Photo and Video equipment

[berlintime]

Hi watch lovers!

Ive recently started filimng and taking pictuers of my repairs to share online and I have been using my Bosses Sony A7 III with a high end sigma macro lens. Sadly, I cant use it all the time and id hate to repair some of the cooler or prettier watches without having nice pictures to show. Now getting the equipment I have used up until now wont be possible since it all adds up to around 3K which a poor student like me doesnt have so I wanted to ask what kind of equipment you guys use which is maybe under a thousand. DIY and other tipps and tricks are of course also welcome!

Hope to hear intersting ideas! 

 

[grsnovi]

Look for an older Sony SLT a-mount used. I still have an a65 with a 50/2.8 macro lens that would work just fine for doing video. Lighting is also part of the equation. The a65 is an APS-C sized sensor. MPB has a couple for $249 USD. You might have to source the body from one place and the lens from another.

You might also look at an older MFT (micro four thirds) camera and lens set-up. The Panasonic Lumix brand was usually considered "better" for video.

Shopping-wise you should checkout MPB. They have locations in the UK and Germany (I'm in the USA - I assume you're in Germany). I suspect they have a country-specific link although the one I inserted should work.

Your bosses A7iii is full-frame. Full-frame means that the sensor is the same size as a 35mm film frame. Full-frame cameras/lenses are larger/heavier that the various other options (unless you go larger - to medium format).

Other than MPB, there are several vendors who deal in used camera gear who would ship internationally to you. 

[berlintime]

Thanks for the detailed reply! I did find another loop hole around not having the whole setup... its binge filming for  weekend straight so I have stuff to post in the weeks and months to come haha. Nevertheless very helpfull! I dont know a lot about the technicalities around photography and videography but aside from actual size and bulkyness, what are the differencs between 3/4 and full frame cameras? Id guess since the lens and sensor size of the fullframe ones are bigger, the the quality/pov would be higher? 

 I did som checking around. 350 for a Lumix sounds much more affordable that 1.5k for a A7 haha

 

[grsnovi]

Well, the size and weight also contribute to the cost. A camera designated micro four-thirds uses smaller lenses which use less glass. They also have what is know as an "equivalence" factor to consider. A 25mm lens for MFT has an equivalent field of view to a 50mm full-frame lens. Both Panasonic and Olympus make cameras that accept the same lenses although there may be some aspects of putting a Panasonic lens on an Olympus MFT camera and vice-versa.

Usually cameras typically targeted at picture takers will do video although they also typically won't shoot for long periods of time - this just means that you'd need to stitch the clips together. Usually people expect video scenes to change every 15 to 30 seconds (what a movie or TV show to see what I mean) so the limit of a single 30 minute sequence isn't usually a problem.  Actual video cameras don't have such a limit.

Also, some newer cameras tend to over heat while filming for long periods and have had internal fans added (making the camera bigger still and more expensive).

This site is dedicated to camera gear heads and may be useful.

[spectre6000]

Stereo microscope with a simufocal head, and a camera mount adapter.