$30 camera gear that's actually useful

nice vid, something funny is going on with the audio though, but nice vid

Thank you for sharing the info. I always enjoy your videos. I have a question. You mentioned using D tap battery adapters, what was the multi port device that you plugged all the d tap cables into and had the one cable running to your V lock battery?

You actually can't buy a Fisher dolly
Fisher only rents them out
I've only shot on one once, built like a tank

Following up: The cheap Amazon diopters are good, but don't contain the 0.5, 0.25 diopters you'll need for 3m - 1m focus. The low power diopters are the rare / expensive ones.

i bought those inexpensive Diopters for my GreatJoy-A's and they work perfectly fine for its price point. No complaint on that and if it breaks i can buy 3 more sets of them ;)

Thanks to your video I shot my first project using anamorphic lenses and confidently used the 20€ diopters and couldn't be more happy with the results. So thank you for sharing actual use case scenarios of equipment, helps a lot!

i mean the guys voice is just so suiting....

love this guy's voice, very therapeutic

definitely agree with you on all accounts except the cables! friends of mine and myself have had major issues with cheap cables. it was never on the first boot up either. be safe! a $30 cable may cause a $200 in-camera fuse issue.

Nice to see you after many years.

Regarding the batteries, I recommend switching to an NP-F setup. They are much, much cheaper.
For the price of one V mount battery I can buy at least 4 excellent NP-F

Thank you for these suggestions and links.

What audio setup does Simon use to record his talking head shots? Is it recorded externally with a zoom h4n and boom mic? Also, are his recent talking head shots done on his Canon T3i or has he evolved to something else?

Honestly, since nobody is going to see the gear in the final product, who cares if it was this or that filter, 1 big or 4 smaller batteries, and so on . the then saved money is better spent on the production value of the project. Just use, what gets the job done in the most beneficial way for the final outcome.

God I loved your videos about the t3i, I love cheap gear. Above all I love your voice!

I like this. Thanks!

I have so much cheap gear you wouldn't believe it. My one absolute is audio cables, I kept an XLR to Jack and Jack to Mini Jack in my bag for a year, doing nothing until I was working a show and the sound board failed. Everything was on a laptop and my connector saved the day. But the cheapest things are coloured plastic Quaility Street wrappers which I would use on flashes and small led torches which I got free after I went to a Christmas party and picked them up. "Thanks for helping clear up." "No problem."

Holy crap do u mean to tell me after years of making video talking about never upgrading u finally bought some gear

One thing I have to say, is, that you have to be careful with powering the camera and the monitor from the same power source. I don't know if that's even an issue for most cameras, but with the black magic pockets you can ruin you HDMI Port when you don't do it correctly. That's why I always power the monitor from a different source.

Great video, as always! Through the years of buying camera or set equipment I realised that there are indeed items where you want to buy the more expensive version, cause the cheap version is not worth it, but there are also so many items I spend way too much money on, that are not even better than the cheaper version, or the difference is negligible.

for the dolly, a skateboard can work really good on smooth ground

It absolutely makes sense to work with cheap tools.
If you have a $3000 Budget for a music video, why would you rent a dolly that is + $500 a day?
You won't have a decent profit margin after that. Also take crew, gear, locations, food, shelter, costumes and additional costs into consideration. I thank you on the behalf of all filmmakers. If you want to make this a career, you have to think about the margin. Thous cheap ways to produce the videos... I would have even gone so far and take out the anamorphic glass and just shoot with one camera and one lens. Thank you for showing us all the cheap ways!

Wish you would put a ling for the battery and cabels in description..!

what was the plate / gear that all the d taps were powered off of ?

Dolly should have bigger tire type wheels which will be much smoother.

wanna find an super steady dolly ? get a wheelchair. the big wheels are amazing ...other than that i invested in a ronin 4d and it was so worth it it makes dolly and slider shots most of the time unnecesssary since it is simply stable enough

When it comes to powering your camera with d-tap, approach with caution. There are some horror story of people using cheap dummy battery for their camera and it killing the camera. Always a good idea to do some research to safeguard your camera.

It's cool as long as making video is your hobby but when working with serious budget you don't want to risk whole project for sake of saving few bob.

I'm usually embarrassed using my gear around clients as most of my gears especially lighting gears are redneck engineered

I took your advice and showed up to a shoot with a galaxy s8 and 2 dollar store flash lights. My clients were pissed. Thanks a lot.

remember kids...for your budget dolly and tripod...pull do not push and you will get a better effect

Re: the Fisher dolly - They're not sold to consumers at all, intentionally. It's a business-model decision that allows them to ensure that everyone who uses a Fisher dolly uses one that is upkept to the manufacturer's standards for maintenance. You can buy a Fisher dolly franchise and then rent out dollies, but you can't just buy the item.

I fried my GH5 with a cheap dummy battery cable

I like this ASMR video.

Not that anyone should buy diopters for themselves but IB/E are a good german brand in the region where Zeiss is from ;)

Fisher dolley can only be rented

From spending years of my life cheaping out...I can catagorically say...please invest in good equipment. You'll save money and pain in the long term. Cheap equipment is short sighted.

Great video, I got inspired to add a few things to my own collection. What EVF do you use? What is the price of that one? Also, V-mount batteries are very expensive, at least in Norway, any way to get cheaper good v-mount batteries?

Thank you for keeping us satisfied with our equipment by making so many videos explaining to us how low-cost or old equipment can make good videos.

I think that content producers who use budget-friendly equipment in this way, instead of high budgets and expensive equipment in the cinematography and photography industry, establish a much more intimate bond with people from all walks of life. I love the content you share. Thanks for making this video

Great video ! Would love to see the finished music video ! It looked like you were using the PortKeys EVF - how did you find it? I'm interested in getting it.

Very well said Simon, absolutely true quite a lot of shots can be achieved with cheap gears only this is to use identify the right one. Thanks for making this video

Pro tip for the V-Mount battery - cable adapter - solution: Try to power all your gear directly from your battery plate. So if you need to change the V-Mount, you don't have to unplug every single cable. Even better, if your plate has a power input, you could short cut with mains power for the seconds of changing the battery and not have to restart everything again!

Where did you shoot the music video? Looks like a really cool set.

What was it like to produce a project without being directly involved as part of the crew? Was this something new for you?

i use non-dslr camera from 10 years ago it is Nikon P520

Will those diopters work for normal lenses as well?

Always love mood in videos of yours

Love all four pieces! How's your experience pulling focus with the Mars 4K? Some say the lag is too much for doing that.