My suggestion for your two hundred dollar is to buy a tripod with fluid head and the 50mm.

There are several tripod with fluid head for less than 100 bucks on BH. Other might say don't waste your money on a cheap tripod, well, I bought a Velbon DV-7000 for 80 bucks and it is well worth the money.

And you will still have 100 left for the 50mm.

Another option is to buy the Sigma 18-50mm
Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM Zoom For Canon D-SLRs 861101 -

You say the stock lens is usless,what is wrong with it for basic outdoor video, just as a test i tested a friends expensive lens from his still SLR and the footage on the same shots was identical,indoors and for serious work it is not up to it obviously.

Wow. As if things couldn't get more complicated. The local premier DJ company wnats me to to shoot during there big "glow party". It's where they have all of the latest and greatest lights, laser, snow, bubble, fog machines going all at once with a big shot DJ spinin tunes. This is a huge event for my area and would be such a huge boost to my reputation. Must have low light lens by Friday...sooner to practice. holy cow!

So how did the DJ shoot go, Don?

Wow. I totally forgot about this thread! This film put me on the map! I've been non stop busy since. I was shooting every weekend after this was shot. Once the owner of the DJ company saw what I could do! Now we're talking documentary for next year.

It went a lil somethin like this!

Well done - and fantastic to hear you're on your way, must be very exciting!

Thank you very much. That's probably my shining gem thus far. I filmed set up on a Thursday, party on Friday. Got sick Saturday and Sunday, (not alcohol related), edited Monday, Tuesday, finished it and posted it to FaceBook at about 11:45 Tuesday night, and was the talk of the town Wednesday, AND was contracted out by the DJ company for all other events!

I'm finishing up a wedding reception and a few commercial spots and promo film for a local new bar in town owned by a buddy of mine...AND... Another friend of mine lined up five DJ's that are out of town who all want something!

I went from zero to being almost a year ahead of the game in just a few months. I only have the one T2i with kit lens and a nifty fifty 1.8! Gotta get some more stuff!