In the scheme of things I’m a middle of the road type freelancer.
I do regular work for CBS network, maybe once a month, and have had some success growing more into the corporate side of video as well. In the old days I was all news. Still love news but only an out of touch person would think the days of only working for broadcast news has much of a long term future. That’s not meant to insult any of my more talented friends who have a bigger toy box on wheels they travel with to news gigs.
Anyway…I live within a budget. I know the old adage about losing out if you wait for clients to ask for a camera before you go buy it. However I take a big picture to my small little company. With that in mind I bought a really well set up, complete Sony F3 which came with a lot of nice extras.
I shoot two cameras. My trusty old EX3 and the F3. Both shoot to an identical video file format. I can synch timecode and client’s editors don’t have to play games synching audio from my EX3 to a DSLR.
Both my cameras have Roger Macie color in them and they look identical…except for the difference in sensor.
I shoot a fair amount of two camera shoots for both US and Latin American clients. The bigger sensor on the F3, even though it’s not a 4K camera, has helped me grow quite a bit…and stay in budget. Business wise I like seeing my business grow at a nice steady pace.
I just finished a two day corporate shoot using both cameras.
I consider the F3 my "interview camera" and then shoot b-roll with the EX3. I pull the SXS card from the F3 and plug it directly into the EX3 and off I go. All of the material from both cameras quickly and easily on the same card. This really helps me when I dump the raw camera files to the clients hard drive at the end of a shoot.
Yes, I know the world is gradually going to all 4K but there are so many clients which are thrilled with good HD video. And then they see the wide sensor images which has been directly responsible for me getting additional work from them.
To be clear. The freelance life is a never ending "feast or famine" experience. I still have a week or two of famine…and then it all gets made up the following week or two. I’m not going to be a millionaire but I’m doing so much better than when I was a staff television photog…which is how I judge my success.
At the end of yesterday’s shoot the producer could not say enough nice things about the product we created. It’s those moments, working with experienced people who appreciate a professional effort with professional gear…which gives me the confidence for the future.
Yes, I know there are better cameras I could be working…but I know so many others who have made big money investments in cameras year after year, keeping up with the latest flavor of the month, and they struggle. They aren’t failing by any means but they have more headaches and stress keeping their heads above water in difficult economic times…which affect all business’, not just video production.
I also use this mindset with the lights I have. Full two camera set-ups in both tungsten and LED. And three good HMIs.
There’s a market out there which is still a good slice of the "good pay" pie. I know my limitations…and rent what I need on those occasions.
My goal is…be happy doing something I love while I make a nice, fair check and avoid stress by not overspending…buying too many toys I don’t really need, leaving me which would leave me worrying about debt.
Several really big companies call me and, for them, the big sell is good work with a relatively small "footprint" doing production on site. They’ve actually been paying extra for that.
Simply sharing some thoughts with the rest of you. Wondering if others have paired cameras they’ve owned to produce a "package" which entices customers looking for quality work at a very fair price.
I don’t work for bottom of the barrel scammers or newbies wanting free or "close to free". 😉