I was wondering how would I go about startin to film my hunts and the price of getting into it (at a minimum but good quality). Any advice is great.
Imo the cheapest best way would be the canon vixia hf r500, you can also add a shotgun mic for better sound quality
I tell everyone the same thing. Before you even buy a camera ... define your goal first. What I mean by that is do a self evaluation and define a realistic end goal. Do you have any real photography or video experience to start with? If not, then set your equipment and production standards at a much lower level. The best camera and editing equipment in the world will do you no good if you don't have a working foundation to build upon. Too many people dump thousands and thousands into equipment thinking that they are going to be the next Micheal Wadell. Set a realistic short term goal. Basically learn how to run camera equipment. Learn about composition, lighting, various camera settings. A great cameraman can do A LOT with a low end camera. So set realistic goals. Then set a budget to work within. Once you figure out your goals and get equipment that meets that end goal within your budget ... go shoot shoot shoot and shoot some more. As to the basics that you need ... An HD video camera. There are so many to choose from at all price levels. You need to do your homework and find what has the specs that meet your goals and budget. A camera arm and/or tri-pod. Again several good ones out there. Choose one that is rated for the weight of all your equipment. Fluid head. Get a quality fluid head, don't settle for a cheap head that comes as part of an inexpensive tri-pod or camera arm. Nothing ruins a good shot like footage is jerky because the head is not smooth. Microphone. On board camera mics suck ... no ifs ands or buts ... they suck. External mics are the way to go. The sky is the limit, but I can tell you that nothing gets me to turn off a video quicker than one that has crappy audio. Quality audio can help to turn even crappy footage into something worth watching. Those are the basics. Of course there are tons of things that you can add on as you go. LanC controls are a big thing, as is artificial lighting (grossly under looked by video guys, IMO). There are just tons of things that you can buy to build your equipment as your talents improve.
thanks for all of the help guys. appreciate all of the tips and I have a little bit of experience behind a camera but need a little extra practice this offseason
It's a great thing to get into and it's a fun learning curve! I started out with a used Sony cx550 off eBay for about $450 and it is a great little camera for the price. It had a lot of the features I wanted and I used it for about 3 years until I upgraded last year. The things I didn't like about it was the low light capabilities (not the best but any smaller cheaper camera under $1000 are going to be like that). I didn't like the automatic lense cover (it made some noise opening) and the manual focus wasn't the easiest to use. But it was compact and easy to carry to the stand ever hunt. I would also recommend a tripod (there are tons of different types, I bought one from best buy for like $70?) I used the head that came with it for awhile but I wish I had bought a Manfrotto head much sooner! I got the ah500? model I think for like $170. Otherwise to start off just get an extended run time battery and a high class fast SD card (at least 16 gb) that should get you started. Most of my stand setups are made for 2 people but I hunt solo a lot so I usually set the tripod where the 2nd person would be at. But if you hunt a lot I would recommend getting a muddy camera arm. I think the cheaper one is like $120 and then I just bought the pro model last year for like $150 because it seemed a little more heavy duty and it had this silent rachet strap that was a plus for me. I added a lanc remote and external mics about a year or 2 after I got the camera. Oh I would also get just a small camera bag to carry the camera in while traveling to the deer lease. I only want to film to remember hunts years from now and to show friends and family so I have no ambition or desire to try to get on TV, I just do it for myself. I do put my hunts on YouTube just so I can watch them wherever. I love watching them whenever I'm not able to go out to the lease for awhile and during the off season. I think it's an awesome hobby and I highly suggest getting into it. It's a challenge but it's a lot of fun. Best of luck to you!
I run with a Sony Handy cam. (About $250 New) and a GoPro. My stuff is not professional by any means. I edit with Windows Movie Maker. I just post stuff on my Youtube channel. Its pretty cool getting views from all over the world. I'm satisfied with just that. As others have said, decide what your goals are and go from there
i thought about the GoPro's but they're really expensive and I want to start out cheap (in case i don't feel like puttin in the work or my huntin time decreases)
I would definitely start off with just a cheaper sony handycam. I would spend more than $300 if you can on one just so its somewhat decent quality.
I have a sony handycam for sale $200 O.B.O. you cant hook a mic up to it, but it has 60x zoom, and is easy to use
alright. well I just went out and got one and its pretty cool. I like it and plan on using it to film some bowfishing this season for practice and then this fall film hunting. so I'll see how good it really is
Congrats! I'm sure you will love it and keep us updated! It takes some time to get use to everything and over time everything will improve. I've been doing it for about 4 years now and I'm still learning and finding ways I can improve. Good luck!
