If a guy spends five hundred dollars on a camera,
What is he going to want after that.
Besides a tripod,

How big of a money pit
Will this hobby be?

An external microphone is probably the next important upgrade. The built-in microphones tend to be TERRIBLE, even on pretty high-end cameras.

Rode makes excellent ones at a variety of price ranges, starting at a surprisingly reasonable price at the low end up to high-end professional units. Broadly speaking, there are two main types. Cardioid or shotgun microphones pick up sound from straight ahead but not as much from other directions (useful when you want to pick up sound from a specific subject - generally, "cardioid" means moderately directional and "shotgun" means very directional). Stereo microphones pick up sound from a broad angle (useful when you want to record ambient audio). Depending on what you're doing, you might want one or the other or both.

There are a million things people who are really serious get... lights, steadicams, external monitors, external recorders, all kinds of stuff.

You can also spend a LOT of money on a tripod head designed for smooth movement while recording video ("fluid heads").

This message has been edited. Last edited by: maladat,

In videography $500 is a drop in the bucket on a decent mount for a your real camera.


You're better off with horses and airplanes.

All of the above, and SD cards. Large ones. Fast ones.

Yeah, no plans for weddings and tv commercials.
Just
Birds at the feeders bird bath,
Maybe a car show
Or
a boat trip on the Mississippi.

Ok maybe some storm damage ,once in a while

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

You bought a DSLR that records video, or you bought a video camera?

Either way, you may discover that your Picture Taker 5000 doesn't have a big enough zoom, or wide angle lens. So you get that/those.

Then you decide that you want higher resolution.

Then you decide you want to edit video.

That means a new confuser.
Which means new software.
Which means a new, better monitor.


etc., etc., etc...

Enjoy the journey.

Some in photography call this "illness" GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

You can add cameras to boats, horses, cars, firearms, etc., etc., etc.

Bendable, if you’re looking at buying a video camera, hit me up. I might have one you would be interested in, at a very fair price.

A LOT of people are moving from dedicated video cameras and moving to dslr's and mirrorless cameras. Major movie makers are even filming some movies with them.

If you just want to take general images and video, Sony. Just throwing a good model out there, the Sony A6400 is a great place to start. Tamron is now releasing a really good do-it-all lens - a 28-200mm 2.8 - 5.6. One of those RODE mics and you have a great little system.