Questions about DSLRs

[hamzahimself]

Hey guys 

               I am planning to buy a DSLR for video making and I have 2 fair questions::

   1- What is best a previous model high end used camera or a new mid range one ?

   2- Shall I start with expensive lenses and "cheap" body and evoluate with the boudy or Vice Versa ?

 

 

[Laputacake]

1. I went with highish end used and it works fine

2. get a good body first

[Nexxus]

id get a new mid range one simply because cameras have a life span when it comes to the shutter, its actually rated on the product page I forget the technical name for it.

As for len/body your lens is more important then the body, on top of that if you are new to it, even with an entry level body there is going to be alot of stuff you are going to have to learn. I don't encourage getting a high end body simply cause there are going to be a ton of features in there that you are not going to use for a long time and you already got enough to learn as it is.

[bob345]

Lets start off simple, Whats your budget?

[hamzahimself]

Lets start off simple, Whats your budget?

1200$ between lens and body 

[the ginger gamer]

Well personally i recommend getting used (as long as you are a good shopper) and start off with the kit lens and a good body and the work your way up by getting nicer lenses. Personally i got the nikon d3100 for only $200 in like new condition which is awesome.

[bob345]

1200$ between lens and body 

you could get a first get canon 7d and a 24-105 for just a bit more than that.

[RH00D]

Always get a good lens first, that is most important as you could have the best body in the world but if the lens is junk then it doesn't matter.

 

Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 is a phenomenal lens. MKBHD uses it on his RED camera, and it only cost $800. You could couple that with a Canon T5i which is fine for recording 1080p 30 FPS, or 60FPS but at 720p and runs $650 new. Which would put you at $1450 pre-tax. If you could find a used one you could probably get it within your $1200 budget.

 

But there is rarely any good reason to spends large amounts of money on a DSLR body unless you insist on having a full frame sensor, are doing high level professional work or just want the convenience/time-saving features that more expensive models offer.

[Dw136]

Before all this camera talk...

Do you have an audio solution? If you don't already please allot budget into that. Many people who start off making videos think the camera comes with a mic. Yes it does but it's absolute shit. You have to take care to get clean audio. People will instantly kill any video with scratchy, hissy, muddy audio. 

 

 

Honestly we need to understand what you experience, willingness to learn, your subject, and your expectations. For instance if you're doing product reviews it may be okay to work with an premium bridge camera like the Panasonic FZ1000 or Sony's RX10. If you're looking for something more cinematic (story telling) you may want to go down the mirrorless route with like a Panaonic's new G7 or sony's A6000 an get some cheap old Canon FD lenses to complete the look. If it's action then it would be really cool to go GoPro 4 + 3-axis gimbal. If you plan to do photo and video then you're most likely looking at a Nikon 3xxx or 5xxx or a Canon Tx(i). (x's are potential model numbers, The higher the number the newer it is) 

[Suika]

People will instantly kill any video with scratchy, hissy, muddy audio. 

As a person who shuts down any video with poor audio quality, I agree with this greatly.

[TroubleKlef]

Go for the cheap body, good lens, and good audio.

 

As to whether or not you go used high end or new mid end is tricky. Usually camera tech evolves very slowly and older generation hardware isn't too much different from newer ones but once in a blue moon something really fancy comes out (such as the 70D's dual pixel autofocus at the time) which may warrant getting that instead of let's say a gen 1 7D.