Reddit reviews SanDisk Extreme Plus 32GB UHS-1/U3 SDHC Memory Card Up To 80MB/s- SDSDXS-032G-X46 (Label May Change)

I just bought this 32gb 80 MB/s read 60 MB/s write SanDisk SD card for $34 + F/S. As of today $10 lower than it's ever been. Strange that it's not mentioned in the gold box DotD. It's almost 2x as fast as the $28 32GB card listed here, for just $6 more.

A few assumptions need to be made to make this post not 10 pages long. I assume you have approximately $500+ dollars to get started. If you don't it'll be clear where you can cut back, but lose out on quality.


In order to do what Duncan does, you need a few items:

1. Camera: The best bang for the buck "no" budget camera right now for solo shooters who film themselves is the a5100. The a6000 is also nice but doesn't have a flip out monitor which helps when making sure you're in focus and also filming yourself, and also loses out on some other video features. This camera depletes our budget immediately but starting out strong is good. You can always save up money for more stuff later down the road. If that's too expensive you can look into a used a5100, or a Sony NEX-5N. You lose out on fast auto focus, a higher quality codec, and a flip out monitor. Could you get a DSLR? Sure. But anything that would come close to competing with the a5100 in terms of video specs would be well over $1,000.
   
   
   
2. Tripod: You don't really need a tripod. You could stack up a bunch of books and put your camera on that. Unfortunately you wouldn't have pan/tilt capabilities but it'd work. However, filming "b-roll" of your completed minis to add supplementary footage may be difficult handheld. So, if I were to buy a "no" budget tripod, it'd be this one. I personally used this. It's great for beginners, pretty rigid, but suffers when exposed to elements like water/sand. It also only has 2 axes of motion as opposed to all 3 (not the biggest deal for video, more so photography).
   
   
   
3. SD Card: Your camera probably comes with one (unless you buy used or some other deal). If you need one, seeing as how you'll be filming to a 50 mbit codec (XAVC, higher the number, better the quality of the footage), you'll need a card with at least a 50 mbit read/write rate to keep up with that codec. Here's one.
   
   
   
4. Microphone: Duncan's voice is nice and clear. The mic on your camera is absolutely terrible. You will sound like you're talking into a tin can. This isn't a problem with the camera either, it's a problem with all on-camera microphones. There's a few solutions to this. You could pick up a lavaliere system. One interesting one is the Rode Smart Lav. You plug it into your smart phone, click record on your smart phone, record on your camera, sync it with a clap, and you're off. Most cameras come with a 3.5mm jack to plug in an external microphone, but this one does not (kind of good and bad, bad for "no" budget film making). This forces us to look for an external recorder to capture our audio (in the case of the smart lav, your phone acts as the external recorder). A good external recorder and mic combo with be a Tascam DR-05 and a Rode VideoMic Go plus some accessories like a cold shoe mount + mic stand. Out of these set ups, I prefer the smart lav. When/if you look into getting a recorder/microphone solution, spending more money garnishes much better equipment to a certain degree.
   
   
   Bonus 5: Lenses. As usual, lenses that come with the camera are not the best in terms of sharpness. So I have 2 recommendations to supplement your camera. An incredibly sharp (in terms of detail) lens but it only can take advantage of Sony's slower auto focus, or a less sharp lens that can auto focus very quickly. Combining sharpness + capability to utilize Sony's new fast auto focus features costs $$$. It does exist, but I'm hesitant to link it.
   
   
   My recommendation: If you know you want to get into this, buy the a5100 and an SD card (if you need it). Play around with the camera, its settings, different set ups, etc. Once you're familiar, buy the tripod, film test tutorial of you painting something, edit it and render/publish it. Once you're certain you are enjoying the process or the outcome, buy a better mic set up, and then finally a better lens.
   /u/RamenProfitable