What CAMERA should I buy to make my film?

Подробнее о видео

► My Top 10 Tips for making your best film on a budget:

What camera should you use to make your film?

Well, I would say start with what you have. And if you want to use more than what you have, then for anything I'm about to suggest, remember that you don't have to buy. You can always borrow or rent - or buy something second hand.

The first thing I'm going to say is this: do not buy into the gear obsession that a lot of filmmakers have. In general, you just need a method of recording picture and sound that works for you. And you should start by learning how to shoot and edit and tell a story with whatever you already have
before you buy any other kit.

Firstly, as the most basic option, consider using a smartphone. Now, most new smartphones are so powerful these days that you can get amazing results using them, IF you know how to use the camera well, so you might decide if you have one of these already that you don't need anything else.
This is probably what I would have done if I was just starting out now, as the quality today,
even from a phone, is a million times better than what I could do back with my old camcorder
when I was first starting out. Some smartphones even have multiple lens choices and you can also buy attachable lenses and filters. So again, this might mean you can do a great deal with just your phone. If you do take this route, you can begin by just using the inbuilt video function, but this will usually just give you auto settings where the camera controls everything. And this usually looks pretty amateur as things like your brightness will keep changing all the time. So if you want to get better results I would suggest a third party camera app. This gives you much more control and lets you alter most of the things you could usually alter with a proper camera, like the frame rate,
the resolution, the white balance, the shutter speed, the focus, and sometimes the aperture. Some phones are now being made with inbuilt manual settings too for videos, so this might mean
that you don't actually need an extra app. It all depends what you are using.

Next, if you want to shoot a scene or film that is very action-based, you could look at using an action sports camera. These can get some great results for certain situations and they usually rely on autofocus. I've done quite a few stunt-based visual effects experiments and small cameras
like this actually hold up pretty well, as long as you're not shooting in low light. But just know that these action cameras are not useful for every situation. As they are designed with very wide lenses, They will distort your actors if you put them close to the camera. And they also don't usually have a zoom function or any other lens options. So I would say this isn't a very flexible choice to shoot a traditional film on. They're better used for a specific shot, where you just need a small camera that you can fling around, or maybe for a sequence where there is some high risk of damage, Or another popular use is to get somebody's POV or point of view because you have such a wide lens. So I usually think action cameras are good but only for specific situations.

Next, if you want something more advanced than a phone or an action camera and you're willing to spend more, then you could look at getting an entry level camera without a fixed lens like a basic DSLR or mirrorless camera. You can go for fixed lens cameras too, but these are probably better for things like documentaries where you're filming something unplanned and you don't want to be changing lenses all the time. They are a good all-in-one option, but they're not that great in low light.
You can normally get prettier results from a camera where you can change the lens, as it's often the lens that is worth spending the money on rather than the camera. So for anything fictional where you can control what you're filming, you're not likely to need a documentary camera. And so nowadays, I would probably go for a camera where you can change the lens and you'll get lots of different, varied results with just one camera.

The next category is probably a higher-end more expensive DSLR or mirrorless camera,
and these will tend to give you things like more options for frame rates and footage dimensions,
but they basically function the same way as cheaper cameras that are smaller.

If you're happy to spend a lot more money, then you could go for more of a cinema-grade camera, which will usually not only have lens options, but also have proper audio outputs and lots of other features. But for most passion projects, this isn't really necessary. I would stick with a DSLR or a mirrorless camera as my first choice for low budget filmmaking.

So that just about covers some of the basic camera options you might need for your project. But
remember, always start with what you have!