 Hey, what is up? My name is Rubidium. Today we are looking at why film gear is so expensive So I want to shoot my film I'm gonna get online and look at you know, just pick up a couple of things should be fine, right? I need first thing I need is a hard drive to store my footage on we're shooting red So I'll just pick up a you know, 960 gig mini mag. Oh $3,000 Well, that's cool. I don't I don't need such a big one You know what we're gonna be shooting outside. There's gonna be some sun the lens I'll just get a little little flap to like go over the front of the camera and and and keep the glare off Ari makes one five grand Huh Well, that's cool. I mean, I'll just get a basic tripod. I mean the camera is kind of heavy So I'll get one that's you know the right capacity and $14,000 for a tripod This is a process that a lot of new-time filmmakers or maybe indie filmmakers go through when they they head into a more professional realm and A lot of people myself included asked why is film gear so expensive? What you know, there are great $500 tripods out there What's so good about a $14,000 tripod that it's 30 times more expensive than one That's half the capacity. There are a lot of factors at work here. The biggest one is a lot of film gear Including the ones that I just described here Are made to be mission critical. They are over engineered to a ridiculous extent to the point where The operator will break before the camera breaks. They're made for shooting big-budget films where you only have Tom Cruise for two days And the hundred or two hundred million dollar budget all depends on him making this jump and you capturing it so It's fine for Ari to go totally over the top with their production with their R&D with their materials with their engineering and create something that is Far far far more Resistant than anyone would actually need For that one in a million time that you really need the shot and professionals will pay for it I guess it comes down to the concept of margin of safety If you're building a bridge that has to carry a one ton truck across a river. Do you build that bridge to carry? One and a half tons or two tons probably not you probably build that bridge to carry 20 or 30 or 40 tons so that not in anyone's wildest dreams Could it fail in a way that would injure people or kill someone or ruin the shot? So a lot of film gear is way over engineered for what it is And that's why it's far more expensive than you would think it would be the second reason is that film gear Especially high-end film gear is a very niche market So the R&D that goes into developing these products is only spread over 50 or 100 units meaning that if someone sat down and designed this thing tested it Prototyped it machined it went back and forth to wherever it's manufactured to make it that Cost has to be distributed over far fewer units than say an iPhone case That's there's going to be millions and millions and millions of them made The manufacturer knows that although a lot of R&D goes into it It can be distributed over many many units then same is not true with film gear Limited runs also brings me to the next point, which is that a lot of film gear manufacturers and camera manufacturers have to Include the cost of all the products that didn't make it. There are plenty of cameras out there that They spent time and effort and money developing accessories for that never took off and they have Warehouses full of this stuff that no one's ever going to buy They can't just write that off that cost needs to be absorbed by the cameras and the accessories that do make it to market and are profitable and the last reason that Camera gear is so expensive is that people will pay for it A lot of time the people that buy these, you know, $3,000 mini mags or these $5,000 matte boxes And I definitely have included myself in that category Ah Passing that cost along shall we say to the people that they're working for they know that you know If someone's spending a hundred or two hundred thousand dollars over a one-day shoot to shoot a commercial, you know a Two or three thousand dollar rental fee on a camera or a light or you know a camera package isn't a significant addition to the budget so Dps and grips and gaffes buy this stuff and then rent it out to the productions and make money that way and you know there is a lot of incentive shall we say in the film industry to keep Gear expensive to keep it over engineered and keep it constantly evolving so that People can make money Selling it but also people can the people who buy it can make money it renting it back to the jobs if they're on You know, there are a lot of jobs that I've worked on that could have done that really could have shot it on an iPhone With a table lamp, but that's not how the advertising industry works or the film industry people want their you know Alexa minis and their light panels and their sky panels and their You know four ton grip trucks. They want all that stuff there to make it feel like it's real Think of that whatever you want, but that's the reality of the industry there was just a couple of thoughts that I had about the gear that I buy the gear that I don't buy and really why the film and Video accessories industry has evolved in the way that it has so next time you Searching b&h or Amazon and like break out in cold sweats There's a reason for that. It's usually that that tool is incredibly specialized For that job that it's over engineered and that it does that job really well Thanks very much for watching. I will see you next time