Hai guyz, got a question here, how much budget needed to open up a photography studio, use mostly for product shoot and video recording to.

Depend ur setup, a high end rig for video recording like RED digital camera or Black Magic can cost few ten thousands easily. Choose wisely, for example going for a Panasonic GH4 would be the best choice.

I think u shud calculate the cost of the tools that u r going to use, and add another 35k at least for post production pc, rental deposit, simple renovation and marketing.

its for a company studio for audio editing, photoshooting and video shooting,
any particular reason why Panasonic GH4? im thinking of 5dmiii.
50k is enough?

Panasonic GH4 has 4K video. And its one of the best video cameras around under a RM6k budget.
You can check out some reviews and see if it suits your needs.

will check out the camera. thanks for suggstion. wanna know if im usin Mac as my platform, what kind of hardware that i need to be able to produce chroma key/ green screen technique.?

All you need is good lighting, some light stands and green cloth

will full frame dslr be able to do live streaming with green screen technique?

Now the greater concern is your knowledge on how to get things done.

A simple setup could be less than RM 10k, budget RM 3k or so for Sony A6000. Allocated some sum for backdrop, then a few flash units for product photography and a few steady lights for video.

Thats why, im still learning how to get things done, i have little knowledge about chroma key. If i choose dslr for video recording, will it be able to livestream together with green screen effect?

i read it on internet that i need to use Firewire with Mac, do i need any support tools or adapter to connect it with my camera?

DSLR video recording capped at 30mins provided it didn't auto shut off from overheating.
Live streaming usela Handycam as it makes more sense and can do multi angle easily if you can afford more than 1 camera.Real time chroma key you need software like telestream wirecast or equivalent,otherwise edit it after filming with adobe premiere/after effects or fcpx if instant "live" streaming is not paramount.
Most cameras nowadays are hdmi ready, so do research on capture card supported by your computer if live streaming or ignore it completely if you are doing it post filming.The other aspect is your computer rig need to be a beast to ensure silky smooth live streaming at the higher resolution,also not forgetting your stable internet connection.
Forget about 4k at the moment as we have yet to reach that point yet where all media being consumed at that resolution.

Great explaination. i guess DSLR out of my list. Will iMac be sufficient to do the job? Where do i need to start on the camera? what is the spec that i should find in my camera?

Here is the rough idea,you will need to find out other alternatives or cheaper means to fit into your budget.I only use them in the overseas office for workshop and conference training.

great, thanks for sharing, i think i need to reduce my budget by changing the system to PC. Looks quite expensive

It all depends on what is expected to be delivered.

the expected outcome is to be able to stream it live on mobile apps. the budget roughly i say about 10k? would it be sufficient enough?

more concerned on the quality, for example must you stream Full HD? can you live with 720p or less?

Must it be of high-quality video?

Then what about your audio system? Lights?

yes, thats the thing to concern too, talked about quality, the lowest quality I expect is 720p.

for lights I think the setup more like this video


I still didnt have any idea how my audio setup will work, you got any suggestion?

This post has been edited by dull knie: Jan 29 2015, 08:15 AM

10k budget not enough for live streaming.The video capture card and pc rig already took up that cost.
It's closer to 30k for modest set-up.
Audio kit you need a barebone mixer with minimum 2 to 3 inputs. Forget about Sennheiser and just go for Sony for price factor on the wireless mic. That's close to 3k to 5k alone for 3 mics and one mixer. Need to account for mic failure or running out of batteries. These buggers just zap AAA batteries like no other.
Camera itself another 6k.Talking about more or less 2 thousand price range per camera. 3 focal range of wide,mid,and tight.
Give or take another 2k for lightings.
2k for accessories like green screen,light stands,tripod,etc....
3k for a laptop to be your control deck while the pc rig solely for streaming.
720p and 1080p not that much difference when exporting your final video.The quality depends on bitrate and which codec you want to upload.
Remember to set your operation area really close to your filming area as you are strictly working with 10 feet hdmi radius.Lastly it's not a one person job as one need to monitor the live feed while a 2nd person will be the runner on anything that could go wrong during filming.There are no such thing as perfect when comes to live filming as Murphy Law will insist otherwise.Unless you have enough manpower or professionals to share the workload.

for such budget of 50K, you comes here ask for input for your studio setup is a real mistake. better to visit others who already have studio, learn from them. that is more realistic

looks hard to figure out what kind of rig that I should build.What kind of camera are we talking about here?
For my case the camera will just stay in the studio.
will camcorder like canon vixia hf r52 be enough? maybe 2 or 3.
lets say i am using Mac, any particular software that i should have in my Mac to operate the stream?
We also looking for a professional to help lead the team, because currenty there is not enough people that we can find.

you are right, any recommendation where i can go to learn ?

Why don't you contact directimaging or tegas broadcast as they can be one stop store for everything related to broadcast equipments,I'm sure the salesman or manager will gladly take you through what to buy.Tegas is the more high end stuffs while directimaging has wider selection of midrange price products.The camera is the least of your concerns as the live stream system is more important,any camera with hdmi/sdi signal can be use. For the money any midrange Handycam should do the job. If you are diligent enough ebay can open up the door for used equipments.
From experience don't skimp on audio as the cheap one really will give you more headache than solutions.
Most of the capture card comes with their own software,it's a matter of choice and some prefer to work on other softwares.
If you are looking at TV broadcast quality,be prepared to look at 100s of thousand price tag. It's not the camera that cost so much but the system of switchers,decks,monitors,media stations,editing bay and storage that are costly.

Thanks for recommendation, i will look into that, im not looking to build high end broadcasting TV.
Honestly from what u listed like decks, monitor, media stations, editing bay and storage, i am
Im trying to find suitable rig for Mac platform that enable me tor stream with chroma key technique, after some search, the newtek tricaster mini seems can get it done for me, but i dont know if that what i need.

Don't worry about the TV broadcast standard, it's more for those armchair critics who thought production begin and end with camera lens and body.
Tricaster mini is expensive,look at blackmagic atem instead.The basic one is around usd1k.If remember correctly it comes with firewire output port. Make sure imac max out ram and hope it can handle the heavy process. or use imac for control deck while built a fast pc with ssd, max ram and reasonable gpu power to handle streaming. There are plenty of YouTube video for blackmagic atem.

Yup. I am currently looking at blackmagic atem, quite number of people recommend me that too. This is what i need i guess.
Really appreciate your guide.

Is this what are referring into?

Sorry just stumbled upon this thread. All the discussion so far on hardware. What about the software or expertise?
I worked on a project with NatGeo before and I can roughly tell u what they use for videography. But it also depends on what u wanna do... your workscope etc.

When I am not too busy, u can come and talk to me. I have my own studio etc.

Hai, cool. Right now i am focusing on the hardware to give my company management knows, what kind of tools that i want to use.
But in terms of sofware for audio i plan to use Audicity and for video, is Adobe premier (or should i use final cut pro?) because i want to be able to do chromakey while live streaming

Its actually not a big studio at all, just a small setup for a start up, that got the hardware needed. I still trying to figure ou the architecture from Mac to ATEM Television Studio to camera.
Do i need to connect it to audio mixer? what kind of hardware that i left?

You can use any external monitor to go with ATEM so you don't buy the BlackMagic monitor.
You can hook up to 4 hdmi or sdi camera to ATEM.
Audio mixer hook up to ATEM via XLR to SDI conversion.So all your audio feeds are balance via mixer and in sync to footage.
ATEM connect to control deck which can be your IMAC or any laptop via hdmi/usb (still unsure about firewire).
ATEM output HDMI/SDI to streaming PC.
During streaming,try not to use the streaming PC for any other apps.
Your IMAC and Streaming PC will be media station for anything about photoshop,premier,jpgs,ppt,audio,etc....to be use during filming.Need to prepare all your files beforehand.
ATEM came with it's own software or get telestream wirecast on trial before purchase. It may look complex to use, once you grasp what does what, it's quite easy. Study the flow of game shows, concerts or even news programme. How they switch angle during narration so you get the hang of what to do.
The software and hardware is the easy part.
The most challenging of it all is the actual filming of your stream.Duration, template, direction, music, script, engaging speaker/presenter, teleprompter, manpower and logistic will be the next hurdle to overcome.

So i need to have audio mixer too. Can suggest any?
For the audio part, when im using wireless mic and it attached to the person who streaming or even using a wired mic, is it go straight to my audio mixer and then connect it to my ATEM using XLR to SDI conversion?

Audio mixer not my expertise as I usually the one overlooking the filming.You can check out some of the youtubers set-up or back to that adorama video I posted, they look pretty legit. As for wireless mic there are few options to go about as in ear buds, clip on,or commando. Wired mic is messy to use as you do not want wired running around filming area. Usually on my end, I just hired a proper audio operator on the job so I have one less thing to worry about and within my budget.

Cool, now i need to find suitable audio mixer for my setup.
I am planning to use wired mic to be used as a recording setup, not to be used as a streaming setup.

A lot of my juniors make the mistake of making heavy investments on equipment, hardware, overheads etc when starting a new biz.
I am more a marketing person so perhaps I can share this with u another way of looking at the biz so that you can avoid mistakes right from the start:

1) Who is your target audience? Your potential clients?
2) What kind of money do you think your clients can spend on your services?
3) Why would your clients spend with you vs yr competitors? If you have a good network, or your dad is a VVIP, then maybe half that question is answered. But how far can you go on relationship mktg? Is here a point when you can compete on your own?
4) Who are your competitors? What can u do that they cannot do?
5) Who will be your frontline mktg team and how capable are they to reach the target revenues u set?
etc

I would attempt to answer all the above questions which would then determine how big your outfit should be, and what kinda hardware you should invest in. Cheers!

Basically the studio wasnt for me, and it is intended to be as a in-house studio for my company. To shot products and livestream that need to be air through mobile apps.
In terms of client, we already have the client that will use our products. The only worry I need to have now is the setup of the studio and how i can use them, I have very limited knowledge about broadcasting, and I want to learn, the setup and all.

Oh... I see. In that case, because the videos are only for mobile apps u may not require such high-end eqmt... just saying.
For us, we typically shoot 4K and downsample to 1080 because we want the details. And also partly because that's where the future is headed, 4K.

I'm curious what you will be live streaming? most just take a video then edit it then upload it online. what do you need shot live? Fo. Live tournaments or something?

Im not looking for 4k either, 1080 will be enough, we also planed to stream it on web. from what i gathered, maybe the architecture something like this, just that the camera, mic, and audio is different.


What do you think? any changes i should make?

An educational apps streaming, post video online is easy, but to record it online, plus with chromakey technique, its a bit challenging to me.

I still haven't figure out yet how to stream it? using livestream.com?

you can take a look at bambuser.com

awesome recommendation. thanks for this.

u used this before?

live streaming with green screen i guess you need to have dedicated hardware/server to do the processing?
last time my previous company supply it to bernama, the software from india company if i'm not mistaken.
they have dedicated server to process it and it's not cheap.

those are used by news agency where they have all sorts of background during live news broadcasting.

This post has been edited by faizalmzain: Feb 2 2015, 02:31 PM

yeah. will revise back with my management i dont think they want to spend too much on this. Because the budget including the server and all would cost them quite a number.

Is this the service you going to provide?
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31130947
People live streaming themselves eating lol?
Since Malaysians love to claim themselves being foodies I can see this being a trend.