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Equipment Requirements and Recommendations by Department

 

Cinema Studies

No equipment recommendations

 

Dance

No equipment recommendations

 

Drama

No equipment recommendations

 

Dramatic Writing

No equipment recommendations

 

Film & Television

REQUIRED: All freshmen taking Frame & Sequence as their visual core production class are required to have a 35mm still film camera with a built in light meter and a fully manual setting.  An automatic camera is not acceptable.

REQUIRED: All UGFTV students must purchase a Firewire Hard Drive which they will be able to use in classes throughout their stay in the Film & Television Department. There are many companies and sizes from which to choose.  We recommend either G-tech OR Weibetech for best results.  A drive between 250 GB and 500 GB is sufficient.  Students can expect prices to begin at about $200, increasing with drive size and additional features. Make sure drives:

  • are at least 7200 RPM, preferably with an 8 MB buffer
  • have USB, Firewire 400 port and USB required, with Firewire 800 port optional
  • are formatted as Mac OS extended.
  • are NOT small-form factor drives; they should be full-sized
  • have a manufacturer warranty of at least 1 year

UGFTV students DO NOT need their own computer or video camera but if they chose to buy one we recommend the following:

OPTIONAL: The Post Production Center provides ample equipment for students to edit their class projects, however, some students prefer to have a computer and work at home.

  • If you choose to buy an Apple Mac computer be sure it has an Intel processor with at least 1GB of RAM (2GB to 4GB are recommended for best performance).
  • If you choose to buy a PC (Windows) it should have Intel Pentium 4, Centrino, Xeon, or Duo processors and a min of 1 GB RAM.  Mac Drive OR Mac Opener recommended for compatibility with the Apple computers in the PPC.
  • Primary software applications used in the Post Production Center are Final Cut Studio 2, Adobe Creative Suite 3, Pro Tools 7.x, and Avid Media Composer 2.x.

OPTIONAL: Cameras provided by the department for projects are professional level, broadcast quality cameras.  Any camera less than $2,500 will be less than professional quality. Any brand of a Mini-DV camera with:

  • Firewire Connections
  • XLR Audio Inputs
  • 3-CCD Imaging Chips
  • Manual focus, exposure (iris) and audio levels 
  • Additional manual controls for shutter speed and white balance are a plus

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Warning Students who work from home should be advised that there can be compatibility problems when trying to move between home and school computers!

  • Incoming and current students are able to purchase computers at reduced prices at the NYU Computer Store, 212-998-4672. http://www.bookstores.nyu.edu/computer/
  • To be eligible for the discount you need to provide aNew York University letter of acceptance or a tuition bill to the computer store.
  • If you have any additional questions regarding equipment, please contact the Director of Production, Rosanne Limoncelli at 212-998-1688 or rosanne.limoncelli@nyu.edu.

 

Photography & Imaging

Our digital imaging labs are fully equipped with Mac Pro and Power Mac G5 desktops, color calibrated monitors, high-end scanners and inkjet printers, and are available for use by all Photography & Imaging majors. However, it is always helpful for students to have their own computers to use outside of lab hours and for word processing, for which our labs are not equipped. Software and Apple products should be purchased from the NYU Computer Store, which provides a higher discount than online educational discounts.  

More advanced equipment should probably be purchased after the student gets a sense of his/her workflow and the extent oft his/her needs and interests, rather than buying something expensive and useful but personally irrelevant.  

Additional memory may be purchased for cheaper at http://www.memorytogo.com or http://www.crucial.com.  External firewire devices and other peripherals may be purchased through http://www.macsales.com or http://www.newegg.com or other dealers.    

Computers: 15” laptops are recommended for portability. If buying new, a MacBook Pro is preferable to a MacBook for the added processing power in dealing with large imaging files. Our recommended, discounted laptop package is available at the NYU Computer Store. The computer should include: 

  • Airport wireless card
  • At least 120GB internal hard drive
  • OS 10.4+ operating system
  • Superdrive (writes to DVDs)
  • At least 1GB RAM  

Helpful but optional additions include:

  • A faster graphics processing card if video editing is of interest
  • Additional RAM (up to 2 GB recommended)  

Peripherals Students should come with a portable hard drive for storing and transferring large files. Students with iPods should be warned that iPods are less reliable for transferring data than ordinary hard drives and the department does not provide compatible cables. Students interested in working with video should purchase a full-sized external hard drive of at least 250GB at 7200rpm from a reliable manufacturer. Hard drives should:

  • Be at least 60GB
  • Have Firewire 400 and 800 ports
  • *Not* be a Lacie Porsche model (other models, such as Western Digital, Seagate, Other World Computing or Firelite are recommended) 
  • Have at least a 1 year warranty
  • Preferably be 7200rpm  

Other recommended peripherals include:

  • 3-button mouse
  • Slender carrying case
  • Targus podium laptop stand (increases airflow on the bottom of a laptop and therefore extends its life)    

Software

  • Adobe Creative Suite 3 (student licensing available at NYU Computer Store)
  • Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (student licensing available at NYU Computer Store)
  • Symantec virus software (available as a free download from NYU Home)  

Please refer to http://photo.tisch.nyu.edu/object/pi_software.html for a list of software available in our digital labs.  

Film Cameras   All students must have a 35mm SLR with manual controls to enter the program.  If you don’t have one, here are a few recommendations:  

  • Nikon F100 (about $800 new, less if used)
  • Nikon FM10 (about $250)
  • Canon Elan 7N (about $350 new)
  • Canon EOS 3 (about $900 new)  

For lenses, we recommend fixed focal length models (like a 50mm f/1.8) rather than the wide to telephoto zoom lenses that are typically packaged with cameras.  This is because they are usually slow and of poor quality – even if they say Nikon or Canon.   

Any of the cameras mentioned above are fine, as are many others by different manufacturers. The advantage to having a Nikon or Canon camera is that we have a number of lenses that fit these brands, available for students to checkout on a short-term basis.   

Digital Cameras It is recommended that incoming students also have a Digital SLR (DSLR) although it could also be acquired at a later date.  Some recommendations are listed below.  

  • Nikon D200, 10.2 Megapixel,  (about $1,350)
  • Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1 Megapixel, (about $665)
  • Canon 40D 10.1 Megapixel, (about $1,300)  

As with the 35mm SLR, we recommend the fixed focal length lenses over the lenses usually packaged in kits with these cameras.  If you really want a zoom lens, we highly recommend that you spend the extra money for a lens with a constant maximum aperture.  These lenses are of a higher quality than the variable aperture variety.   As mentioned above, we have a selection of lenses that fit Nikon and Canon cameras (the same lenses both film and digital cameras.)   

The prices for both the 35mm SLR’s and DSLR’s are from B&H, a large camera store here in New York City.  This is their website: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/  

 

Recorded Music

The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music requires its incoming students to purchase a pair of closed headphones, which will be used throughout your 4 years of studio coursework.  Recommendations include:  
  • Sennheiser HD280Pro                                                                                                                             
  • beyerdynamic DT250 or DT150 or DT 770 Pro
  • Sony MDR-7506 
  • Sony MDR-Digital (red) 
Additionally, all students are required to purchase a 7200+ rpm Firewire hard-drive, at least 100GB, with carrying case.  Your drive should have USB, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 ports.  Students will have ample access to the department’s two Pro Tools HD Edit Suites, as well as to the Pro Tools MBox2 Computer lab to complete all course assignments.  However, if you wish to purchase a personal computer system, the department recommends the following: 
  • Any Intel-based Mac laptop or desktop system. 
  • Digidesign MBox2
  • Logic Pro 7.3
Students interested in Logic are advised to purchase it through the NYU Computer Store. While some “academic” versions of software are lacking features available in the full version, Apple sells the full version of Logic Pro to students, at a significantly discounted price. This bargain is only available at NYU’s computer store.  The NYU Computer Store also offers computers at reduced educational prices (212-998-4672, http://www.bookstores.nyu.edu/computer/ )  The NYU Computer Store also has a computer purchasing program offering students the opportunity to receive a no-interest computer loan for up to $3,000 with deposit. The program is sponsored by NYU and allows you to defer payment of your computer purchase and be billed in equal installments on your bursar's bill.  The student deferment program is open for enrolled students prior to the fall and spring semesters of each academic year. Information is on the computer store’s website.