[Phil Balsdon]

Another alternative is to look around for a good used lens. Pentax used to make a K mount SMC 50mm f1.2 that was excellent, I’m sure other manufacturers also made good fast lenses, (Nikon perhaps). Fotodiox make good quality adaptors to use these lenses on Canon EOS mount cameras. According to Philip Bloom though the Canon F series lenses do not adapt well due to the fact the adaptor requires a lens element though, resulting in a loss of resolution. I value Philip’s opinions and experience highly.

Another alternative lens is the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.1 for Leica M which is around $1,000 new, and the appropriate Fotodiox adaptor for around $80.

I’m using these adaptors very successfully on Pentax SMC and Mamiya 645 lenses.

I also use the Canon 50mm f1.4 with great results in low light. I couldn’t justify the enormous extra expense for the Canon L series 50mm f1.2 for a gain of only about 2/3rds of a stop.

Depth of field and tracking focus on a portrait shot with the lens wide open is a challenge though, even on the f1.4 and Canon 7D. Eyes in focus, tip of the nose and ears soft and then the subject starts to get animated and enthusiastic, but the bokeh is fabulous!

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Fotodiox make high quality adaptors for various lenses.

Canon FD to Canon EOS are according to Philip Bloom not so sharp due the need for optical glass in the adaptor.

I’m very successfully using these adaptors for my 20 year old Mamiya 645 and Pentax SMC K mount lenses.
A friend is using Nikons successfully (with a mod that removes the clicks from the iris giving smooth iris pulls for video work).

Being manual iris and focus with definite stops at the ends of the focus range they are very video friendly. Nikon lens focus in the reverse direction to Canon though.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

You won’t need the Juicelink with the 60D if you are recording to an external audio recorder.
What you will need is a padded mini jack to mini jack cable to take a line out of the recorder into the camera, which requires a mic level audio input.

The main purpose of the Juicelink or Beachtek units is to disable the audio auto gain only feature of the original Canon HDSLR cameras. (and still the only option in the 7D). The 60D has a manual levels option so this is not an issue. This will give you reasonable audio with consistent levels on the camera files, that if you wish can be re-synced with the higher quality audio from the Zoom H4, Tascam or Marantz recorder. One of the reasons the Zoom H4 is so popular, apart from price, is it is very lightweight making it easy to mount on the camera hot shoe.

To dual record and post sync the most basic way is to put a clapper on each take. This can be a simple chalk slate or an iPhone or iPad app. You can also use PluralEyes or DualEyes from Singular Software in post production that syncs the tracks by analyzing the waveform files.

However the most important part of “excellent” audio is choice of microphone, placement of microphone and the environment’s acoustics when recording. Monitor the audio when shooting using a good quality set of headphones.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

The 60D has manual audio controls if you want to plug a mic directly into the camera and set adequate levels.

However the pre-amps in these cameras don’t allow for excellent quality only getting adequate levels. If you want excellent you’ll have to record double system to a quality field audio recorder and re-sync audio in post.

Excellent + cheap…. difficult, verging on impossible.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Can’t understand why someone first of all would risk the damage to the camera, scratching, dirt etc.

Also can’t understand why you’d attempt to operate a Steadicam Pilot like that. The moment you attempt to pan you lose full view of the viewfinder. What happens if you want to do a “Don Juan” move where you walk or run in front of the subject with the camera pointing back over your shoulder, or walk parallel with camera at 90 degrees to your body tracking the subject. Can’t see the finder.

“What’s my opinion”? – Pointless (and a dumb idea).

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Neat Video does an excellent job of reducing gain noise in these situations.
https://www.neatvideo.com/

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Zoom H4n appears to be prefered (I use one). Its not expensive and its very light weight which makes it easily mountable to the camera hot shoe. You can take a feed out from the phones / line output using a padded mini jack to mini jack cable into the camera. You’ll need a dual adaptor so you can monitor the audio with headphones as well.

I use Plural Eyes in Final Cut for syncing in post but find it useful to also put a clapper on the head of the record, if only for identification purposes.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

The pre-amps in the HDSLRs are not up to giving the same quality as you will get from an external recorder such as the Zoom H4n.

Dual record and post sync the audio using Plural Eyes, Dual Eyes or the old fashioned clapper or more fashionable iPhone or iPad app slates of which there are now quite a few.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Sweet!

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Phil Balsdon]

Changed the order to a more preferred or essential list (IMHO)

Viewfinder magnifier
Fluid head (ball head no good for video)
Neutral density filter (Fader ND is excellent idea)
External LCD (easier to focus & frame than camera LCD viewfinder)
Sound equipment, start with decent mic into camera and improve upon as you go.

Matt box & Rails
Something to attach rig to shoulder
Follow focus

Steadicam (you’ll need to practice a lot to become competent) If you want to do small moves consider a slider instead.

You sound like a stills guy getting into video. Check out Vince Laforet’s blog and video workshop at
https://creativelive.com/courses/vince_laforet/
He is a stills guy originally and this workshop was aimed at stills shooters. Well worth the money and you’ll learn a lot quickly.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/