Dailey Pike has just shot a interview with cinematographer and DSLR shooter (he also does a few Hollywood films like Terminator Salvation on the side) Shane Hurlbut.
Check out Shane’s latest blog here, about the Kessler Crane CineSlider
5 Reasons DSLRs are here to stay
I have enjoyed reading Shane’s blog over the last year as he pushed back boundaries with DSLRs. The helmet camera rigs and putting DSLRs in tight spaces where a larger film camera would never go, is all part of why DSLRs as a form factor are not going to be replaced by larger AF100 style pro video cameras for many filmmakers.
That’s reason 1 – a small stealthy form factor. It has also come in handy for me on occasions where I’m shooting a personal project in a place where basic photo cameras are allowed, but filming is not.
Their cost and the fast-moving product cycle of consumer DSLRs means that every year new DSLRs are hitting the market, for significantly less than a professional product with a lifespan of 3 years or even more.
Those are reasons 2 and 3 – cost and the fact that they get refreshed much more often than the pro stuff. By the time the AF100 is put a year into it’s useful life, we’ll have cameras like the 1DS Mark 4 and 5D Mark 3 which will very likely have even better image quality for less money.
Fast forward 2 years into the AF100’s 3 year life cycle, and we’ll likely have a GH3, a new mirrorless offering from Canon and a Nikon mirrorless which may well have reached it’s second generation. Mirrorless systems offer compatibility out of the box with beautiful PL mount cinema lenses from Cooke, Zeiss and many others.
Go 3 years into the AF100’s lifespan and not only will competition be fierce from DSLRs, both Canon and Sony will have entered the fray. The AF200 may inherit the image sensor not from a professional camera but from a consumer DSLR, just like this time.
The consumer stuff is suddenly the key to the kingdom of filmmaking, and thanks to that the doors have been blown open for a huge array of people – some will be successful, some not – but it will come down to talent, and not who has the biggest guns.
That’s reason 4 – they’re so common! For as long as the huge consumer DSLR stills market exists, DSLRs will still be around, and once a feature like video has been added, it is hard to see how they can justify taking it away – and indeed, why would they? Canon saw how many additional sales the excitement of HD video generates, even if a consumer wants the camera primarily for still photography.
Being a stills photographer is a slightly different skills set to a filmmaker’s or a cinematographers. Yet they have so much in common – the ability to tell a story through images, the narrative drive and voice behind the images. An eye for interesting scenes, events, happenings. And now they also have the equipment in common as well.
That’s reason 5 – photographers making that break into filmmaking. A lot of this will happen in the next few years if not right away.
There are plenty of other reasons too, but I’ve leave those up to you to voice…
