 Picking the right camera for your project can be tedious and important. As each digital camera, also known as an image, can be viewed as a modern day film stock. Most cameras do have certain inherent properties that interpret and manipulate data. Using the captured data, applying proprietary color science, debayer and compression technologies, we would break down factors to consider when choosing the right camera from your film project and give you insider tips on how to make the most of your equipment. Welcome to Pi Image, where we help filmmakers like you take your craft to the next level. In this video, we're going to be talking about one of the most overlooked technical decisions in your film making journey process. Choosing the right camera for your film project. First we'll look at resolution. If you're applying on showing your film in theaters, you'll likely need a camera with a resolution such as 4K and if you're applying on releasing your film online or on DVD, 1080 resolution will be sufficient. But if you're delivering to streaming giants such as likes of Netflix, Amazon, you may be required to deliver according to their format and according to their specifications. And that may just extend beyond the scope of just resolution. But with the modern day display market actually becoming more advanced and we are beginning to see 4K making their way into the living rooms of consumers, which you can now have more bigger displays from 55 inch to 65 inch and those may impact the viewing experience of how you put your content online, which may ultimately invalidate the need for shooting at 1080p. That's not to discourage that saying shooting at 1080p should it be that your camera that you can afford within all the parameters we discussed can primarily shoot at that resolution. That's not to describe the camera because most of these display technologies have several upscaling technologies that have been built into them that allows them upscale most 1080p contents to the 4K resolution that TV can display and most of the viewing audience would never notice, which is why most people can watch old TV series or old movies that they love on their new TVs and also appreciate the artistic intent of the creator, despite being in a new form. Another factor to consider is the frame rate. If you're planning on filming in slow motion or your camera needs to be shot at a higher frame rate, such as 120fps, those are things you would have to take into account and see if the chosen body you're actually choosing for your project can actually deliver. Sometimes they could be used for special effects if you look at reference from one camera and why they have the slowest shutter speed or that was used in 7p. They could also be used for artistic interpretations. These are technical checks you would have to verify with your rental house about the cameras you're doing or do your own proper research and see if those are available in the sensors. Setting film projects has been shot in interesting frame rates that varies from the 24fps which, like the Hobbits are shot as 48fps and several other films that have been delivered are up to 120fps. Those were designed for the artistic interpretation and should that be your own part, you would also have to put all of this into consideration. One of the major things to also look at next is actually the sensor size. As the larger sensor size can capture more light and also produce better image quality. But beyond the scope of capturing light and better image quality, sensor size also affects the field of view from the lens you use. As shooting on a large format using your 50mm will be different from shooting on a super 35mm sensor using that same 50mm. As if you shoot on a super sustained sensor, a 50mm will look a lot more telephoto than when you're using a large format sensor which your 50mm may actually become the focal lens equivalent of a 35mm or 36mm. The artistic influence or bias this choice actually brings into your footage because sometimes it gives those who shoot at a large format edge in terms of if they want to use telephoto lens especially maintain a wider field of view, they get less distortion along the lines of their image which could be pleasing to what they are trying to deliver or they could actually go the super 35mm route and maintain those characteristics of distortion and other characteristics that are native to that sensor. Additionally, the dynamic range of the camera which is the range of the light to dark tones that a camera can capture is also important to consider. As a camera with high dynamic range can capture more details in bright and dark areas of a scene. And why that's important is because the larger the sensor, the more photocytes can be packed into that sensor the more light it can absorb which could also lead to setting qualities of the camera being improved that makes the camera become good in low light scenes whereby there's less to no light or shooting natural scenes with those kind of cameras to be able to acquire more natural realistic looking scenes. Lenses are also important factors to consider because you have to make sure that the camera you choose is compatible with the type of lens you are planning on using as you cannot take a PL lens and actually put it on an LPL mount camera or because that will lead to very high incompatibility between the lens and the camera and you cannot also take a super 35 lens and put on a full frame camera because that will lead to situation whereby the sensor or the image capture vignette or better description it just leave black circles around your image. Another reason why you have to check the compatibility on your lenses because same way you can put a super 35 lens on your full frame camera you can put a super 16 lens on your super 35 camera. All these are compatible issues, compatibility issues you have to go through and resolve and see that they actually function and working perfectly. Apart from the fact that lenses magnify, focus and control light construction and characteristics goes a long way to introduce a subjective bias on the image being captured and the subjective bias is a key player in the creative and technical elements of visual storytelling. Now we get discussed about form and factor which is also a crucial thing to consider if you're planning on shooting in say tight spaces or you have a fast turnaround or you have a shoot on the go or they require like or you're shooting in places whereby you cannot have large camera formats and stuff or gimbals those things are actually very important to the filmmaker because choosing a camera with a smaller body would lend him as an advantage in those scenarios rather than finding a way to adapt a 70 pound or 35 pound camera to actually into the situations which is why there is a camera for every project. Why your studio main build could be the big Alexis or the big Canon series or the big black magics sometimes using other forms like the pockets of the C70s or other small cameras that have more flexibility and very agile or effective in various of those versatile scenarios could leave you using low cost and professional solutions to be able to adapt the cameras to function in scenarios properly. Building an A camera with your large C500 Mach 2 or your C300 Mach 3 and your big camera becomes a C70 that can go into your inexpensive running 3 as opposed to using a techno crane if you're using a very large camera let's say like large RELF or the large Canon C700 those cameras are designed for studio build and will require larger gimbal heads to be able to manipulate and actually work with them and if you're dealing with tight spaces it's very more effective to actually capture with smaller cameras because their builds end up becoming smaller and they allow you to become effective without becoming intrusive to the scenario that's also the point of usability where the camera becomes a third wheel in the room in cases like that you do have scenarios whereby because the camera is so large creates an overwhelming presence for the actors or for the persons in terms of documentary scenarios whereby there's supposed to bear witness to an event in those kind of scenarios you end up distracting or taking away from the event rather than being able to capture the beauty of the moment audio compatibility is also an important factor if you're planning on recording live audio make sure that the camera has built-in microphones or external audio outputs that you can actually pipe the signals into or send sync signals to which would be useful to the editor in post-production cost is also an important factor to consider because you have to make sure the camera fits into your budget and that you have enough money left over to invest in other equipments and also in post-production and it's just not about the camera because the camera is also an important part of the conversation you have to also put into factors the light that goes into the production the grips, post-production and every other element that will actually make the production come out good as the camera is just one piece of the entire puzzle Data acquisition and storage solution is one of the key overlooked information which is why you see people take a high-end camera that they're supposed to use in capturing the most beautiful raw codecs but now start compressing them to MP3 or MP4 just for the sake of saving space or not having the hard drive to be able to capture most of this data that the camera outputs so data acquisition and storage is also an important and key factor keeping in mind high-resolution cameras can generate large amount of data which can be expensive to store make sure that you have plans for storing and actually backing up this data so you don't end up making short-term decisions that could actually in long-term hurt the project Lastly, we get to look at the brand reputation of whatever camera brands you actually get to follow or discuss because it's actually important that you look at reviews from other filmmakers and actually see what works because certain cameras have developed notorious reputations of over-hitting on-set or reliability or performance or not being reliable and those are things you would have to watch for as Phil pointed in your production as such small overlooked decisions could actually cost you way more in terms of your production which may end up leading to more money being spent rather than if you have done your due diligence and you be able to capitalize and be able to have a smooth production Finally, compatibility with other equipment is also something to consider as a very important factor as you have to make sure that the camera is compatible with all third-party accessories that you have lined up for your production to have a very smooth process during your production As other equipment you have such as stabilizers, gimbals this will help save you money and help you work more efficiently by actually making sure all this are actually compatible These are all the factors that I believe if put into consideration in your pre-production process can help improve the quality of the production and also the quality of the creation process By going through all these factors you are able to secure yourself and making sure that you can cross all the T's and make sure that both the creative experience is left on the structure If you're in the legacy area please give us a call and schedule a meet Until the next time improvise, adapt and overcome