Lenses that shoot in low light for $500-$800? Maybe the Canon 5Omm 1.8 or 1.4, but otherwise you’ll have to rent.

im looking at getting the t2i ( its available here in australia for $550 before you get into lenses : 0 )

can you give me some suggestions as to what lenses i should get??

i will be shooting some short films for entry into festivals etc and some stuff for episodes for the web. alot of the short film stuff will be indoors and low light, im very interested in shooting alot of stuff in near black and then bright artificial light situations so i could likely need to buy a couple of different lenses right? if im spending 550 on the camera i can probably spare anywhere from 500 to maybe 800 for the lenses. the web content stuff will just be comedic shorts so a high quality will not be super important, obviously i want my short films to be as best as i can afford.

For interviews, all you should need are a good tripod and a good lav or boom mic that you can plug straight into the minijack. You should check out http://makingthemovie.info/2011/11/indie-movie-sound-kit-recommendations.html for my thoughts on the Rode mics which are designed to sit on the top of the DSLRs — these work fine for on-the-fly interviews, in my experience. If you still have room in your budget for lenses, a nice portrait lens or one that allows for smooth zoom motion is good.

The only thing I’ll say is that the Canon DSLRs have a major limitation when it comes to interviews. The clip lengths are limited to around 12 minutes and they can over-heat if left running continuously over and over.

Yes. The 5DmkII is more light-sensitive, which will mean you can save money on your lighting kit. Good luck! -j

I am not familiar with that camera and that recorder — try comparing their quality to the other ones I list on this site.

You are correct. 1080p 23.98fps is what you want. Good luck!