Choosing a camera

Camera operators are utterly spoilt for choice these days. While there will never be a perfect camera for everyone, you will be able to find something that works for you that’s also in your budget. This is an ever-changing field, and specific camera advice will be quickly outdated, so I’m focusing here on general advice only. Remember that the adage mostly holds true: you can choose any two from fast, cheap, and good.

An iPhone (or any other mobile phone)

Yes, you can absolutely shoot videos on your iPhone, and according to most reviews, an iPhone does a better job of video than most Android phones do. An iPhone will also be easier to use with your Mac, and it even includes iMovie, so you can start an edit on your iPhone, then transition it to FCP on your Mac. The dynamic range (from shadows to highlights in a single shot) is huge, so you can film in more places. Image stabilization means the image shouldn’t be too shaky. Log mode, available on the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and later Pro models, reduces processing and improves image quality hugely. And it’s always in your pocket! So far, so good. You can also add accessories, such as this iOgrapher case, if you want to tripod-mount it and add a microphone:

Figure 2.7: There are many ways to mount a phone on a tripod; this is a good one

However, even though an iPhone can deliver 4K, it has some limitations. First, though the built-in Camera app gives several frame rate options (now including 25fps if you activate Show PAL Formats in Settings > Camera > Record Video), it offers limited direct control over shutter speed and no control over the aperture. Apps like Final Cut Camera, Blackmagic Camera, and Kino offer many more options (including recording in Log to a wider range of codecs), but the physical buttons and dials on a “real” camera can’t be beaten.

While phones do get better every year, dedicated cameras still have an edge (especially in low light) and the iPhone’s Cinematic mode, while actually very good, can’t match traditional background blur perfectly. On most phones, file management is less convenient too because everything’s internal; you can’t just swap out a memory card if you’re running out of space or swap out a battery if it’s running low. The iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, and later Pro models can shoot to a connected SSD, but at the cost of convenience.

Lastly, shooting on a phone probably won’t impress paying clients, as silly as that may seem. Perception is reality for a lot of people, and if you turn up to a paid gig with the same camera that your client owns, they could perceive you as an amateur. That isn’t fair; phones today shoot better video than most cameras from a few years ago, but it’s still what happens. This will, eventually, change, and the Cinematic and Log modes on newer iPhone models are a bold step toward that future.

So, a phone is convenient, but it could struggle in difficult situations and it doesn’t impress clients.

A DSLR or mirrorless camera

This is the current sweet spot for most new videographers. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, and Fujifilm are the five main companies making mid-range to high-end video-capable cameras with interchangeable lenses. Some cameras are better at autofocusing during video recording than others. Some offer a more pleasing color profile than others. Some have amazing sensor-based image stabilization. All of them should give you a better image than any phone out there, and the better ones will let you plug in external microphones and headphones, too. Here’s my GH5 with a wireless lavalier (lapel or lav) microphone receiver attached, at a jaunty angle:

Figure 2.8: A GH5 with an Olympus lens and a RØDE Wireless GO lapel mic

Overall, these cameras create files that are easy enough to work with. They can shoot 4K, many accessories are available, they are reliable, and they come in many price categories. Larger sensors and faster lenses (which let in more light) make it easier to throw the background out of focus, an effect that many people associate with “professional” shots. A blurred background (from a fast aperture, rather than faked) is one of the key image characteristics that lifts a “real camera” above the “everything-in-focus” look of a phone.

Some of these cameras have limitations (especially in 4K) relating to their continuous recording time, whether they can capture the entire image area or just a cropped part of it, and the data rates that they allow you to use. Another common limitation relates to frame rates — my Panasonic GH6 and GH7 can record in a huge variety of frame rates, but my cheaper, older Panasonic G7 is region-locked, stuck at 25 fps, and limited to a maximum recording length of half an hour.

Importantly, most of these cameras give you full control over shutter speed, the aperture, and other image properties, plus there are more advanced controls on higher-end cameras. The ability to use manual controls is one of the key features of a professional camera and allows you to get a shot in difficult shooting conditions where a fully automatic camera would make a bad call.

You’ll find a number of opinions out there, and your needs may well be different from other people’s. Read as many reviews as you can, and download some sample files and test them out in FCP before committing to a particular system. If you start spending a lot of money on lenses, you could be stuck using that system for several years.

A high-end camera

If you decide to seriously invest in a camera, you might look at a high-end Sony, Panasonic, or Canon, a Blackmagic camera, or perhaps even a RED or ARRI. These cameras produce a lovely image that’s very flexible and easily adjusted, but they require more care, more accessories, and more resources in post-production. Because they’re built for a set, these cameras can be heavy, chew through batteries, make huge video files, and be harder to learn and use. Some don’t include image stabilization, so you’ll need additional support gear for stable moving shots.

But what you can sometimes lose in ease of use, you get back in raw resolution, color detail, and dynamic range. Your camera will also look expensive on set and in the edit bay, and it is indeed expensive. It’s a camera for a professional crew on a professional set and will certainly impress clients:

Figure 2.9: A photo of a RED RAVEN camera by Bruno Masseo via Pexels.com

Regarding formats, most can record to ProRes (which is easy to work with) or more exotic formats (which are harder to work with), so if you receive footage from one of these cameras, you might need additional software to view its files. If you decide that you really need the look that a high-end camera gives you, FCP can handle it (8K and beyond), but know that this power comes at a cost.

An action camera or drone

At a variety of price points, you’ll find pocketable cameras that incorporate a gimbal (such as DJI Osmo Pocket), as well as blocky cameras that you can mount to a car, helmet, surfboard, or ski pole (such as Insta360 Ace Pro, DJI Action, GoPro, and many others) and drones of all shapes and sizes. Typically, these cameras have several options for resolution and frame rate, but you can’t change lenses and you might not even have a screen; everything’s on auto:

Figure 2.10: This DJI Spark drone is a cheap way to find out if flying cameras are for you

The strength of these devices is in getting shots from crazy perspectives that you would otherwise have missed, which is valuable. However, an action camera shouldn’t be your primary camera because fully automatic settings will inevitably fail eventually, focusing on the wrong thing, under- or over-exposing, or messing up the white balance. If you need manual controls, look elsewhere. Typically, the files you get from these cameras are fairly small; they look good, but not great, and they’ll probably have a wide-angle look. But these cameras are improving rapidly, so don’t discount them just yet.

Many drones also suffer from a lack of manual controls, though this is a compromise worth making with a camera that can fly. Newer drones have improved their picture quality quite a lot, and if they’re legal where you are, they’re great for very specific purposes — perhaps for introductory shots flying over a building — but not so good for interviews. They’re a handy addition to the kit bag.

A 360° camera

These cameras typically use two lenses (and sometimes more) to record the entire scene around the camera. Here’s an Insta360 ONE X, with the second lens just visible at the back:

Figure 2.11: An Insta360 ONE X, seen from the side

The images from the two cameras are stitched together to create an “equirectangular” video, showing the entire scene around them. While it’s possible to deliver this 360° footage to a headset, allowing the viewer to look around freely, it’s probably more common to use 360° footage in a regular video-editing project. In that workflow, the editor chooses where the camera will look, and you deliver it to a regular display.

The great joy of 360° is that you never miss the shot because you’re facing the wrong way — just spin it around in the timeline. However, there’s some crossover here between the action and the 360° categories; you can’t easily control what’s happening on the camera and you will usually end up in the shot yourself, certainly if you’re holding the camera. As with drones, the quality of the image has improved recently, and it’s easier to use 360° cameras than ever before. However, as the workflow is quite different from “normal” cameras, this book includes a new Appendix to teach you how to use one, and how to incorporate its footage into regular or 360° edits.

A SPATIAL OR IMMERSIVE C A M E R A

With the release of Final Cut Pro 11, it’s finally possible to edit in stereoscopic 3D. While 3D-capable cameras cover either a wide 180° angle (Immersive) or a more narrow, regular field of view (Spatial), in Final Cut Pro 11.1, only Spatial media can be edited — not Immersive. Today, the most convenient way to capture in Spatial is with an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any flavor of iPhone 16, and the workflow is simple. Third-party options also exist, most prominently from Canon, but workflows do get a little more complicated.

Today, this is a new frontier, so if you’re looking to create 3D media for an Apple Vision Pro, welcome to the future. If you’re interested in creating stereo media, please visit my website, stereoscopic.mov, for info on the latest workflows and tools available — including my own tool, Spatial Kit!

Audio equipment

This area is huge, and I’ll keep it brief. Your camera will have a microphone built into it, but it won’t be very good. The best audio is recorded from as close to your subject as possible, and you can capture that with a boom microphone pointed directly at them (if you have a person to hold it) or with a lapel microphone that they wear. You can record audio directly into a camera (which is easier, but with potential quality loss) or into an external recorder (which is slightly more work, but with potentially higher quality):

Figure 2.12: The Zoom H5 is a four-track recorder that accepts XLR and a minijack, with a built-in stereo mic

Professional gear has three huge advantages over cheap gear: it sounds better, it has less noise, and it’s more reliable. But beware — more expensive gear will only capture better sound if it’s used correctly. If you’re a one-person operator, you probably can’t keep a boom mic pointed in exactly the right direction while operating a camera, so consider using a good lapel mic instead. For ease of operation, wireless lapel mics that include the mic on a clip-on transmitter are far, far easier to set up than a traditional setup that runs wires under a subject’s clothes.

Different environments require different approaches, and recording good sound is important. Having several kinds of microphones with you lets you use them all at once, then find out which sounds best in the editing bay. However, when you record your audio, always, always plug in a pair of headphones (and wear them!) to make sure you’re recording a clear signal.

Other accessories

Cameras are often supplemented with support gear, such as tripods, gimbals, body straps, mounts, cages, and handles. Add these as you need them, but don’t go crazy. Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) is a real addiction, and it’s an expensive one. Heavier cameras need more expensive support gear, too.

Lighting is hugely important, and if you can’t add your own lights, you’ll need to learn how to position your subject to maximize available light. As with microphones, you’ll need different lights for different purposes, such as small, camera-mounted lights, larger lights that live on stands, and more. You’ll find plenty of advice online; start with a quick search for “three-point lighting” and learn as you go.

Review — choosing a camera and audio equipment

Armed with all that information, what are you going to buy? Your budget will guide you, and you’ll probably start at the lower end, building up to something more expensive over time. As a starting point, consider the following:

• Use your phone to start. Put all the quality options to maximum, use it for a couple of test jobs, see if you’re happy with it, and assess its flaws.
• If your phone isn’t good enough for what you need, get a good mirrorless camera, with a capable zoom and at least one prime lens for low light and blurred backgrounds. Make sure the camera has a microphone and a headphone jack.
• Get a microphone or wireless lapel system that you can plug into your camera.
• Get a solid video tripod that lets you pan and tilt smoothly.

Once you’ve mastered that setup and you’re looking for more, consider the following:

• Get an audio recorder that works with your microphones (such as an XLR or minijack). You can use this as a backup or primary audio source.
• Get another camera for dual-camera shoots and backup purposes. This should be the same brand as your primary camera and should record in the same formats, but it could be a cheaper model.
• Get some lights and learn how to use them well.
• Get an action camera, a 360° camera, or a drone to provide different kinds of shots to add variety to your edit.
• Buy a gimbal if you need to capture smooth walking or running movements.
• If or when you hit the limits of what your camera can do, consider moving up to a more professional camera and/or lenses with proper manual focus control:

Figure 2.13: Not all lenses allow proper manual focus, but this “clutch” focus ring does

That’s it for a starting point. If you’re planning on shooting videos yourself, it’s a good checklist to use, and if you’re working with others, it’s a good checklist of questions you should be asking them.

Not every job requires all this gear — I’ve worked on many jobs where audio is unimportant and I can’t add lights — but every videographer needs at least a basic kit. With that kit, what should they capture?