Why do Hollywood filmmakers need huge cameras when simple DSLRs and even my phone can record 8k video now?
In: Technology
This is actually a good question, because in principle you could get near-cinema quality out of a MUCH smaller camera than what currently gets used for big budget feature films. Most of what cinema cameras are made of is a thick heavy metal body, cooling fans and manual button controls, surrounded by loads of optical accessories, cables, batteries, handles etc. Basically all stuff that doesn’t really improve image quality but more so improves usability on the film set. Only the lenses really affect the image’s look in a way that can’t really be miniaturized.
The Hollywood camera companies actually don’t get to take advantage of the economies of scale that are provided by mass-manufacturing in the way that smartphone makers do, because they address a tiny customer base to begin with. For that reason alone, small cameras and smartphones have improved exponentially over the past decade in terms of video quality, while cinema cameras hardly provide any improvements in image quality over what was available 5-10 years ago.
Ultimately, color quality and dynamic range are what sets those professional cameras apart from consumer cameras. The gap is quickly narrowing though.
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