HD DSLR Production Kit - Basic, Advanced Basic and Pro - With Pricing

INTRODUCTION
I believe you will find this information very useful as you begin to sort out what kind of gear you will need to begin producing HD DSLR video. I have to say right up front several very important things regarding my recommendations:

• This is just my opinion based upon practical experience filming, research and talking to other pros but that doesn't mean any of this is written in stone, there's plenty of room for debate


• Regarding costs - like all gear, when it comes to things like lenses, tripods, computers and software - you will find pricing ranging all the way from the cheapest of the "el-cheapo" solutions to the ridiculously "you've got to be kidding me" expensive. Remember you can RENT practically all of this gear


• The best gear doesn't make you the best filmmaker - you can't buy things like talent, dedication to learning and patience - which are all much more important than any piece of gear.

I've divided my list into 3 categories. You will find each one discussed in its own post to follow this introduction.

The first package is the "Basic Kit" - equipment I would say I wouldn't want to try HD DSLR filmmaking without. Is it impossible to capture images without each and every item on the list? Absolutely not, but, in the vast majority of cases, I don't think you will be happy with the results. With that said, I encourage anyone starting on this journey to begin with the most basic, basic of kits and see what you can achieve with that before moving on.

By "basic basic" I mean a camera with the kit lens, a single storage card to go into the camera and a computer loaded with a free piece of editing software. (Heck, you can even debate needing the computer and editing software because it's possible as well to just "edit in camera" and then view your results on the camera's LCD scene by scene.)

The next level up I call the "Advanced Basic" and this is more for the person that really wants to raise their capabilities beyond the hobbyist level. The additional equipment found here saves you time and energy while helping you achieve much better results.

Last, I've come up with the "Pro Kit" which is for those that probably want to do this professionally. There's actually another level beyond this that I won't even attempt to describe that I will call the Vincent LaForet level - here you are into true Hollywood filmmaking and can find equipment like helicopter rentals, super high end lighting, gyros and tons of other whiz-bang gear that most of us will never see let alone use. But read his blog anyway to see how the big boys roll!