Digital SLR’s: A Filmmaking Gift or a D.I.Y. Curse?
First and foremost, I want to say that this is not a rant or a case against Digital-SLR cameras. I, in fact, find them to be fantastic in many ways. It is more a prognostication of the pitfalls that I foresee them causing in the future Film & Video landscape. When the “SLR shoots 1080P HD video” craze began, I was very skeptical. I was preparing to direct a PSA and my cinematographer said he wanted to shoot on his new Canon EOS 7D. I trust his opinion immensely, but was still concerned. I was planning on shooting with the Sony PMW-EX1, a respectable (if not spectacular) “pro-sumer” digital HD camera (list price $6,200). It only took a few clips of some 7D footage that my colleague shot for him to convince me otherwise. It came down to one major element: Lens Capability.
This is without a doubt the reason that D-SLR’s like the 7D and the Canon 5D Mark II have become tremendous sellers in the Film & Video community. The lens speed, interchangeability, and being able have “Filmic Depth of Field” was too good to pass up. I don’t know specific numbers, but I would venture to guess that a large portion of the sales of these cameras are now coming from members of the Film & Video community more so than that of photographers. And why not, the price point is terrific (The 7D body is listed at a little under $1,500, while the better lens’ Canon offers are listed between $1,600 – $1,800). This means a Canon EOS 7D with a terrific loom lens would come in at around $3,300. That is nearly half the price of the EX-1. So that means you are getting a better 1080P HD image at half the price. What is not to love? In many ways this is fantastic. But my reservations still exist; only now they have a different focus, and that is application.
I believe there is something to be said when it comes to how these cameras could be the death of proper camera placement and camera movement. Aesthetically, when learning how to shoot something, whether it is a commercial, music video, film, webisode, etc, planning your shots, and where you would like to place the camera is filmmaking 101. When there was a 40-pound camera involved, this meant truly spending time shot listing. The digital age brought on smaller camera bodies, which meant a lot more mobility, and the temptation to go handheld a lot more. Although I do see too many films that utilize handheld these days, I think that it is at least in check, so to speak. Meaning that the good filmmaker’s know when to utilize handheld and when not to (see ‘Black Swan’ for the former). Now we have the SLR Video age, where the rub is this, these cameras are actually built specifically to be handheld. They are still cameras with the intention of “point & shoot”.
This is all well and good if you are seasoned Cinematographer or Camera Operator who understands the importance of camera placement and movement. But what if you’re a beginner? I honestly can’t think of anything worse then to learn filmmaking on one of these cameras. To say it would breed bad habits would be a drastic understatement. Putting a D-SLR in a budding filmmaker’s hand and telling them to go and shoot is just irresponsible (which I can attest, is happening in film schools). I believe you must work your way up to being able to use this sort of camera, not the other way around. But with the price point vs. quality so fantastic, how can you expect youngsters not to go in this direction? And if these cameras are already this technologically advanced, where will we be in 2020? A bunch of young filmmaker’s shooting their projects on flip cams?
So what is the answer? For me it is simple, Canon for example, should take the SLR lens capabilities and apply them to a professional video camera. Sony is doing it (the PMW-F3L – price point $13,300). My bet is that Canon can do it at a lower price point and still maintain fantastic quality. Will they do it? No clue. In the late 90’s Canon had the XL-1, which was (at the time) a terrific digital camcorder. They pumped up that they would create a bigger, better XL-2 for what felt like an eternity. They constantly pushed the release date back (it officially released in 2004, 7 years after the first XL-1). By then Panasonic had created not one, but two models of the terrific DVX-100. The DVX’s capability to shoot 24fps made the XL-1 antiquated overnight, and since the disappointing XL-2 release, Canon has been out of the digital camcorder game as far as being a “big gun”. I would love to see that change, but only time will tell.
First of all, I just want to say Hi and welcome to Tumblr. I love finding new film people on tumblr, and I appreciate that you’re taking the time to think about how all these new tools are changing film and video.
However, I have to respectfully disagree about your views about DSLRs and snubbing your nose at flip cameras. Just like any tool there are the right way and the wrong way to use them. But more cameras in more peoples hands are going to allow more people who should be using them to find them and learn how to tell stories. The sophistication of young filmmakers is pretty remarkable, and the accessories available for all of these cameras makes it quite easy to adjust for the tininess of the cameras.
It’s a safe bet that these same arguments were made by cinematographers when the first video cameras came out. I can picture the conversations of complaints over these young kids who don’t understand exposure and focus. Does the march of technology make it easy for lazy people to do things that were once highly skilled? Certainly, but that is something real pro’s recognize and work past.
I would love to see a teenager shoot a brilliant documentary on a HD flip camera in 2020. Maybe by then Flip and Canon will start to actually worry about making microphones as revolutionary as the 5d is.
