Should I get a new camera?

My dad wanted a DSLR for his birthday, so I was going to give him my Canon T2i, since maybe I should get a new camera in the future anyway. I would save more money doing that, than buying him another camera, then buying a whole new one for myself.

But I was thinking, perhaps it's better just to use money in the future to higher DPs, instead of get my own new one. Right now in filmmaking, it seems that people rely on me to have my own equipment too much, rather than just use theirs. I got a DP to shoot a short of mine for example, but her car was impounded along with the camera inside, she told me later, and cannot afford to get the car out. And she says we can just use mine instead.

But I figure in the future, my money may be more well spent if I just hire better people who are more reliable on having their own equipment. They know that they cannot allow anything to go wrong, if they want to remain hired for the movie, since I don't have a good enough back up camera, on hand, so maybe the money will be more well spent on better disciplined people. I often have to fill in for an actor anyway, and do not like having to set up the camera, and have it rolling with no one behind it.

Or if I should get my own camera still just in case I need it, I would like to know which is the best for me? Outdoors at night on downtown streets has always been a concern as I may want a camera that is better on noise. I was told the GH3 and perhaps the new GH4 coming out are. The new GH4 I hear has a global shutter too, so no jello effect problems hopefully!

I would also like a camera that can shoot at 60fps and still be at full HD, or perhaps even higher frames per seconds speeds, for slow motion if I want it. I would also like one where I can dial in the color temperature manually, allowing me to choose whichever temperature I want, rather than relying on magic lantern which can be a bit faulty sometimes I find.

I would also like a camera, that can not only take prime lenses but hopefully zoom lenses, with a constant aperture for zooming, and not have it be too expensive. But if that's not an option I can color correct the aperture changes in during the zoom I suppose. I would also like a camera that has a good amount of picture styles to choose from to give better cinematic looks.

I guess that's it for all I want in a new camera. If I think of more features I will add them in. Any ideas what camera could best suit these low budget needs? Another thing is camera technology is changing so much now, compared to audio technology. You can use the same field recorder for years and people will think it's good, but with cameras, it seems that everyone wanted HD when it came out over SD, and now 4K is coming, so maybe a GH3 will be considered sub-par in two years. I would like a camera, hopefully good enough that I would not have to update again for at least 8 years if I am to buy another one, as oppose to relying on a DP.

Thanks.
 
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Well I have to be producer, if I am to make my own shorts and projects, as I don't think anyone would be interested in filling that role for me. Plus all of us are producing are own stuff it seems, and no one here told me to get a producer to take on the duties, so I assumed I would be producer. If I move away and leave the camera behind, I guess I will just use the money to hire a DP with one. I just meant should I get a new one as back up, in case a DP does not show up. I did not mean to imply that I was going to get a new one to attract new people to work with, or further my career, or whatever the misleading was. Just as back up, that's all.

I only asked about 4k, since 1080p may go obsolete soon. Even if I don't buy a 4k camera, I may still have to hire one with one, to not come off as sub-par.
 
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Okay I know it's my fault I have not been able to produce a short film yet. I have been been doing casting calls and trying to arrange one for the past two years, and no one is taking the bait. Something always goes wrong, which causes someone to loose interest and then all the threads start to unravel. I keep on trying and will not give up.

I keep trying to find the root of the problem. I am looking. My guess was that maybe living in a city of 300,000 is not big enough for their to be enough fellow filmmaking enthusiasts to choose from out of the pot. If this next attempt to make a short fails, I will try again with different approaches. I will keep trying till I find the right approach. Perhaps next time I will cast the movie in a different city, do online casting calls, and then drive to the city that has the most potential and shoot it. I just have to keep trying till I figure out what I am doing wrong. I will also try solving more of the problems on my own, with my own solutions without feeling I need so much consultation.
 
I only asked about 4k, since 1080p may go obsolete soon. Even if I don't buy a 4k camera, I may still have to hire one with one, to not come off as sub-par.

To be completely honest, this is probably the last thing you should be thinking about right now. Worry about your delivery specs when you have someone looking to purchase your deliverables.

A film fest isn't going to screen your bad movie because it is in 4k, just as they would not ditch your masterpiece because you shot it with a pxl-1000 and a couple keychain surveillance cameras.
 
Yeah true. I thought it might be important since when I go to apply for ads for helping out on other people's projects, I am always asked if I have an HD camera. So it seems a lot of people consider the most pixels to be important.
 
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Yep.
 

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Yeah true. I thought it might be important since when I go to apply for ads for helping out on other people's projects, I am always asked if I have an HD camera. So it seems a lot of people consider the most pixels to be important.

If you were ready to go down the path of being an owner/operator shooter, I'd say sure, go for it. But the for the path you seek, worrying about the pixel peepers or if you could get hired for other people's films as an owner/op (or an owner/DIT, which seems to be common around here) is really a distraction for you, imo. Focus on your other skills, go on the hunt for a young and hungry shooter who's focused on that path. One you can work with and grow with. Who knows, maybe the person you find has some producing chops and can help you with that while you focus on storytelling, which, from what I infer from your posts, is really what you are the most interested in anyway.

Have you considered assisting with other projects in capacities outside of the camera department? Producing and AD teams for no-budget short projects are almost impossible to come by. Would working Production (the department, not the general term) or in some other capacity perhaps benefit you more?

I know there is a lot of inference and assumption on my part here, so please don't think I'm trying to tell you what to/not to pursue, just giving you my thoughts based on your history here.
 
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Yep, I acted in my friend's feature film and helped do some of the PSM work, in the scenes where I was off screen. I also did boom op work with a PSM, for an aspiring producer, on that TV pilot that got aired but did not get picked up, I mentioned before. I also did a few other episodes over the months. I was offered an acting role in a short film in Vancouver, but not sure if I want to, since I don't necessarily have a place to stay there. It depends I guess if they want to shoot it in a few days in a row, or if they want to do it over several weekends, or a long arrangement like that. But I did put myself out there and have put up adds looking for fellow filmmakers and keep updating them.
 
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I only asked about 4k, since 1080p may go obsolete soon.
According to whom, exactly?

There are still MANY people without even 720p display capability. The vast majority of cable and satellite TV is still broadcast in standard definition. So, why would HD become obsolete soon, making way for UHD presumably.. when SD is still in the majority?
 
I keep trying to find the root of the problem. I am looking.

Tried a mirror?

I am always asked if I have an HD camera.

Perhaps people may expect you to turn up with a SD camera or even worse. Maybe they know you.

You say:

I was offered an acting role in a short film in Vancouver, but not sure if I want to, since I don't necessarily have a place to stay there. It depends I guess if they want to shoot it in a few days in a row, or if they want to do it over several weekends, or a long arrangement like that.

I hear: I want to make up an excuse to how I can continue to fail to succeed and be able to blame circumstance or other people rather than work out a way to take advantage of a situation. Stop acting like an ankle. Winners pursue their dreams. Dreamers watch the winners pass them by. Which do you want to be.
 
Tried a mirror?



Perhaps people may expect you to turn up with a SD camera or even worse. Maybe they know you.

You say:



I hear: I want to make up an excuse to how I can continue to fail to succeed and be able to blame circumstance or other people rather than work out a way to take advantage of a situation. Stop acting like an ankle. Winners pursue their dreams. Dreamers watch the winners pass them by. Which do you want to be.

Yeah I want to take it. I will just mention I don't have a place to stay if it's for too long, and maybe work something out, and take advantage of the situation.
 
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My advice.

Stop trying to defend your position on here.
People have now formed an opinion of you that you cannot change with talk. Only the action of coming back with footage etc will change this.

Remember what is important.
Is your goal in life to convince these people that you are going to do well? Or is your goal to do well? Pick one and put your energy into that. Forget the other.

Learn.
Learning from here is great, as is learning from all of the other videos etc around the internet, but learning from doing will teach you the most.

Ignore.
Ignore your fears and doubts, find a way past the hurdles you face, and get on with it ignoring all else. If people are not jumping to help you, thats normal, just get on with what you can do.
 
My advice.

Stop trying to defend your position on here.
People have now formed an opinion of you that you cannot change with talk. Only the action of coming back with footage etc will change this.

Remember what is important.
Is your goal in life to convince these people that you are going to do well? Or is your goal to do well? Pick one and put your energy into that. Forget the other.

Learn.
Learning from here is great, as is learning from all of the other videos etc around the internet, but learning from doing will teach you the most.

Ignore.
Ignore your fears and doubts, find a way past the hurdles you face, and get on with it ignoring all else. If people are not jumping to help you, thats normal, just get on with what you can do.

When he finally comes here with a proper short film I feel like a long awaited standing ovation is in the running.
 
I think maybe the problem is the scripts maybe. Maybe I just need to write a real kick ass script that will literally blow readers away, and make them feel like they would really be missing out if they were not a part of it. I was told by a friend that maybe people think my scripts are too small steaks and their is nothing revolutionary or mindblowing about them that will get people to really want to do it. These days anyone can make a movie, and in order to compete and get people on board, you have to make a movie that is revolutionary.

Perhaps this could be the problem, and I should just write a much more ambitious high steaks script.
 
I think maybe the problem is the scripts maybe.

Do you actually pay attention to any of the advice that you get on this forum?! Seriously... this is completely predictable from you. Once again, you're looking for some extenuating circumstance to blame.

So here's the one thing you need to take away from this:

It's you. YOU are the problem. It's not your scripts. It's not your camera. It's you.

I haven't even read the script, so how do I know this? Do you know how many shitty short films are out there on YouTube and Vimeo? Thousands. They may suck, and that may be due to the script or it may be due to the skills of the cast and crew or it may be both, but do you know what they have that you don't? Completion. Good or bad, they are making shorts and sometimes even features.

What is the real hangup? Are you so afraid of failure that you refuse to try? So afraid that if you do actually complete a short film it will be ripped to shreds by viewers/critics? You are almost as ridiculously bad as Andrew McCarrick, and I say "almost" because you aren't claiming to have an A-lister attached while also trying to sell your no-name production "company" for millions of dollars. So, at least you have that going for you.

You always have an excuse. It's because you have nobody else on which to rely. It's because you think you need a new camera. It's because you have to direct and act in the same piece. It's because your scripts aren't amazing. Screw all of that, Ryan. Get off your ass, quit whining, and do something.

And seriously... stop wasting bandwidth here until you have done something, and by "done something" I do mean posted a completed short film that we can see. It's shit like your above post that makes people question whether you're actually a troll, and days like this that I'm not sure I can answer that question. After all of this, after 3 years and 4500+ posts, you don't have a damn thing to show.

Your YouTube channel is populated with useless "test" videos and nothing more. The one short you seem to have done has disappeared. It was terrible, but at least it was something. Yet, you seemed to have learned nothing from that and from all your mindless drivel here on the forums.

You say you practice a lot and even spent most of a recent weekend shooting camera tests. You don't get anywhere on camera tests. You'll only be able to learn and hone your craft by producing actual, watchable content.

I know I'm not the only one who has lost patience with you. Folks are generally tolerant and helpful with first-tome posters. You, however, have been at this for quite a while, and you refuse to change, to learn, or to grow.

Stop standing in your own way. If film is something you really want to do, then do it and quit wasting all your time (and ours) wondering why you aren't doing it.
 
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Well I am trying to figure out why no one wants to act in the shorts or anything. You say the problem is me, and therefore I am trying to figure out, what about me is the problem. Is that not what I am suppose to be doing? And I don't refuse to try. I have been trying for months to assemble cast and crews for shorts, and posted hundreds of casting calls here and there. I get responses, but no one has stuck it through to the shoot dates. I naturally thought maybe it's the scripts. What makes you think I am afraid to try. I have tried several times, I am perfectly willing. Sure I do tests, but I also help people with their projects, and I have gone out and met several people who have responded to my casting calls.
 
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