Filmmaking Gear I Was “Influenced” to Buy But I Low-key Regret

Let’s take a look back at the gear I've purchased over the years but ended up regretting. It would be nice to always make good buying decisions, but the reality is that we often get influenced to invest in great that we wish we hadn’t later. So in this video I’ll look back at some of my worst filmmaking gear investments so that you can hopefully avoid the same mistakes. #filmmaking #techregrets #documentary #gear

🔗 *LINKS FROM THIS VIDEO*

CHAPTERS

0:00 - Intro
2:11 - The most “famous” piece of gear I regret
6:01 - Don’t buy this exclusive drive
8:25 - I got sucked in by this piece of gear
10:43 - I regret buying this accessory
13:08 - One of the Worst pieces of gear I’ve ever bought

🎥 🔥 📷 GEAR I USE

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

[IsomPhilips]

Most of the videos on YouTube raving about the Peak Design tripod were done by those who didn't have to buy it. Thanks for your honest appraisal

[SangeenQazi]

We need reviews from people who actually buy the stuff with their own money. Thanks for putting this into perspective!

[zongmuas]

The low-key jab at the tube light, gym videos. LMAOO. 100% agree with you on that.

[desmondmacnamara]

This is the info I wish I could get from every gear video. The real world professional use, and truth.

[blytheandkarry]

Great video! Thanks for being specific with gear, it’s personal to you and it means more that way.
I do have a comment to add at 11:21 talking about gimbal accessories: as a wedding filmmaker (who relies heavily on autofocus), I typically use a 24-105mm lens and attach the focus motor to the zoom ring. This allows me to very quickly change my focal length without taking my hands off of the gimbal handle. It’s definitely not what the part was meant to do, but does a great job for what I’ve repurposed it for!

[JonasPetri]

I think it's crazy that a $400 tripod breaks after two years while my trusty $25 tripod is still going strong after three years!

[laughwithoutsmiling]

"Tube light boxing scene”💀💀 so true. I commend your bravery. I too regret buying the RS2 Pro Combo, ended up just being an expensive wall accessory. I also regret getting the insta 360 R. It was so hyped but the quality is trash. What I learned from those is that any time you see multiple YouTube / tech bloggers drop reviews on the same thing all around the same time, be highly suspicious and do your own research, wait a couple months for the hype to die down and look up reviews from smaller channels. T

"Better gear won’t automatically make you better at what you’re doing. Pro gear won’t turn an amateur into a pro, you’ll just be an amateur with pro gear.” This is especially true with videography, I’ve seen better videos filmed with iPhones than $3k+ cameras. It’s about story, subject, and substance. No one really cares about the aesthetic or megapixels.

[eimhin_]

Mad respect for telling it like it is! Too many creators out there are raving about super ordinary gear

[HartenDylan]

Not defending or lamenting the Peak Design tripod, but I purchased the aluminum one (also in Canada and also felt it was very expensive) due to the design videos they were releasing in parallel with their kickstarter campaign. Part of the purchase was for the tripod itself (compact, leg removal, inverting center column, etc), but they also highlighted serviceability as being a key feature in that you could disassemble and rebuild the tripod as part of their sustainability goals. Serviceability and a lifetime warranty was what won me over with the thought that if something broke/wore down over time, it would be covered/serviceable. I believe they show how to repair the slipping legs and have replacement parts on their site (in hopes that you'll be able to fix it).

That being said, I agree with everything you've said here: paying $400 USD, shipping to Canada, using it for a couple years, and having the thing basically cease to function as it was intended is unacceptable. The inability to move the ball head without the horizon skewing, or having to swap out the ball head and attach a new tripod head for panning sort of defeats the purpose. As a photography tripod its also limited, as I find the base of the standard head interferes with the center column when setting up for low/high angle vertical shots. Gear that makes you fight with it while carrying out your creative vision is always an annoyance.

[xeroforhire]

The most non confrontational confrontation I've ever seen 😂

[ledzeppelin]

My Raven Eye sits unused in my gimbal case, as well. Couldn't have said it better.

[dronercanada]

I love my Shinobi! Especially the focus peaking! After missing focus on an important shoot I knew I had to up my game...but budget is always an issue. That lil' guy packs a punch! Thanks again for the AWESOME content!

[AARONMICHAELFILM]

For me it was my Meike Cine Lens set. Bought them way too early in my career, never ended up using them. They were MFT, and were useless once I outgrew my 4K. Sold them for a $1200 loss.

[PrimalOutdoors]

I bought the Peak design and it was a disappointment. The gimble is the other one for me, I have one but never use it. I have also purchased cheap monitors and been dissatisfied with peaking and the 1980s video game look of the scopes.

Jason

[davidhoyt-hoyt]

On backup. We are now long past the need for hyper reliable in house backups. Yes, I back up everything. I have my work main, the originals, backup program of main drive. Then all of the files saved to the cloud. Two clouds for some stuff. Basically stuff I use, curated originals, backups for catastrophic computer loss, then cloud. It took me awhile to get here, but clouds are worth the subscription price.

[NickHouchin]

I have many of the same gear regrets. I wanted to give you the heads up - Drobo actually went out of business last year. I just had to swap my whole life’s work over to another system without the proprietary format.

[prianah]

I looked at that tripod when a friend boasted about how amazing it was. All the reviews from non influencers rip the thing apart, with the same issues you had. 

One thing I always do now is read the reviews on BH/Amazon etc before buying stuff. It shows real world usage, not something somebody was sent for free, only to make a 10 minute video on it and then sell it.

[WritewheelUK]

Thanks for the video. I’ve a reputation for being ‘careful’ (not the word most use) with what I spend on camera gear and try to justify every purchase.

One of the most useful items I bought was a large plastic box to put all the gear I bought which I no longer/hardly ever use. After a few years, the items became a tight fit. It included gear which went back to my non-digital age, primarily Minolta SLR bodies and lenses, as well as poorly judged purchases. I had filters and a close-up lens kit which no longer fitted any of my lenses.

Someone on a photographic forum mentioned his college was looking for gear for students who lacked funds. I gave the college a lot of my gear, which made me feel great and meant it was easier to put my next lot of useless gear in my box.

I find gear comes into and out of the box fairly regularly. I too have a gimbal I infrequently use, and then seem to use all the time. The gimbal comes out and my cage goes in, and then reverse.

I don’t give advice, mainly because I’ve made mistakes, but what I will say is, if you can’t afford to buy the lens/whatever that is perfect for your needs, you can’t afford to buy a cheaper one as, after a while, you’ll come into some money and you’ll buy the best lens and the cheaper one will end up in the box, or, hopefully, at a college.

Some excellent points you raise. Thanks.

[sussvarman]

subscribed the second you mentioned the awful canadian exchange rate. every time i try to buy an older camera on ebay i am utterly eroded.

[talonsix]

Great job! FYI I wouldn't recommend an OWC RAID drive bay. They use software RAID, so your computer is doing all the heavy lifting of data management. Plus, after two years your existing license expires and they want you to buy another license in order to use the software. They don't go so far as to hold your data hostage, but you don't get any software updates when your operating system updates.