Expensive Video Equipment Obsession
There is so much technology and so much advertising to have the right equipment for video production, most videographers are so concerned with having the right brand, right model to impress other videographers or just look the part, that they tend to forget it is better to have the best tool for the job. Especially if that tool is a cheaply made Piece of shit.
I am really tired of being shamed for not having the most expensive camera. I am tired of of wannabe film makers looking down on us because they think they are better because they have the newest most popular piece of equipment on the market.
It is amazing how jaded people get when you produce better content. They look for any reason to take you down a couple of notches. And this is not only true in the video and film business, it is true in most businesses because ultimately, we are all lousy jealous human bastards.
As a starting video production company, we fell for it. We bought the better camera, better this, better that and at the end of the day, did we get a better product?
NO! Absolutely not!
We started off with a basic 1080p Sony Prosumer video camera with a fixed lens for around $1500. Auto everything, can hold focus on a zoom from hundreds of feet away, keep lighting consistent and bla bla bla.....
It was really all we needed to make instructional or corporate videos for our original dog poop business.
Then I am told by my people we need 4K, so we buy a 4K camera in the same video camera style but more to the liking of that videographer.
Did our video change? NOPE!
The editor was still producing 1080p and all it did was slow down the editing process.
Now, we need a fast computer, better video cards for the editors, so we spend a few thousand more upgrading computers. That got us back to where we were before we bought a new camera and computers.
Then I am told we need an even better camera with an adjustable lens. So another $3500 for a Sony A7s III and $1500 for a lens.
That make everyone happy, but it was too shaky, so another $1500 on a gimble and accessories.
Great, now we have spent $20,000 and we should be getting great video productions, right?
Wrong, what does the camera have to do with the actual script and production? Nothing.
We were doing fine with a$1500 camera, no issues. The new much better camera was now over heating in the Florida sun every 15 minutes and we had to cool it off for 30 minutes after 15 minutes of recording.
The color and image were great, except that now we were struggling with staying in focus. We had too many shots used out of focus because it was too much work to go back and re-shoot them.
So now we have better equipment and it takes longer to shoot, longer to edit and the video quality overall is less consistent, blurry at times and frustrating the hell out of Mr Dog Poop.
So what did we gain? Nothing! Nothing at all, in fact we slowed down the process and made it more expensive to shoot since many people are involved and it takes more hours to do the same thing.
What did we learn from this?
We learned that one, our video people were not up to the task. Two, more expensive and more capable means more complicated and loads of room for more errors which cost money.
There is no question that having better tools gives you more options. But with more options you need more experienced operators. You need more time and if you are making basic stuff, you just do not need it.
Sure it is great to see your video company come out with a bunch of people and expensive equipment. But you are paying for that! And if the video can be shot on an iPhone and look exactly the same for one tenth the cost, why use an expensive production crew?
For videographers, it is important to remember, if you are shooting a tiktok, you do not need an 8K cinema camera. It is important that just because you have an 8K drone, you do not need to use it for every video.
It is important to give customers value and time is money. The less time it takes, the more you make and the less you can charge.
The simple fact is, that the equipment is not the star of the production, it is the content itself, so spend more time on that and less time obsessing over expensive equipment.
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