There’s no question that movie camera technology is getting more powerful and cheaper every year. Just a few years ago, many of us were struggling to get clean 480p images from our miniDV cameras, or 4K was reserved only for the most high-end film productions. But while we’ve seen huge leaps forward in quality and functionality with cinema cameras over the years, I’m starting to feel like we’re reaching a plateau… and that’s probably a very good thing.
There’s no denying that the barrier to entry for independent filmmakers looking to invest in a photography system is lower than ever. Today’s movie cameras are more powerful than ever and cheaper than ever, which saves filmmakers budgets. Still, while 2016 still showed us that there’s plenty of room for innovation and advancement in the cinema camera market, it didn’t bring any groundbreaking technology to the masses – a trend I think is here to stay.
Since the digital revolution, we’ve seen camera technology advance by leaps and bounds almost every year. In many ways, it started with cameras like the Canon XL1, which gave many filmmakers on a budget a viable alternative to Super 16mm film. Then came cameras like the DVX100, which gave us incredible 24p performance – and even some feature films (notably Courtney Cox’s November) started using it.
Then there’s HD. All these great 24p cameras started to be reworked into HD versions that could shoot at full 1080p, leaving some of us waiting a year or two until we experienced the DSLR revolution.
The Canon 5D and every other digital SLR camera that offered video recording suddenly solved a major problem for filmmakers—lens adapters. In the age of small sensor camcorders, many of us struggled with 35mm adapters, desperately trying to achieve shallow depth of field and use high-quality glass on our cameras. But adapters have always been bulky and cumbersome to use…monocular cameras solve that problem.
Soon after, the digital SLR camera revolution inspired a whole new wave of products, such as the Canon C300 or the Sony FS100 – essentially the “best of both worlds” cameras at the time. These types of cameras give us the interchangeable lens functionality of a digital SLR camera with the form factor of a more traditional camcorder.
Last but not least, we see the RED ONE and the Arri Alexa. Two groundbreaking cameras, each in their own way, helping push larger-scale production into the digital world.
All these changes happen quickly. In just a few years, digital technology has gone from a taboo format that most professionals would not touch, to an industry standard.
Where to slow down
In my opinion, every innovation after RED ONE and Arri Alexa has been incremental. Don’t get me wrong, RED DRAGON is more powerful than RED ONE and Alexa SXT is more powerful than Alexa Classic. Not to mention, digital SLRs and mirrorless cameras now feature 4K, internal stabilization, and other features that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
But none of these improvements are as monumental as what we’ve seen in the past. If handled by the right DP, movies shot with the Alexa Classic can look just as good as those shot with the Alexa SXT. The same comparison can be made with lower-end devices – the 4-year-old Lumix GH2 is still performing well in 2016 – although the Lumix GH4 is clearly “better” in almost every way, at least from a specs perspective.
So while we see new features being added to cameras every year: higher resolution sensors, better codecs, higher frame rates, etc… we don’t really see cinema camera technology what it used to be develop.
There are some exceptions to this statement that are worth pointing out. For example, there are now several 8K-capable cinema cameras that are proving to be very useful in some niche productions. But how many of us actually need 8K? The jump from SD to HD is huge. The leap from HD to 4K is dramatic, but not groundbreaking. But what about the small jump from 4K to 8K? Not that dramatic.
I think there are two main reasons why we’re seeing a slowdown in camera technology:
- The high-end cinema cameras we currently have (especially the Arri Alexa) are very powerful and have less room for improvement than ever before, and the lower end of the market isn’t far behind.
- Virtual reality is here and here to stay. Camera companies are doing a lot of research and development into VR camera technology, but they’ve only scratched the surface. Inevitably, this will divert attention away from the movie camera in some ways.
With all this in mind, we’ll certainly continue to see improvements in camera technology across the board. Prices will drop further, internal stabilization will improve, more cameras will achieve higher DR, the lower end will offer better color science, and so on. But none of that really affects how we tell stories.
why this is a good thing
The point here is not to complain that we don’t see more technological innovation in movie cameras today. In fact, my opinion is exactly the opposite.
The technology in this industry is incredible and can open up so many possibilities for filmmakers, but in many ways it distracts us from what matters most – creativity. Many filmmakers spend years obsessing over incremental camera updates without paying enough (or at all) attention to lighting, story, direction, or any other essential element.
I know a lot of filmmakers who can tell you the exact bitrate their camera shoots at, its precise rolling shutter performance, and its dynamic range, but they don’t even understand the basics of a 3-point lighting setup. I hope this changes in the near future.
What appears to be a slow period for the camera industry should give us all good reason to take a step back and improve our craft even more. Technology will continue to advance and we will all continue to be excited about it – I certainly know I will. That said, what’s even more exciting is that we now have cameras that fit in the palm of our hand and can capture better quality footage than the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of movie cameras of years past.
Have we reached a plateau? In some ways, yes—at least in my opinion. There will always be newer and better cameras, that will never change. But it does feel like we’re in an era where we have all the technology we need at our fingertips, and now it’s our turn to put it into practice.
Personally, I will always be a camera junkie and I will always follow the latest trends in the industry. At the same time, I’m spending more time than ever developing my directing and writing methods, experimenting with lighting techniques, and expanding my color and post-production capabilities, because that’s what I think is most important.
That’s it for now!
For those who want to improve their color grading skills – Be sure to click here to check out the 3 cinematic LUT packs I just released a few days ago.
