Prosumer goes to Hollywood

It’s been over a decade since Andrew Disney’s directorial debut Searching for Sonny came out, the first feature length film shot on a DSLR. Looking back further still, Darren Aronofsky used one to shoot several scenes in his film Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel, whilst the First Captain America and the second Iron Man both too used a DSLR for a number of sequences where they were simply the better choice. 

The common thread was the camera, the highly coveted Canon 5D MkII, a full frame DSLR and the first by Canon to have video shooting capabilities. 

10 years later Canon’s swan song, the exceptional 5D MkIV, is set to be decommissioned to make way for the all new R Series bodies and RF mount lenses after 35 years using the EF mount and well over 150 million lenses sold. Which, knowing the cost of the kit, explains why Canon revenues have been around 30 billion dollars for the past 3 years! 

But also, knowing the kit, it’s not hard to see why…

Canon lenses are considered by many to be some of the best glass out there, and their cameras do not fall short of the mark either, which is why we’ve just upgraded our line of 5DMkIV’s and EF lenses to the all new R5 and RF lenses. 

Whilst we use the Blackmagic 6K Pro as our Cine camera choice and keep some EF lenses to use with that, there are often occasions where something smaller and more compact is needed, and having been shooting on the Canon R5 for several months now we have been totally blown away with the results we’ve been getting. 

For those in the know it has a 45 megapixel dual sensor (1.5 x that of the MkIV), can shoot in 8K at 25fps, 100fps at 4K, has options for shooting in RAW or 10 Bit Pro Res 4:2:2, and has the updated C-Log 3 colour profile and 14.6 stops of dynamic range which makes the colour grading process an absolute delight in post. Then there’s the all new IBIS (In Body Image Stablisation) which when lying on the tail gate of your car recording at high speed over cobbles makes the footage look like the camera is on a gimbal, almost. 

For those who aren’t in the know, this basically means it’s an absolute beast of a camera which you can quite easily slip into your jacket pocket.

The real takeaway we’ve found is that in investing in this equipment, beyond a desire to keep up to date with technology, is that we have been able to consistently deliver elevated, professional content for a fraction of the price involved with other more conventional cinema camera set ups, and this is becoming increasingly more important in the current financial environment. 

It means our clients can still deliver cohesive marketing campaigns and content without eating huge chunks out of their bottom line, and that’s good news for everyone.