Ever wondered what cameras were used to shoot your favourite music videos or movies? If you are an entertainer, these types of thoughts are likely to get into your mind at intervals. Maybe because you so much love how sleek, neat, clean, and of tremendous quality you see top music videos worldwide or top movies made by Hollywood, Bollywood, or even some top Nollywood movies.
It’s not farfetched to think that knowing these high-quality cameras are used and being able to buy or rent them for your video project is doable. Trust me, it is doable by rental or even purchase if you have more than enough funds to buy such cameras.
There are lots of video cameras specialized or designed for shooting very high quality videos, but your project is likely to determine which camera would be of preference or use.
The very significant part of the entertainment market is looking for cameras with 4K quality, as very few low-budget videos settle for less. The best camera phones already shoot 4k. It will be weird totally not to see even a higher grade quality using a video CAM for your footage.
Mirrorless Cameras
With Mirrorless Cameras, the range of top cameras for your video shoot has skyrocketed, as these kinds of cameras give you the advantage of being able to produce a faster and better video. With it also looking more portable, compact and lighter. In comparison with a DSLR camera, the mirrorless camera stands out.
DSLR cameras have a mirror inside the body of the camera to reflect light coming through the lens to a prism and then to the viewfinder in which your shot can be viewed. These designs are of the past, with the Nikon D3400 a perfect example of a DSLR.
The mirrorless camera would rather pass light through the lens to the image sensor. The sensor captures the image for display on the screen. The Sony Alpha a6300 is an example of a mirrorless camera.
Despite taking an edge over DSLRs, mirrorless cameras like the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III, Fujifilm X-T4, Nikon Z6, Canon EOS RP, Panasonic Lumix GX80, Sony Alpha 6000, Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III, and Sony A7R IV are the best mirrorless cameras suitable for your video shoot, giving you great quality. But it is one thing to shoot in 4k and another to shoot cinema quality in 4k. It sounds the same to you. Let’s find out.
Regardless of whether you are recording a 4K video shoot for your musicals with a good mirrorless camera, the idea of compression to suit different watch centres is considered and usually an option available. But there are some cameras still designed for cinematography, which would offer low compression ratios or even no compression.
Read also:
Why Filmmakers still use expensive cameras when smartphones can shoot 4K
Showing your film in a cinema is different from showing your music video on TRACE. They both might be 4K or above, but will be shown on different screen sizes. That has to influence the compression. For this purpose, the best cameras in quality are usually used for top-quality movies and, nowadays, musicals. They might be mirrorless but likely cinematic, having large sensors, and might be so expensive that they may be available only for rent.
Let’s take a look at the Best Camera for Cinema, which makes it suitable for any film and video.
1. RED Digital Camera
The Red Digital Cinema happens to be an American company with a specialty in producing professional cinematography cameras and different accessories.
Red Cameras are reliable for Hollywood standard filming, as they have the ability to shoot to the highest resolution, which is 8K. A lot of times, using the 8K resolution is not necessary, as you can settle for 4K or above that. But the advantage is that your resolution is the best and you have to be the one to make the choice to reduce it.
There are different types of Red Cameras, with the Red WEAPON Monstro 8K VV being the most recent, costing around $80,000 USD.
4K is enough for any semi-pro movie, as it is ultra-high definition. However, being able to playback and edit your data or footage will require the best of computers. Going above 4K would mean entering into the Hollywood standard of movie making, which is exactly what the RED cameras offer.
Let’s take a look at the RED Cameras features.
Name | MegaPixels | Max Video Frame Rate | Max Data Rate | Dynamic Range | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
RED WEAPON BRAIN with MONSTRO 8K VV Sensor | 35.4 | 2k 300fps 3k 200fps 4k 150fps 5k 120fps 6k 100fps 7k 75fps 8k 75fps | 300mb/s | 17stops | |
RED WEAPON BRAIN with HELIUM 8K S35 Sensor | 35.4 | 2k 300fps 3k 200fps 4k 150fps 5k 120fps 6k 100fps 7k 75fps 8k 75fps | 300mb/s | 16.5 stops | |
RED SCARLET-W BRAIN with DRAGON 5K Sensor | 13.8 | 2k 240fps 3k 150fps 4k 120fps 5k 60fps | 170mb/s | 16.5 stops | $12,500 USD |
RED RAVEN BRAIN with 4.5K DRAGON Sensor | 9.9 | 2k 240fps 4k 120fps | 140mb/s | 16.5 stops | $12,800 USD |
RED EPIC-W BRAIN with GEMINI 5K S35 Sensor | 15.4 | 2k 300fps 4k 150fps 5k 120fps | 275mb/s | 16.5 stops | $24,500 USD |
EPIC-W BRAIN with HELIUM 8K S35 Sensor | 35.4 | 2K 300fps 3K 200fps 4K 120fps 5K 96fps 6K 75fps 7K 30fps 8K 30fps | 275 mb/s | 16.5 stops | $29,500 USD |
2. ARRI ALEXA
The Arri is one big, bad camera. The looks alone can tell you its purpose that they are not in the game for jokes.
Arri Alexa is made for motion pictures, first made by Arri in 2010. It was their first major transition into cinematographic digital cameras, as they were used to producing smaller cameras like the Arriflex D-20 and D-21. Additional software licences, like the high-speed 120 fps recording, can also be acquired.
The Arri Alexa is often regarded as the best video camera in the world and costs around 66,000 USD to 100,000 USD. It is what is mainly used for most TV network shows, newscasting, and reporting.
Arri Alexa is mostly used in the United States for Hollywood movies, and due to its price range, it is avoided in Africa.
3. Black Magic
The Blackmagic cinema camera is way more than just a video camera, as its features allow you to create videos of the same quality as Hollywood movies.
It is an Australian camera, which movie makers crave for due to its great colour display and also having the potential for a superb low-light performance. The camera’s skin toning beauty is also worth mentioning, shooting 4K to 6K videos, allowing also 6K photography features, with a 21.2 megapixel in stock.
Blackmagic recently announced the arrival of its first 12k video camera, “The Ursa Mini Pro 12k”, with a 12288 x 6480 super 35mm sensor that captures its footage at 60fps. This is delightful. With the RED 8K taking an edge in cinema camera quality for a while, the 12K Blackmagic poses a threat.
Though the camera is not very perfect, with the battery not so reliable, getting standby batteries is advisable, but the Black Magic is rated as Africa’s second most loved camera in the movie industry, and even as a top music video shoot.
4. Panasonic Lumix S1H
The Panasonic Lumix S1H is a top-quality mirrorless camera.
Panasonic Corporation is an electronic-based company that ventured into camera making. High competition with other top brands in the field, like Canon, made them not so strong, but this invention with its popular GH-Series has put them in amongst the top class.
The Panasonic Lumix S1H is surely an extension of both the Panasonic Varicam line and the GH line. They wanted to improve two types of cameras into one and succeeded.
Key features:
- Articulated rear screen
- 6K Video shoot
- Dual SD card slot
- Anamorphic capture
- 24MP full-frame CMOS sensor
- Dual native ISO
- 4:2:2 10-bit internal recording
- 4K/60p 10-bit recording
- Unlimited record time
- H.264 and H.265 internal recording
- In-body image stabilization
- Pricing 3999 USD
- CANON EOS C300 MK II
General summary
The dynamic range of the Canon EOS C300 MK II of 15 stops is excellent; having an autofocus also makes the idea of shooting easier. It is a step up from a mirrorless camera or DSLR, though not so much, but its 4K ability, low light shooting, and a fairer price of 2000 USD make it an option easily achievable.
It possesses a 24.6 x 13.8 mm sensor size, a CFast x 2 card slot, and a display size of 4 inches.
The Canon EOS MK II also has the ability for slow motion footage. With a 4206 x 2340 (9.84 MP), you get yourself a formidable camera that can get the job done.
But amongst all the cameras mentioned, which can we say is the best for your shoot? That depends on what you need or prefer.
I happened to be on a musical video shoot, and a random passer-by came in, seeing the cameras in use, and asked “Is that RED?”. I replied, “Yes it is,” and he spluttered the word “wow!”. That’s how Africans see the RED OR BLACK MAGIC; this is because every top celebrity video or the best African movies are shot on RED or BLACK MAGIC.
Make that choice and feel great, because any of these cameras will get the job done, but for the best quality, the top 3 remain the best you can get.