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Photo Credit: Justin Iyoki

The thought of purchasing a new camera is often both exhilarating and exhausting.  There are so many different options to choose from these days.  From the large consumer/professional manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony to the more niche specialty cinema cameras from Arri, Red and Black Magic…  The amount of choices we have today is amazing with options for low, medium and feature film budgets but with so many different cameras to choose from, deciding which one to invest in can be a daunting task.

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Photo Credit: Ron Eggleton

Brad Watanabe discussed the different cameras they own, use and rent at Berad Studio. “The reason we own multiple cameras is because we work on vastly different types of projects. We have more time, budget and man power for commercial projects, so working with a Red is often a great solution.  However for event coverage and news gathering types of projects, that require us to be more nimble and discreet, the Canon C100 has become an invaluable tool.”

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Photo Credit: Justin Iyoki

Cameras are tools with specific functions and purposes. The GoPro was not designed to replace your DSLR for stills nor will it outperform your Blackmagic Cinema Camera for motion capture, but it can allow you to acquire images and video in places too wet or too small to take any of your other equipment. In those situations, a GoPro might be your best (and only) solution to get the correct shot to tell your story.

“We’ve recently added a Red Scarlet to our inventory and just love the picture it outputs.  However it is much more cumbersome to operate, it requires large, heavy components and expensive media. To give you a comparison, 64GB of Red SSD storage will cost you $725 compared to $55 for a Sandisk 64GB SSD or SDHC Card or $100 for Compact Flash media.”

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Photo Credit: Ron Eggleton

Thanks to Topher Schlund and Sony Hawaii, we had a Sony A7S to demo. Check out the image below captured by Ron Eggleton on the A7S in near darkness, lit only by the street lights outside the studio.

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Photo Credit: Ron Eggleton

We had a great time getting our hands on these cameras and are looking forward to our December Holiday Party. What are some of the cameras you’re interested in testing out?  Let us know in the comments below.

Huge Mahalo to everyone who made this happen:

Brad Watanabe: Berad Studio
Melissa Kim: The Box Jelly
Topher Schlund: Sony Hawaii
Justin Iyoki: Hiborn Digital Behind the scenes and prep
Ron Eggleton: Behind the scenes pictures
Jen Armstrong: Kaia Consulting: Registration and event prep

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