6 Pieces of Filmmaking Gear I Regret Not Buying Sooner

A breakdown of the 6 pieces of filmmaking gear I wish I hadn’t waited so long to add to my kit. Gear is a weird thing because while we don’t want to waste money on stuff, it undeniably makes our lives easier as filmmakers. The 6 items in this video have made a big enough difference in my life that my only regret is not investing in them earlier.

#filmmaking #gear #musicforvideo #audiio

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🔗 *LINKS FROM THIS VIDEO*

CHAPTERS

0:00 - Intro
0:55 - The piece that’s been with me the longest
3:21 - Don’t wait too much to buy this
5:04 - Audiio, best music service out there
6:32 - How to make your scenes to stand out
8:21 - Let’s talk lenses
10:26 - Getting your gear on location
11:50 - The thing that’s made the biggest difference

🎥 🔥 📷 GEAR I USE

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IG: @lucforsyth (BTS content, but I’m TERRIBLE at DMs - sorry!)

[LucForsyth]

What gear do you all wish you’d bought sooner? Let me know!

[patrickhiggins]

As a corporate shooter, my 24-70 GM Sony is my workhorse. The autofocus allows me to tap the subjects eye in an interview and never worry about going out of focus. I also do heavy gimbal work. The ability to "dolly" forward with the gimbal without losing track of the subject allows me to simulate shots that were only achievable by an external focus puller on higher budget sets. The way you describe your work though makes a ton of sense on higher end productions.

[devin_]

“Buy nice, or buy twice” is a lesson I wish I would have learned early on. Thanks for sharing your list and other insights through your videos. 👏👏👏 for FlowTech, the bullet proof tripod legs! I use them at work. Big fan!

[LiveToRideMTB]

My most surprisingly useful bit of kit that I put off for the first 8 years of my career was a film cart. Having owned one from Adicam for around two years now I have to say it changed/made shooting so much easier especially on commercial shoots. I often work with myself and an assistant and not having to do multiple trips to haul all the gear in, instead loading the cart up and casually wheeling it in is amazing. No more heavy lifting allows you to concentrate on giving your client the best service possible. Thanks for the video!

[jeremymoran]

Love that you don't shove specific gear down all of our throats like most people on YouTube. The fact that you say "this works for me but it might not work for you." is awesome. Thanks for the great insight and advice. keep it up!

[jamesandcamera]

As a mostly doc cinematographer myself I 100% agree with all these recommendations.
I wish I did all these things way sooner in my career too.

[outremerfilm]

Hey Luc, can confirm about the Sankens; together with a couple of Tentacle Track-E's, they literally made my last film sound so much better than the one before. And btw, I just discovered your channel and already binged the first five videos, especially the ones where you speak about getting rid of things everybody believes are necessary for doc filmmaking. So, thanks and cheers.

[brandonklemets]

I've rented the fujinon, cooke, and atlas mercury's. but in my personal photography kit is my Nikon Z8 and all my Nikkor lenses which are focus by wire. The best thing about the Nikon system is the ability to set a custom throw in menus. The rings feel wonderful so being able to set it from 90 to 290 degree throw makes repeatable and precise focusing just as easy as the cine lenses. The only difference is that I have no hard stops and gotta rely on the fiz. But if I don't need creative focus pulling I just turn on autofocus, turn down the focus speed and stickiness so it doesn't jump around and look so "autofocus-y" and the Z8 has no issues.
We are at a wild point where you can get consumer cameras like the Canon R5/R6 and Nikon Z8 that now slot into a production workflow AND give better quality than a blackmagic pocket 6k, and nip at the heels of the RED Komodo.

[HandbookPod]

I’d say one of my best purchases was getting a Ninja Shinobi monitor for my FX3, so wasn’t surprised to see you using an ext monitor. Appreciate the list, and thanks for the huge Audiio discount. I’ve been looking for a new platform, after using epidemic in the past, but for $59 Audiio looked too good to pass up! Appreciate it!

[drewloewen]

Monitor was huge for us.

A proper audio mixer like the mix pre 6 was a game changer as well. I loved my zoom h6... but having 32 bit, better gain staging, cleaner pre-amps, timecode, and a ton of routing options was BIG.

[PeaLoop]

Great tips here Luc. Buying a top-notch tripod was a tough choice for me, but so glad I did!

[PhilipBlank]

I really enjoyed your pace and style of this video. Felt both refreshing and relaxing from the bustling online world. Solid advice as well, I share the bag fetish but buy once, cry once!

[ochigfc]

Love it….and your voice is so calming. Thank you for sharing your expertise

[spebat]

My Pelican case & my production cart. Those are the items that have my my life easier in recent years.

[JamesNixon]

Completely agree on all the points, I’ve done exactly the same in my career.
Only thing I would add is for lighting the bi colour options of the lights made a big difference for me as a corporate videographer, I ended up swapping out my more powerful lights for slightly less powerful bi colour versions

[anthonysyfilms]

Finally had a chance to check out the audiio library and love the quality of the music there. I've had epidemicsound for a couple years now but it's been harder to find quality music for some of my wedding films. Thanks for all these great recommendations!

[kristypence]

Great stuff! Got audiio discount! Thanks for sharing the goods for those who are trying to build their small business!

[renouncreation]

An item I regret not buying (and still not have bought yet):

A Pelican/Nanuk Case.

I’ve never realized how convenient these cases are until I started working with a production company. Travelling with my Peak Design backpack now is just almost unbearable.

[hurricaneimagesmedia]

My #1 "unexpected" best camera gear was a powerful computer-- saves hours and less frustration equals more creativity. A couple of items that live in my backpack is a Zoom f6 for mindless, worry-free recording, two Ulanzi Uurig battery handles for convenient power, and I can't live without my f64 extra large backpack itself (maybe not good for long hikes but excellent for transporting a lot of gear by car).

[EugenBrinzoiu]

Love it….and your voice is so calming. Thank you for sharing your expertise ❤