As a filmmaker, here is the one question that is most often asked – What filmmaking camera should I buy?
This depends on your budget. If you’re an entry level filmmaker and looking to buy with a limited budget, your best bet is still the Canon T2i. Canon has released a T3i and T4i, but the internal components are basically the same. You can get the T2i for around $450.
If you are looking for a better Canon DSLR, check out the Canon 7D or the 5D Mark III. Canon is also going to release a 6D in the near future. That’s a lower level 5D Mark III.
Another company is Blackmagic. Ever since NAB this camera caught the indie world by storm. The downfall to this camera? It still hasn’t been released yet. There were problems with their one manufacture over the sensor and that caused all kinds of delays.
A select few retailers have this camera now and there’s test footage online. But the one thing to remember is this – if you want to shoot RAW with this camera at 2.5K, this is going to take up a lot of storage space. Hard drives are dropping in price but it is one thing to consider if you’re on a limited budget. This camera also offers ProRes at 1080, so that is also an option.
The Blackmagic camera is going to be about $3,000 dollars in price.
A camera that sort of under the 10K price range is the Red. They just had a sale for their Red One MX camera for 4K. That’s 4K resolution at a 4K price point. The one thing to remember with this, it’s just the body of the camera and you will need other accessories from Red. The final price would probably be around the 8K-10K price point. Once again, storing your footage is another thing to remember. Also, this camera is not made for a run and gun type of shoot.
Another great camera would be the GoPro Hero 3. This is mostly used as a b-camera or a crash cam with some shoots but it produces some pretty good images. The new Black edition offers 2.5K resolution. The downside, everything is pretty much auto with this camera and it will lack the ability to create shallow depth that the cameras above can do.
About Joseph Ort
Joseph Ort is an independent filmmaker who has spent the last decade working on his own independent film projects. He is also co-owner of the Los Angeles based production company – Shadowmind Productions. More filmmaking articles can be found at: ShadowmindProductions.com/blog
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I’m shooting a short film right now using the Canon 7D with the Technicolor CineStyle picture style and am relatively well pleased. That said the highly compressed video is less than idea so the Blackmagic is looking very interesting.
This article really isn’t complete without the Panasonic gh 2. The image quality and frame rates are UNBELIEVABLE on the free hacked software, and its a seven hundred dollar camera! Watch the zacutto shootout and see it pitted head to head against the red epic and phantom film camera, only to emerge a definite contender and a favorite of Francis Ford. The web series is unable to choose a clear winner, prooving that the gh 2 can go against the industry giants and pull it off.