Gehrig378 wrote:
… you had a budget of 1k what camera and lens would you get.
… a better one I'm actually using 🙂
My choice 2y ago was a Lumix FZ38 - why?
My still cam is a Nikon D50 with threee lenses => you need a big bag, plus after 3h walking around it is simply too heavy.
So, my criteria: all-in-one, extra wide lense but a huge zoom, 720p as recording format. My theme is son's sport plus travelling. And price: <300€ - it's my hobby, man! 😉
and it's getting even worse: I'm using two cheapo (40€!) Kodak Z1, 'cause they offer 60p for my slowmo shots (test here) - quality? for MY needs ok, from an arthouse-filmmakers perspective? no.
but the boys are happy with my 'You Won The Championships'-movies ... (btw: Idea of this movie was simple: we made it, we are No1)
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if you prefer to do portraits, you need 50mm with an f-stop <1.8; if you like artistic landscapes, <24mm is a must; if you like to catch a sea-hawk in his nest, >5-600mm is min. (will cost twice as the body of cam); if you do a series of interviews for a kind of documentary, I would invest another 100€ in a Zoom H2 (ext. audio recorder); if you do 'action' like skiing, skateboard, surfing a GoPro Hero 2 would be my choice 120fps!! <sigh>
The 60D is an excellent cam; the interchangeable lenses allow you to 'grow' with your projects; but going into detail (do you need extra lights? a water/dust proof housing? ) depends and vary extreme from YOUR needs.
ahhh, almost forgotton:
a tripod! adds 5000% more quality to ANY project. for video, socalled fluid-heads preferred, Manfrotto is most mentioned, I prefer it's cheaper sister Velbon, you get a useful one starting at ~80€ (=I'm on really small budget 😉 )