Stop Wasting Money on This Useless Filmmaking Gear

[@tombuck]

It took me too many years to learn “buy once, cry once” but wow it’s so true.

[@thekevinfoster]

It gets tiring hearing “buy nice or buy twice” when that’s not really possible for a lot of people. In essence, it turns into “buy nice or don’t buy at all.” Understanding how to make do with what you have seems more important in a lot of ways. Plus it’s why I appreciate budget recommendations, even when I know they aren’t gonna be as good.

[@eightsprites]

You also dont know what works for you until you try. So Im also do not believe the ”but nice or twice”.

[@Enskakuski]

I disagree. We’ve all been at a stage where we think we don’t have the budget to buy nice and end up buying something cheap only to realize that it breaks or doesn’t work well enough to fill the need. Then you need to spend more money buying something else and in the end have spent nearly the same amount of money that it would’ve cost buying nice in the first place. There are places to save money and there are places where you shouldn’t. That’s what the video was all about. The point is don’t buy cheap on these categories until you can buy nice. I’m personally at a situation where I have been storing years of work on a Drobo 5D that broke. Had to buy a replacement used (because new ones aren’t available) and have it shipped from US to Finland. I’m hoping my data is safe on the drives. I do make backups but have to do them manually and when the Drobo broke I was due to make one soon so there is still work that I hadn’t had time to backup yet. Having experienced that I can definitely agree with not buying cheap when it comes to storage.

[@LivingUnlabeled]

Buy nice or buy twice is definitely a valid mantra to live by. It will ultimately depend on what you’re buying and use case, but both sides are valid. I for one am not sure whether I truly need a video monitor for the little bits I film. Why would I buy an 7in Atomos Ninja when I can just buy a Feelworld off Amazon to see if it even improves my workflow. This do be just an example and I know it most likely will but the question then becomes do I truly need the best most color accurate screen with external RAW recording on my 8bit mirrorless or do I just stick with something more affordable that doesn’t give me the EXACT accuracy I’d prefer. At the end of the day, if my Feelworld craps out on me, I’ll know whether it did or didn’t help as much as I thought it would and can make a decision about the next purchase there. Now that I have the experience with my first video monitor, the mantra applies.

[@LivingUnlabeled]

@@Enskakuskiget all your stuff off the drobo. sure, it’s super seamless when it’s setup and working but like you mentioned, it shit the bed and work could have or was lost and now what. buy drives, an enclosure, use something like FreeNAS to setup RAID with redundancy and when one drive fails, your data is still safe. if the enclosure fails, migrate the drives to a new enclosure and the RAID will be fine.

[@PeterHatterPhotographyLtd]

Great advice here and one of the big takeaways for me is that pre-production testing of new gear is important. There’s nothing worse than finding out that kit is problematic when we’re working for a client.

[@JakeSloan]

Such great advice! Also love seeing you do these videos on location as someone who works in the arctic a lot it's always good to see fellow filmmakers out in the wild!

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks Jake, glad it was helpful!

[@sembalo1776]

File management is soooo important very much agree with that last point, if you wanna be extra careful and have the money for it use the rule of 3! Aka have your footage in 3 different places, that investing in some cloud or off site storage might not be a bad idea! Great video Luc!

[@LucForsyth]

Great idea, thanks for sharing!

[@mariapelzer8005]

It would be nice to know what the cheap items are so we can avoid them 👀

[@LucForsyth]

Seems like lots of people want to know, my bad! Andycine was the monitor brand…never again!

[@NeilEvery]

@@LucForsyth I think Andycine is the same as Feelworld so that's a 2 for 1 combo of Do Not Buy! I'm in need of a new monitor but cannot justify a SmallHD. Is there a mid-range monitor you would recommend? I've seen reviews on the Osee and the Portkeys but that have highlighted positives but also a lot of negatives too. Is there anything in the $500-600 range that will get the job done?

[@taylor1294]

I’d be willing to bet he’s talking about Tiffen nd filters lmao

[@mariapelzer8005]

@@LucForsythI almost got an andycine monitor but I opted for the Feelworld lut7 instead!

[@dowkman1]

@@taylor1294probably polar pro to be honest, I’ve noticed color tints when using a friends

[@JWS1968]

Batteries, I don't know about V-Mount but camera off brand and Sony NP-F batteries I have had loads of off brand and had zero issues.

[@offroadmark]

My fear!! I was hired to film an interview recently and had the same if not worse crackling sound throughout the whole interview. What saved me is that new-ish feature in Davinci Resolve called, "VOICE ISOLATION". Just wanted to note it here to help others. Thanks for your video.

[@PeaLoop]

Excellent, no nonsense advise. 👍🏼

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks, glad you liked it!

[@mahutaproductions8498]

For the monitor, I went around the limitations of the cheap model I now have by disabling literally everything on the monitor itself, and casting it from my camera instead. This saved me a lot considering I was upgrading my whole kit from mainly photo with some gimbal video to proper filmmaking (rig, v-mounts, tripod, mics, etc etc). For my use case this is working for now, because I get the super high quality peaking from my Canon displayed on the cheap and relatively bright screen. Some day I'll get a proper one for sure though.

[@LucForsyth]

Nice! Glad to hear that worked for you, maybe should have tried that myself

[@ThinkAboutItNow]

Good tips Luc really good.

[@johnwetherall6850]

Honestly couldn't agree more on all of these, but especially cheap grip gear. All my light stands / C stands I bought second hand and they still cost more than the Amazon knockoffs but they are coming up to 8 years now and outlived almost 3 different camera systems. The other item I would include in this is a well-branded Tripod, considering you're trusting it to support thousands of dollars worth of kit, saving up for a strong and safe tripod I would consider a must. Also like stands can easily outlive your camera system Considering I use these items on almost every shoot I would say they have been the best investment

[@Thatsmantas]

I agree that used items can last you a long time, and their resale value is great. I just bought a camera kit that can record 6K30 in ProRes RAW, has 32-bit audio, and with a couple of Canon FD lenses, it's a beast. Everything cost me less than £2,000

[@sundersquare]

which camera?

[@Thatsmantas]

Panasonic S1 w/ atomos ninja and zoom F3@@sundersquare

[@LucForsyth]

Such good value! Good call!

[@maltsday]

I also got the S1 and some Canon FD lenses for my start. I got the S1 Body + 2 FD lenses for under 1k€ (v Log Upgrade included) and the cam in itself is such a beast. Now as the S2 got released I Bet you can get it even cheaper. My budget was 1,5k and I also got a gimbal with focus motor, feelworld monitor, smallrig cage, cables, harddrives, NISI true color VND etc. It's insane how much money you can save when looking for used items. I'm saving up for better lenses and lights next. Mist say the Canon FD lenses are often a little too soft and stylized for my taste

[@takart]

I have same VND filter on myXT4!😄 Thanks for making this video. I bought a cheap monitor once, then, ended up purchasing Shinobi only a year or so later. Lesson learned.

[@foxworth303]

I'm a big fan of fixed NDs over VNDs. Even the best VNDs (in my experience) leave artifacts at the extremes. With fixed NDs, I've found that 3 stops for shade and 6 stops for direct sun pretty much covers every shooting environment I'm in, and I can make small adjustments to ISO or aperture if I need to really dial it in. I use the Freewell magnetic system so swapping a filter takes maybe 10 seconds.

[@raphaelprotti5536]

Very useful for someone making his foray into cinematography. Leaves me wondering where you CAN cut corners...

[@OrigEntertainmentOfficial]

My only disagreement is on the used camera bodies. I had a bad experience with a used camera body. I did my due diligence and now I just buy new bodies. For all the reasons you mentioned, that is probably the most important tool that I need to know will work when I need it to work. We need multiple of the same bodies and I need to know they are going to work as much as possible.

[@LucForsyth]

Interesting…sorry to hear that. I’ve never had an issue, but maybe I’m just lucky!

[@OrigEntertainmentOfficial]

@@LucForsyth Great channel BTW. Inspiring on many levels.

[@EmileModesitt]

As others have said, I definitely think you should list the products you had bad experiences with. If a product is bad, it's not throwing shade to call it out -- it's telling the truth :)

[@jean-philippegrignom6479]

For back ups HDDs are best because even if the electronics fail you can swap the disk in another drive a recupe your footage.

[@RealityDistortion]

This is what i was going to say. Nothing wrong with cheap drives, just don't use it for longterm storage... In fact the cost of quality NVMe m2 drives have come down so much no one should be paying hundreds for samsung T2's etc... just get external drive cases & make your own, then get some og HDDs for backups...

[@bseng]

I couldn't agree more, it's definitely better to hurts once spending a bit more on quality equipment. Another piece of equipment that I wouldn't cheap out on is a tripod. I know you've done a video on tripods in the past, but a good tripod will probably last you your career if you look after it.

[@MlodzikovaVideoCreation]

Thank you so much for sharing all of these tips! Especially hearing about your beginners mistakes is precious becouse you're still there and doing pretty well. Really appreciate your content.

[@spinkscapes775]

I've had two SmallHD monitors in my time. Couldn't recommend them as both stopped working just outside the warranty period. You will likely get much better longevity out of far cheaper monitors.

[@visage331]

Great video as usual! Gear prices have pushed me to look into older gear and open-source gear as well, in an effort to get high-quality equipment without breaking my wallet. I recently found out about an open-source camera called the CinePi that's based on a Raspberry Pi and claims to be a full-frame 4k pro-level cinema camera that's all open-source parts and supposed to be only a few hundred dollars total. It would be very interesting to see what a pro like yourself thinks of the camera and it's functionality.

[@LucForsyth]

Oh that’s cool…yeah, the bodies themselves are starting to become less and less important - it’s all the rest of it that matters!

[@Urbartho]

Backup drives are so important, I had once a drive failing, since that I never wipe any sd card before it's been copied on at least 2 drives stored in different locations.

[@ProcessedDigitally]

i also bought enough sd cards that so in addition to the backups i don't even format the cards till the client gets the project. Those cards i store in a different location from the HDD storage.

[@LucForsyth]

💯 agree!

[@LucForsyth]

That’s a great solution if you have the cards for it. Thanks for sharing!

[@CPSWEDEN]

Oh you got that horrible blue, magenta dot... Same as on my 18-55 Fuji... It makes using it impossible and the bokeh is so stressful. Now I 'm gonna continue watching your video. Have a great day!

[@segwaymusic]

Great tips Luc! Thanks.

[@IsraelSuperguide]

What modest external screen would you recommend without breaking the bank? - If you tell others what brand let you down, you will help others, this way we won't make the same mistake. I am in the process of buying one. thanks for the insight

[@thekevinfoster]

He said andycine in another comment

[@joestrahl6980]

Agreed. I have never opted for cheap batteries, I have avoided cheap cables and nd filters from the start despite the up front cost. However I am still not in line with where I should be with memory and back up.

[@LucForsyth]

It took me ages to get a good backup system going…but once it’s in place you can stop thinking about it at least!

[@WatchMysh]

I'm guilty of saving on cables, too. Especially microHDMi to Hdmi. Also learned it the hard way to never save money on this particular piece of gear. May I ask if you have a 5 inch monitor recommendation for semi-pro film making (KZbin documentaries)? I'm okay with investing but I guess I don't need the high end stuff.

[@cesar_rodriguezb]

Saludos compa, I just bought a cheap vnd coming as you from photojournalism to video and i had the x marks, learned the hard way, now I have to buy a good one, i saw your video a week too late. Bueno, muy buenos videos, saludos desde Nayarit

[@tylerstooksbury3050]

I’ve had a couple monitor SDI cables that get used almost every week for over 3 years at this point. They were $75 each which isn’t cheap, but it was so worth it.

[@LucForsyth]

totally!

[@robinprobyn1971]

good video , but I don't think I would have chosen the B roll of that shot gun mic mounted is the most weird way possible , on a boom pole .around 9.15 . when talking specifically about stands .. :)

[@vandalpaulius]

I can attest for quality cables. Even if I'm hobbyist I had experienced that thing when after 3 day event with dozens of interviews you go home and realize that all audio is unusable. Now all my charging cables and audio cables are branded and yes, they cost probably 5 times as much as cheap versions, but hey, I'd rather spend 30 pounds on a cable that I know works than gamble

[@mradriiiian]

I recently upgraded from my 200€ Lumix G7 to a Lumix S5ii and invested in ONE lens and a adapter for my vintage lenses while buying the Nisi Filters, Batterys, a monitor, Grip gear and a solid tripod Do NOT waste money on cheap tripods! I bought the Smallrig Free Blazer. It's super fast and easy to set up and I love it the next thing, I'm gonna do is buy more and better hard drives and batterys, then light and after that maby new lenses.

[@LucForsyth]

Awesome tip on the tripod, thanks!

[@johnclay7644]

informative video luc, wish that expense wasn't;t such big factor, informative content.

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks John!

[@LeonBosset]

I have a question: You spoke about quality monitors. How did you miss the green X's from the ND filter? Btw, I learned about using cheap SSD's this year. 😢

[@SoundAndAmbience]

Variable Nd, you can limit colour shift, but all can have x patern (cross polarisation)

[@who2999]

I've never found any solid state hard drive to be reliable enough for long term storage. Even the really good ones. They're great to work from (editing) or for quick transfers but they aren't a solution for long term storage.

[@LucForsyth]

Interesting - so you just use them for working drives? I've got all my long term on 3.5 inch, but looking for a good edit drive

[@who2999]

@@LucForsyth At the station where I work we've got a large network san drive system but when they made the switch from mac's to pc's it limited the speed on the san (which was made for macs) to an unworkable level. Our work around while waiting for the new san (planned part of the upgrade but planned for a year later because corporate logic >_

[@AARONMICHAELFILM]

Recently returned a BM7 for a Cine 7 and I have no regrets! Sure, it was 4x more, but it is so much better.

[@SlavGuns]

I agree with a lot of what you’re saying except two things. First the batteries. Batteries are either going to work or they’re not gonna work. So if you have multiple batteries, it will definitely be better. I would rather have two cheap batteries instead of one OEM bat. if a battery fails on you, you absolutely should have a bunch of spares with you if you are professional worth any salt. It is completely different from having something with zero redundancy such as a poor quality and filter. Second comment on storage. One thing that you’re failing to take into account is that many of the higher cost brands are actually the same exact thing as a cheaper. One with a bunch of markup. Same factory different packaging. In any case, it’s all going to be about redundancy. If you only have your data in one place, you cannot call yourself a professional. This is why it’s much better to have good quality, mid-level, hard drives, rather than being stupid enough to blow all your money on much more expensive storage, which is going to fail on you. And just look at all the people who keep losing footage sandisk professional drives. Always follow 3, 2, 1 rule of redundancy.

[@SevenPhotonsFilms]

Really Great Advices! Fortunately, I think I have followed these steps all the time....except with the cables, and yes, I had a bad moment with cheap cables once too. I've been also used SSD from SanDisk Extreme, I hope mine ones keep doing its job well 🤞. By the way: you're channel is amazing, a secret treasure 👍🎉👍

[@LucForsyth]

Much appreciated! And I have some of those drives too, so fingers crossed for us both!

[@nordfilmcompany]

NISI Filters are high quality filters. Used them on almost all my landscape work, and I’m now looking into the C5 kit for video.

[@LucForsyth]

I’ve been happy with mine for sure!

[@Stone1108]

I didn’t know about the Sandisk issue. 🙈Or is that a good thing seeing as I use one connected to my camera and touchwood 🤞yet, or maybe I should change brands now i’ve tempted fate. 🤔

[@twobrothers5855]

I like that you're not saying that dont buy those things, but dont buy it cheap:D

[@edwardtaylor6293]

My two Anton Bauers just died one day. Just bricks after that. No warning at all. They just stopped working. They were less than 6 months old. One died then about three weeks later the other died. They had only been charged on an expensive Anton Bauer charger too. No help from the company. Spending a lot does not always get you good or reliable equipment.

[@kamalsinnofilms]

I got that same disk ssd extreme pro a few months ago, in the middle of a project, the hard disk fails and it tell me that I need to format it. I spent 10 hours recovering the data and moved them back to my seagate normal hard drive that has been with me for over 5 years and barely use the sandisk. As I was YouTubing a solution, I discovered the mess Standish has done with this product and thousands other than me who almost had a heart attack due to this problem

[@2424rocket]

Don’t you test your gear before you go out into the field. I always do a shoot at the office or in the studio before I do the real thing. Always check out the gear ahead of time. If you’re a pro, how do you not know this?

[@LucForsyth]

I do test the stuff before leaving. The problems for me are when they fail in the field. I travel internationally for most jobs and a monitor can seem like it focuses fine in the office, then when you try and follow a moving subject in challenging light it doesn't keep up. Or an XLR cable can work fine in the morning and then have static hiss after lunch. My current shoot is 3 months long, so testing before I leave is also relative. Good tip though!

[@CircuitBoardcokr]

I agree with most of your saying, but buying used electronics like FS7 over 5 years is definitely risky thing, few things I do not recommend as a former technician, my job before cinematographer.

[@itrepreneurpodcast]

Wow. What a great video. Thank you

[@mochouinard]

I partially agree on batteries... In my case, I have fun to test batteries... So far the BEST v-mount battery I ever got was a Rolux, which I would call off-brand battery. Bought two 230Wh battery from them in 2018, and I tested their capacity a few week ago, and I got 233Wh and 235Wh ! Now I just bought some really cheap 95Wh battery no brand one and got 45Wh out of them, and I got 5 K&F V-Mount battery rated to 99Wh but I got 89Wh max from them. I had 4 V-Mount battery no brand that I loved ! Nice size, 150Wh capacity. It look good, felt good and worked just fine for my need ! I though it run time was ok... I rented them at one point, and they used it on a light ! They killed 2 of my battery ! I just tested the capacity of those 150Wh battery, and I had about 45Wh left in them ! So if I were to buy a battery today based on past experience, Rolux would be my choice IF they are as good as in the past ! But maybe their cell are worst today... We might get a bit more chance to get good battery if we pay more, but their warranty are not better. My feeling is Rolux is the manufacturer for Anton Bauer.... They make reference battery design, and get people to do a finish custom design, and Rolux make it for them. One things I learn to love recently on the cheap battery I got, is I wish all battery had USB-C charging... USB-C charger take soo little space, AND I can use the same battery to power my laptop.

[@Kurzlun]

Hey Luc :) Love your content and have been binging it ever since i found your channel a few weeks ago! keep up the amazing quality content!! i do have one question tho, since AUDIIO ist your sponsor, can you maybe make a video on how to use and navigate the platform properly? i have signed up to it after seeing you reffer to it and also cuz it was the cheapest option and im at the start of my filmmaking career. but im having real difficulities finding good fitting music there fast and efficiently and end up spending hours or even a whole day just to find the right music. it might be me, but unfortunately I have difficulties with the platform so far and hope for some insights on how you are using and navigating it :) thanks a lot and looking forward to your following content! :)

[@erroneousbosh]

Make your own cables. In your car, carry a toolbox with connectors, cable, soldering iron, sidecutters and so on. You *are* going to break an important audio cable (it's always audio cables, sometimes it's video assist cables). Or, you're filming a band, and the guitarist breaks their cable. Or something. Something is going to break, something that's an absolute showstopper. Then what happens? Hey remember that time we were stuck and the camera guy just whipped out a soldering iron and fixed it in like ten seconds? Yeah that really saved the day!

[@latonya11]

Thank you!

[@AlbertoMendoza]

My workhorse is a 4TB Sandisk SSD and I now keep reading how l sketchy Sandisk drives are😅🤞🏼

[@Sgyozo]

I usually make my own cables, from quality parts, a lot cheaper than buying it and i can make unique lengths. Klotz cables, Neutrik connectors for XLR, i also made cables for my Alexa, instead of 200$ it was about 60$. Still expensive, but i wouldn't use cheap connectors but original Fischer, Lemo. I also bought Bebob batteries from ebay, they still have 60-70% battery life, and they were 30$ each. I'll replace the cells some day to some professional ones, even with higher capacity. Sure, you need to learn to solder and spot weld, but it's nice to have these skills, never know when you have to fix a cable in the middle of a forest. :D

[@poti732]

What is the ND with the green tint? So i csn avoid it.

[@seecraig]

@LucForsyth Please do tell. I've used GenusTech Eclipse for years. 1 to 9 stops and only issue was going past 9 and getting the dreaded X. There were virtually no reviews. I've recently switched to Nisi True Color for several reasons. Decided it was one of the best although it's a slight inconvenience to add the 4 Stop ND to extend beyond 5. Although not all less expensive VNDs are bad though so it really is important to name names.

[@poti732]

Yeah , i dont care if it causes trouble for the company... if they make shit this is what they get. I use polar pro for VND but im not sure if the colorcast is good enough. @@seecraig

[@LucForsyth]

The ones I had a bad experience with were Polar Pros. I like their matte boxes and drone filters, but the full size VNDs were off - at least the ones I had. It's been a couple years since I tried them, maybe they've improved?

[@poti732]

@@LucForsyth It SEEMS , i have the Peter Mckinnon version and i haven't noticed hard green tint , it has a suttle color change that gives it a warmer tone but it is correctable in post and at least consistent when i turn the VND not shifting to other colors based on the turning .

[@jonny_brook_ben]

Quick Question in the main interview while your speaking (WS) there is a weird reflection on you? is this telepromter glass reflection, looks like double exposure/double image.

[@doityourself949]

What was the green tint filter???? 😅

[@2mfotografia81]

Which are good hd brands then? Can’t seem to find a 100% or at least 90% reliable one. Have lost expensive and mid and cheap branded hds.

[@BenBowmanNYC]

@LucForsyth Great info! Thank you! With the FX3 would you add the IR Cut filter for the Nisi variable ND? What if you are using 5+ stops of ND?

[@Elias-alva]

What is a good xlr cable?

[@VincyVinn]

I had a similar bad experience with a cheap XLR cable on my Diety SMic-2 while shooting my short film. There was an annoying frequency interruption noise in the audio. Still figuring out how to clean it up.

[@LucForsyth]

Absolute nightmare, I've been there!

[@jean-philippegrignom6479]

My zyhune tube lights lasted me 5 monts... and having them repaired is the same price as the lights because of shipping.

[@ejays99]

LMAO I buy all these things and you're right. But I have gotten away with some of them though. I think the key is watching review videos on the stuff you want to buy, there are hidden gems out there and we need to save a buck where we can.

[@ganganthefatman1382]

Do you have any experiemce with smallrig npf batteries? Ive boiled my choices down to either those or sony. Ill go with the sony batteries if i need to but id rather go with smallrig if theyre just as reliable.

[@WhySteve]

Was it the feelworld monitor? Because I just bought one and I found the focus peaking on my wide shots is not the most accurate. Although, because the monitor is quite large, I can manual focus without focus peaking fairly well. Also, my computer's powersupply blew al my hard drives a few weeks ago, so now I've gotta reshoot a showreel because I have nothing lol. Anyways, good luck with the trip and I can't wait to see more updates!

[@Jadesfishing]

Great Video! Are you filming a new season of alone????

[@sharkn8do958]

Absolutely agree! I am in the market right now for high-quality stands to attach a boom pole, any suggestions?

[@jessegimbel]

Same here, need to pick up some light stands and would love a tip for something good quality that isn't as big and heavy as a C-stand.

[@LucForsyth]

Matthews Reverse stands are my favourite - bhpho.to/46p1SIy

[@jessegimbel]

@@LucForsyth thank you!

[@HI-SiteAerials]

Now I'm scared because I have three of the Sandisk Extreme SSDs and am using as backup becuse my 4TB M1Max Macbook Pro Max is not enough. I bought the first one, a 256 GB, back in 2018 and it's still working so I invested in two more 2TB Sandisk Extremes (all mentioned are the 1050 Mbs models). These are not necessarily cheap in cost but are readily available in a pinch at places like Walmart and OfficeMax, which is why I bought them because i needed the storage right away. I noticed that with one of them, the first 2TB ssd drive I bought, my MacBook only recognizes and shows it in the " (my) Macbook Pro" section of the "Locations" in Finder and does not show as its own "Location" anymore when I plug it into the usb-c port. I wonder if that has something to do with their faultiness, or maybe I just don't know how to fully use all the features of my Macbook "Finder" file directory and I toggled something inadvertently? Anyway, does anyone have a good recommendation on what SSDs to use as backups?

[@florianropers]

How do you like your cheap Newer boompole? :D (9:15 ) Joke aside - I have bought a bunch of cheap gear that I later on replaced with the higher quality stuff. For other stuff I went and bought the good good in the beginning and have no regrets about doing that (e.g. a Sachtler tripod and ball head) I'm actualy using the stick of my cobra monopod as my boompole so it acutally serves two purposes in my kit.

[@joenicklo]

I couldn't agree more with every piece of gear you mentioned.

[@LucForsyth]

👊🏻

[@Milan-cf1xe]

Would you still recommend the SmallHD 502? I can get one used for 300€ and until now i had the Atomos Shinobi which is fine but has some flaws. For example it has a green tint and not the best focus peaking. What are the biggest cons of the SmallHD 502 or did it age well? The Indie 5 would be nice but its 900€.

[@speliotis]

thank you

[@AnotherOtherMan-alive]

On the hard drive thing. Backblaze releases and keeps and up-to-date failure rate for the drives they use in their data centres. Though these are internal 3.5" drives they are running consumer, 'prosumer'' and professional drives. Sure the environment is a datacenter but it's helpful to have these resources on hand. As always you archives should be encrypted and on spinning rust. Sure they aren't as fast as SSDs but they have a better storage volume and more importantly repair-ability/data recovery advantages that SSDs don't have at all.

[@LucForsyth]

Yeah, that’s a great idea, I looked into it as a photographer. In video I found the file sizes just so big that it was taking ages. Worth looking at again though, thanks!

[@AnotherOtherMan-alive]

@@LucForsythYeah, the archive is more your long-term storage. SSDs are fast and great for things that you're working on in that moment but long term do pose some risks due to each controller being wildly different from a data recovery standpoint. In the data archival world there's tiers of access, the slowest for the oldest and least accessed and faster and faster as that data gets accessed more frequently. Keep in mind it's a Write Once Read Many application. You're not editing off of these things (you could with a large enough array but 'y tho?') Heck, even on the go a 2.5" 4tb HDD you're copying from your laptop to overnight (if you have that volume of footage and time) could drastically lower the cost of recovery should something happen.

[@Wasmm_]

I'm having this problem at my stage of filmmaking. I'm also having trouble finding music for a documentary I'm currently filming, i tried searching on the library of audiio but i just don't feel its what i need 😢

[@LucForsyth]

fair enough! Everyone needs different stuff - hope you find a good one soon!

[@cesar_rodriguezb]

Luc, which external hard drive would you then recommend

[@YounusYousuf]

great advice.

[@mizinoinovermyhead.7523]

There is skimping, and then there is buying smart or buying stupid. I built computers for a living for a long time, I don't buy "external" Hard drives, instead I buy an interface that I can plug internal drives into and allows me to plug that into the computer. Its much cheaper in the long run and you can get NVME drive caddies that give you info about the health of the drive when its plugged in giving you time to save data if you see its going bad. I personally have a dockcase usb c SSD enclosure (I love it it was a present). It has a tiny screen on it that shows me read and write speeds and drive health. Its 80 bucks, but from that point at the current NVME SSD storage prices each TB of storage will cost you between 30 and 40 bucks.

[@Wes_Jones]

I avoid purchasing *any* equipment from Amazon. I've had too many bad experiences. It's just not worth the risk. I stick with B&H or Adorama.

[@LucForsyth]

💯on B&H!

[@VOKASINEMA]

Good video. Thank you. It helps a lot.

[@Jordifonsek]

This video tore me apart from the beginning. Made all of those already.

[@wildlifelouie]

Another super helpful video Luc! What’s the ND brand you mentioned to avoid? I’m in the market for a new ND

[@Easyfilm84]

Probably Tiffen.

[@LucForsyth]

I had very mixed results with Polar Pro. I've used some of their stuff (like the basecamp matte box and VNDs for my drone) and loved it, but their VND filters give me a lot of colour shift. At least the version I had!

[@mossgatherer_]

@@LucForsyth I have 'the' version of the PP and I honestly don't love it. I'm getting the one who recommended with the tactile knob because looking is really slowing me down.

[@legniak1]

Matt box, cheap tripod, budget mic are my big regrets

[@sonbik.makevideo]

Great Vid and Advice

[@doityourself949]

Great video like always.

[@sundersquare]

what was that bad monitor? just so i know to avoid it. there's nothing wrong with mentioning you don't like a product. and when your videos can a good way to do research for which products to get or avoid but they're not mentioned, it means we are still in the dark

[@CritterElectronics]

I wish I had never bought my cheap Viltrox 7” monitor. Focus peaking turns the image black and white. And the monitor mount broke during a shoot, the monitor came crashing down on my body and lens, then hit the ground (also ripped the hdmi nearly out of my camera, bad torque happened, obviously did rip from the monitor though.) It was my first monitor. What can you expect for $130? Idk, I was uneducated then. But time to invest in a real tool You live and learn. But now I only try to buy stuff that is going to work for me for a good while.

[@LucForsyth]

Andycine!

[@sundersquare]

@@LucForsyth muchas gracias :)

[@ChuckSeayII]

Great advice and a great video! Just a little too late for most of us! LOL! Thanks for sharing! Hopefully, this may save the youngins!

[@LucForsyth]

I mean I’ve bought most of these things myself, which is the only reason I can speak to it!

[@chrisklugh]

Basically if your Cheap, you buy things twice. But be Frugal. Buy Value. If you don't know for sure how your going to uses the 'thing' often, you probably don't need it. But those everyday used items need to have a certain quality to them if your going to get Value out of it. Better to have a good 'basic' set then have a bunch of things that just don't work as well as you'd hope.

[@sammorganmoore]

why do people say 'invest' not 'buy' - it is hype from the camera industry to make you stop feeling bad about spending. OK the odd thing like a set of Cookes left at a rental house might prove to be an investment. But you buy an FX6 or 24-105 and will be selling it for 45% of the purchase price.

[@brian_bielanski]

What are your go-to brands for audio and video cables?

[@tylerjansen4220]

Please recommend an SSD. I just had a scare with a Sandisk Extreme and am shopping for a clone drive as I was watching! Also, do you think Ninja Vs are a decent enough monitor?

[@LucForsyth]

Haven't found one I really love yet! I use the Samsung T5s and they've been good so far

[@bondgabebond4907]

Hard drives are cheap. I transfer all my stills onto a HDD on my computers. There they sit until I need them. That way I don't remove the SD card from the camera, possibly damaging or losing it. I find SD cards and SSDs and HHDs in computers do very well and have very long lives.

[@billdeng8558]

What portable light stand would you recommend Luc?

[@LucForsyth]

I personally like the Matthews reverse stand - bhpho.to/46p1SIy

[@canadianoperator]

So the point of the video is to help people avoid bad products. But when you’re not willing to call manufacturers out on those bad products, you’re making it impossible for people to know what to avoid, and for those manufacturers to get better.

[@skinkie]

Literally: how can you go wrong with a balanced(!) XLR cable? How cheap should it be to only have two wires, otherwise you would have noticed no sound at all?

[@LucForsyth]

They’ll work, but die very fast or have static in the middle of a shoot

[@skinkie]

@@LucForsyth Can you maybe share a brand that is so bad, I want to look what is inside these cables.

[@sammorganmoore]

I like cheap monitors. THey all come from the same factory as the $1000 'brand' monitors. But if you want sharp on a little rig like bcamming an fx3.. use AF not peaking. Also most cameras (not the dumb fx3 and fx30) have an excellent evf.. this is where the kings and queens look to frame and focus for free - even in the sun.

[@aaronromero7723]

Nice video I get it all those youtubers get pay some how by promoting gear, now there is no one to talk about cheep gear that works. Also gear that u really need for Photography or video according to the needs. or if u just pick a camera , normally they will look up to all those utubers then they will spend money they dont have , pls do one whit gear u relly need

[@ksharky888]

oof that first story hurt

[@MrJackarow]

What cables would you recommend buying?

[@memcrew1]

The really good ones.

[@jeffyshabong5356]

It would actually be useful if you could just mention the exact model name of those cheap gears if you don't want to bash out a specific brand (take for example the budget Feelworld monitor, while they have a budget monitor, they also have pro level gears which are expensive). And also most beginners don't have the knowledge to do proper research.