics of production: image and sound. It won’t make life tremendously easy, but it will deliver stellar video and sound for an minuscule price.
Canon Rebel 550d/T2i/Kiss X4 (Body Only) – $799- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II – $99
- Zoom H4n Handy Portable Digital Recorder – $299
Total price: $1197
This is the bare minimum kit necessary to get both quality picture and sound. While you could use simply the onboard Rebel T2i microphone for your production, the overall quality of the project will suffer greatly. A common saying (with differing specifics) is that sound is 70% of what you see. Beautiful images accompanied by flat, poorly controlled, hissy, muddy audio will make the entire project seem cheap. The Zoom H4n offers dual, phantom-powered XLR ports in addition to the built in variable 90/120 stereo microphones in a compact package. The recorder is capable of up to 24-bit/96kHz linear PCM in addition to lower bitrates and even MP3. All audio is recorded to cheap, reliable SD or SDHC cards. This is opposed to the single 1/8″ stereo jack with AGC (auto gain control AKA very bad for film) that comes on the 550d.
The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, affectionately referred to as the nifty fifty, is possibly the greatest deal going in lenses. The lens is razor sharp from f/2.8-f/4 rivaling the more expensive Canon EF 50mm f/1.4. The low f-stop allows strong low light performance and the beautiful, and occasionally absurd, shallow depth of field the VDSLR’s are known for. The downsides of the extraordinarily inexpensive lens are the 80mm equivalence that occurs from the 550d 1.6x sensor crop making it slightly telephoto, the tiny focusing ring (as it is intended to be used with AF in photo mode), and the poor build quality that earns the lens it’s other nickname – the fantastic plastic. Regardless, this lens will far outperform the abysmal 18-55 lens that comes with the $899 kit in addition to many, more expensive alternatives. The price is low enough to classify it as an expendable (in the world of lenses) making it, when combined with the performance, an obvious purchase.
This (relatively) inexpensive kit is capable of stunning visuals and crisp audio for a fraction of a low-end prosumer camcorder. At a price-point like this, you need to provide reasons not to purchase a kit.
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I am surprised that you do not mention a housing or a steady-cam type holder. Will you be doing all of your shots on the tripod?
Thanks for doing this with a camera that is cheaper than the canon 5d mark II. It seems everyone is using those these days, the problem is that the camera is $3k and the setup is that or more.
I didn’t mention a tripod as I intended this to be the bare minimum required to shoot (minus memory cards). I expect, at the very least, one would go out and buy a cheapo Wal-Mart, Velbon tripod that would at least allow for locked-down shots.
In the next few days I will be writing about larger, more expensive kits that should cover everything needed for shooting.
To go with the affordable kit, what editing software would be needed to merge the audio stream from the Zoom with the video stream from the Canon?
Any editing application capable of displaying waveforms will be enough. In the low budget spirit of this kit, I would recommend Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro(~$80) which will offer high speed and powerful video and audio tools (in addition to 24p capability – a rarity in this price range). The basic idea is you take a hard hit, like a slate or a clap, and line up the audio peaks of the audio recorded with the video, and the audio recorded with the Zoom. You can then mute or delete the Canon audio to be left with pristine sound.
If you have access Sony Vegas Pro 9 or Final Cut Pro, there is a software plugin called Pluraleyes which will automatically sync your audio and video, no work required.
Hope this helps,
David Torcivia
Reaper also has video/audio mixing built-in, although I haven't used it, but it's only $60 for a license and the trial is uncrippled and untimed.
i have been sturggling with recording a zoom in whilst in movie mode. the camera jerkes to 5x and 10x but i can’t get a slwo steady zoom….what am i missing here? i have an auto zoom lens.
thanks
Hi. Great article. I've been looking for an affordable digital recorder and this got me thinking.
It's good to know how much money I'll need, I could combine these with a Kessler's Pocket Dolly or something like it, also a DIY dolly (no money for real one).
Thanks.
Hola!
This truly is a great article. But i would like to throw a challenge for you guys there.
How could we update this article? Maybe a Canon 60D Core Kit under 1500?
This could become a whole segment, combining different elements for different DSLR's for people that are starting with DSLR video and are on a tight budget.
Cheers!
the only comment on any of these threads I've found remotely intelligent/constructive.
Hi, Really useful article, thanks.
Just wondering about pulling focus on the lens instead of buying a rig. I guess a rig steadies the shots and avoids for mistakes like getting a hand in the shot.
I would personally like to do the whole thing as cheap as possible and rigs look pretty expensive, but are they vital? I also like the fact that filming on the camera alone is much less intrusive than having a big setup mounted on rods.
to rig or not to rig?
So much great information on here. Please post a helpful article like this again.
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