Pulling the trigger on Wedding Vid Company (need help with what to get)

[mcfly]

I know it's only fall, but this spring I plan arming myself with a solid rig to get me in the "wedding videographer" ring. I hope to have money (~$3000 for body alone) for a camera (I'm thinking dSLR) by January and give me time to learn/play.

I've started to price other worthwhile things out, like follow focus, steady cam, and it seems to get expensive quick.

I see some people on this forum have shut down the idea of dSLR for Wedding Shoots, but I've seen first hand how well it can turn out. Also, it looks as though the Canon 5D mkIII blows a lot of prosumer camcorders out of the water in low light (at least the ones that are near the same price point that I've seen)

So my question is this, If I have a rough budget of say $6000 for all additional equipment, lenses, steady's, focus assist, mics, etc, what setup would give me the best results?

[Zero]

Wether dedicated video camera or DSLR, you'd need to budget for 2 cams if you're seriously considering setting up for weddings.
The 5D produces great video, but the 12 minutes recording is gonna screw you at a wedding, especially if you miss the vows or kiss during the re-switch.
I'd go for a good video camera + Dslr to make sure of the continuity. A 17-55 f2.8 lens will cover the Dslr along with some good mics + radio mic. It's an expensive set up, but pays dividends if you make a great job!

[Celestial Vision]

Just an opinion - go for a dedicated video unit and not a DSLR. I've been playing (rather expensively) with a combination unit of a dslr & video camera and to be fair if you use a steady cam type rig your video will simply spank the dslr. Maybe I'm not as strong as I used to be but the dslr does seem to get awfully heavy!!!

Chris
Celestial Vision - Wedding Videos

[Midnight Blue]

@ Celestial Vision. Are you saying you DSLR is heavier than your video camera ?

@ Zero, The 5D MkIII now shoots 29:59mins.

[Zero]

[QUOTE=Midnight Blue;189040@ Zero, The 5D MkIII now shoots 29:59mins. [/QUOTE]
. . . and a wedding ceremony = 45 whichever DSLR he uses in the wedding market you can bet your life one day . . . the shooting limit will expire just as they're leaning in for the kiss

[Midnight Blue]

Quite right.

He could get the Nikon D800 with HDMI out and record onto a Ninja.

I might be inclined to start accumulating your list of essential items like tripod, radio mics etc. and wait until after the autumn releases to see what camera you might want to get.

[vidmanners]

OP lives in Canada, so kit from US should be cheaper than here in UK - but no-one wants to pay too much
- and I get the impression that many UK weddings are shot on DSLRs- but these are long-standing operators with NEW kit. However, for someone new to the genre, I wonde that he shouldn't settle for being second-crew for an experienced operative some miles away (thereby avoiding business conflict issues).

As to camcorder/DSLRs debate it will never be resolved as the difference is somewhat blurred, except when it comes to Audio. . .. surely an area where B&G want to hear their moment crystal-clear? ((I wonder if sometime this is faked, with a private recording according to a prepared script - that would raise the quality stakes and could be sync'd with any Editor that has a velocity feature.(rubber band?).

I think the big advantage of DSLRs is the ease of getting shallow DoF and if well focussed the result certainly looks pretty good. Camcorder by contrast have an ability to process the results such that nearly everything is made sharp. (this doesn't apply to prosumer kit, priced £3k up IMHO).


I think OP should gain lots of experience before attempting a new career - but maybe he has this, I didn't get that impression.

[Celestial Vision]

Yes - I have a 70-300mm lens bolted to the front on my dslr, + flash + flash extension bar (sometimes used for LED lights) plus a rig to stabilise the lot when moving.

It sure does get heavy. Of course when its on Tripod it doesn't matter - you just can't leave it there and there are so many times in tight areas you need to hand hold.

My video camera (a panasonic) is soooooooo much lighter.

Chris

Celestial Vision - Wedding Videos

[Z Cheema]

I would hire and then purchase the kit that you can work well with and works best for you

[mcfly]

I would hire and then purchase the kit that you can work well with and works best for you

what do u mean u would hire? u would rent, im assuming?

thanks for all the input folks!

so here's the full story: I work on an oil rig and have 10 days off at a time. in the spring i end up with 2-3 months off. i do have a passion for creating something worthwhile and meaningful within the video medium. what i'm looking to do is purchase my rig/setup (or most of it) and learn the ins and outs of it, get comfortable/confident with it ahead of time so when the wedding season rolls around I'll be ready.

I guess what I could do is purchase the dSLR setup (I have REALLY been leaning towards it after seeing some pretty awesome results), rent what I need to (second cam, perhaps camcorder) and go with whatever I like better... I could always sell the dSLR and move that money into a camcorder setup. I'm assuming a D800 or 5D mkIII setup will holds a lot of its value.

As for experience I really don't have a ton. What I do have are ideas, interest and quite a passion to make things that move people. I love the idea of using music to influence the feel of each shot. I also find that I have a natural ability to create a vision in my head of what would look best to each moment in a song. Wedding Videography makes a lot of sense based on

here's basically the only real 'artistc' sort of vid I've produced:

Once Where Home Was - YouTube

Also, how well would continuity work with a dSLR and a camcorder?

Thanks to everyone for time/suggestions.