My Gear

Crop Sensor: I currently own the Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D which is an awesome camera for the price, but I would get the Canon 60D or the Canon T3i if I were buying now because the T2i 550D is getting very outdated compared to the newer cameras like the Canon 60D. However the T2i is pretty great if you are brave enough to install Magic Lantern on it. This is because Magic Lantern can get rid of some of the down falls of the T2i 550D and provide features that can only be found in a $2,000 camera.

If you need more of a weather resistant camera than the T2i, then the Canon 7D is the camera for you, it pretty much has the same picture quality for video and stills as the T2i.

Watch me compare the T2i vs. T3i

Watch me compare the T3i to the 60D

Watch me compare the T2i to the 5D MkII

Full Frame Sensor: If you need to push past 1600 ISO in low light situations and you have some extra cash then the Canon 5D Mark II might be for you. I don’t own this camera, however I used the heck out of it for 30 days and really enjoyed it. It is about 3 times the cost of the Canon T2i, but if you are going pro or you need great low light performance than this is the camera for you.

Canon 50mm f/1.8 II prime lens. I love this lens and what a great buy for only around $120. Of all my lens this one probably spends the most time attached to my camera body. I was told when I was first starting out to get a 50mm prime because it is a great lens to learn on – and they were right! Out of the box this lens can make you feel like a pro right away with the results you will get for close ups, interview footage or portrait shots. This is fast glass because it can go down to an f-stop of 1.8 which means the low light performance is excellent. If you take care of this lens it will treat you well, but if you need something more durable or a better focus ring you can grab hold of better, then get the Canon 50mm 1.4, my friend has this one and he loves it. Some people call this lens “fantastic plastic” because the case is made out of plastic, it is also called the “nifty fifty”. This should be the first lens you buy if you are totally new to DSLR’s.

Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 zoom When I first got this lens I thought it would stay in my camera bag and not get much use because it is more of a specialty lens because it is soooo wide! But I was wrong I have been using it a lot more than I thought. It works great on slider shots, in small spaces like a bathroom scene and I love it for my HDR pictures too. It is a lot of money compared to the cost of the T2i 550D but you can not touch a similar Canon wide angle lens for less than $2,000. This lens is very sharp, even in the corners where wide angles are the weakest. The construction is great, and the focus speed is on par with the Canon lenses.

My friend who also owns a T2i borrowed this lens and he could get over how well built the lens felt and how wide it got, he kept saying, “I got to get one of these!”.

Watch my Review

---

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 This lens is a work horse for me since it has wide range for the zoom. It has Image Stabilization (called IS for short) which can really help your videos when you are shoot handheld because the IS helps reduce the shake. Also when you are shooting in low light the IS can help you take pictures at a slightly slower shutter speed without blur, for me that can mean instead of 1/70 of a second I can shoot at 1/60 or even sometimes at 1/50 of a second. Canon makes much better glasses than this kit lens but not at this amateur level price for a zoom with IS. This lens preforms great outside during the day, but since it is not fast glass you can’t use it in low light situations, but if you have a prime like the 50mm that issue will not matter too much.

Watch me use it

Sigma 30mm 1.4 since the Canon T2i, T31, 60D, 7D are all crop sensors a 30mm acts more like a 50mm on these cameras. Many of the experts agree that your first lens should be a 50mm before you buy more lenses. I started out on a 50mm but I think this 30mm would have been a better place to start. It is wider than a 50mm and is fantastic in low light. It has nice solid construction and focus well in low contrast situations. I found this lens to be sharper than my Canon 50mm but it is also more expensive.

Watch my review

Konova Slider: As far as I know this is the only rolling bearing slider that is somewhat affordable to the amateur’s like myself.

If you want to bring your video projects up to a whole new level, this is the tool to get. Band for the buck sliders can make your videos look so much more professional.

I find that using a wide angle lens like the Tokina 11-16mm is a great choice on the slider, also try to get something up close in the foreground so you can get a sense of movement.

You can easily put this on your tripod and get a much of different angles or you can use it with apple boxes.

Watch my review | Watch me update the slider to the newer version | Watch a montage of slider moves

Rode VideoMic pretty much all the audio you hear on this site comes from this microphone. While you would never use a microphone like this one in a recording studio it works pretty well for normal speech. For the most part it rejects off axis sound pretty well but definitely not as well as a real professional microphone will. It has a slight bump in the low end (perhaps around 200Hz which helps you sound a little “fuller” even if you are a foot or two away from the mic. Many people using this for DSLR video just use this as a reference mic to help sync up a 2nd sound recording device like the Zoom H4n.

Watch me unbox it

LP-E8 Lithium-Ion Battery Pack [T2i/550D, T3i/600D] I was very tempted to buy the cheap knock-off batteries that are much cheaper than the Canon batteries but I am glad I didn’t because they hold their charge so well. Now that I am using the Magic Lantern firmware that allows me to do more with my T2i it is good that I have the best batteries available because this firmware chews up the power faster. You really need to have a minimum of two batteries so you can have one fully charged will the other is in use.

Manfrotto 055XProB I am very tall about 6′-2″ and I like to have the camera at eye level when I am filming myself and this Manfrotto model lets me do just that at a good price. This tripod can easily handle the weight requirement of my fluid head and my camera and other accessories I put on it. It can also handle the weight of a slider too and allows me to get smooth shots at high or different angles. It is not made out of carbon fiber so it is not super lightweight (and super expensive), but it fits me needs as an amateur pretty well. I carried it around over my shoulder for about 4 hours and I never felt like it was slowing me down. My dream tripod if I had a ton of money to spend would be this Gitzo carbon fiber with leveling head tripod which has legs you can expand in a snap and level the head just as fast for those situations where you need to get a quick shot off before someone busts you for having a tripod in an area where it is not allowed.

32gig card SDHC class 10 Transcend Boy have the prices come down a lot on 32GB cards since last year! These cards used to be almost 3 times as much back then. I have never had one problem with this brand, no lost images, no slow write or read speeds, just consistent use from the 1,000′s of images and videos files I have created. I think 32GB is a good size, something like 4GB is too small and with 32GB it is hard to fill it all the way up. You will run out of batteries before you fill this thing up in most cases. Anything above a class 6 will give you the writing speed that you need so class 10 will have you covered, also if you are using Magic Lantern and you want to increase the bit rate I believe a class 10 will help out with this, but I have not tested this yet.

Rode VC1 10′ extension cable to remote the Rode VideoMic. Don’t make the mistake and buying a cheap cable like I did and not expect to get a lot of noise when you record. This cable is great for interviews by getting the microphone close to the person being interview and placing the Rode VideoMic just out of frame and then connecting the other end in to the camera. If you are doing something more than an interview you will need a longer cord or go to a second audio recording setup.

5-1 Reflector I use this a lot, and I am glad I went with this larger forty inch size. When you see me behind my desk I am using this reflector with natural light. It helps fill in the shadow portion of my face. I use the silver side for inside lighting and gold for outside. I have several amazing photos of my kids using this reflector where my wife is adding light to their faces while I take the shoot. This reflector can change a terrible lighting situation in to one that makes you say wow that is amazing lighting. I use it for almost all my video interviews I do as well because I can eliminate the fill light with this reflector. Also if you are in a situation with no shade and the direct light from the sun is too harsh just use the diffusion panel too even out the light on the person’s face you are interviewing. For the money this is your most powerful inexpensive lighting tool you can own, every amateur can afford this one.

Matthews Road Rags Kit If you shoot outside your studio a small, light, and compact kit for control light this kit from Matthews is a great choice, however it is a bit pricey. As far as I know no one else makes anything like this out there.

Watch me review it

18% Gray Card Since you can not correct white balance in post with DSLR video footage like you easily can with a RAW image you need to make sure you have the white balance set correctly, especially under mixed lighting situations where the camera’s automatic white balance has no idea what to use. This 18% gray card that can fold up and fit in your pocket is a great tool to make sure you get the prefect white balance each time. One of the things that confused me for the longest time was the only setting the white balance on the white side of this card, you can actually set it using the gray side which makes it a lot more convenient since that is the side you can use for setting exposure as well.

Watch me use it

24″ Digital Target for Exposure and White Balance
This has turned in to a nice learning tool for me, while I don’t use it for every shoot it has been a good tool on learning how to properly set the exposure on my DSLR for both video and pictures. Since you can not pick which type of meter mode on your Canon camera for video (such as spot metering) you can use this tool can help get the perfect exposure in difficult lighting situations. I usually fill the frame with the target and then within the waveform monitor and histogram (using Magic Lantern) I set the exposure and the white balance. When I am shooting pictures I tend to push the exposure to the right slightly just before clipping the highlights, but with video I make sure that the three spikes on the histogram line up evenly on the graph. It is a great technical tool to have for testing and production.

Learn how to use the target

Manfrotto 561BHDV mono pod. This tool is an amazing tool if you need to be fast on your feet. It is lightweight easy to adjust and creates shots that you just can’t get on my tripod. I use this probably 10 times more than I do with a locked-down tripod shot.

Watch me use the monopod

Manfrotto 222 Joystick Head My next door neighbor owns one of these which I have borrowed many times and I really need to buy one of my own because it works great when using a slider. If you are hopping around from slider shot to slider shot this joy stick head makes it so fast to get the slider shot you want. Once you have it set this thing just doesn’t move, a real neat piece of engineering. As you can see in the screen grab below you simply just squeeze the handle and rotate it in any direction to get the composition you want and then release.

Fancier FT-717AH fluid head: While this head is very smooth and is not that much money ($80) I am not sure I can recommend the Fancier since I dislike the mounting plate system it comes with so much. So that is why I am including the Manfrotto 501HDV head as a recommendation which is about twice the price but is worth it for a fast mounting system. The reason I dislike the Fancier mounting plate system is because it takes for ever to get it mounted, and when you try to release the plate the release lever is really hard to get at. So that is why I am linking to prices for the Manfrotto instead.

Zoom H4n mobile 4-track recorder. This is an extremely popular recording device for DSLR shooters, just about all the top people use this or the Zoom H1. What is so nice about is you can connect professional XLR microphones in to it such as a lav or wireless setup and mount this unit right now your rig. I personally don’t use this as much as others because I am lazy and would rather not deal with a second set of files I have to import and then sync later. But when I have used it it has been a great tool. The H4N can be a little complicated to use at first, if you are looking for something much easier to use and you can fit in to your talents pocket, then the Zoom H1 is the way to go. Instead of buying a very expensive wireless microphone system you can wire up your talent with a lav and the H1 in their pocket and sync it later in post. The downside of course is you can’t monitor what is going in to the H1.

Watch my review

Microphone stand If you do as many video interviews as I do that are the sit down type and you don’t want to mess around with running a lav up the shirt of a person you just met, get a microphone stand and mount your Rode VideoMic or whatever mic you have on a stand and put it down low just out of the frame and you will have some great audio. I got an adapter that allows the mic stand to connect with the Robe VideoMic. For the mic stand, this 5/8 inch to 3/8 inch adapter.

ND Filter One of the great advantages of DSLR video is the shallow depth of field. However if you are shooting outside you will quickly find capturing a shallow DOF and maintaining the 180 degree shutter rule is impossible. This is where a variable ND filter can help out. I did a lot of research on this one and found that the LightCraft Fader ND Mark II Filter is a good fit for the type of glass I own. I have not noticed any sort of color shift using this filter. Also you can use it to fine tune your exposure as well instead of reaching for the ISO or F-stop control.

Watch it in action during a daytime timelapse

B+W Circular Polarizer This type of filter is not to be confused with an ND filter (I was confused at first). Both ND filters and circular polarizers control exposure to some degree, but an ND filter all it does is to control exposure but with a circular polarizer has a much different use. Circular polarizer for the most part will cut the glare out of your shot and add some saturation and contrast. They are only intended for outdoor use (unless you have some glass you have to shoot through inside). They can help get more dynamic range into your camera. The downside is it only works 90 degrees from the sun when you are trying to darken the sky.

Watch my review

Canon LC-E8E Battery Charger [T2i/550D, T3i/600D]. This comes with your T2i camera but it is easy to lose like my friend did so I thought I would include it here.

DIY Spider Dolly. If you don’t want to build one yourself like I did, you can buy one from Konova for a good price. My brother-in-law who owns a machine shop built this one in a few hours with some wheels I had from an old inline skate and metal he had in the shop.

Great for product shots. You can spin around the product up close to create some very interesting looks for the product. With these type of wheels you really need a super smooth surface like glass, Formica counter-top, or smooth hardware floors. If you are looking to get shots up high where you do not have a smooth surface you should really look at getting a slider.

Watch it in action

Glidecam HD2000 Sometimes you need to travel from point A to point B, and walking with a DSLR while shooting video doesn’t work that well (too jerky). This unit makes walking or running with your DSLR much smoother. The HD2000 would work well for the Canon 5D or 7D.

The Glidecam HD1000 is better suited for really lightweight cameras like the T2i 550D even with a heavy lens like the Tokina 11-16.

I don’t own this one yet because I am still trying out other models.

Watch my review and see it in action

Color Chart I had this idea that this card could help me color correct my videos in a better way, well it didn’t help that much. However, since it was so cheap I still found that it was worth it because it taught me a lot about the waveform monitor.

It is a great tool for learning more about how your picture styles work as well. I use it in a lot of my tests. It is also helping me with my color grading.

Remote Timer intervalometer or the “timer remote controller” Aputure AP-TR1C. This unit is so inexpensive compared to the Canon model and works just as good. I use it mostly for time lapses,  however now that I have Magic Lantern instead I don’t really need it anymore. I took the link down to this timer because someone complained that it didn’t work for them. Mine unit 2 years later still works great (even on the original battery and it is always left on).

Watch me use it

27lbs. Sandbags For a long time I made many crude attempts to counter balance or weigh things down so they don’t fall over, so I finally picked up two of these and I now find I am using them all the time! Pick up a couple, they are well made and should last a life time.

Watch me review it

These Impact Light Stands very rugged and very affordable light stands that get really tall when fully extended. They are air cushioned so it won’t hurt your fingers on the way down. I really like them. They are also very light.

Black Rapid RS-4 Camera Strap I really love this strap compared to the stock strap that comes with your camera. It places the camera in a much better spot on your body to travel around with, plus it somewhat hides your camera from view compared to a normal strap.

Plus I love the little pocket that allows you to carry extra batteries or memory cards. Yes it is a bit pricey for what it does however would you trust a cheap strap to carry your expensive camera upside down?

ikan iLED 144 light. One of the best built small LED lights I have tested. I really like how you can change the color from daylight to tungsten just by rotating a knob and not having to deal with gels. It is not cheap compared to others but it comes with a nice rechargeable battery and charger and has one of the best hot shoe/light stand adapters I have tried.

Sony HDR-SR7 (2007 discontinued HD camcorder) I use it sometimes for my BTS footage on my tutorials. If you are looking for a great camcorder I would recommend the Canon Vixia.

Green Screen

Step up rings review coming soon…

Rubber Lens Hoods review coming soon

Replacement lens caps coming soon…

Gear I Want To Buy Next

Manfrotto 577 Rapid Connect Adapter with Sliding Mounting Plate (501PL) I am so tired of switching out plates all the time, I need to speed things up and buy one of these.

Steadicam Merlin Camera Stabilizing System (if I don’t go with the Glidecam HD1000)

Sennheiser Evolution G3 100 Series Wireless microphone system, I need this badly for interviews.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Zoom Lens.

Cheap view finder for outdoor use.

Software I Use:

• Premiere Pro CS5 & After Effects. I also use Sony Vegas occasionally. The main reason I switched from Sony Vegas to Premiere Pro CS5 was because of the playback of native t2i files in Premiere with the right graphics card. If you are using Vegas on a desktop that is older than two years old with less than 4gig of RAM and having lots of issues, my advice for you if you do lots of editing is to get a new desktop with a minimum of an I7 processor and a minimum of 6gig, that should solve a lot of your issues. If you are looking to get super smooth editing (preview window) is to get the configuration or better of the computer equipment I have listed below and use Premiere.
• Lightroom 3 I can’t say enough what this software package has done for my T2i pictures! Truly amazing what you can do with this program so easily and quickly, it is not like super complicated like Photoshop is.
• Fireworks CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Did you know you can do a lot of really advanced video editing within Photoshop? It can do some amazing things for you, I am still learning about all the cool tools that I can use.
• Windows 7: I started with Apple computers when they first came out but the corporate culture dragged over to the dark side.

Computer Equipment I Use:

• HP Desktop i7-930 2.8GHz 12gig of RAM If you are in the market for a new computer make sure you get tons of RAM and fast hard drives. I will be adding some SSD drives in the future as the costs come down. But get at least an I7 processor and 12gig of RAM if you plan on doing video editing with tons of clips on the timeline.
• MSI N240GT-MD1G/D5 GeForce GT 240 1GB GDDR5 graphics card (Premiere’s Playback Mercury Engine)
• Samsung SyncMaster 24″ monitor running at 1920 x 1200