Around 2011, I decided I was going to get my first camera capable of shooting video. That was the Canon 60D. It didn’t take me long to decide on that, but I did a heck of a lot of research before getting it. I was nervous. I’d never spent £900 on a camera before. I had never even used a camera like that before for filming, so what was I even thinking? But, in my head, I had a plan. I was going to teach myself how to become the best at operating it and it was going to take me places. So off I went and bought it, along with a 50mm lens for just over £100. I was now my own basic one man show - so to speak.
Over the next few years, I did become good at using it. It took time though, once I got over the nerves of taking it out for the first time, and using it in front of people. Once I got over those moments where I put myself under pressure with questions like “what if i forget how to use it when I’m on a shoot? What if I can’t remember what a good shot is?” well, those were the sorts of questions that went through my mind. (I’ll let you in on a secret, I still have those thoughts sometimes, even now, but I’ve learned to push them aside and get on with things.)
But I recently came to the point where I was ready to move up a step in the type of equipment I owned. I was desperate to move away from having a DSLR and started to look at what affordable non DSLR options were out there. People were talking about the RED Raven that is due to come out soon, but I didn’t give that too much thought, as I’ve never really been sold on RED cameras…of course, if someone were to hand me on as a gift, I wouldn’t say no, but they are not something I would purposefully go out and invest in.
So, I continued to look elsewhere.
I also knew I didn’t want to go for the Canon C series cameras, for the same reason as the RED, they have just never appealed to me much.
So that left the Sony or the Blackmagic cameras. I had never used Blackmagic, but I had always loved the images they brought out. I could just stare at the output they gave, and when the Blackmagic Ursa Mini cameras were announced, I pounced right on that bandwagon. My heart would race each time I thought about it. For months I scoured the web for news on when they would be shipping, week by week went by and my scouring turned into a near obsession. I knew everything there was to know, except, actual release dates, no one seemed to know that, it was all a guessing game really.
This delayed release allowed me the time to go back and look at Sony cameras. The α7S II (a mirrorless camera) had just been announced (interesting) and released pretty much soon after. Now, this is very much a low light camera, that was it’s main selling point, and I thought, well so what? I don’t shoot all my work in pitch blackness without any light whatsoever and only the moon as guidance for my next step. If you take out the low light aspect of it, is it actually any good?
I had a look at footage that was shot on said camera, and although I wasn’t blown over by it, it was certainly better than what I thought. The more I watched, the more I warmed to the idea of the sony camera, especially when I started to do the sums. This camera comes in about £400 more expensive than the Blackmagic. What’s so good about that, especially when the Blackmagic gives a better output? Well, it’s all in the accessories such as batteries, memory cards etc. Once you factor that in, then the tables turn. The Blackmagic comes in at over £2500 more expensive. WOWZERS.
Well, it was still worth it, the Blackmagic is a much superior camera and absolutely the only one I wanted to get. Nothing was going to change my mind.
But still the Blackmagic hadn’t arrived in stores.
I started to think again about the overall price difference between the 2 cameras, and it was significant enough that I needed to give it serious thought. Is it really worth me getting the Blackmagic camera? A camera I’ve never used before, and the £2500 difference was a conservative estimate, it could be a lot more than that. It slowly became clear to me that I wasn’t in a position to launch into the Blackmagic just yet. It saddened me as I thought this, especially when I had been so desperate to move away from DSLRs and now here I was considering the mirrorless Sony camera, instead of the dedicated video camera that is the Blackmagic. To be honest, that was the biggest hurdle for me, for if the Sony camera was a video camera, I would not have hesitated to get it.
Once I had gotten my mind around this, I ordered the Sony camera. I felt immediately at ease, and knew it was the right decision.
My new camera has now arrived, and I’m really looking forward to trying it out and seeing what it can do.
Over the next few years, I did become good at using it. It took time though, once I got over the nerves of taking it out for the first time, and using it in front of people. Once I got over those moments where I put myself under pressure with questions like “what if i forget how to use it when I’m on a shoot? What if I can’t remember what a good shot is?” well, those were the sorts of questions that went through my mind. (I’ll let you in on a secret, I still have those thoughts sometimes, even now, but I’ve learned to push them aside and get on with things.)
But I recently came to the point where I was ready to move up a step in the type of equipment I owned. I was desperate to move away from having a DSLR and started to look at what affordable non DSLR options were out there. People were talking about the RED Raven that is due to come out soon, but I didn’t give that too much thought, as I’ve never really been sold on RED cameras…of course, if someone were to hand me on as a gift, I wouldn’t say no, but they are not something I would purposefully go out and invest in.
So, I continued to look elsewhere.
I also knew I didn’t want to go for the Canon C series cameras, for the same reason as the RED, they have just never appealed to me much.
So that left the Sony or the Blackmagic cameras. I had never used Blackmagic, but I had always loved the images they brought out. I could just stare at the output they gave, and when the Blackmagic Ursa Mini cameras were announced, I pounced right on that bandwagon. My heart would race each time I thought about it. For months I scoured the web for news on when they would be shipping, week by week went by and my scouring turned into a near obsession. I knew everything there was to know, except, actual release dates, no one seemed to know that, it was all a guessing game really.
This delayed release allowed me the time to go back and look at Sony cameras. The α7S II (a mirrorless camera) had just been announced (interesting) and released pretty much soon after. Now, this is very much a low light camera, that was it’s main selling point, and I thought, well so what? I don’t shoot all my work in pitch blackness without any light whatsoever and only the moon as guidance for my next step. If you take out the low light aspect of it, is it actually any good?
I had a look at footage that was shot on said camera, and although I wasn’t blown over by it, it was certainly better than what I thought. The more I watched, the more I warmed to the idea of the sony camera, especially when I started to do the sums. This camera comes in about £400 more expensive than the Blackmagic. What’s so good about that, especially when the Blackmagic gives a better output? Well, it’s all in the accessories such as batteries, memory cards etc. Once you factor that in, then the tables turn. The Blackmagic comes in at over £2500 more expensive. WOWZERS.
Well, it was still worth it, the Blackmagic is a much superior camera and absolutely the only one I wanted to get. Nothing was going to change my mind.
But still the Blackmagic hadn’t arrived in stores.
I started to think again about the overall price difference between the 2 cameras, and it was significant enough that I needed to give it serious thought. Is it really worth me getting the Blackmagic camera? A camera I’ve never used before, and the £2500 difference was a conservative estimate, it could be a lot more than that. It slowly became clear to me that I wasn’t in a position to launch into the Blackmagic just yet. It saddened me as I thought this, especially when I had been so desperate to move away from DSLRs and now here I was considering the mirrorless Sony camera, instead of the dedicated video camera that is the Blackmagic. To be honest, that was the biggest hurdle for me, for if the Sony camera was a video camera, I would not have hesitated to get it.
Once I had gotten my mind around this, I ordered the Sony camera. I felt immediately at ease, and knew it was the right decision.
My new camera has now arrived, and I’m really looking forward to trying it out and seeing what it can do.
