As a filmmaker and cinematographer, I still remember the days that I was drowning in the ocean of gear review videos. I have spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours watching people talking about their cameras and tried to figure out which one to buy.
I believe many new filmmakers do that, too. Just go through cinematography-related YouTube channel, you’ll see the most popular videos are those talking about gear.
Not like film ideas or distribution, gear is the easiest and most tangible thing to talk about. Influencers know how to make these videos appealing to their audience.
But, I recently started to get some questions from my fellow:
Does gear really matter to my cinematography?
When should I buy a new camera, mine is so old.
I am glad that I got these two questions rather than “What camera should I buy?” or “Is this lens great for me?” Because when people don’t ask these gear-specific questions, they started to dig into the essence of filmmaking.
Here is my thought.
You may have heard of people arguing that as a filmmaker, gear really does not matter. “You can shoot a film with any camera you’ve got at hand, or even your phone.”
It’s actually true, I surely believe it. Our phones have fantastic cameras, even with three to four lenses. If we add a portable microphone to it, we can make legitimate videos. Lots of YouTubers do that.
But “can do” does not mean phones can replace our big bulky DSLRs or mirrorless, at least for now.
Better gear does offer filmmakers better productivity and better quality to some extent. They could ensure you get what you need, no matter how the shooting condition.
The professional cameras are made to be workhorses and have so many professional features that a phone does not have.
For example, if you are shooting in broad daylight, you might need an ND filter on your lens to make sure your shutter speed is proper. But it’s hard to put an ND filter on the phone. However, cinema cameras from those major brands offer built-in ND filters, which is spoken highly by many cinematographers.
There are countless examples to demonstrate that gear does matter if you consider filmmaking seriously. But the thing is, equipment is not the most crucial thing in filmmaking.
Then let’s talk about when to upgrade your gear, or, more specifically, when to buy a new camera or a new lens.
I need to add a few words to the title of this article.
Don’t buy a new camera until you are good enough
FOR THIS NEW CAMERA.
You may watch tons of gear review videos that show how amazing a camera is, and you should buy that camera for your business. And those videos are so tempting that you can’t help watching them again and again. And you buy a new camera. Congratulations.
But when you start as a filmmaker, you might get confused by those fancy cameras and buttons and features. You just don’t use the full capacity of the new camera at all.
You don’t need a high-end camera to learn the basic knowledge of the camera: Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, even with your phone. Some apps offer semi-professional features as a DSLR does. It’s the first thing that you should learn when you get into photography or cinematography.
You don’t need a lot of professional features if you just make videos for fun. Even if you create a YouTube channel, it’s unnecessary that you need to use a camera that has a built-in ND filter.
But as you are growing to the professional world and making videos for clients or broader markets, you may need to think about upgrading gear.
For example, I shot a lot of videos for media outlets all over the world; these organizations need high-quality footage to meet their publishing standard, video-wise, and audio-wise.
Most of these big media outlets will write down the minimum level of camera they need for a specific assignment. Sometimes it’s a Sony A7; sometimes it’s a C100 or equivalent. But no phone footage is permitted I noticed.
So if you think you are capable of shooting for clients, you need to consider buying a good camera. Because it’s not they are fancy, they are your tools, and they will eventually make you money.
Gear is always good and tempting. What you should do is to keep learning and working to the day you deserve owning your dreaming gear.
