What can I get for a grand

As I've been on a lot of social media sites, looking at people who are looking to get into the film game a lot of people have been listing questions about trying to get into the film game for under a thousand dollars (that's us dollars my global readers), and after giving my advice time and time again for particular items and suggesting them individually to each post I decided to come up with this list. It's my recommendation on how to get you started in the film game for under a grand.

So first and foremost you need a Camera, I recommend the Canon t3i, it has the same sensor chip as the Canon 7d and the Canon 60d. It also has a 3x crop that you can use in film mode extending the lens length by three but still maintaining true1080p resolution and that is going to be the bulk of the budget right there.

Next you need a microphone, particularly a directional shotgun mic, the Azden SMX 10 is great for an onboard camera mic, and for the sub grand market it comes in really handy too.

Thirdly you need a tripod/camera stabilizer. I use both the Cowboy Studio Shoulder Mount and the 60 inch Dolica Tripod.

All of these prices are off of Amazon.com's website

Canon T3i 771.13
Azden SMX 10 84.99
Cowboy Studio Shoulder Mount 26.69
Dolica Tripod 65.99
Transend 32 GB SD Card 43.52


Your total cost is just under a grand, and with that you are ready to go out and shoot the world in film.

To check out all of these items together on Amazon.com click here.

New Technology on the Way

So, today both Canon and Red had major announcements, each announcing respective products from their companies.

Red came out and talked about the Scarlet-X, which has been a camera I personally was waiting for for almost two years since I first heard about it. It is a part of the Red line and can take 4k lines of resolution. And it will cost under 10k US, and is set to start selling and shipping in a couple of weeks.

Canon's camera that they announced might be equally amazing with 4k, but I'm less impressed because of the cost 20k and also a release date of about January of next year. I have included links to both of these announcements on other websites here.

Red Scarlet-X here
Canon EOS C300 here

For now though I will still continue using my Canon 7D and I am extremely happy about that.