All That Other Stuff

There are any number of other cool and useful accessories ranging from bags and trunks for protecting and transporting your camera to housings for shooting underwater. Depending on the nature of your shoot, you might very well need to budget for extra pieces of gear.

What You Should Choose

When it comes down to it, most digital features are shot on one of a few different higher-end cameras. Entry-level professional cameras in the $2,000–5,000 range, such as the Panasonic HVX200, have been workhorses for documentarians, corporate producers, and students learning to shoot because they offer professional features, very good image quality, and a reasonable price.

For filmmakers with a bit more of a budget, the RED One digital cinema camera has been the camera of choice. Recently, however, many independent filmmakers are opting to shoot on DSLRs, particularly the Canon 5d and 7d, because the image quality is impressive and the price tag is low (at least until you add those lenses and accessories).

If a consumer-grade camera is all you can afford, don’t worry, because there are plenty of good single-chip units out there. After all, Catfish, a theatrically-released documentary by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulmann, was partially shot with the Canon PowerShot TX1, a pocket-sized single chip camera.

It can be easy to get caught up on the bells and whistles, but the bottom line is that if the camera can get the shots you want, then it’s the right camera for the job.