You’re probably thinking, what Camera should I buy in 2020?
Get ya little velcro wallet out, it’s time to spend some cash.
One thing is for sure, there has never been a better time to purchase a camera than right now, (I have a feeling some dingus like me has been saying this every year since cameras was invented, and they have always been right.)
The hottest trends in cinematography and videography at the moment are Full Frame, RAW Video, The Resolution Race (6k and 8k) and Autofocus for video. We are seeing companies being increasingly competitive in all areas of the market, from the base to the top, and this all boils down to wins, bulk wins for the consumer. I’m talking wins so good that they make 2002 Winter Olympic Gold Medalist and Australian National Treasure Steven Bradbury look like a failure of my great nation. Steven, you are not a failure, you are beautiful and you were the smartest skater on the ice that day, you deserve that gold.
So here are my picks, these cameras will be the most popular video cameras of 2020. These are all class leading cameras with feature sets that the buyers in each category need and the manufacturers have implemented. I am calling it early, these are the hottest cameras of 2020. If these cameras were a snacc they would be flaming hot cheetos. If any of these cameras were one of Ricky Martins Greatest hits they would all be “She Bangs” they are that hot, steamy and raunchalicious. These cameras are going to be so spicy in 2020 they’ll make Chernobyl look like a campfire.
So listen up nerds, put on some Kelly Clarkson and grab a dumbell cos I am just about to make you Stronger.
Rx100v7 – The Best Compact Camera, The Best Holiday Camera, The Best Vlogger Camera
Price Range: Sub $1500US
Video Spec: 4k 8-bit 4.2.0 up to 30fps, 1080p 8-bit 4.2.0 up to 1000fps
Sony have absolutely got this line of cameras on lockdown. Cameras of this price range are constantly competing with iPhones and Androids for photo and Video quality which is no small task. Sony is continuing to give the consumer every reason to need a dedicated stills and video camera into 2020.
Every year Sony make a new addition to the RX100 line of cameras with astounding jumps in tech. Not only is it a photo powerhouse pumping out 20.1mp stills, it is an absolute weapon on video cranking gorgeously sharp 4k footage and slow motion up to 1000fps in HD (although I honestly wouldn’t use anything past 250fps due to the severe drop in quality, but hey it can be fun!) The Autofocus in video and photo modes is the fastest in its class and an absolute GRAEME changer. It’ll change your Grahams to Graemes in no time.
Sony have really found their point of difference by locking in to the Vlogger Market by adding a selfie screen in models passed, allowing the user to see themselves clearly while taking selfie videos and photos. FINALLY they have added a microphone input jack to this camera, making it the strongest vlogging option in this class.
My favourite thing about this camera is the ultimate portability, the fact that you can easily have it on you in a jacket pocket or in your hand makes it the ultimate travel camera. What makes its pocketability truly astounding is the fact it has a 24-200mm zoom lens. This is a HUGE zoom range. The ability to wifi your images and video straight to your phone for a quick edit and upload to socials makes it my choice when people ask me what they should get as their holiday camera! Its too easy!
Watch this gorgeous video shot on the rx100mkiv, the video quality has stayed more or less the same since that model https://vimeo.com/180725893
Panasonic Lumix S1r – The Best Camera for Content Creators
Price Range: Sub $5,000US
Video Spec:
4k 4.2.2 10 Bit up to 30p with no pixel binning,
4k 4.2.0 8 bit up to 60p with pixel binning and 1x crop.
1080p up to 150fps with an apsc sensor crop
4k 4.2.2 8bit 60fps output via HDMI to an external recorder.
The line between stills and videography at the level of content creation continues to blur, making it a very competitive market. While companies like Sony and Canon continue to try and protect their higher end cameras by limiting the abilities of their mid range videography options, Panasonic is out here just absolutely slaying. In my opinion, Panasonic have created the most powerful Video and Photo hybrid camera of 2019. TL;DR, they are giving you 40+mp Stills and 4k 60P video. IN A SMALL FORM FACTOR. From Weddings to Events, corporates and fashion, this is the camera you SHOULD see in everyones hands for video and photo hybrid creation, and for good reason.
A big push for manufacturers in the mirrorless world has been 4k 60p video. HECTIC NERDS everywhere have been hoping we would see a Sony A7Smk3 with these specs. Even though the Panasonic S1R has limitations to the video quality as you can see in the specs above, Panasonic have delivered 4k at 60p from a full frame sensor. How this thing doesn’t explode into a ball of flames and burn down half the amazon, I have no idea.
For low light, iso of up to 51,200 however as of posting this article, no video has been shown of this yet, it could be trash. 51,200 is huge right? Surely thats trash.
This camera has Timecode through the flash socket. Timecode is the single most underrated thing on a video camera. This gives you the ability to sync multiple cameras or your sound man or womans recordings easily in post saving you hecktonnes of time.
There is Image Stabilisation built in to the S1R, if you are shooting video handheld on a smaller form camera like this, you need Image Stabilisation.
This Camera will be mountable on a Ronin-S.
The fact the lords and lordettes at Pano have made a camera in a mirrorless body that comes close to their EVA Cinema line in video specs is an absolute testament to Panasonics knowledge of their users needs and the market. Panasonic clearly understands that an EVA user and a S1R user are not the same clients. With that in mind, Panasonic have no issues with delivering a high end video offering in this price range. SONY ARE YOU LISTENING GIVE US THE A7Smk3 WITH 4K 60p, PEOPLE WILL STILL BUY THE FX9.
Panasonic are part of the L Mount Alliance with Sigma and Leica Lenses, so the lens offerings coming for the S1R in the next 12 months will be amazing.
Heres a video shot with a pre production Panasonic S1R, it looks amazing. https://vimeo.com/318881820
Canon C500mk2 – The Best Camera for Owner Operators, The Best All Round Video Camera
Price Range: Sub $20,000US
B&H Link: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1503484-REG/canon_3794c007_eos_c500_ii_4k.html
Video Spec:
Cinema RAW Light 10-Bit, 12-Bit:
5952 x 3140 at up to 59.94 fps
XF-AVC 4:2:2 10-Bit:
4096 x 2160p at up to 59.94 fps
2048 x 1080p up to 120 fps (160 to 810 Mb/s)
The Sub 20k Category is the most competitive category for cinema cameras. Aimed at Owner Operators and Rental Houses, these are cameras that battle to become industry standards for TV and Documentary production as well as finding their way into the high end corporate space. Cameras in this range usually give the most bang for buck and need to be versatile production cameras.
The Sony FS7 has held the crown in this market for the last 6 years. After the announcement of the C500mk2 camera at IBC 2019, it struck me that this camera is giving users at this level, literally everything they could ever want and is a better spec’d camera than Sony’s new FX9. Being a Sony shooter for the past half a decade, that is not an easy thing for me to say.
Why its good:
It Shoots 6k Raw up to 60 Frames Per Second.
It Shoots 4k 10 bit 4.2.2 at up to 60FPS
Canons Amazing Autofocus and touch screen control, (Autofocus sucks without a touch screen)
It is small enough to fit on a gimbal like the ronin 2, (imagine this with autofocus face tracking)
Easily user adapted from PL and EF
Canons Amazing Arri Like Colour Science. Perfect cheaper B Camera for an Alexa Mini owner.
Can Shoot Anamorphic.
Paired with a canon 24-70 f2.8 and a couple of batteries and Media Cards you are set for general production.
I find it super interesting and really smart that Canon has chosen to go modular with the c500mk2, something I really hoped Sony was going to do with their FX9. For an owner op this is great. As your jobs change day to day, you can build up or strip down the camera to be whatever you need. It is small enough to fit in a backpack (If you fly alot for work, it is always good to be able to take you camera carry on).
Although canon is advertising this camera with Image Stabilisation, the system is actually based on Digital Stabilisation (stablisation using the internal software), not a floating sensor like a mirrorless will give you.
The C500mk2 has a really great in built ND System that can give you an astounding 10 stops of built in ND. This is huge. If you live in the sunniest country in the world like me, you can now shoot wide open with your lenses outside, pair it with that crazy face tracking autofocus and you will be shooting the Canon 85mm f1.2 on a gimbal in the simpson desert all summer long. Take some water and maybe a wide brimmed hat. No hat, no play.
Heres a video using the pre production C500mkii, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgDU9tK4Dsg
Red Gemini, Ranger – The Best High End Documentary Camera, The Best Netflix Series Camera
Price Range: Sub $40,000USD
(camera body retails at $25,000USD but once you build it to useable with a viewfinder or screen, shoulder pads, handles etc. you are looking at around $30,000USD)
Video Spec:
REDCODE RAW:
5k up to 60fps
4k up to 120fps
ProRes 422:
4K up to 30 fps
2K up to 120 fps
The red gemini on its own is a great camera. Each time I have shot with it I have been impressed. The dual native ISO is an absolute banger for production, and the Super 35 size sensor is great when you consider the huge variety of lenses: zooms, primes and anamorphic options already on the market that cover super35. The colour science is a bit funky but excusable, but there has to be a tradeoff somewhere and with RAW capability there should be no problem fixing or altering this in post.
REDs choice to make this camera into a RANGER body type is a very good move. RED DSMC2 modules have been a little buggy since the DSMC2 line was introduced, pogo contacts and bad connections have no place in a high stress production environment. So delivering a RANGER Body with all the hard connections a filmmaker could need is a foolproof move.
Red have been a staple for netflix series and Nature/Doc Style productions for the past few years due to their incredibly high resolutions and frame rates (netflix requires 4k delivery, alexa mini did not meet this until the new LF). The best thing about RED has always been their amazing RED Raw Codec which gives you the ability to change most camera settings in post production, as well as choosing RAW compression ratios to save on file sizes.
The HUGE downside to this camera is the lack of internal ND’s, making it a bit of a DIRTY DINGO when it comes to running and gunning for a documentary. Paired with a Bright Tangerine mattebox and a 138mm Vari ND from Lindsey Optics, you’ll be back on top. REVOLVA also have a pretty nice EF/PL built in ND option but it comes with a hefty price tag and you will need an EF version and a PL Version of that.
I think you’ll see RANGER GEMINI popping up on alot more sets in 2020.
Alexa Mini LF – The Best Commercial and Advertising Camera
Price Range: Sub 100KUSD
B&H Link: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1470347-REG/arri_k0_0024310_alexa_mini_lf_and.html/specs
Video Spec:
MXF/ARRIRAW:
4448 x 3096 at 40 fps
4448 x 1856 at 60 fps
MXF/ProRes 4444XQ:
4480 x 3096p up to 40 fps
2048 x 1152p up to 90 fps
Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before ARRI released a mini LF. It’s no secret that the original Alexa Mini has been the staple of advertising and a favourite of DOP’s all over the world since its birth.
Intended to be a B-Cam to the Alexa 65, the Mini LF will find itself up against the RED Monstro as an A Camera on most high end advertising. Where it lacks reso K’s, it makes up in colour reproduction and its general layout. Read:built in ND’s and a great viewfinder.
ARRI are not pushing to higher resolutions or Framerates with this offering, probably because it would burst into flames hotter than Steven Segal roundhousing a Chevrolette Corvette Stingray into the stratosphere, but 4k on the mini LF does look more impressive than higher resolutions on other cameras. ARRI’s business model is to only ever deliver the highest quality to the top end of town, so they do not put in higher framerates or resolutions if it means a drop in quality.
There is also a brand new Viewfinder paired with the LF, which is a huge relief as the viewfinder on the original mini was almost as bad as my emo ass haircut in highschool, chuck it out boys and girls and while you’re at it chuck on some my chemical romance and just have a bit of a RAWR.
Another note/Special recommendation:
BlackMagic Pocket 6k
I’d be a real piece of træsh if I didn’t mention this camera. I’ll be a real piece of træsh regardless. Basically if I didn’t mention this camera the BMD fanboys would absolutely destroy me to within an inch of my beautiful life. And they would be right to do so.
The black magic pocket 4k and 6k cameras really were a HOOOODGE deal to 2019. BMD consistently push the boundaries of what can be achieved in a camera and also an editing software ecosystem.
Not only have they created a truly amazing RAW video capture system, they have implemented it in a sub $5000 camera. I really hope that other manufacturers bring BMD Raw Codec into their products, it truly is a great format.
The true problem when trying to price up a BMD 4k or 6k is the options and needs that you have at hand decking it out. What media to get? How many batteries? What batteries, vlocks or LP-E6?? Where the heck did I park my 1993 subaru liberty? Oh i can’t see the screen in daylight! In any light? Now i’ve built it up to a workable capacity its so huge! And it’s expensive! Maybe I should’ve just got a c200?
One of these cameras, although cheap at first can create a false economy, so if you go for one, do your research, actually figure out the real budget and all your needs to get a shootable camera, and then you won’t be dissapointed, and you’ll have a great camera. The BMD cameras make gorgeous moving piccy’s.
stick a fork in me, this article is done.
there you have it. My picks for 2020, and remember, you don’t have to upgrade! If you can’t decide on what camera to get, don’t get any! Use that money to buy your mum something nice, Cirque du Soleil is doing a world tour in 2020, your mum told me she’d love some tickets. No one loves you more than your mum.
Peace. Liam
