In the backstage videos of music videos, you can see that camera operators are filming with small video cameras.

In the backstage scenes of TV shows, you can see that cameramen are filming with large cameras that they carry on their shoulder (or mounted on a tripod).

Comparing the quality of music videos and recordings of various shows posted on YouTube by TV channels, I do not find any difference.

It seems that small video cameras shoot just as well as large video cameras.

What is the difference?

  • @morphballganon
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    1 year ago

    Though you might be watching both productions in 60fps 1080p, TV and film directors and editors work with higher res and/or higher fps in the studio. This allows them more options, if they want to zoom in farther, slow the shot down, etc. Then they’ll just export down to whatever standard format.

    Whatever res and fps the small camera has, the big camera can do more.

    • @morphballganon
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      171 year ago

      Furthermore, whatever company is doing the shoot will use their best camera for whichever project. If they have one of each, they’ll often have the smaller camera capturing the same events from a second angle, or getting behind-the-scenes footage. I’ve been that BTS guy holding the smaller camera. For BTS, the lightness of the smaller camera makes it easier to catch unexpected BTS content, if you have to swivel around or zoom in on the fly, for example. No one cares if BTS footage is shaky.

      • @SgtAStrawberry
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        61 year ago

        Personally I think the shakynes adds a lot to the BTS footage. It makes it really feel like BTS when the cameraman needs to spin around and move to capture something unexpected. Compared to “Oh something unexpected, just so happens to take place just in front of this conveniently placed camera, that is just on filming a random wall, how lucky”