Better DSLR?

[TheWillBox]

Okay that makes sense. I never had a DSLR so learning about lens will be new for me. Thanks for the explanation though. I'll search online to find more info.

PS your sig video was great. Insane quality. Better HD than my eyes haha

No worries. There's a lot to learn even just with the basic lingo and terms for a DSLR. Once you get the hang of it, you can have very precise control on how much focus, bokeh and lighting you have in your videos.

The kit lens isn't bad, it'll give you flexibility, but it's not the best low light lens so make sure you can properly light your scene. Oh and dont' forget to budget for memory card/card readers or whatever else you might need to transfer the videos.[DOUBLEPOST=1366952129,1366952014][/DOUBLEPOST]

I have just bought the 60D with the 18-135mm, as I said earlier, so I will let you know how good it is. If you can afford the 15-85mm, I would recommend that, but it's fairly expensive. I have also bought the 'nifty fifty' (50mm f/1.8). It performs great in low light and is quite sharp for the price (I think it's only about US$100). I've also ordered the Rode VideoMic Pro and a Velbon DV7000 tripod.

All of this costs about the equivalent of US$1300-1400 (£870). My intention is to do lots of video and photography, so I will let you know how well all this gear performs!

Sounds like you are willing to spend money on this hobby. Be careful it gets out of hand really fast haha. With your set up above you can try pretty much every shot except fisheye wide shots, tilt shift shots and macro shots, but those aren't used much in videos.

 

[TheRomanticsWB]

We use a T3i to shoot all of our web series, The Romantics. It works great. Your best bet with any of these cameras though is to just purchase the body and buy your lens separate. The kit lenses are typically a do all lens that is nowhere near the quality of what you will probably want. Which lens you get really depends on WHAT you're going to be shooting.

As far as the touchscreen goes, just to reiterate, it's useless once you've learned your camera and can actually just get in the way. It's better to have all the controls ON the camera instead of fussing with a touchscreen. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but once you've used a camera like this for a bit, you'll understand it through experience.

 

[TrentVlogsTV]

We use a T3i to shoot all of our web series, The Romantics. It works great. Your best bet with any of these cameras though is to just purchase the body and buy your lens separate. The kit lenses are typically a do all lens that is nowhere near the quality of what you will probably want. Which lens you get really depends on WHAT you're going to be shooting.

As far as the touchscreen goes, just to reiterate, it's useless once you've learned your camera and can actually just get in the way. It's better to have all the controls ON the camera instead of fussing with a touchscreen. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but once you've used a camera like this for a bit, you'll understand it through experience.

Thanks for the info! i'll check out your vids. I want a lens that is good to film indoors for vlogs. Maybe wide angle. any lens you can suggest getting at a decent price?

 

[TheRomanticsWB]

Thanks for the info! i'll check out your vids. I want a lens that is good to film indoors for vlogs. Maybe wide angle. any lens you can suggest getting at a decent price?

I tell you what man, for what you want to do, you can save some money and just go with a Canon T3i body and a lens instead of a T4i. You won't be able to tell the difference for the money if you get a nice lens with it. My cousin, Aaron, is the film guy for our web series. I do all the sound. Look at our web series, Season 2 Episode 1 - Hotcakes and if you like the quality of that, I'll get the info from him on exactly which 2 lenses he uses. Keep in mind all our stuff is in really tough to shoot lighting outdoors. Bright sun, then instantly cloudy then bright sun etc... We're in Texas lol. If you're shooting vlog type stuff indoors, it will be a heck of a lot easier and look better with less of a learning curve.

 

[TheWillBox]

Thanks for the info! i'll check out your vids. I want a lens that is good to film indoors for vlogs. Maybe wide angle. any lens you can suggest getting at a decent price?

Wide angle on a T4i would be anything between 10mm to 24mm. Anything under will be too fish eyes and above will be too standard eye view kinda look. If you want cheap then go off brand and get a Sigma or whatever your local store might stock. You typically want to look for something with f/2.8 for decent low light use. But if you get f/4.0 lens they will be cheaper, just know you should have decent lighting to support it.

 

[TheRomanticsWB]

Wide angle on a T4i would be anything between 10mm to 24mm. Anything under will be too fish eyes and above will be too standard eye view kinda look. If you want cheap then go off brand and get a Sigma or whatever your local store might stock. You typically want to look for something with f/2.8 for decent low light use. But if you get f/4.0 lens they will be cheaper, just know you should have decent lighting to support it.

Oh yeah I was going to comment on the wide angle thing as well.

I'm not sure how wide angle you mean but there's very little reason to use an actual "wide angle" lens on anything a person would normally be doing.

 

[TheWillBox]

Oh yeah I was going to comment on the wide angle thing as well.

I'm not sure how wide angle you mean but there's very little reason to use an actual "wide angle" lens on anything a person would normally be doing.

More for camera distance really. With my 16-35 I can put the camera relatively close to my face and film with it within reach. The shot will still have my entire upper body in frame. Whereas if you use a 50mm, you will need to place the body pretty far from the actual subject to capture the upper body and even further if you want the entire person in frame.

I shoot with a 7D so it's a cropped sensor as well and having a wider angle is nice since it gets cropped up anyhow.

 

[TrentVlogsTV]

I tell you what man, for what you want to do, you can save some money and just go with a Canon T3i body and a lens instead of a T4i. You won't be able to tell the difference for the money if you get a nice lens with it. My cousin, Aaron, is the film guy for our web series. I do all the sound. Look at our web series, Season 2 Episode 1 - Hotcakes and if you like the quality of that, I'll get the info from him on exactly which 2 lenses he uses. Keep in mind all our stuff is in really tough to shoot lighting outdoors. Bright sun, then instantly cloudy then bright sun etc... We're in Texas lol. If you're shooting vlog type stuff indoors, it will be a heck of a lot easier and look better with less of a learning curve.

i'll probably end up getting a canon 60d cause I do want to use it for more than just vlogs and youtube. In general I just want a good camera.

Thanks for the lens advice guys i'll check those out and research more!

 

[WickedSightArtist]

I have a canon 600d it's probably the cheaper option too and works well. If you have a big budget I'd recommend looking at the Canon 5d too. If you need an example for the 600d I film all of my videos using it