What to Buy to Start Your Studio for Both Stills and Video

In this video, photographers Jay P. Morgan and Lars LindstromĀ (from the Slanted Lens) takesĀ a look at what you can get for both stills and video studio photographers for 3 price ranges – $1000, $2500 and finally a $5000.

You might think that $5000 is a huge budget but as you can see in this video you can run through it and still be missing some essential stuff (and this is very clear on the video side of things in this video), the lower budgets are even more challenging, especially the $1000 budget which is very hard for stills and almost impossible for any sort of decent video.

BothĀ Morgan and Lars seems to be a bit Canon biased – we have to say that at least for still we would recommend some very different gear (specifically a Nikon body with Nikon or Sigma lenses). As for the rest of the gear – spending 2/3 of your video budget on a camera and a lens (A7S and Sony 24-70mm lens) seems a bit too much when you can buy a great GH4 with a 12-35mm lens for about a $1000 less and spend the money elsewhere but it really depends on the type of videos you are planing on shooting.

To be completely fair, especially for video – you should planĀ to spend more at each price point as there are tons of things missing from Ā Lindstrom’s list (light stands, cables, more memory cards and other accessories). However, despite all the shortcomings of this guide it is still fun to watch and it can give you a few general tips on where to spend your money when starting a basic studio forĀ photography or videography.

You can find all of Jay P. Morganā€™s videos here on LensVid on theĀ following link. As always you can findĀ more helpful photography tips on ourĀ Photography tips sectionĀ here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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