In the film industry, the saying may as well go “Nobody ever got fired for choosing Arri.” At least if you’re shooting a feature film. For Best Picture & Cinematography Oscar categories this year, 9 of the 12 cameras were Arri. But what is the equivalent for corporate video? What is the one best camera for corporate video to get the job done in almost any situation. We’ve finally found it, and we went all the way to the end of the world to prove it.
5 Deciding Factors
1. Ease of Use
This is the single most important deciding factor in modern corporate video production. If the video doesn’t get made, it doesn’t matter how many pixels you have. The ability to whip out the camera and capture while the action is still happening, is critical for that candid, relatable style that works so well for business video these days. Gone are the days of overproduced video. Today, more than anything your audience wants authenticity at scale, but it still needs to be high enough quality to look and sound good. Which leads us to our next point…
2. Image & Audio Quality
Combining the high dynamic range, 4k resolution, and amazing mic options in the kit make for stellar image quality. Every time we throw the picture up on a big 4k monitor and “pixel peep” as photographers call it, the results are staggering. Are there higher quality cameras on the market? Absolutely. But the quality of this is more than enough, and anything else is going to come at a significant cost in ease-of-use, time, and money. Again, high quality authenticity at scale is the name of the video marketing game.
3. Gimbal Stabilization
This one doesn’t get nearly enough credit. Like Nick put it in the video review, a shaky picture will always be a bad picture. Learning to run a traditional camera smoothly takes years of practice and bulky gear. With this thing anyone can get butter smooth b-roll on day one. The stabilization is so good that you literally have to be trying to get a bad shot.
4. Portability
Inspiration is hard to schedule when shooting a video. With traditional production you have to find a time that works for the production company. “Hey Susan, can you be excited to talk about this idea 2pm on a Tuesday, six weeks from now?” No. Video is ultimately about making a human connection and if you can capture the moments that matter, your audience will feel it too.
Here’s the 5 tips video Nick shot while we were there…
5. Motion Control
Motion controlled timelapse adds a ton of production value and visual interest to videos. It works especially well for corporate videos because it conveys a sense of energy and motion. A shot of workers in an office, meh. A time lapse shot of those same workers rushing all over the place throughout the day, “Wow, they’re on top of things.”
This was the first “portable” motion control rig from a few years ago. It cost a ton, weighed even more, and took over 30 minutes with a laptop to setup for a shot. Now all that capability takes less than 30 seconds to set up a shot with the VidLoft kit.
Conclusion
All in all, I’ve been working in video production since I was 14, and I’ve never seen a camera this well suited to a need in the marketplace. Even as a professional, this is the camera I keep in my backpack because with it, videos get made, and that’s what’s important to my business.