NEED ADVICE: Videography Gear for Long Interviews & Documentaries

[Eyeseeyou]

Dear Forum,

I’m currently looking for a video camera capable of conducting long interviews for documentary purposes (2 hours uninterrupted on 4K/8K) with excellent audio. I understand that there are some ways to connect external power to overcome the camera’s usual battery life (also concerned about overheating), but I am usually troubled by the fact that halfway during interviews need to change memory card (any way around this?). Lens wise, I'm thinking of a zoom lens instead of a fixed lens. Hence for the above, seeking your recommendations on the gear I need to achieve this with a budget of 15k - 20k.

Really appreciate anybody's advice.

 

[one eye jack]

I am not a videographer and judging from your request for recommendations with a budget of 15k - 20k seems generous. I am assuming the budget includes a powerful pc editing system/ media storage ( which is important as time is money dealing with large video files 4k /8k ) but which you may already have which gives some room for the rest of the gear. If not this editing gear will already eat up modestly 1/4 of your budget

Which leaves 15k hypothetically or less for one or two cameras, lighting and associated stuff like tripods and booms, audio microphones and accessories, not forgetting lenses for cameras. You say you want professional quality.

1. That said you did not specify what your final output or product is for, like to broadcast TV/ movie, social media or company or personal use.

2. The camera sensor format, m43, APSC, 35mm fullframe or super35.

3. This is related to 2, size and weight of the gear. Are you a one man do it yourself or there is a team of people of various talents to handle the video production.

4. Video is shot entirely in a studio with controlled lighting or outdoors like photojournalism.

5. Related to 4, mobility determines the size and weight of gear, one man show or a team of people by which size and weight is relative or not a concern.

6. Add more details or information which you think is important for you like battery/ power . Only until then can anyone offer practical advice which you can use to decide what gear you need to use or have.

7. You may choose to rent equipment for the project which allows you to use the best there is in the video industry.

8. All this assumes you have experience using and handling such professional gear because we do not know the extent of your experience and aspirations of the final product quality and output usage.

Please determine what is the minimum requirements you desire. Because this will determine how best to use or employ your budget for the best outcome.

 

[DXNMedia]

Coming from the older school news, sports, docu and events coverage experience, we always have similar requirements for long endurance, reliability, and good mobility for our camera expectations.
In our experience, current popular hybrid mirrorless cameras in the likes of A7iv or A7Siii are quite out of the question as they tend to overheat fairly easily in outdoor shooting condition in our weather climate. You can overcome the battery endurance with external Vmount or USB-C PD input via powerbank or adaptors, you can overcome memory card endurance by using high capacity cards, and you can overcome the audio input limitations with external XLR modules (eg. Sony XLR-K3M for sony workflows & Eco-system).

However, the unpredictability is the overheating shutdown. This problem always give us the nerves in the middle of important interviews and shoots where we only have one chance to get it right, in the ultimate time constraint. (eg. Red carpet events, VIP or door-stop interviews, etc...) Situations where you need your cams to be turned on all the time coz u dont know when u need to be rolling & recording. We even tried external active cooling fan solutions, and they wont save your day. Maybe just reduce the chance of overheating by like 50% if you're lucky.

By the time you rig up a typical hybrid mirrorless camera to a full fledge ENG (Electronic News Gathering) capable camera, your rig is gonna be cumbersome with all the extra battery, rail mounts, audio & monitoring rigs, making it very unsuitable for versatile and speedy operations. Not many cine-rig style will work if you need the mobility and speed in operating. try unrigging a setup on tripod to transit into handheld for the run & gun. If I can't transit from tripod to handheld or shoulder or even on a cine-saddle in a jiff, my rig is not ideal for my work.

Currently, our most comfortable rig are with Sony older gen PXW-FS5. They serve our purpose and 4K recording needs perfectly till today despite its age. No worries of overheating & reliability issues.
We've tried FX3/FX30 to achieve similar results, but we think the better option for our replacement is to switch to using Sony FX6 or FX9 series. Do note that with FX6/9, you're pretty much still limited to 4K 10bit 4:2:2 codecs internally.

We are out of touch with Canon systems and workflows since the C300 era, and out of touch with Blackmagic systems.
My last impression in using a client's ENG-rigged Ursa Mini wasn't quite a good experience. Cumbersome, heavy, and a lot of 'frankenstein' rigs to make it effective to do our job.

Attached are some pics of our own setup.

 

[DXNMedia]

A Sony FX6 with 28-135mm powered zoom to provide a decent zoom coverage while still maintaining a decent F4.0 will set u in the ranges of S$12K? Get some good high capacity CF-Express cards, a proper rig & rails system, some Vmount batteries, and a reliable battery plate should set you in your expected budgets.

Attached is a pix of our client's FX6 rig for a typical sports coverage.