Investing in new equipment

Hi

I'm initiating a small business for shooting Photos and videos. I studied photography, film making and cinematography through books and online training, but I never had personal equipment. I was borrowing and renting for the past 2 years.

But I always read on the internet on the forums, compare specs and prices, buy Magazines for cinematography and watch YouTube comparison. But the more I learn, the more I find myself lacking knowledge.

Now, I have $6000 and I want to invest in cinematography equipment. I need your advice

Here are the equipment that I'm planning to buy:

Cameras bodies:

BMPCC

Nikon D810

Lenses and grip equipment:

Concerning lenses and grip equipment (steady rig, shoulder mount, tripod, handheld grip,) : I'm hoping to use them commonly on both cameras. I know that BMPCC has a crop factor -I will get one wide (zoom) lens for BMPCC but the rest long lenses I'm planning to use them on the BMPCC.

My aim:

BMPCC for short films, documentaries, indie music videos,...

Nikon D810 for professional portrait shooting, magazine photos,...





Questions:

1- What lenses do you recommend for both Nikon D810 and BMPCC?

2- Which wide lens do I get for BMPCC? (price range 250-400$)

3- which metabones speedbooster do I need for the BMPCC? (Is there a better affordable alternative?)

4- Can I for example rig the BMPCC on the same shoulder mount as the D810? (could all the grip equipment be used in common?)

5- Does the Nikon d750 has a better image quality than Nikon d810? (excluding details and pixels)

6- Is a BMCC and Nikon D750 a better investment for my budget?

- I can get an additional 1000$ by the end of this month, If I wait, I would have 7000$, what would you advise me to get with the additional 1000$ as a must have equipment?

7-If one of you is starting out and got $7000 and want to invest in 2 cameras as mentioned above...

which cameras would you choose and what common equipment would you buy? (from Amazon)

I apologize for all the many questions and I would be very appreciative for your answers.

Regards

Anthony

This is primarily a still photography site although there is a digital video forum. I suspect that very few people on this particular forum know what BMPCC stands for and I think that that is why you have had no replies.

To get some useful replies break your questions into two groups, one about the D810 and the other about the BPMCC and video. Post the D810 questions on the Nikon FX SLR forum. There is also a Nikon SLR Lens forum and a Pro Digital forum.

For your video questions try a specialist video forum like Creative Cow or dvxuser.

I'd say to look into the Sony A7S as well, Sony even have a professional filmmaking lens for it, the SELP28135G ( http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/camera-lenses/selp28135g )

"The world’s first SSM (Super Sonic wave Motor) drive in a lens designed for moviemaking achieves quiet and smooth zoom."

I follow a Sony A7S videography group on Facebook (just because it offered some good information on the A7 series as a whole) and some have come from the Black Magic cameras, or 5D using magic lantern. Graded S-Log from XACVs codec is something they rave about but not something I'm knowledgeable about to comment further on. Rolling shutter when panning quickly is something that can be a problem but really depends on your specific film making needs.

I believe he means the Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera.
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Good luck and happy shooting!

For a business with both requirements I'd consider the Panasonic GH range, which are really a good deal more like video cameras with good photography features than you might realize. Under the hood there are lots of video tech features that make a big difference.

The other approach is to go for a dedicated video camera and a dedicated still camera. You can get used DSLRs all over the place now, and very cheaply for stills only. I'm not sure if you really need the use of a full frame DSLR - you need to think about that more.

The Panasonics certainly have the advantage over the Sony A7S as they do internal 4k whereas the Sony need an external recorder such as the Atomos Ninja/Shogun devices. I have a consumer Panasonic camcorder and the zoom and stabilization is certainly impressive.

thebustos said:

I believe he means the Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera.

Click to expand...

which I believe uses M4/3 lenses.

Anthonymr77 said:

Hi

I'm initiating a small business for shooting Photos and videos. I studied photography, film making and cinematography through books and online training, but I never had personal equipment. I was borrowing and renting for the past 2 years.

But I always read on the internet on the forums, compare specs and prices, buy Magazines for cinematography and watch YouTube comparison. But the more I learn, the more I find myself lacking knowledge.

Click to expand...

Good luck with your business. I don't know about any of the questions you are asking, so I won't give you any advice in that regard, but if you have never had personal instruction where a good teacher provides feedback on your work you really should do that before offering your services for hire.

I know little about video but even cheap video cameras give good quality these days but what they do miss is a 3 axis gimbal. If you watch footage taken with one of these if really does have a more professional feel to it. The technology of these has really improved recently and they are quite cheap now.

Thank you all for your replies

I did not know that this forum is only for photographers since the name is dpreview, I thought it got everything related to cinematography.

Anyway, can someone compare the image quality of Nikon D750 vs D810. I red on some forums that the D750 has a better image quality but of course lacks details (megapixels)

Is snapshot website reliable when it compares the specs of cameras, and then puts the scores and the winners?

Referring to snapshot, D750 is better than 5D mark iii but less important than D810 which captures 50% more details.

Is the 12 additional Mega-pixels on D810 worth it? I really like the film look (soft transitions, rolled off highlights, wide dynamic range,... ) and hate the high contrast digital images. I know that I can adjust the photos in post but I really need your opinions0


I'll be shooting artists for Magazines.

So which one is better, D750 or D810?

For now, I;m planning to buy the Tamron 70-200 2.8 lens

Snapsort is only good for comparing some specs side by side, but their scores are pretty meaningless most of the time.
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Good luck and happy shooting!

The second link is to the Digital Photography Review (Dpreview) scene comparison tool.

You can compare raw images from both the D750 and D810 and decide for yourself which you think has better IQ, but saying 750 has better IQ than D750, but D810 has better details doesn't seem to make that much sense since surely detail retention is one of the factors that would contribute to better IQ? Or maybe I'm being stupid

Thank you harcourfanton, thebustos, paul, bob, and everyone else

Zapirian, check the following link, it compares Nikon D3s to Canon 5D mk iii. Although the 5D has more MP , it is written that the D3s has a better image quality. I guess because it has more dynamic range and color processing. I'm not sure though

http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III-vs-Nikon_D3S

After looking at the studio scene on dpreview, I noticed that all Nikon cameras have darker darks while all the Canon DSLRs have brighter darks. Does that mean Canons have a wider dynamic range and Nikon company advertize their products by beefing up the specs in order to make more profits?

Which leads to the conclusion: That's why Canon cameras are more expensive?

For now, the buying list is the following:

Bodies:
BMPCC - Panasonic GH4 - Nikon D750

Lenses:
Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 - Tamron 22-85mm 2.8 - Lumix 14-140mm 4.0

Accessories:
vertical grip for D750, additional batteries for BMPCC and GH4, case...etc

Question:

-Can I use Tamron full frame lens on GH4 m43 camera? what is the name of the adapter needed? Can the same adapter be used on any m43 camera?

Anthonymr77 said:

Thank you harcourfanton, thebustos, paul, bob, and everyone else

Zapirian, check the following link, it compares Nikon D3s to Canon 5D mk iii. Although the 5D has more MP , it is written that the D3s has a better image quality. I guess because it has more dynamic range and color processing. I'm not sure though

http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-EOS-5D-Mark-III-vs-Nikon_D3S

After looking at the studio scene on dpreview, I noticed that all Nikon cameras have darker darks while all the Canon DSLRs have brighter darks. Does that mean Canons have a wider dynamic range and Nikon company advertize their products by beefing up the specs in order to make more profits?

Which leads to the conclusion: That's why Canon cameras are more expensive?

Click to expand...

As others have said Snapsort is usually just useful for that, a snapshot comparison of attributes. I doubt they do much in the way of testing themselves but just data mine statistics.

The D3s is an older model that is more of an equivalent to the Canon 1D range.

Its not really a like for like comparison. Although if you compare the Canon with the D4 it now says the D4 wins overall.

"I noticed that all Nikon cameras have darker darks while all the Canon DSLRs have brighter darks. Does that mean Canons have a wider dynamic range "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_System

You'll find that even though the Nikon looks like it has pure black where the Canon does not, it won't be pure black, but due to higher DR it will have more Zones between 18% grey and black than the Canon, so shadows can look darker without highlights being blown (more tones between pure white and pure black). If you edited the Nikon raw you would be able to pull up the shadows and reveal more detail there than if you shot the same scene with the Canon with the shadows being close to black and pulled the shadows up on the Canon RAW. If I'm remembering correctly the Sony/Nikon sensors favor shadows more and Canon favor highlights, so if you are using the in camera metering then Canon will expose more to preserve highlights and Sony/Nikon to preserve shadow detail (hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong, been a long time since I made the Zone ruler for my Sony Nex 6, and the DR on the A7 is large enough that I've never bothered yet :S )

In general Nikon cameras have higher DR than Canon as many now use Sony manufactured sensors that have superior DR to the Canon sensors. From reading this forum many use Canon as they prefer the colours/skin tones to those produced from other manufacturers systems. I mean you can play about with them on computer to get what you want colour wise from any system but I guess it simplifies workflow. Also many just start with a brand's system and stick with it, with it not always being the best available for them. Many also just prefer the ergonomics of one brand over another.

Often IQ is something quite personal as one person prioritizes one element of IQ over another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_quality#In_photographic_imaging

In the end to make a decision you are best trying both in a shop or renting them. Pick the one that feels best in hand, you feel more at home accessing settings and has the lenses in their range that you will definitely need. Just about any higher end DSLR nowadays is unlikely to disappoint. In my limited experience both Canon and Nikon have been resting on their laurels somewhat. If I was buying a DSLR (and not a Sony SLT) I'd most likely go Nikon (and I have no brand loyalty to either).

Thank you Zapirian