Standardize Your Gear

Most rivalries make sense to me, at least to some degree. College and pro sports teams, international conflict, heck, even your weird uncle’s political debate during the holidays. Other rivalries I’ve not quite understood. For example, kayakers vs. canoers, or skiers vs. snowboarders, and one that may hit a little closer to home, Sony vs. Canon vs. Nikon vs. [insert literally any other camera brand here].

I’m a techie guy. I love playing with all the latest gadgets. I’ve had an iPhone, a Samsung, a Blackberry, a Motorola (might be dating myself here), among others. I love learning new operating systems and trying to figure out how things operate. As you can imagine, I’ve also used a mix of camera brands, and I’ve discovered that they’re all incredible! But does it make sense to own them all? Probably not. In fact, I’m going to give you 3 reasons why it’s best to standardize your gear on one camera brand, starting with the obvious… affordability.

Reason #1 - Camera accessories are expensive

As I mentioned (and I’m sure you didn’t need a reminder), camera lenses and accessories are not cheap. That’s why I’ve dedicated an entire website and YouTube channel to helping you get the most out of what you already have. That said, there may come a time when it makes sense to get a second (or third) camera for additional angles. The problem here is that many camera brands have a proprietary mount forcing you to purchase brand-specific lenses, unless of course you have a mount adapter or your camera allows for third-party lenses.

My suggestion here is to match your next camera to the same brand as your current setup. Further still, make sure you buy something in the same family – for example, I could go from a Canon R8 to a Canon R6ii and they both contain an RF lens mount so my existing lenses would be interchangeable, meaning I wouldn’t need to go buy all new lenses for my new camera body.

Reason #2 - Color-matching wastes time

I used to work for a tech company as an in-house video producer and we seemed to have a hodge-podge of camera gear. Our primary cam was a Blackmagic Designs Pocket Cinema 6k, and our B-cam was a Canon 1DX. Occasionally I’d even shoot video on an iPhone 12 Pro Max (newest at the time). Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with using an assortment of cameras, but when you put them all together in the same shoot, it can become a nightmare in post-production.

Each camera brand has a unique color science. This means that you can film the same thing with two different cameras, and the colors won’t match. This caused several issues as we’d shoot interviews using the Pocket Cinema 6k for wide shots and the 1DX for close-ups. Anytime I’d transition clips in post, I’d have to manually match the colors so it wasn’t obvious that we used two different camera brands for filming. If you standardize your cameras and film within the same family, you’ll never have to worry about matching the colors of two different cameras which will save you hours of editing later on.

Reason #3 - Comfort and familiarity = speed

Last but certainly not least, it’s going to come down to whatever is comfortable in your hands. Every camera brand is going to have its pros and cons. You simply need to find what works for you and stick with it. If you prefer the feeling of a Canon camera in your hands because the body is more rounded as opposed to the more boxy Sony cameras, go with Canon! If your brain understands the menu workflow of a Nikon, go with that! If you feel like Sony cameras produce the color output needed for your videography style, stick with Sony all the way.

Friend, what I’m trying to say here is that you can’t make a bad choice. As a producer and videography, your job is to tell a story through a lens by capturing the best possible picture. You need to decide which tool suits you best and build it to your unique production style. 

Grab what you have and go!

Videography is a perfect balance of art and science. As unique as camera brands are, it is but a speck as compared to how unique you are. At the end of the day, you’ve got to take whatever you have access to and make something great come out of it. If you’ve recently been gifted an assortment of gear, great! Use that as an opportunity to see what feels best, but don’t wait until everything matches before you start creating content. Grab what you have and go make something amazing!