Certain camera brands = more work opportunities?

QuickHitRecord

QuickHitRecord

Veteran
There is some speculation in this thread that the industry has shifted heavily towards Sony (and Red too with the advent of the Komodo). It's not the first time I've heard this and I think I do know more Sony shooters than Canon shooters in 2023. As a long-time Canon guy, I own a C70 and I am considering buying a second body. But I do wonder if I am missing out on work, and maybe that second body should actually be a Sony or a Red. The purpose of my business is to get hired by clients and to generate a strong net profit. If the cost, learning curve, and general inconvenience of switching to another brand could possibly increase the demand for my services, then it deserves at least a look.

So for me, in 2022:

- I made a pretty decent living as a freelance videographer/DP. Could I have made more with a Sony camera?
- I've had to disqualify myself from two jobs because I didn't have an FX6 or FX9 in my kit. I referred those jobs out to Sony shooters I know, but have never heard from them about a client looking for a DP with a Canon kit.
- As far as I know, I was only hired because of a specific camera that I owned only once (my ancient Red One MX!).
- A few of my clients have specifically said, "no mirrorless cameras". I've also seen "mirrorless cameras okay" which usually means that the project is not a good fit for me.
- Most of my clients have been extremely pleased with my footage and don't seem to care what kind of camera I bring, which is nice.

Looking at this at a national level, LensRentals published a list of their most rented gear for 2022. I was surprised to see that the Canon C70 was the top dedicated video-oriented camera, followed by the FX3, the FX6, the FX9, and the Red Komodo, in that order.

I wanted to tailor these results a little more to my market, so I looked at all of the current-ish generation dedicated cameras on Sharegrid, here in Portland:

CANON
1 x C500 ii
0 x C300 iii
5 x C70
= 6 Cameras

SONY
1 x Venice
2 x FX9
5 x FX6
2 x FX3
0 x FX30
= 10 Cameras

ARRI
0 x Alexa 35
6 x Mini/LF
2 x Amira
= 8 Cameras

RED
3 x V Raptor
5 x Komodo
= 8 Cameras

BLACKMAGIC
2 x Ursa Mini 12K
0 x Ursa Mini Pro G2
8 x Pocket 6K
6 x Pocket 4K
= 16 cameras

Obviously, not everyone who owns a camera rents it out (I personally don't). And some cameras (Arri, Red) need to be rented out to offset the cost of ownership. Plus, there are other rental platforms. But what surprised me most is that there are no C300 iiis to be found. There are definitely more Sony cameras out there. And SO many more BlackMagics!

I'm not really sure what my takeaway from this is and I am curious to hear what others are experiencing. Please make sure to let us know which market your are serving.
 
The world used to have only a few go-to options when much less people were doing this, but times have changed.

You'll always find certain areas or crews or niches that have their list/preference, but there are so many more people doing this today with so many more opportunities and decision-makers that I don't think you're missing out on any extra work specifically because of the camera choice (unless you're serving a very small market where you're hearing clients are constantly asking for a Sony but that doesn't sound like the case).

This business is weird because some people don't change and stick to what they know and still might pay you a mediocre rate while others would hire you if you showed them an interview you shot with some A-lister on your phone and pay you much more.

It's all over the place and the differences in rates and expectations is wild.

P.S. Sometimes people put up fake listings in their area with gear they own to see who/how many bite, gauge the crowd, interest.
 
I think it isn't that businesses ask for the brand names and/or particular models per se but for the niches that these cameras fill. In other words, if you want someone with an LF, you're aiming for a much higher quality than C70 and are likewise willing to compensate an LF shooter/crew. And that depends on a given geographical market too.

I am a bit surprised that C500 MKII isn't in higher demand but ... it's a three year old camera much like FX-9 but is still listed at a significantly higher price ($16,000 vs. $11,000), so there's quite possibly a reluctance to pay more for essentially the same performance.

In terms of the "consumer" market, there have been a lot of new releases over the last half a year or so, presumably all catching up with the delays caused by the 2020 Covid crisis. But the mid-to-high end consumer is where the money is, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that the Japanese cartel want to play nice across the broad front with Nikon, Fuji and Panasonic, three companies that lack a pro line. Once the consumer wave is flushed out, the pro models are likely to follow. The CP+ news seem to have leaked out already but there could/should be more info for the NAB and Cine Gear.

A regional situation is a bit more clouded. I would probably - I mean, probably - recommend someone to have whatever the locals desire, if it's within the budget. In other words, if FX-9 is the shiznit of the moment, then it might make sense to have it available. That said, with FX-9 being a three year old model, it might soon see either a replacement or a drastic price cut.

I also assume that there's going to be a slow encroachment of "mirrorless" into a pro world. And then smartphones. And I ain't kidding with that either.
 
17 well known rental companies supplied TELEVISUAL a list of their most popular top ten rental cameras over the last five years. In 2022 cross the board, Sony held 6 out of the top 10 slots across those companies. With even the ageing FS7 hanging in there in 7th spot. In fact, the FS7 only dropped from 2nd place in 2022. The A7Siii being the only mirrorless to make the top 10.

Maybe worth a read?

Chris Young

https://www.televisual.com/news/the-top-10-rental-cameras-full-report/

Camera rentals.jpg
 
Client often ask for a specific camera (broadcast world) as they have a workflow ready in their post-production, and they would rather not deal with anything "new" that can delay them. FX9 and 6 (and FS7 before that) has served me well. used Canon for a while, but I just hate the ergonomics of those cameras (nice image though).
My RED Goes out when I do TVCs, and I do get hired because of that camera, but the FX9 has eaten into the lower end of that market
 
I worked for 15 years in-house at advertising agencies here in the midwest. We had a small package of gear in-house to execute smaller shoots for clients depending on the size of the project and also when we had the bandwidth to execute it.

We also worked with many full scale production companies in the area when the shoot was large enough for certain clients and we needed them to execute the shoot day and we were simply serving as the creative direction and conduit to our client.

For in-house gigs I never once had a client ask for a specific camera package or ask what we were shooting on. They only cared about the end deliverable and making sure that it was of sufficient quality. So any of the camera brands would have sufficed. Canon, Sony, Red, Arri, Blackmagic, Panasonic, Fuji, etc.

That being said, our in-house package that I purchased for the agency a few years ago was a Canon C300 III for our A-cam. We purchased that brand new along with a Canon Eos R with a Ninja V to get the 10 bit 4k out from the mirrorless. We also do photography, so I needed a hybrid camera along with the cinema camera.

I shot those two cameras side by side for an A and B angle for many, many a gig. Mostly sitdown interviews and B-roll. Pretty standard corporate package. The Eos R would also go on a gimbal, the original Ronin S, for b-roll.

Clients were fine with all of the above and never once asked a question about kit. Just my experience, obviously others are different.

When we hired outside production companies to shoot spots I would certainly ask what camera package they planned on shooting with, but more for a heads up than anything. Again, the client never had a question on the camera package, but I would want to know.

When we hired those outside production companies to execute those commercials the budgets may have ranged from a $15,000 - $100,000 range for a one day shoot, 30 second spot, usually with a 15 sec cutdown and a variety of output formats, (16:9, 1:1, 9:16).

Cameras used for those spots included the Sony FX6, Red Dragon 6k, Red Epic 5k, Red Komodo and even a Kinefinity Mavo LF. Any and all of those cameras were, and are, capable of shooting a high end TVC. I was always more concerned with how much of the budget we had allocated to locations, talent, art department, post, etc. The camera package was one small aspect of the production.

Typically the production companies would also handle their own post-production and we also handled our own post in-house for any of those projects that we shot ourselves. So handing footage over to someone else wasn't a concern.

Just my 2 cents. Everyone and everything is different out there.
 
Seems like an impossible task! Camera choice goes beyond image or ergonomics as if someone hires you, maybe their editing chain prefers a certain make or model? Now that any camera $2,000 and up looks more alike than different, the choices are even harder with forecasting in mind. My only input would be to match your expenditures with expected budgets and win 'em over with your talents/expertise. That is all we can do in the end.

Also, I would weigh how often you need two matching cameras compared to how often you will get hired because of owning a Sony camera. Two matching really helps you where two different helps them so to speak.
 
Right or wrong, owning a specific camera or cameras can get you calls that you may not have gotten otherwise and open a door for you. I think I've been pretty lucky(good?) over the years buying in-demand cameras for the market segment that I'm in. Keeping this just to large sensor cameras(not broadcast/ENG cams), after the C300 came out and it became obvious that that was the "it" camera, I bought one and immediately started telling people that I had it. Call$ came it. Then I bought an F55 and let everyone I knew know it. Got bookings immediately. And not a camera, but I repeated that again with the Canon 17-120 lens. Then the Canon 25-250. And most recently with an Amira. It also depends on your location and your market segment and/or the market segment that you want to be in.

*Edit*
Let me add to this slightly.

Regarding just brand names getting you calls that you may not have gotten otherwise, I think that is more true of Arri and RED. But you need to own specific models of Sony and Canon.
 
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I got one of the first FX6s in my part of the world. I loved it from the second I picked it up and put a lot of time and effort into setting it up perfectly for how I shoot (I need an EVF or a loupe, for one thing). Also, I know it's kind of high status to not even own a camera or have a preference cos the high end is rental but... I really like to know equipment inside out before I shoot a job with it. This is my camera. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

Then I got an unmissable opportunity to shoot a high-profile, news-related doc that the FX6 would have been perfect for. The producer wanted Canon because of 'Canon colours' - preferably the C70!

This is someone who repeatedly demonstrated that he thought he knew a lot more about cameras and filming than he actually did. I think that what he thought of as Sony vs Canon was actually interlaced vs progressive. Looking back through footage from previous projects shot for them on various cameras, that was the way it just happened to break down. And he had that level of ignorance. The C70 was fine but I'll never love it.
 
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I think the brand thing is a big issue. And it is hitting me in a bad way.*

Production girls get given a list and go book that.. without knowing even what it is. (fair play they could be booking flashbangs, stage decking, motorolas, lipstick, shoes and an fx6 package**)

give em a list," 24-70 f2.8 . 50 f1.8, 5000 f40"

and they will ring around all day until someone gives them the news about the last item (it is a typo)

The producers who send the list to the production girl say only two things..

"get me an arri mini with cooke anamorfuc"

or

"get me three fx6"


this means if you have a c200, fx9, an f55, a c500ii or $80k of 2/3 cam you are an unemployable loser devoid of any talent or use to the industry

even if you have picked those cameras to work exactly how you want with good reason bought from deep experience

===

*as the owner of an leightweight ND XLR raw shooting sdi to director monitor wonder that is the c200

**i often get asked if I have a pee wee dolly
 
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Yes, the specific model/brand thing is a double edged sword, especially from people who don’t really know the gear. It’s usually a case of someone shot something that they really liked and instead of crediting the captain, they equate it all to the boat.
 
Run&Gun said:
Yes, the specific model/brand thing is a double edged sword, especially from people who don’t really know the gear. It’s usually a case of someone shot something that they really liked and instead of crediting the captain, they equate it all to the boat.
Click to expand...

Yes, definitely a factor. Twice in the last year I’ve had to convince a producer that the FX6 will look similar to the a7Siii they originally asked for. Both for broadcast TV!

It’s pretty insulting when you think about it. Next time, maybe I should ask the producer what software they’re planning to use to write the brief as I’ll only accept a pdf from Acrobat (and no, not just exported as a pdf from Word, I had one of those once and it was rubbish).
 
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