{"id":59401,"date":"2015-07-13T11:17:06","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T16:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=59401"},"modified":"2020-07-14T11:51:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T16:51:14","slug":"building-a-100-cinema-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/building-a-100-cinema-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a $100 Cinema Camera"},"content":{"rendered":"

How inexpensively can you put together a digital cinema camera package? Here’s what to spend your money on in the post-peak-camera era.<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Film will only become an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.<\/p>\n

– Jean Cocteau<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Words from a mid 20th century filmmaker, often repeated when talking about the “democratization” of filmmaking. A lot of us have assumed he meant the cost of gear, so I did a reality check to see if we are there yet, or more practically: how inexpensively can I put together a digital cinema camera package?<\/i><\/p>\n

I spent less than $100 on a camera body and memory card, and grand total of 178 dollars to build a rig with a camera body, recording media, interchangeable lenses, rails and follow focus.<\/strong> Here’s how you can do it, too.<\/p>\n

USED IS \u201cNEW\u201d TO YOU<\/h3>\n

In the last couple of years, the camera body has become the most volatile expense when building rig for filmmaking. It started with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera<\/strong> (BMPCC): a micro 4\/3rds sized sensor that captured images in high bitrate and raw video codecs that cost less that a thousand dollars. The trend has continued with DSLRs and other M4\/3 systems gaining higher bit rate codecs, slog and UHD (aka 4K). The decision to shoot on these small camera bodies no longer means a compromise in recording quality. This removes a significant barrier between professional and prosumer gear.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While DSLRs and other camera\/video hybrid M4\/3 systems are priced above the one thousand dollar mark, Blackmagic continues to lower the price bar, debuting its micro cinema camera<\/strong> at NAB this year. The BMMCC shots raw\u00a01080P video, boasting 13 stops of latitude on a 16mm sized sensor. The camera is tiny \u2014 it’s really just a sensor with a box around it. No screen, no frills, just a high-end sensor that you can attach all kinds of things to. This is a camera designed for a drone or to be shoved into small places.<\/p>\n

\"Building
\nThe Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This is a good thing, because in a year, there will be larger sensors recording more stops of latitude, higher frame rates, and costing less. It makes so much sense to just swap a sensor unit out to prevent the rest of your gear from becoming obsolete.<\/p>\n

This could be the subject of a very interesting article, that\u2019<\/span>s not what I am writing. I am writing about what to do when someone throws out their old amazing camera to pursue the shiny and new.<\/strong> This is about the camera for the \u201crest of us\u201d.<\/p>\n

1080P capable camera bodies are already flooding the used markets of Ebay, Craigslist, and Amazon. We have reached some kind of critical mass in abundant cheap digital camera gear. There are enough spare parts laying around now to quickly and cheaply cobble together a digital motion picture camera.<\/strong> Will this camera set the bar for performance and image quality? No. That’s not the point. This project is not about high-end performance, it’s about an “all access” affordable motion picture camera<\/strong> that borders on semi-disposable. I give you the “$100 Digital Cinema Camera<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

THE RULES<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"BuildingThe Panasonic Lumix GF2<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

First, some ground rules: by cinematic image, I mean a large enough sensor that a visible change in depth of field could be achieved natively (aka shallow focus.) Second, the sensor had to be sensitive enough so that at least 7-8 stops of latitude would be possible<\/strong>. Finally, I wanted the recording format to be as lossless as possible. 24 progressive frames per second<\/strong> was the target frame rate. Ideally I would get this natively, but, if I had to post process to get this, that would work too.\u00a0And I wanted to spend a hundred dollars or less<\/strong> on the camera body and media.<\/p>\n