The movie industry has evolved in such a fashion as to be shocked by its own reflection from the past. Such has been the journey of the cinema. The entertainment industry is the most profitable, most enticing and the most palpable. The onscreen persona, the camaraderie, the tense back stories, all of this is intriguing. Is this all that is there? What goes on behind the camera? Or more importantly what kind of a camera captures such stunning visuals? That’s a whole new take to the movie industry. Let’s go behind the breathtaking captures and see the integral cog in the wheel of this industry.It started with a bio-scope, a kaleidoscope of photos rotated in a box to give the viewer a sense of moving pictures. But even at that time, one couldn’t have succeeded without the photos or the device used to capture those photos i.e. the camera. The cinema has been derived from cinematography itself, where cinematography refers to a motion-picture camera. Well, this gives us the real picture with the camera being the heart of the movie industry.
With changing times our very own bulky, black and white camera has also evolved and different variants have found their place in the industry. How do movies now have such breathtaking visuals and scenes giving us goosebumps with their picturesque attributes? It’s all about the kind of camera used to capture and present those visuals to look appealing on the big screen. Let us take a look at the list of top 5 cameras used in the movie industry today. These cameras have been used in the most popular movies of our time. What better way to compile the list than with cameras that have been a part of Oscar nominated movies. So here we go with the list of some of the top notch cameras,
1. ARRICAM LT
It has been incorporated in movies like Taken 3, Fast and Furious 7, The Big Short, Bridge of Spies.
2. ARRICAM ST
This camera has worked wonders in movies such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game.
3. SONY CINEALTA F65
It has shown its potential in top class movies like Lucy, Oblivion, Evil Dead, Save me.
4. PANAVISION GENESIS
Captain America, Get Smart, Zombieland, Robin Hood are some of the movies where this camera has been used to present stunning cinematography.
5. RED EPIC DRAGON
With new age cinema, this new age camera had a greater role.to play in movies like Transformers: Age of Extinction, Gone Girl, The Martian, The Danish Girl etc.
6. Hassleblad 500CM
It captures beautiful, sharp images but the downside of it being absence of a meter and the fact that it’s not a fast one. It’s a medium format and a really clean film camera. It’s got interchangeable back and offers large 120 back and viewfinder. What’s unique about it is the square image it captures, no vertical to horizontal, just plain square.
7. ARRI ALEXA
It was used to shoot ‘The Shape of Water’, movie with 13 academy nominations. Basically, it was Alexa mini paired with Alexa xt plus. It’s a pretty common combination as both share the same sensor but come with a different form factor. Alexa mini is having miniature form or a compact form whereas Alexa xt plus is of a bigger form. They both have Zeiss beautiful lenses and use alora for their zoom lenses. The richness of colour is pretty clear and spellbinding visuals with everything is super sharp and crisp. The Alexa mini is the most sought after and yet is a budget friendly option.
8. IMAX Film Camera
This was used in Dunkirk. This one is an expensive choice but we can understand as with top class director (Christopher Nolan) comes top class choices. It gives a super classic movie feel. This one looks like a war machine and also works like one with giving the scene an appeal that is out of this world. Perfect utilisation in a war film which requires a timeless look.
9. Film Camera
Phantom Thread was shot on a film camera. The movie has got an old school charm with panavision millennium XL 2. This one resulted in giving a classic appeal to the movie. ‘Call me by your name’, ‘I, Tonya’ was shot on this camera as well. There is no replacing a film camera because it imparts aesthetics and lets you envisage a whole new depth to the beauty captured through a film camera.
10. ARRI Alexa XT studio
Used in The Blade Runner was shot on this camera. It was paired with Alexa mini for that perfect cinematography worthy of getting an Oscar nomination. The richness is pretty evident here also making it one of the best choices for top class captures.
11. ARRI Alexa 65
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was completely shot on ARRI Alexa 65 in combination with ARRI Alexa mini, XT Plus and Film camera. The use of ARRI cameras was done in order to provide digital touch to dissolve in the graphics involved. Film camera was mainly used for aesthetic reasons.
12. ARRI Alexa XT Plus with leica lens
Used in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to give it that edge which led to it being nominated for production design. This one is the best choice for fantasy films where everything is colourful and magical.
13. Red Weapon dragon
This camera has been used to shoot ‘The Disaster Artist’ with panavision lenses. It was a great choice for this movie as this camera gave it kind of a grittier look.
Black magic camera – this one is used in ‘Logan’. This camera serves better for action packed movies as it is easy to carry.
14. Sony A7S ii
This one is also a good choice for action movies. You can tuck it anywhere and go shoot. It’s affordable so if it breaks during an action sequence it’s not much of a loss.
15. Canon C300
Used in ‘Strong Island’, a documentary and gave exceptional results. The Canon C series is the best option available out there for shooting documentaries. They have proved to be incredible in low light and have exceptionally good batteries.
ARRI series has been used in over 22 Oscar nominated films and thus the best choice by far for international movie industry. Film camera has been used in about 6 movies and the red dragon one in 3 movies. So, we get the idea of the high definition cameras involved behind the scenes of such outstanding movies.