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Cameras You Own


Max Field

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Similar to the Mic Locker thread I started a few months back, this is probably more relevant to the site title.

 

If you worked in the industry for 10, 20, 30 years there's a good chance you've gotten your hands on many cameras for a given job, but what video/cinema cameras do you own personally for your own work/collection?

 

Thanks.

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Guest Glenn Brady

My last paid motion picture work occurred four decades ago, but I've been a collector of amateur camera equipment off-and-on since that time. The latest count shows:

 

Regular 8mm
Bolex H8 RX4 (7)

Bolex P1 Zoom Reflex (x4)
Bolex P2 Zoom Reflex (x2)
Bolex P3 Zoom Reflex (x3)
Bolex P4 Zoom Reflex Automatic
Bolex K1 Zoom Reflex Automatic
Bolex K2 Zoom Reflex Automatic (x3)
Bolex S1 Zoom Reflex Automatic (x3)
Bolex L8
Bolex B8
Bolex B8LA
Bolex C8 (x2)
Bolex D8L
Bolex D8LA

Carena Zoomex II (x2)
Carena Zoomex Variogon

Ercsam Camex Reflex

Pathé Imperial

Pathé Royal

Super 8
Beaulieu S 2008 (2)

Beaulieu 4008 ZM
Beaulieu 4008 ZM II (x5)
Beaulieu 4008 ZM4 (x2)

Beaulieu 4008 ZM4 Jubilee
Beaulieu 4008 M3 (x3)

Beaulieu 3008 S Multispeed

Beaulieu 5008 S (2)

Beaulieu 5008 S Multispeed
Bolex H8 RX4 DS8 (x3)

Bolex 160 Macrozoom (x3)

Canon 814XL-S

Canon 1014XL-S
Leicina Special (2)

Nizo Professional (2)

Nizo 801 Macro
Pathé DS8/BTL

Nikon R8 Super (3)

Nikon R10 Super

Timelapse Super 8 timelapse system

Visual Instrumentation Corporation Cine 8 SP-1R

UltraPan8

Bolex H8 RX4 UP8

 

16mm
Bolex H16 RX5
Bolex H16 SBM

Bolex H16 SB (2)

Bolex H Super 16

Arriflex 16 St (2)

Arriflex 16 SR

 

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- Beaulieu 4008 Super 8 camera

- Bolex EBM w/Angenieux zoom

- Aaton LTR/XTR Super 16 Hybrid with Optar primes and Zeiss 12-120

- 2 Blackmagic Pocket cinema cameras with 4 Rokinon primes

- GoPro Hero 3 Black (lots of accessories)

 

Those are my "working" cameras.

 

I also have a collection of 16mm (K3, Kodak Model B) standard 8mm (Keystone, Revere, Canon) and Super 8 (Yashica, Elmo, Sears, etc) cameras for my classes to play with. They're all in working condition and one of them was used on a feature recently.

 

In 2006 I sold my DV cameras because the value was tanking fast and I knew HD was the future. Last year I also sold my Moviecam Super America after realizing it was worthless due it having a Mitchell BNC mount and me not being able to afford a tripod heavy duty enough to use it. :(

 

Those are pretty much the only decent cameras I've ever owned. I still have my first Yashica Super 8 camera.

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Great idea for a thread Macks!

I guess I'm still a relative young'n (with only nine years in and around the industry, and only the last four of those full-time), but I've managed to shoot most of the major formats in that time (everything from S16mm to Alexa), it's just S35mm, 70mm, and Vistavision film that have eluded me so far. But in terms of motion-picture cameras I've personally owned:

 

1) Sony F3 


Which I purchased in 2012 after they made SLOG standard across the cameras (and I'd been burned by rented Red Scarlets failing on a couple of shoots). I later ripped the bodywork off it and upgraded it with the Element Technica body armour kit, which vastly improved the camera's ergonomics.

 

2) Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5k
I'd completely forgotten about this one until I finished the rest of the list - I bought the first Blackmagic Camera as a B-camera to the F3 on my very first feature. It was an incredible machine, and did a remarkable job of keeping up with the $20,000 F3. The ergonomics were utterly woeful though, I sold it, but kept the Resolve Dongle (that little thing was worth the cost of the camera alone!).

 

3) Blackmagic Pocket Camera


Purchased essentially to use as a fancy go-pro, I still have it today, it's still a weird and wonderful little camera that punches well above its weight. Used it to film a very cool little first-person horror film that's going out to festivals now.

 

4) Sony F5 with R5 Raw Recorder


I'd NEVER intended to buy the F5 (upgrading from an HD Sony to a 2k Sony made no sense), but I made the move to when a bunch of HFR jobs came up, and it made more sense to spend $10k to sell the F3 and upgrade to the F5, than spend $5k getting the 3G-SDI/4:4:4 upgrade and a 60p-capable external recorder for the older camera. Then I was able to add the Raw Recorder and 4k Upgrade down the line - it's still the price-performance king of the current cameras out there I think.



 

5) Sony F35


I sold the F5 when it became apparent that having $30k invested in a mid-range camera didn't make sense for the kinds of jobs I was doing. Moved to the F35 last year for a Bollywood film I shot over in India (the F35 was almost my first camera, over the F3, but I couldn't afford a beefy enough tripod at the time). It's got an incredible sensor that camera, I love everything I've shot with it, beautiful colour, highlight handling and motion cadence. It was with a heavy heart that I just sold it last week.


 

6) Sony F3 (again)
God I feel like a Sony fanboy or something (which really isn't the case). I picked up another F3 last year to serve b-camera/low-light duties on the Bollywood picture I did. And I'm keeping it for corporate/docu shoots and low-budget narrative stuff. There is no better price/performance camera money can buy than a used F3 at the moment. Shoots terrific pictures (just as good as the F5 in HD in my opinion) and you can have one for an absolute pittance now.

 

7) Arri Alexa Studio
The global shutter on the F35 spoilt me, and once you’ve had it, you really don’t want to go back. Couple that with the optical viewfinder on the Alexa Studio (along with all it’s other imaging loveliness), and you basically have the camera of my dreams (though I’ll grant you that in my dreams the cameras aren’t quite so heavy!). I tested the Studio for a feature last year, and putting the optical viewfinder up to my eye (for the first time in eight years or-so, since I’d last shot film) it just clicked - that’s how I prefer to operate, with no delay between the actor’s performances and my eye. That’s what sealed the deal for me, and now I have one :) I think the best part about it is, that it might finally halt my somewhat manic camera buying and selling! This old gal is one I think I can settle down with, and make beautiful pictures together.

 

Variety is still the spice of life though, and I’m glad I’m not always beholden to shooting just the cameras I own, my last few jobs (in descending order) have been shot on the following:

 

- Aaton XTR (shooting Kodak 7207)
- Sony F35
- Red Scarlet-W
- Sony F35
- Arri Alexa
- Red Epic Dragon
- Sony F3

 

And it’s nice being able to make pretty pictures regardless!

Edited by Mark Kenfield
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My history is quite a bit shorter than yours, spanning only the last five years or so; before that I was shooting stills, initially primarily with 4x5 and 35mm film, though I eventually started using a digital SLR in 2008.

 

I shot my first feature with a BMCC 2.5K and a Pocket Cinema camera, and eventually sold them to upgrade my lens kit to Zeiss CP.2 and an AJA Cion. More recently (i.e. two months ago) I sold the Cion and bought an Epic-W, which I'm using for two feature films right now, with two others possibly in the works. Hopefully also some documentaries and lots of mountaineering stock footage.

 

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You must earn a lot more income than me, Mark!

 

I have yet to really invest in something decent, I've always been a renter ever since film school (I had a Sankyo Super-8 camera before that).

 

I have still cameras that can shoot video, such as a Sony NEX6 and a Nikon D600, but I've only used them for things like a surveillence camera POV or a brief action camera cutaway, nothing that had to match production footage nor need any focus-pulling.

 

I keep hoping for something really cheap that can be used for decent 2nd Unit type shots like sunsets, etc. Maybe the BlackMagic 4.6K, I know of some visual effects people who carry one around to shoot plates now and then, so it must be decent.

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Started out shooting with Aaton XTR but it was rented from a small prod co in London.. the DP I assisted for many years also had his own which I operated with.. camera,s I bought..

 

Sony Betasp BVW400AP

Sony Digibeta 790

Panasonic HDX900

Sony PMW500

Sony PMW F5

Sony A6300..

Go pro Hero 3 and 4

 

Had the F5 for about 3 years.. with canon CN7 zoom ... hopefully will last out a few more years.. I would buy an Fs7 MKII as a second camera for sure, if a long shoot came along that needed one.. next would most likely be what ever the new F5 is going to be..I suspect some sort of combination of the the F5 and F55.. money wise the Digibeta has been by far the best money spinner..used it for 15 years ... great camera.. you will never find anyone who ever owned the 16-9 sensor/VF models ..having a bad word to say about it.. and on top of that I got £1,500 for it as trade in on the F5.. when it was a dust covered lump under the bed because I couldn't face putting it in the bin.. !

The most expensive was the Betasp 400AP.. which was I think actually above the average house price in the UK at the time..! only had had a couple years before the Digibeta became the standard .. not a good investment ..should have bought a house !

Edited by Robin R Probyn
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You must earn a lot more income than me, Mark!

 

I have yet to really invest in something decent, I've always been a renter ever since film school (I had a Sankyo Super-8 camera before that).

 

I have still cameras that can shoot video, such as a Sony NEX6 and a Nikon D600, but I've only used them for things like a surveillence camera POV or a brief action camera cutaway, nothing that had to match production footage nor need any focus-pulling.

 

I keep hoping for something really cheap that can be used for decent 2nd Unit type shots like sunsets, etc. Maybe the BlackMagic 4.6K, I know of some visual effects people who carry one around to shoot plates now and then, so it must be decent.

 

 

David out of interest.. would it not be worth your while to buy for eg an Alexa (studio) second hand.. or new.. and some lenses .. that you could then rent out to the productions you work on.. or do you still find the dir or production have strong views on which camera they want to use.. in my market now, it has more or less become.. s35mm sensor HD or 4K.. Log or RAW.. but not really that camera/codec sensitive .. where as it used to be.. must be C300.. must be RED.. must be Arri.. must be pro res etc.. its sort of homogenized and anything can be transcoded.. or graded.. its a lower end of the market than features of course.. but in film days there used to be quite a few DP,s who had their own Arri,s and would always shoot with their own gear.. presumably also pushing up their pay quite a bit too..

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Considering how much I've shot with the Alexa in the past seven years, I'm sure if I had invested in one, it would have paid off by now. But that's a lot of money. And you have to figure that a 4K Alexa is coming soon. And owning something that valuable means carrying insurance, etc.

 

And some of my productions have rented from Panavision, they seem particularly popular in NYC, so then you're dealing with PV mounts and PV lenses.

 

I don't really need to get a main unit A-camera (and then I'd still need to rent a B-camera anyway), what I'd really like is a smaller 2nd Unit / C-camera for when I'm on location and want to shoot landscapes and weather on my day off, but at a quality level that will intercut with the main unit photography. And for personal stuff. So it would have to be a lightweight package if it's just me carrying the gear around, something more in the size of an Alexa Mini or Red Weapon.

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I really dont have shares in Sony.. but what about an F55..(second hand pretty cheap now) with the R5 (cheaper now as the R7 is around) .. RAW recorder.. clips on the back no cables.. 16 bit RAW in a very small,light weight package..PL mount..low power consumption..easy service backup would wide..full 4K sensor.. I would think 16 bit RAW can be graded to stand up with any high end A camera..

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I keep hoping for something really cheap that can be used for decent 2nd Unit type shots like sunsets, etc. Maybe the BlackMagic 4.6K, I know of some visual effects people who carry one around to shoot plates now and then, so it must be decent.

Excellent idea David. You could get an EF mount version, throw some inexpensive glass on there and be done with it. I think the OLPF is right around the corner and that's the only "problem" with the camera so far.

 

Also I hear you about renting, I rented more in 2016 then ever before. I simply couldn't afford the equipment the clients wanted. Everyone wants 4k or better with lenses that cost twice what the bodies do! EEK!

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Bolex Rex 5 S16

Arri 2C 4-perf with PV mount

 

At the moment it amounts to just a collection - I've not been able to film with either yet. I bought the Arri at a great price, and it was advertised as having a PL mount. So I ended up with a dud. Oh well .... I like looking at it as it sits on its shelf.

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JVC HD110 with firestore for long events. I can leave in unmanned in the back of a theatre/lecture as a wide all day while I run around up front with something else.

 

Black Magic Pocket which I use for very short events and my personal projects. I have lens adapters for C, Arri, K, and RMS lenses.... I'm mostly using K mounts. I got it new for $500 and it's been worth the money. It crashes occasionally and has a hot pixel and there's no Linux support for upgrading the firmware.

 

Arri 16S ... flea market find for $75 ,,, used to be the camera used by International Harvester so the case was covered with IH logos. I think the vendor bought it thinking it was IH parts and was like "damn, its some old camera, nobody buys old cameras"... because well.. it was labeled on the price tag as "old camera"

 

Keystone A7 was actually my go-to 16mm because it's so easy to use and portable.

 

Arri 2B which I bought from someone on this forum. It's an old NASA camera. I hammered a plastic gear onto the frame advance knob to hand crank it.... works well.

 

I think I might try to find an AJA Scion on the used market this year...

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You must earn a lot more income than me, Mark!

 

I have yet to really invest in something decent, I've always been a renter ever since film school (I had a Sankyo Super-8 camera before that).

 

I really hope that isn't true David (because if it is... there's no hope for any of us!)

 

In many ways, I've looked up to, and been attempting to follow a similar path to the one you trod, slugging your way up through the independent film trenches and into the more established work you're doing today.

 

However I think the paradigm for DPs coming up that way seems to have shifted in this digital age (or at least it has for me, down here at the end of the world). Because, for all the pain that comes with owning gear (and there's a LOT of pain), it's made a big difference in my ability to earn a living as a narrative DP - and it has allowed me to very quickly build a reel and a body of work that is progressively leading me on to bigger and better projects.

 

When I was just renting gear, by the time the rental equipment had been paid for, there was simply never enough left over for me to get ahead.

 

A lot of you are making me jealous with your F5's.

 

Mark, I've never gotten my hands on a camera like the F35, what did you end up selling it for?

 

I had a really nice kit assembled with my F35 (I can't think of a better one anyone's put together so far), so it was tough to let it go. But I have a couple of projects coming up this year where the financiers have specifically specified that we use Alexas (because they've used them on their last two films), so it was time to move over to Ze Germans. So I sold it to move on to the Alexa Studio.

 

You can see my sale thread (and its accompanying essay on the glories of the kit) here: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=73243

Edited by Mark Kenfield
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Once upon a time a owned a Le Blay, one of the worstly designed cameras I know of. Its innards are pure horror. The spring rubs against long thin rods that squeak. Grease, graphite, and dirt get mixed up in there. Most exotic lens mount

 

Now I have a couple of Bell & Howell three-port turret Eights. These are good, I mean good. A Christen Reflex Intégrale DB-1, a half-half quality thing. Interesting concept but poor execution

 

Range of cameras for 16-mm. film, Ciné-Kodak Special, Paillard-Bolex, Eumig, Beaulieu, Revere. Two wonderful Eyemos.

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Currently, I own an S16 modded Zenit K3, Canon G20 and an old Pentax 35mm still cam. I really don't need to own an excellent video camera because the studio for whom I work has some excellent 3-CCD cameras and I hire a camera op with his own gear when doing freelance stuff.

 

I scaled way back too. I used to have a Canon: ZR65mc, GL1, 814E and 1014E as well as a Yashica Super-60E. All the Super-8 cameras were modded for SD-8. In our "HD" world, I felt these cameras didn't serve much purpose any more so I parted with them a few years ago.

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I've actually become a camera collecting fanatic. Thankfully this is asking just for cinema cameras.

 

Digital

 

GH4 This isn't my only digital camera, I have many others to include DV cams and and old T2i rebel. But this is my "latest" camera. The cropped sensor was better for my super16 lenses and honestly, this camera does all I need for my digital work-flow. I pull out an external recorder when needed. Yes, it doesn't really have RAW or a flat picture profile (They released an S-LOG upgrade, but it's not perfect- bands too much for my taste). Over the last year, I've really missed working with film and find it hard to invest anymore in digital cameras that i'm simply buying for freelance work (After clients want the "next big thing", that camera rots, never to be used.) From now on, I just rent for a project.

 

Film

 

Super8- I have too many to mention (When i was a kid in the 90's, you could get one for around 5-$10.00 a piece at a garage sale or flea market. If it had a feature my other cameras didn't have, I'd grab it.) But the ones I currently have on my shelf are the Canon 514XL (I've modified to MAX8) and a Minolta xl-400 that i'm currently testing it's interval meter.

 

I also own a DS8 Elmo Tri-filmatic camera, currently loaded with the last of the 100D Ektachrome :)

 

16mm

 

Beaulieu R16 (Ultra 16)

This is actually the wind up model, wonderful replacement for my old B&H Filmo which I managed to destroy.

 

Cp-16 (Ultra 16)

My first sound sync camera, I use it as a "b cam" sometimes.

 

GSMO (Super16)

Love this camera, if only it where easier to find more support for it. Had it converted to a better circuit board and a video tap.

 

 

...and a 35mm Konvas. Just for fun, as they are dirt cheap for a 35mm cinema camera. :p

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  • 2 weeks later...

Super 16

Aaton LTR-54

Aaton LTR-7

 

Ultra 16

Beaulieu R16 Automatic

Canon Scoopic

 

Regular 16

Eclair NPR (I'm going to sell it)

Arriflex 16.S w/Tobin motor and Angenieux zoom

Bolex H16 Rex-1 w/Tobin motor, Yvar zoom, and two primes

Bolex H16 M5 w/Tobin motor and Som-Berthiot reflex zoom (I'm going to sell it)

Bolex H16 in Bolex-Paillard underwater housing (I'm going to sell it)

Bolex H16 (I'm going to sell it)

Krasnogorsk 3 (I'll probably sell it)

 

Super-8

Beaulieu 4008 ZM II

Beaulieu 4008 ZM ii

Beaulieu 5008

Elmo 1000.S

 

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Digital super 35

x2 Sony F65's

(Former) Sony F35

(Former) Alexa EV Plus

(Former) Arri D21

 

Very interesting James. As someone who's finally made his way over to owning an Arri (after having owned a bunch of Sonys), I'm very intrigued by what sent you in the opposite direction?

Edited by Mark Kenfield
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If you feel like a Konvas 2M or two let me know ;-)

Thanks Marcel, but I think it's the 416 or bust for me!

 

I currently only have the A7S II, quite enjoying it.

 

Previously owned:

 

Sony F900

Sony F35

Sony F65

Sony HDR-FX1 :D

 

ARRI D-21, 435, 535, SR3

Moviecam Compact & SL

What prompted you to get out of big camera ownership James?

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