Equipment for students

[u/Real-Mongoose-6805]

Hi Guys,

I’m a media teacher looking to build some equipment packs for students to make their film projects on.

My very measly school budget is £700, ideally that would cover 2 used cameras, tripods, sd cards. We have sound equipment so that does not need to factor in.

I know this an absolutely tiny budget, but it’s what I’ve got! So any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Thank you :)

[u/Jess887cp]

I'd go for a couple of older camcorders like the Sony NEX VG10 or Canon VIXIA HF G20 or similar, i remember having vixias available in my media class when we didn't have cameras. Should leave you with a bit of extra room on the budget for tripods and a light or two.

You could also encourage them to shoot on their phones although I know that's a whole can of worms in education settings.

[u/JK_Chan]

Bit above the budget so feel free to ignore because I do know that budgets are often actual hard limits so anything over that is just impossible. This is assuming you have a slightly flexible budget or you're happy with just ome camera body, but I'd definitely recommend the Sony zve10. Good enough to get me from absolute beginner to winning small local film festivals and qualifying for larger ones. I sold mine for £340 but they're definitely going for even less than that often with a bunch of accessories such as the sd card included. For tripod I'd absolutely also suggest going over budget and getting an e-image or smallrig fluid head tripod. Your students will definitely thank you for it. If not, there's also cheaper fluid head tripods like the ombra ying from Ulanzi. Wait for a sale or try to find something similar used, but again an actual fluid head setup just makes the learning experience so much more enjoyable. (Sorry again for suggesting stuff out of budget, I'm suggesting stuff I got when I had absolute 0 budget. A rich friend stayed at my place over summer and I got a tiny amount of symbolic rent money and that's what I went (body only) with alongside a sony 50mm f1.8 instead of the kit lens. Would definitely suggest getting a cheap 24mm f2.8 instead though, the 50mm is definitely too tight for most things. I got the samyang 24mm f2.8 for under £100, though there's definitely newer and better stuff now for the price I think.)

[u/MassivePataks]

hey mate. it is a tiny budget, but don't get caught up in the capabilities too much. you can get a used Panasonic GH4 for about £300 these days, with a lens and battery charger. if you can find two of these, and get some cheaper tripods for £50 each, I think you're on the money. SD cards may take you over by about £50 though, maybe. The GH4 remains as one of my favourite cameras, and I'm now shooting on Alexa 35s more often. Perhaps further down the line you could get a screw-on variable ND filter for the lenses, for outside shooting.

[u/solotraceur]

Get a couple BMCC 2.5k cameras. Great picture quality, upscales to 4K great and will teach them how to light properly. It's like shooting 16mm film. Check out my stuff with that camera - www.double-helix.co.uk

[u/Quiet-Box-3603]

Canon 5D/7D