David Peterson

Definitely, if you're not making any money from sound then don't spend money on it! And the Tascam DR60D can serve you just fine. Although if you're being paid as a videographer, to shoot a lot of content with a DSLR/mirrorless then I'd *very* highly recommend an upgrade to a Sound Devices MixPre3. As it would just make your life so much more pleasant, and you're doing enough content to justify the improved quality too. Or if you're a director, shooting entire feature films / documentaries, and needing to rely upon sound guys without their own gear (although, that's a big red warning flag!) then I'd highly highly recommend getting a Zoom F4 or F8/F8n As the leap from a Tascam DR60Dmk2 to a Zoom F8n is a very small increase in costs, but it is like going from a Canon 60D to a Panasonic EVA1, it is not just simply a leap forward in quality of image, but also a very very big leap forward in features / design / ergonomics / etc! The initial original Zoom F8 was for location sound like the Canon 5Dmk2 / Panasonic GH1 was! Revolutionizing what is possible with very teeny tiny budgets. This has had quite an impact on the prices of secondhand professional equipment as well, due to the pressures from low budget gear, it is now extremely affordable to pick up a secondhand Sound Devices 633/664/788T or Zaxcom Nomad/Maxx from eBay That's great! I too have no debt, and never ever borrowed money (aside from student debt, which in my country has a 0% interest rate, so not such a big deal)

What's in the rest of your "camera package" aside from the GH4? Ah yes, of course, if you've got the connections to borrow for free/cheaply a range of other options be it a BMPCC4K or an F5, that does help put off further ever needing to buy your own! $300/day *and* throwing in an a free Alexa? That's crazy, hope you're meaning an older Classic and not a new Mini? "supposed to"? I guess they don't in general Strongly doubt I'll ever have an agent, but have been thinking it is well past time I join up with a crewing agency. However, with the severe recession we're now in, I think I'll give that a pass for now to save the money. Indeed, remembering back to who I haven't been in touch with for a while is a good strong point! Guessing you can sort your Excel Spreadsheet to be ordered in terms of when you last contacted them?

Why are you glad? Thought most F5 owners were upset the FS7 undercut them? Or do you think the immense popularity of the FS7 helped extend the lifetime of the old F5 to longer than usual? Ha! No, we struggle too. Plus I still care about ROI, and spending any more than a few thousand dollars for something (camera work) which I only do a handful of times a year means I'd have a very very poor ROI indeed in the end

Cheers. Your Tascam DR60Dmk2 is not too bad for zero budget films, but definitely think about getting a Zoom F4/F6 or MixPre with a Tentacle or two sometime in your future.

Absolutely amazing, you got an insane bargain of an ARRI Alexa for only US$3.5K in 2019! A bit lucky too that it has been a workhorse without any problems popping up? Fingers crossed I can find (and afford!) in 2020 an Alexa for the same price!

An "Arri Alexa Plus Extreme" doesn't officially exist. Nothing exists on Google (aside from this thread). https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/02/02/a-look-back-at-the-history-of-the-arri-alexa/ Newsshooter makes no mention of it either, in their look back at the history of the ALEXA

For the OP: get the Zoom H1n (and wind protection), if you're sure you'll never need anything more than that. For everyone else, have a read of this: http://ironfilm.co.nz/which-sound-recorder-to-buy-a-guide-to-various-indie-priced-sound-recorders-in-2017/ Nope. 1) the H4n Pro is not even close to the best handheld recorder there is 2) additionally, you should not ever get any handheld recorder for semi professional work! Especially not in 2020. Get instead any Zoom F series, or MixPre series, recorder. (or heck, even a secondhand Sound Devices 633 / 664 / 788T / Zaxcom Maxx / Nomad, which are now VERY CHEAP on eBay!)

Ugh! That's got so so so many issues with it, I could be here all day. Yet another clueless "writer/journalist" who knows nothing about production sound who is attempting to write about it. Even my out of date blog post from 2017 about what indie sound recorder to buy has better content of relevance.

No. You just simply use your arms! (welllll... there is one rare niche exceptions, there is a product which is kinda like the Tilta Armour Man but for holding a boom pole rather than a camera. But practically speaking, this has 99% of the time more negatives than positives. Maybe if the Sound Department got treated like the Camera Department gets treated, then we might see greater usage of it) This is definitely great! Interviews is a common example of where I use this, but even fairly simple intervews might mean I need to abandon this approach, for example if it is someone who shirts around and rocks back and forth a lot in their chair then you really should be holding your boom in your hands to follow them as they move. Yes! But we have a few tricks up our sleeves that helps: 1) technique (yes, your boom technique matters! The angle your arms are at, how you grip your pole, they way you stand on your feet, many little minor differences make up your technique and do matter!) 2) training, keep yourself fit! 3) good equipment (a high quality pole will be better than a cheap & heavy Rode Alu boom pole!) 4) just simply grimace and bare it, hoping that the 1st AD will be calling out "cut" soon! I once did an interview out in the wilderness that'd we flown then hiked to (no C Stand with us!) which was an entire HOUR of me with my boom pole at full extension with a blimp & dead cat at the end! No breaks. Just did it nonstop, as that was how they rolled. Not going to lie, that was tough! But I did it.

iZotope RX7 is by far the industry standard for repairs / noise reduction. (along with CEDAR, but that's waaaaay outside your price range) You can now and then find RX on sale. There are three versions: RX Elements, RX Standard, RX Advanced. RX Elements is of course the cheapest, dirt cheap even! https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rx/pricing-options.html

Just don't list anything in the credits which you did but isn't relevant to where you want to go. For instance: You did recording and post sound for your film yourself? GREAT! But for the love of god, if you don't want a career in sound then do NOT put your name as "the production sound mixer / dialogue editor / composer / etc etc"! Nooooo Much much better to leave those job roles empty. Pick the role(s) you want to focus on for your future career, a max of two roles, or maaaybe three, then for the rest of the roles they're better off being empty than having your name there!

It's also fine to show up with a DSLR if you're merely on a scouting trip!

Ah, I was about to say I assume/hope the "LA indie DoP rate of $300/day" is labour only and NOT including the gear package! Guess it must be labour only, as you don't own a gear package. However..... you then say: So you do own a "camera package", but just merely an old GH4. With how dirt cheap but good cameras are getting, are you tempted to upgrade? If not upgrading to the likes of an URSA Mini / Sony FS7 (bet we'll see secondhand FS7 prices hit $2.5K before the end of the year! And Alexa Classics will go for $5K) then perhaps a BMPCC4K? As a BMPCC4K is dirt cheap enough you can at least not feel too bad about giving away a Pocket 4K package "for free" because they couldn't rent an ARRI. While the BMPCC4K will help you at least get prettier looking footage for your showreel than the GH4, which could help pay off in the long run. Wow. Just WOW! That's amazing dedication, seriously next level approach to taking networking seriously. I'm nowhere near that level of professionalism in terms of my networking. I'm just merely "active on social media".

Times are very different! Not many (non-IT) industries have changed as much as the film/photography industry has in only the 29yrs since David Mullen graduated! Heck, even people who graduated just 10yrs ago lived in an extremely different environment to someone who graduates this year or next. Those people graduating now, don't have all the same pathways open to them that someone a decade (or 20 or 30 plus years) ago had. (on the flip side, they're spoiled with riches of options that someone ten or twenty years ago didn't have! There was no Netflix then, no YouTube, no affordable raw shooting cameras, no LED technology, no powerful VFX programs for your home PC, etc etc) That doesn't sound like a good definition? Even no budget amateur ish productions by film students can have an "AD" Working as a trainee at a rental company is a very good tip! Gets you lots of hands on experiencing becoming familiar at least at a basic level with a wide range of gear, but also you are building up your network meeting lots of working professional crews who are coming into the rental house.

Reality is even worse than you think, before you can get regular full rate work as a 2nd AC, you need to get experience as a 3rd AC / trainee. And you can't exclusively focus on grinding your way up the camera department's ladder to becoming a 1st AC and ignore your development as a DoP. So while you're focused on your bread and butter AC work, you still need to squeeze in indie work as a DoP whenever you can on top of your regular work. There is also a very similar but different path (which I reckon is arguably the better path): do exactly the same, but grinding your way up the Lighting Department instead. Start out as a trainee, move up to LX Assist, then keep on working and working (all while keeping up indie work as a DoP on the side) at it until you're an established Gaffer, then attempt to make the leap back across to the camera department as a pro DoP Once again, reality is even worse than this! $40K would only scratch the surface when it comes to getting a complete Arri Mini kit (once you count tripod, lenses, monitor, etc etc). And even if you have an Arri Mini kit, nobody is hiring you at full rate if you haven't proven yourself! You need that track record and show reel first. So this is what the path really looks: You work night shifts as a security guard / bar tender / etc so you can scrape together the five thousand dollars a comprehensive Panasonic GH5 kit costs, all while shooting during the day anything and everything anybody will let you shoot! (and if you get paid too, that's a bonus!) Maybe you even shoot a "big" project during this with your GH5, such as a web series or an indie feature film. You've now after a few years, grown and build up your network that you get your steady flow of work from, and have scraped together the money for a Sony FS7 and an improved/expanded camera package. Perhaps you shoot another low budget feature or two with your FS7, plus lots of short films. Hopefully you're also doing a steady stream of corporate / adverts / reality / etc shoots with your FS7 so you can give up your night job and get some sleep now! Now a few more years pass by.... that's then when you get that Arri Mini package! (or rather, more likely, the new Arri Mini S35 4K which hasn't even been officially announced yet) Which path is best?? I really don't know. Depends a lot on the person as well! But either route will require a lot of hard work Do you know they own the Mini themselves? You'd be surprised/saddened by how many young aspiring "DoPs" are happy to shoot a music video (or short film) for free if it means they get to use an Arri Mini. (so that is where the music video's budget goes, to hiring a Mini instead of paying the DoP)

No, the F3 doesn't output 10bit over HDMI. You must get an SDI recorder. That's because it is an HMDI recorder. Even though I own an F3, and I'm a big fan of my camera, I'm not so keen in strongly recommending the F3 to newbies starting out. There are too many "gotchas" or hidden costs / hassles, which even if you know about, you might not still fully appreciate the magnitude of it until you get the F3 into your hands and start working with it. They're better off getting a Panasonic G85 or an OG BMPCC

Buy secondhand and you can get the Panasonic G85! The IBIS is a really nice improvement (plus much more such as live HDMI, and bit better low light, etc) Panasonic is crushing it for any camera that is sub $1K, you can get a Panasonic G9 for instance for a bit more with 4K 10bit internal! Even the legendary Panasonic GH5 can be found secondhand for around that price. Looking then at the $1K ish to $2K price bracket I'd say: BMPCC4K / Z Cam E2 / Panasonic S1 / Nikon Z6 are your top choices in these price bracket. (or look at a secondhand Sony FS5 / FS700 / F3) However if you're doing low budget corporate shoots, I'd probably still pick the likes of a Panasonic GH5/G9 over a BMPCC4K

Did a detailed DIY instruction manual ever become available to follow?

If I had a set of Digiprimes then I'd be looking into buying either a Sony F23 or an URSA Mini B4 camera.

Did you get yourself a refund in the end?

You hang a V Mount battery off the back!

As you're new to the industry, don't buy either!! Get yourself a secondhand Sony FS7mk1 for a song, as little as US$3K ish. (or an FS5mk1 for even less!) That will serve you much better as a business investment while you find your feet as a newbie pro. Or heck, get a BMPCC4K even!

Any external recorder will not give you 10bit recordings from any Sony mirrorless camera

I'll be surprised if it is! Was listed for sale nearly a year ago, and for only US$3.5K too!!!

I agree, those prices seem to be waaaaaaaaaay too high for an Arri Alexa Plus There are ones on this very site selling for easily half that price, or even nearly a third of that price!