In the past decade(s) churches have undergone a major change with regard to the video industry as a whole. The term IMAG, which had pretty much no place in the church, now is synonymous with churches. A church having one paid video professional on staff was an oddity; now it's not uncommon for churches to have several. If a church had a camera they were cutting edge; now almost every church has at least one.
Whether you are the video professional or the volunteer expert, if your church is in the market for a video camera, there is a lot to consider. The minefield of camera selection, like a lot of technology, has many variables that need to be navigated to determine what is right for your church. The big question is always, “Which camera should we get?” The answer is, “The camera that gets used properly every time, and gets you the results you want every time.”
To help decide which camera is best, we will look at the different types of cameras and the different environments in which they are successful. By knowing this information, deciding which type of camera is best for you can be narrowed down rather sustainably by just deciding how you will use the camera.
POST-PRODUCTION, LIVE PRODUCTION, AND ARCHIVE CATEGORIES CALL FOR …
If you or your church are shooting videos during the week that are shown during weekend service, then you will fall into the post-production category. If your church has a large room that requires IMAG, then you will fall into the live production category. If your church really just wants to have a video record of the services for distribution or posterity, then you fall into the archive category.
Many churches will cross all three of the categories to varying degrees, and this is where we run into problems. One of the first issues we run into is that most churches look for cameras that pull double duty. We need cameras that shoot videos in a post-production scenario during the week, and then can be pressed into service shooting for archive, web, or IMAG on the weekend. The problem with this is cameras that are great for post-production are typically not great for weekend environments and vice versa. That is not to say cameras in general cannot be used in both environments. Some can. However, the feature sets that are important to one environment are sometimes a detriment to the other.
The best example of this paradox is the digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera. For the record, the DSLR revolution is over and the cameras that many thought of as a fad or a trend are here to stay. That said, there are still some quirks that will have to be overcome in the technology before DSLRs receive the overwhelming use that the Electronic News Gathering (ENG) cameras have. However, when it comes to shooting for post-production, DSLRs are great for many reasons—with image, size and price being just a few of them. Typically, a DSLR will give you a high image quality, up to 1080p, with shallow cinematic depth of field, which you don't see in ENG cameras. When utilized properly, these cameras can raise the quality bar in your post-production projects. While not inexpensive, with prices ranging from sub $1,000-$3,000, when compared to other camera types they are a steal.
All of that sounds great, so the DSLR seems to be the obvious camera of choice. Not so fast. While the DSLR is great in the post-production environment, it has some issues in the weekend service environment. First, DSLRs only shoot for 10-12 minutes before they stop recording. Most can be restarted immediately, but the down time is unavoidable.
Overheating also becomes an issue if the camera is pressed into trying to record by restarting it immediately. So if your pastor only preaches for 12 minutes, you are fine. Anything over that and you will have some loss.
Second, you can't effectively work DSLRs into any type of IMAG environment, period. There are many different reasons for this but the one that becomes immediately troublesome is the lack of standard studio connections. Most DSLRs only have a mini HDMI
out for viewing. While it is possible to get this into a signal chain, on many DSLRs it is impossible to entirely disable the viewfinder info. As a result, the signal from the DSLR will always have all the camera status info on it. All this, along with the fact that the DSLR was never designed for this type of use, makes it the wrong choice for weekend service work.
So, if a DSLR isn't right for you, then an ENG camera might be a better fit. Most ENG cameras come with selectable outputs ranging from SD to HD, giving you a lot of signal flexibility. The resulting image will be crisp but not cinematic. Think evening news rather than evening at the movies. These cameras work great for the weekend environments because of their ability to shoot long format. Standard Mini DV tape length is 63 minutes, with longer options; so capturing the entire service without loss is not a problem. Many ENG cameras are now equipped with card slots rather then tape decks, so a tapeless format is even an option. Add to that, the standard studio connectors allowing this camera to be used for IMAG make the ENG camera an equally good choice for the live production environment.
While ENG cameras can be used in post-production they have some disadvantages in this arena. The evening news look is great for IMAG, archive, and web distribution, but typically something avoided in post-production. This is especially true if your post-production workflow leans toward the cinematic look and includes shooting at 24 frames per second, which some ENG cameras will do and some will not. Add to this the fact that both size and price tend to be much more substantial on the ENG camera. With an entry price of around $5,000 for a low-end model, and quickly ramping up to $60,000 at the higher-end, ENG cameras may not be feasible for many churches.
WHAT ABOUT 4K?
One of the other less feasible options looming on the horizon is a larger format. The 4K cameras, while not new, are still bleeding edge. This year will see 4K come more into its own—and it has the potential to turn the industry on its ear more than the introduction of HD. Several manufactures will be releasing 4K cameras this year, on the heels of the much-awaited release of the 5K Red Scarlet. These cameras shoot at resolutions exceeding 4,000 horizontal pixels; about four times more than the
current 1080 HD. While these resolutions are not terribly new in the photography world, they represent a new and exciting frontier to the world of video. While 3D has become commonplace at movie theaters and even available in homes, 4K is still enjoying a movie-theater-only distribution, with few exceptions.
While there are some 4K cameras on the market currently, but they are few and far between. When they aren't back ordered, they are the most expensive cameras of the lot, with an entry price of over $10,000 for just the body. Add to that another $47,000 for the zoom lens, and then adding all the needed parts, you could easily be at the $100,000 mark for these cameras.
If that weren't enough of a deterrent, once you have 4K footage, something has to be done with it. Some non-linear editors (NLEs) can handle that footage, but once you have it edited, you need to play it back. While there are 4K projectors and monitors, if the camera price seemed high then you better sit down when you look at 4K projectors. As far as an IMAG option; even if you can get 4K resolution in the signal chain, in most cases the infrastructure needed for IMAG doesn't yet support 4K completely. Some pieces of gear do, but some do not. Now, some manufactures will be releasing 4K cameras this year that are more affordable, but will still be, for the most part, unaffordable and, as a result, unwatchable.
PARTING WORDS
In conclusion, before you spend any real money on a camera, you really need to decide how you are going to use it. Make sure you know why the $20,000 ENG is better for your purposes than the $3,000 DSLR or vise versa. The workflow for 4K is not really end-to-end where it needs to be yet, so it shouldn't truly be an option.
Once the camera type has been established, it's important to start looking at all the cameras in that class—down to the details that are important to you: battery use, cost and quality of the recording media, accessories, and so forth. With a little intentionality you can get the right camera for your church's needs; the one that gets used properly every time, and gets you the results you want every time.
