I launched my wedding video business ( www.studiogood.ca ) at the beginning of 2019 with the aim to force myself to learn more about film making. One year later, not only have I learned more than I had hoped to about the topic, I’ve also gain much knowledge about running a business, managing clients and teams.
There were numerous tough decisions I’ve had to make at the beginning phases of the business, one of which is the selection of gear, and I’d like to share a little of that today with you.
Firstly, let’s talk about –
CAMERAS
There were three worthy contenders with my budget:
- Sony A73
- Panasonic GH5
- Blackmagic Pocket 4K
To narrow down to the best camera, I created a few criteria that I needed my camera to meet:
- Internal 10 BIT 4:2:2 – Since most of my work will be run-and-gun, it’s guaranteed that I will miss my exposure, or white balance, or both when going in and out of differently lit rooms and pointing the camera in all kinds of random directions depending on where the action is. The extra data will come in handy when I need to perform ‘surgery’ to salvage shots.
- Robust LOG Format – I knew that I was going to do heavy post production on all my films, so I needed to be able to shoot for the maximum latitude to push and pull later in the grade. Which meant that I not only needed to shoot LOG but also with a wide-ish gamut.
- Small Foot Print – For shoot days, I planned to have one pelican case per shooter with all necessary equipments to form a stand-alone unit. This is of utmost importance because we need to be able to move, set-up, and tear-down quickly. And since we usually don’t get dedicated spaces to store our equipment on-site, having all our equipment fit in one case helps with security as we can leave it in a safe corner without taking up too much space.
- No Recording Limit – During the ceremony and speech portions of the weddings, we’d set up two of our cameras on tripods to record the action. I needed to ensure that the camera won’t automatically stop recording after a set period of time, because I WILL forget to hit ‘RECORD’ again and end up in an odd conversation with the client about why half of their wedding is missing from the final delivery.
Based on these four criterias, the Panasonic GH-5 ended up being the choice for my business.
Because it has:
- Internal 10 BIT 4:2:2
- V-LOG gamma with a superior gamut (V-Gamut) than REC-2020
Which gives me a lot of leniency while shooting, and amazing color reproduction in the grade.
The SONY A73 suffered a beat down in this category due to its lacklustre 8-BIT 4:2:0 codec and I personally was not a fan of S-LOG after having tested it with a friend’s camera.
The BlackMagic Pocket 4K was superior to the GH5 in this regard, but for reasons we’ll see later, it just couldn’t make the cut.
The GH5’s also got a tiny foot print!
Being from the M4/3 family, the GH5 is tiny, weighs nothing and has access to a backlog of small yet performing lenses. Although it suffers in low light compared to the A73 and Pocket 4K, pairing it with a fast prime can produce a decent picture. The main factor that swung in its favour here though, is its internal 5-axis stabilization, which enables me to shoot without a gimbal and opens up the possibilities of using vintage ( read as CHEAP ) lenses that predate image stabilization.
The A73 scored a little higher here because it’s got a trump card over its competitors – Auto-Focus! At the time of purchase, only the A73 had working continuous auto-focus, which is beneficial for gimbal work. The GH5’s auto-focus was abysmal comparatively.
The Pocket 4K’s form factor was unfit for gimbals, it’s screen was non-articulating which made shooting anything but at eye level a chore, and its need for constant battery and SSD swaps meant that I’d need to carry more gear per pelican case and stop more frequently during the day. After even more research, I had decided to abandon the Pocket 4K as a candidate because it appeared to be a ‘rig’ camera pretending to be a mirrorless, and I didn’t have the external monitors, recorders, V-mount batteries, etc..
My 1st AC missed the focus pull last go.
With only the A73 and GH5 left, let’s take a look at – Recording Limit.
The A73 has a 30 min cap on all recording modes. But in reality, the camera over-heats in 15-20 min on a warm day out doors.
The GH5 has no limit on how long it can record and it’s got a hot-swapping feature which allows us to swap out SD cards while recording without interruption. And it doesn’t over heat under a hot sun because of it’s smaller M4/3 sensor.
WINNER – Panasonic GH5.
Let’s take a peek at some of the other out standing features of the GH5:
- 180 FPS Slow Motion In HD – buttery smooth, worthy of the big screen
- Long Battery Life – 2 hours continuous easily
- Wide Range Articulating Screen – you can always see what you’re shooting
- Dual – Image Stabilization – the internal stabilization works together with the image stabilization of LUMIX ( not all ) lenses to produce insanely steady footage
But! The GH5 is definitely NOT the perfect camera, one of its main faults in my opinion is its lack of ability resolving moire up close, and since all wedding suits are just giant paintings of moire patterns, this issue’s given me plenty of headaches in the edit ( You might have noticed this in a few shots ).
What about the other two cameras?
- The BlackMagic 4K and it’s newly released sibling – 6K Super 35mm is superior in every way when it comes to codec and gamut, I’d choose it over the GH5 in a heart beat for real production work.
- The A73’s low light performance cannot be understated, and for shooters with existing full-frame lenses or lovers of bokeh, I’d definitely recommend this camera over the GH5, and it’s got amazing auto-focus!
Hopefully I’d shed some good light on how to choose the perfect camera for you in this article.
And for those that believe gear is not important:
“Even though it’s the artist that makes the painting, but having the right brush sure helps!”
input + output 