Originally Posted by weekly

My beta cam lenses were 17 to 35 grand. The equipment we are discussing here is all cheap in the real world of production. That is not the point. It is just how cheap do you want to go before fucking up the product for future use.
There are a ton of online photography courses out there that will improve a novice's skill a thousand percent quite quickly. But I agree with you that a little education goes a long way.
BTW, if you can get your hands on it anymore, Kodak used to put out a book for guys with 8mm film cameras and it was pretty decent. All the same rules of film making apply to day as they did way back then and it was really easy to understand. An axis is still an axis...a simple sequence is still a simple sequence....horizons and looking room are still the same. Learn the rules then figure out how to break them.