welcome aboard.
The most frequent question ever made by people engaged in no matter what discipline is about the stuff to prefer and thus the section of the site devoted to the Community begins with a fascinating overview on what the market offers to the digital filmaker at the time of this writing
I whish to enter the business of the video production seriously and I've obtained a small financing. What gear should I consider to start?
1) For the computer it depends from the platform: if you like the Mac the necessary choice is called G5 Quad 2.5GHz equipped with at least 2GB of RAM; then you'll want to buy (and learn all applications of) Final Cut Studio. Windows users might opt for one of the many Dual Xeon or Opteron Workstation available and the Adobe Production Suite Premium bundled with the Matrox AxioLE graphic card.
2) For the injection trough Firewires , SDI/HDSDI - AES EBU and analogic YC plus Component acquisition on Mac I'd choose the Blackmagic Design Multibridge pro or an Aja Kona 3 , both of them supporting the mirroring on HD and SD broadcast monitors. In case of WinXP the choice has already been expressed but the offering is extremely wide and I've always been a VelocityHD fan.
3) One monitor is not enough to display all the palettes normally used in non linear editing; Two of them will suite much more. It's non important thay' re excellent device or that they support particulary deep color spaces like the 10 wide bits AdobeRGB. Rather you might pay attention to the reaction time: how fast the monitor is in turning on and off pixels on the matrix to get rid of the tail effect. Apple Flat panels are well enough; On Windows I'd get a couple of ViewSonic VP2030b.
4) One choosed the two panels it's absolutely important to buy a broadcast monitor supporting the 601 and 709 color spaces for displaying both Standard and High Definition with an HDSDI input to be connected with the Multibridge Extreme, od alla Aja Kona or whatever and able to work using the blue gun only on for the calibration by the SMPTE - EBU bars. So I'd say the 19 inches, 900 lines of resolution JVC DT-V1910CG or the 17 x 800 lines JVC DT-V1710CG. Both devices are compatible with 480i and 576i; 480p, 576p - 720p, 1080i, 1080-24psF, 720-60p e 720-50p. they're 4/3 but comes with a 16/9 mask to put on the screen surface. Panasonoc LCDs like BT-LH1700W or Sony LDM 172W, 16/9 works very well also. Not to mention the Reference Grade one or the Cinémage with waveform and Omnitek high and very high resolution, hardware embedded vectorscopes.
High Definition 16/9 CRT monitors like the Sony BVM-A32E1WM are definitively too expensive for a limited budget like youurs..
5) You can't professionaly work without a Control Surface, an hardware by which drive phisically Final Cut and the other apps I a much more efficent and comfortable manner than moving the mouse on the screen. The most renewed I know are the JL-Cooper available in many "sizes" comprised those dedicated to the color grading; I'd say you should start buying the ES-SloMo . A less expensive alternative could be a simple jog shuttle to scrub videos along the timelines like the Contour Store ShuttlePro v2 . Also interesting are the Bella Corporation custom keyboards with jog shutter included. Don't forget a small Mackie mixer several audio buses at once.
6) Naturally you need an array of Hard Disk and you might be happy knowing tha SATA interface today permit to buy such things at a very reasonable price tag. Search for the LaCie Biggest S2S to start. In case of SCSI I can suggest you the Medea VideoRaid RT.7) A pair of audio monitors. If I were you I'd buy the Genelec 8200 with embedded DSP which toghether with the proprietary Autocal software allows even the 5+1 setup automatic calibration. A perfectly omnidirection microphone like the MBNM 550EL is not required since Genelec gives you one of them included with the monitors kit.
8) The camcorder will certeinly be a canon XLH 1 for studio work and on location when using a tripod, while the Panasonic HVX200 is still light enough to be mounted on stylished and effective mechanical stabilizer like the Steadicam Merlin. Also useful are the very inexpensive Kenyon laboratories gyroscopes that can be used in multiple configurations the two axis limit of stabilization; Look at the KS-4 e KS-6 kit.
9) Good fill lights to be mounted on the camcorders top are made by arrays of leds and not only because they require less power. Personally I find the Lite Panels Mini Flood and the Zylight very well concived; the latter doesn' neither need filters to shift the emitted color light temperature since it direct acts on the leds RGB mask intensity. All in all the most favorite by me are the Chimera Micro-Banks and the Frezzi Micro Sun Gun HMI.
10) Manfrotto/bogen tripods are sturdy but too heavy for documentarists without a troup of sherpas while the Rome made Cartoni good for Cinemas and TV studios only. I'd get a Miller DS 10 Solo Carbon Fiber or a just a bit more robust alloy made DS 20 (850).
11) For tripods lights I'me sure that a good halogen kit with fresnel lens plus a diffused source like the Chimera or the Lastolite should suffice at the beginning. My very own choice of today ( tomorrow I could have already change it :-) is the 200W AC/DC SSGK1-200AC/DC Frezzi Super-Sun Gun HMI kit or the AC only, two 400W HMI light sources SSGK2-400AC. Being absolutely of of budgert flashers like the Arri Varicon or the Panavision Panaflesher, you shoul arrange to constrain the tipically very high prosumer camcorders contrast with the nice Tiffen Ultracontrast filter. For the math related to the lights dynamics zebrafilm developed FilmCalculator for PocketPC 2002 /2003, Palm with High Resolution screens and Sony-Ericsson P800/P900/P910 (Sun position, Exposure Size, Distance Light, Lamp Filmlength Macro, SFX et c).
12) If you still have time point your browser to the 16X9.inc site for matte boxes and follow focus system by Chroizel and others that suite all most diffused HDVs.
13) Think about a reference CD - DVD player like HHB CDR-830 e HHB CDP-88
13) And to seriously balance the white point using the EZ Balance or, even better, the Xpo Balance of Lastolite .
14) without forgetting to fine tune the color rendition of your footage pointing the camera toward a Warmcards (White Balance reference System) card imitating those Hollywood Photographers when relay on Rosco 4x4 system on set.
15) Ah ... look at this Red Eye 0.5 adapter too!
Ok. I stop myself from bothering you any further. The lists quits here even if it could continue forever ...
