In the meeting our main subject was HARDWARE. We focused mainly on cameras, but in truth we could spend 4 or 5 meetings on lighting and not cover everything. So, how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?

NAB, National Association of Broadcasters, is an annual convention that seriously is an amazing show. Las Vegas host’s this event and it fills the Vegas Convention Center, which if you have never been, is HUGE. Also, Las Vegas isn’t too shabby of a town either ;). If anyone plans on going this year PLEASE let us know! http://www.nab.org/

If you have a decent idea of what to buy, my suggestion is shopping at BH Photo. This is the place to buy / shop / price compare / or just browse when Best Buy just doesn’t cut it for you anymore. I’ve made quite a few purchases myself from this store and have actually got to visit their one and only location in New York (quite a shop). Specializing in Photography / Video / and equipment the only thing they lack is locations and in my humble opinion computer hardware (there are literally hundreds of sites that do this well though). The physical store in NY is a wonderful place to play around with cameras before you drop $2,500 (or higher), so having one on the west coast and perhaps one in the Midwest would be fantastic. Even still, huge 5 star rating from me. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Quick rundown for CONSUMER level cameras. You can spend from $150 to 700 in the consumer range (actually some now adays are even going around $1,000). I always ALWAYS recommend spending the extra cash and getting 3 CCD (or CMOS) cameras. CCD and CMOS sensors are basically what the camera sees, so in 1 chip cameras that solo chip is capturing everything by itself. The cameras that have 3 chips are designed so that each one is capturing a different color, red, green, blue. Having seperate chips for those colors makes an amazing difference in the quality of the footage. The next step for CCD sensors is size, although most consumer level cameras are 1/6". Prosumers are typically 1/3" and Pro level cameras are 1/2" and up. Bigger sensor = more detail captured!

What kind of media your camera records to is preference. I still like MiniDV tapes, but am growing fonder of chip based cameras. MiniDV have probably handled the test of time / quality / price the best over the last 10years or so while other formats have come and gone. Hard drive cameras are convenient but if that hard drive breaks, camera is toast. Not to mention IF you run out of space on your 3 week trip to Europe, you can't go buy more film/tape. I think chips will rapidly replace all media types, even pro level cameras like the glorious RED is recording onto chips that you could pick up almost anywhere, and getting footage from your chip to your computer is a breeze! (Note that transferring footage to the computer and actually doing something with it seems to be a big hurdle in the consumer world) *Also, and this applies to digital still cameras as well, the OPTICAL ZOOM is the important zoom, never use digital zoom.

www.bhphoto.com
www.bestbuy.com (consumer level cameras)

Adding a little production value to your shoot goes a long way. A $30 mic from BHPhoto and a couple bucks put into a tripod can turn a hand held youtube video into something much more professional! Personally I bought a 503 bogen tripod and legs, it ran around $550 and is the best investment I have made for my freelance business. I consider myself a freelancer/part time, so you might not need to go that big. If you are doing a production that allows you to rent that kind of equipment, it could be totally worth it.

www.bhphoto.com

Lighting kits cost around 1,000 to get you going. But there is a ton of options. LED are new and upcoming but can be flawed as they emit light from several sources. Fluorescent are cool in temperature and create a nice even light. Lowell have 3 point light kits that's everything you need. In the end, do some research and find something that matches your budget, even if it is a cheap light from Home Depot, it makes a difference.

www.lowel.com
www.coollights.biz

Please feel free to add comments below!! I'm sure everyone has something they can offer. Remember, this is about learning and growing!