Choosing a Camera

One of the first things you'll do in prep is choose a camera based on the look of the project as well as the logistics. Some cameras are better for documentary, others better for narrative. A narrative film with lots of handheld might use a different camera than a narrative film that is shot all on sticks with little camera movement.

In using a camera for the first time, there are a few different things you should do to prepare for it.

• Shoot a Camera Test showing overexposure and underexposure by 1 stop at a time, up to 5 stops. Then grading that image back to a normal exposure to look at noise.
• Shoot a Camera Test showing different fill light ratios. The fill light at 1 stop under, 2 stops, to 5 stops under.
• Shoot a Day Exterior and Night Exterior using various ISOs to see how far the camera can be pushed while remaining "clean"
• Testing various LOG settings, an example is S.gamut3Cine vs S.gamut2.
• Write down the settings for various camera configurations in great detail and save it to an SD card if possible. Needs to be easily repeatable.