welcome back everyone today we're going to be going through how to choose what the best
camera is for you
so it's really only been about 11 years since the 5d Mark ii came out changed the world
before that cameras were very much a difficult purchase they were all very expensive and none of
them seem to achieve what a lot of the filmmakers wanted to achieve in terms of the quality of the
image and the look that they could actually record all of the big guns in the cinema industry are now
making cameras where they're actually sharing that top-tier cutting-edge technology with
the indie filmmakers with the creators with the smaller budgets
so we get this little inkling and it starts off with maybe a little google search here
a little youtube search there there are a lot of new cameras especially
in 2020 a lot of really good cameras came out and there's been some fantastic
cameras coming out over the past three years
so when you get this little inkling a little scratch at the back of your
head this camera could could do slow motion that's 10 slower than your previous camera
so i'm here today to help you ask the right questions of the next camera you're thinking
of purchasing right we're going to debunk a couple of things
just because the camera came out very recently or is the most recent iteration of that camera
doesn't mean that it's the right camera for you
now i know it is our inclination to go but this camera only came out one month ago and that camera
came out a year ago that is no longer the exact representation of a good or a bad
camera so i want you to clear that from your mind that you need to get the most recent camera
secondly i'm going to debunk
and i know many of you probably already know this but i want to really ingrain this in your heads
resolution is not and has not been for a very long time the right way to decide which camera
you'll be going with i know there's a big push to get 8k and 12k cameras thank you Blackmagic
however i think a very quick youtube and google search shows that more resolution does not
necessarily mean more detail or more definition instead you've got to think about resolution as
a tool in your toolbox youtube channels such as Linus Tech Tips uses a singular camera with a very
high resolution and they use that as part of their editing techniques to punch in and then punch back
out i do that quite regularly with my camera but i don't need 12k to do it in fact i only shoot
in 3.8k and then zoom in on that of course those of you who are watching on your 8k 80 inch screen
probably are noticing a slight drop in resolution right now uh-huh yeah because here can you see it
anyway so after my 15 years in the film industry and i have bought a lot of cameras in my time
each and every time i've bought a camera the one
element that has always stayed true has not been the resolution hasn't been the size of the sensor
or how sensitive the camera is in low light it's been the bit depth
for those of you who don't know what bit depth means it is essentially how much
information is given to each color for each pixel for instance if a particular pixel is bright red
how much information does that pixel have to tell the camera or to tell the screen which type of red
it is and with each and every pixel the more data per pixel it's allowed to record the more data is
going to be recorded across the entire image as a second priority i do believe
that the color science of that particular camera is incredibly important this is not just about how
good the skin tones look but it is a consideration of workflow if the color science of the camera
is really good such as i believe the Canon cameras and the Blackmagic cameras have a really really
sound color science then it makes the workflow at the end of your post process so much easier it
makes it easier to get to a more appealing look with your footage Sony suffered for many many
years with the dreaded magenta shift or green skin tones and i would
say of recent with the Sony fx6 they have actually come really really long distance to getting really
sound colors i also think that the Red cameras have always had a very appealing color science
so i would take a look at some raw footage from each of the cameras that you're
looking at and just see how those colors then grade into the look that you would like to create
and this is where we come back to having more information in each of our color channels
you see the more information in those color channels the more we are able to push the image
towards particular looks without the information without the image starting to break apart much
as well i mean to be honest older footage from like the Canon 5d mark ii or mark 3 or mark iv
i don't know which mark they're on now would break apart quite easily so you would actually have to
get much closer to your final look in camera then i think you have to with more modern cameras that
can shoot in a bigger bit depth or in raw image formats such as the Blackmagic cameras and the Red
cameras the audience doesn't care what camera you filmed with
they only care about how good the image looks and has the message has the story
of your film been conveyed effectively now of course it comes back to the more information you
image the more effectively you are able to have your creative choices realized and therefore tell
your story more effectively i digress third but not last i believe that you do need to look at
the usability of the camera now again i don't mean how many things you can bolt onto the side of it
there are core functions of a camera that just make sense when using it in almost any production
situation so first things first i believe that the auto focus on the Canon cameras is by far probably
one of the most advanced autofocus systems quite apart from it
being almost magical with how quickly it's able to grab focus and keep it it also has features
like auto focusing on animals as well now Sony has also made some really good inroads here but they
do lack some of the features and a little bit of the accuracy although some of the touch tracking
is very very good on the Sony cameras the new Red Camera Komodo also has some autofocus features
although i would wait a little bit for some new versions once they've worked out some of the kinks
another brilliantly important accessory slash feature in a camera is internal
NDs now very few camera systems have internal NDs but this is a staple of the Sony range of
cameras now as long as you don't buy one of their Sony mirrorless DSLRs then you are going to get
internal electronic NDs and they are brilliant they really make a massive difference to the
usability of the camera there really is nothing quite like having that flexibility of not having
to change your shutter speed ISO or aperture to change how much light is coming into your camera
and in a documentary situation that is worth its weight in gold now
DSLRs are not well known for lasting a long time such as the Blackmagic cinema pocket 4k camera
only lasts roughly an hour on each lpe6 battery the Canon cameras Sony cameras and Panasonic DSLR
cameras all kind of fit into a similar-ish area between an hour and two hours of battery life
for their internal batteries the fx6 you can plug in very very large batteries into the back and
because the battery system is still housed within the body you're not having to do some finagly cage
system where the battery's plugged onto the side or in the battery grip or on top or on the back
now all of these external battery solutions they do solve the problem with DSLRs however they do
create a new problem for DSLRs as well they make probably one of the biggest benefits of having
a DSLR camera completely moot DSLRs are great because of their size because of how quick
you're able to use them but as soon as you add a large battery solution onto the side back or top
you're now kind of getting rid of its entire benefit what are you producing
this should be the ultimate deciding factor at which camera you purchase because not one camera
system does everything perfectly instead each camera system solves very specific problems very
well Canon has brought out the brilliant Canon r5 however if you need to shoot long-form documentary
well because if it's overheating it kind of makes that camera moot the Sony cameras have a fantastic
low-light 4k beast but what if you're trying to shoot something that requires you to have auto
focus on animals the Sony fx6 is a fantastic camera fully featured brilliant sound but as
soon as you take the top handle off you lose all of the microphone inputs each camera has a
positive and a negative so how do you get past that how do you make sense
of what seems like an impossible decision and it really comes back down to what are you
making so i shoot youtube content for you guys
i shoot corporates music videos and short films for the most part and pretty much the only camera
at the time of purchase which was in 2018 that could do that within my budget which was not a
huge amount was the Blackmagic cinema pocket 4k camera if i was doing documentary work i probably
would have looked at one of the Sony cameras such as the fs7 fs9 or even now with the fx6
that is a very tempting camera what did i need this camera to do well and what
didn't matter so much what were the things that i could work around so with all of this in mind
i suppose you probably want to know what in my opinion are the top three cameras for you self
shooting filmmakers out there so when it comes to documentary and promo work i think hands down
the best camera for the money right now is the Sony fx6 at 6,000 pounds it's not a cheap camera
given the size of the sensor the quality of the image the color science the bit depth the internal
recording the internal NDs the XLR microphone inputs and the form factor it's tiny and very very
light it is a very very good camera for the money the next one on my list at
3,800 pounds is the Sony a7s iii this is a beast of a camera it has a lot of similarities to its
bigger brethren the Sony fx6 but it also has some brilliant features in the camera as well it is so
much smaller it's cheaper but it holds so much of the quality of the image as well as the internal
recording the brilliant on-screen tracking as well as autofocus within the camera which is so much
better than the previous versions as well as the color science which has been completely revamped
since the early Sony camera days it is a fantastic camera and well well recognized as probably
one of the best cameras of 2020. finally and i'm going to throw maybe a slightly
controversial camera into the mix at only 1,300 pounds the Blackmagic pocket cinema camera 4k
is still probably my favorite camera to use it is so easy brilliant color science still a top-notch
12-bit raw internal recording and it suits my production needs youtube corporate long form
and short form with very very minimal accessories it's just a brilliant camera and there's a very
good reason that a three-year-old camera has held its price for so long it's slightly more
expensive 6k version with the Canon ef mount is also fantastic as well i thoroughly thoroughly
recommend you check out those three cameras and depending on your budget level you can
make a really informed decision if you take into consideration the bit depth the color science the
usability and what ultimately are you producing day in and day out if you
enjoyed today's episode please check out links below to help you up your game on your next film