Not having a gimbal in the beginning of a filmmaking career is the best way to practice handheld shooting which is going to be more valuable than buying the best gimbal on the planet. Good video!

This list is pretty spot on in my experience in different production roles. 1. I did real estate videos for a short time and that was about the only time I really needed a gimbal. Since I've moved to commercial and corporate, I haven't really touched a gimbal in a very long time. 2. Autofocus is great in certain situations, especially if you're by yourself, but if you have a modern camera, the focus assist tools are fantastic. Plus, a lot of amazing lenses are manual focus and will be cheaper. 3. Full frame is unnecessary, but just the direction the industry is going. I shoot most of my commercial work on a super 35 sensor (canon c70) and have never felt it was a draw back. 4. Internal recording is really good these days as more cameras have higher data transfer rates built in and RAW workflows are such a huge pain. I hate recording externally. 5. I don't want any more "k's" in my footage, just more dynamic range and better low light. I hate wasting production money on hard drive space. As a commercial director, there's really on two things I don't mind investing in that I know will always make my productions better: More/better lights and lenses. I've never regretted buying either of those things and they are the things that tend to hold the most value. But really the best thing to invest in are the people on you crew to make the productions happen. Good/skilled crew = good production.

Thank you! I have been watching your material for a year now and still come across videos from a while ago that are relevant to me at this very moment. And so very helpful.

I so appreciate your take on these subjects. I'm just starting out on my documentary journey, and I often wrestle with what caliber of gear I actually need. I don't want to limit my options when it's time to distribute my projects. But I'm also mindful of Ansel Adams' admonition: "There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." Thanks again, Luc.

The need for high-performance autofocus is driven by gimbals that make manual focus impractical (unless you're using a radiofocus, but then it's more money still). If you don't use gimbals in the first place, AF is just a situational tool you won't use much.

I love my gimbal, mount battery and focus pull set. Really helps with my style. On the weight issue I find lifting weights helped me. You are spot on though with your points and even the fact that motion makes the scenes look more natural without a gimbal if done right.

Luv. You are a breath of fresh air. Watched this all and nodded and smiled throughout. Thanks man. Subscribed.

Love this guy. He speaks the truth. And everything he is saying is so true.

I'm with you on these, especially the autofocus thing. I've recently started using manual focus instead of autofocus on a couple of doc projects I'm a part of, and it makes such a difference! I really love having that extra control, and I agree that it's so much more organic-looking than using even a great autofocus system.

I would add a caveat to your point about 4K. The ability to crop 4K footage is useful in Doc filmmaking especially when following a subject can make it hard to land on good framing right away or shooting a little loose can provide some wiggle room to adjust the framing as movement happens. That said as I write this I realize that its similar to you point about auto focus - that audience will get past adjusting the framing while they follow the story and digital zooms are almost always awful. If you do crop make sure its with purpose and not fake and really you don't have to have the capability its just a nice to have - so there I talked myself out of the caveat but what the heck I will leave the comment up for others to consider and comment.

Brother this video was so on point. It way to much emphasis on gear and not being creative or the knowledge of the gear. Let alone framing and storytelling.. Thank you for this! 🎥📷

You are one of the best filmmaking youtubers out there, Luc. I've been around a bit, and you've got the goods my friend.

Luc, this is a great video. I really appreciate your transparency with this. It does seem like the YT world is mostly focused on gear. I am just getting started, shooting on an old Canon DSLR. It is what I can afford. It is not great, but I have done what rigging I make it usable. It shoots 1080p and for my current deliverables, it works. Any gear that I am currently shopping for is around light modifiers and good audio capture. I capture audio externally using XLR shotguns going into a TASCAM. I have a small lav that records on my phone. I then do a manual sync in post. It is working. I am focusing on developing story, practicing with my camera and audio gear, and learning how to shape and control light. That is where I can focus. I can't afford the latest and greatest. This video is such an encouragement. Thank you.

Great video Luc! Thanks for sharing! If you don't know what you don't know, just spend your way into enlightenment! Not talking about lighting right now either!

I bought a gimbal back in high school for filmmaking. Every time I see the case collecting dust in my closet I get a renewed sense of buyer's remorse

As someone who's starting I think some of the "not necessary" stuff can be super useful to make a living when you can't get money out of your documentary work. I've been doing weddings while I work my way through my first documentary short and having full frame sensors with great low light and AF have been super useful. And right now, I can't imagine of any new camera without 4K, but I assume you can start with used equipment too. But all in all, I agree with your view on this, story and ease of use are way more important

Agree with this 100% not only for doco but all content creators. Quality content is number 1.

You are on the money about autofocus. I started out on film and it taught me how and when to shift focus. Also, I find gimbals a pain in the ass. I have a Panasonic S5 (and will upgrade to the S5IIx soon) and their IBIS is all I need.

Get a shoulder rig and base plate instead of a gimbal. Great list! It’s good to hear common sense in a sea of gear hype!

The only reason you would want to shoot in 8k is so you can reframe in post but if you get the framing right when you are shooting you definitely don’t need 8k because 1080p is good enough for phones where most people watch videos.

Man ! You're so right ! I'm a documentary director also and I'm totally agree about autofocus, gimble, etc... Thank you for saying that on YT !!

Very very very good and useful stuff! Thank you! I am just starting with Nature documentary and the amount of bad advice I have been getting from youtuber from the past really slowed me down. I have slowly starting to realise all these point but I wasted - wasting time. Thank you!

As a macro photographer partway through film school, I find your straightforward approach helpful. I'll be spending the summer in production on my first micro-budget short documentary, and your guidance is helping me make smart decisions as I prepare. Thanks for sharing your experience and insight.

So true. All points. Thanks for sharing brother!

I worked as a cinematographer and shot tons of commercials without a gimbal (used steadicam sometimes, but not for run and gun days) I bought a gimbal after 5 years of professional work not because i need it but because it makes my job easier.

You're 100% right and it's so nice to hear a fresh opinion that's real. Great work 👍

One of the best videos I have ever watched Thanx a lot

Great video. I’m with you on every point. I wish I could afford to hire a steadicam op than a gimbal - way for feel and flow. I love what you said about audiences not being emotionally engaged with the inhuman autofocus hunting. The resolution thing is bang on - Steve Yedlin pretty much silenced this thing years ago and movies like Blue Ruin shot on the c300 make resolution beyond 1080 for story irrelevant. Same goes for raw and bit rate etc. One other thing I’d add - as much as it pains me to say (I bought the c70 for it’s DGO sensor). Dynamic range doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t It really doesn’t. Audio matters Battery life matters Monitoring matters Ergonomics matters Familiarity matters Speed of operation matters Reliability matters

Thanks for the video! Totally agree, the autofocus is very useful for interviews, but it cannot be compared with a manual focus with moving faces, at a demonstration, or a dinner, for example. I wish you success on your KZfaq channel.

Glad I found your channel Luc. And I agree Cartel land is soo excellent!

100% agree. Gimbals are remote heads, not stabilization. Steadycam does what most people think gimbals do, and that's a six figure investment in gear and training. Handheld will do you fine, just get some weight on your shoulder.

The only one I disagree with is #4. External capture to Pro Res provides a myriad of options in post relative to the additional expense and storage requirements, and isn't that hard on most modern computers/NLEs. The cheaper and easier option when the GH5 came out was to record to SSD's attached to a Ninja /Shogun compared to figuring out which expensive SD cards recorded 10bit - All-i/400Mbps, and I also got a capable monitor in the same package that I needed anyway.

My top 3 elements when choosing a camera are 1. image quality, 2. image quality and 3. image quality. And by quality I mean the overall feel of the image, not just resolution and low light performance. It's the only thing that you can't compensate for with accessories or in post. I don't care so much about ports, battery life, IBIS, AF and so on.

Awesome, I totally agree!

Excellent! Agree with all of these 🙌🙌🙌

Hey all, I have been shooting professionally since 1997. I think used gimbals are cheap enough now that you should have one in your kit. I have owned the Crane v2, Ronin S, and now the Crane M3 and Luc is absolutely right about a) some shake being good in doc work, and b) that holding a gimbal for any more than a few minutes is difficult if not impossible. There are workarounds here, with things like shoulder mounts, steady arms, and easy rigs, but the best one I have found is simply to use them sparingly. I shoot on an FX6, and save the FX30 on a gimbal for planned shots and b-roll.

It's about time someone spoke about function as opposed to the "latest". Thanks for this.

Really appreciate all this helpful insight. Wish I came across this sooner.

I love this! I have been shooting documentary content for 10 years or more and your are spot on with these tips. Keep up the great content!

My camera doesn't have good autofocus. It's hard sometimes to shoot myself, but if I am filming something else it doesn't bother me at all

I couldn't agree more with the 8k overkill ! Having a full documentary shot in 4k might already be too much, considering a ton of people are still watching them in 1080p on streaming services. And as you said, the higher the resolution the more you see the details in the shots and that can throw you off the story...

So, so,so TRUE !!! Thanks Luc. As always… absolute TRUTH!

I have two gimbals and haven't used either. I use the slider far more. Gimbals are so cheap and plentiful used to not have one kicking around. I also prefer the handheld look. Gimbals are magical though for sure.

Spot on about the Auto focus!!!

I can just not agree on the Autofocus. I appreciate it so much on my a7iv, i could never work without it anymore. Not having to worry about focus and instead focusing on the movement, framing and so on is just fantastic ^^ Thats why cameras like the Panasonic S5 dont sell that well and people just go for an A7iii, even tho the S5 gives you a better image

9:45 100% agreed with you there Luc. Coming from narrative film making even though I shoot in 4K ( for color grading and VFX flexibility) I'm almost always deliver in 1080P. Another thing I don't care much for super sharp looking images unless like you said for sports or nature documentaries. When shooting my movies I always prefer anamorphic lenses.

I like the channel Luc, keep it up.

Amen. Too much focus on...autofocus! Funny story...I have a client who sometimes hires other videographers to film for them and we do the editing of those videos. We received the footage of an interview of a high-profile racecar driver where the videographer shot on a gimbal with his Sony FX3 and Face Detect AF on. Let's just say a huge chunk of the interview footage was unusable because AF kept hunting between the interview subject and people standing in the background. All the videographer needed to do was learn to manual focus.

Yess! If people think super35 (which is basicly APS-C) isn't good enough - it worked for: The matrix, The Abyss, Titanic, 3 of the Pirates of The Caribbean movies, Fight Club, Both Iron man movies...The list goes on...

I haven’t found one single point that I disagree with. NOT ONE. Well done man, your channel is a gem.

I think that shooting in 8K or 6K RAW is extremely useful when shooting Docs because sometimes when the action happens you need to get the shot the first time and cannot recreate a special moment. If your framing is a little off you can push in for a CU or if your white balance is a little off you can correct that metadata in post its not baked in. When shooting other projects like (Music Videos/Commercials) you have more flexibility to dial in lighting with your gaffer and rig lights with your KeyGrip. Docs are Run-N-Gun for the most part and you don't always get multiple takes and sometimes your locations are not permitted.

great video Luc, I have the sony fx3 and a rsc2 gimbal with raveneye, its gets painful after 10 minutes, I need to learn how to shoot smoothly with my fx3

I'm not a documentary shooter, so maybe it makes sense there, but MATTE BOXES! Yes, they make you look all professional and stuff, but I rarely am filming in lighting conditions that they do anything for the image.

Thank you for valuable insights.I am sure it is going to help me.

I'm just gonna say it; Your channel has become one of my favorites! I think you are right on ALL of them! Honestly, when watching you, I sometimes feel like I'm looking in a mirror...without all of the IMDB credits of course. LOL GREAT content sir!!

Practicing without a gimbal to get stable footage using post production stabilisation and good footwork, if you do ever get a gimbal, it will be even more stable than anything else

Brilliant Luc. Great take on the opposite of a lot of content focusing on gear 👍

Great video and inspiring! Subbed!

Loved you insights, another great video

I think pretty much everything you said tracks within the realm of documentary filmmaking, maybe slightly dependent on the style of the shooter. One area in which you could almost flip it 180° is filming glamorous wedding highlight reels, like if you’re filming in a similar style to Matt Johnson. (Which is technically still documenting, but obviously not what the video is about) Sometimes the gimbal look is what you’re going for, because that smoothness is what you’re trying to portray. AF can be massively, helpful, and that’s coming from me who filmed most of my wedding films so far with a BMPCC4K on an RS2 using manual focus. Full frame can be really helpful when it comes to low light, filming in BRAW is unbelievably helpful with some of the crazy color temperature mixtures you get at weddings, and correcting exposure misses. I think 8K is generally still unnecessary, but 4K can really save your butt sometimes when it comes to reframing and sharpness. Obviously, you can do a glamorous highlight reel without those things, especially when first starting out and having to skip some of the shots you’d like to have for what you are capable of getting, but it can be frustrating trying to produce a certain look and feel without the correct tools for it. So in response to your question, I totally agree! With the possible exception of style, all of those things are unnecessary for a documentary filmmaker, and you specified that throughout. Great video, thank you for being precise!

Happy to read I am not the only one shooting mostly 1080p😆 Also I just realized you only have just over 7k subscribers! That is just odd…but I am no algorythm.

Not sure if you do requests, but a vid explaining everything about manual focus would be great, including how you'd set up your focus for a shot, how long it takes etc

Funny story concerning shooting resolutions. I was in my final year of film studies last year. I shot my final project at 1080. My cohort thought I was crazy and they all shot at 4K resolution. My reasoning was, these are student films and no one’s ever going to watch them on anything besides a small monitor or phone. I also didn’t want to make proxies in editing and have huge overpowering work loads. I had about 300 gig of data to ingest and my peers had over 4 terabytes. So, I was feeling pretty smug and vindicated in my choice. Then my film got picked up for a few festivals and was going to screen on an 80 foot screen. Panic ensued, but the 1080p looked great up there.

I love finding one of your videos I've not seen before! I agree with all but #2. Autofocus is a great secondary tool that can always be turned off. That being said, my favorite lenses are manual focus. Cheers!

Yooooooo! So good. Thanks for making me not feel inferior for shooting on a smaller sensor, shooting mostly handheld, and never going higher than 4K and only then because I may want to crop in. Voice of reason here! Keep up these videos!

great video all around. Honest and not ego centric

I shoot mostly fast paced skateboarding. Buying a gimbal was actually the most regrettable purchases I made. Gimbals work well is staged or controlled to semi controlled environments, but for fast moving work I would agree to what is being said in this video. All they do is slow you down in a really fast unpredictable environment.

Thank you great advice!

Dude this is just FACTS man! Thanks for these amazing videos. Inspiring⭐️

Thanks, great tips...

You're not wrong, Lucas!

what camera was used in "Biggest Little Farm" doc, do you know? the cinematography in it is breath taking.

Mans siad "Netflix, National Geographics or whatever".....goals

It's amazing how much less reliant I am on a gimbal once I got a Monopod and Shoulder Rig. Vastly cheaper, portable, (and in some instances) looks better!

thanks for your videos, I enjoy watching them and learn a lot. I don't shoot documentary, at least not yet, but I've shot for a wide variety of projects in documentary style like documenting ongoing creative projects, and the only thing I'd say is that while full frame isn't necessary, it's definitely nice to have because it's nice to have a wider focal range at the end of the zoom than super 35 allows. I've been using a 14-35 lately and it covers like 95 percent of what I wanna shoot, and if I want to extend the zoom I can use the crop sensor, but if I'd like to go wider, and there's lots of situations where I do, if I'm using a super 35 there's no flexibility in that.

Thanks for addressing the gear fetish that is often secondary to what really matters. For small productions with minimal crew, investing in, hauling, maintaining and operating extra gear can take away more than it offers. I do own a gimbal, but only use for very specific shots, and only bring if confirmed before I go on set. The Auto Focus debate is amusing as it wasn't long ago that you'd be chastised for using AF. I shoot both Super 35 and Full Frame, and while both have their place, I could easily live with just Super 35. The additional cost and weight of Full Frame lenses is no small matter. I do record to an external monitor, primarily for faster playback to share with clients and as a backup in the event of an internal card error (it's happened a few times). The main advantage I see to resolution higher than 4K is for VFX work and cropping a wide shot or adjusting a horizon. Obviously, these are all effective tools, but ultimate options that won't make or break most films.

I finished filming a doc the other day and I'd say about 70% of it was shot in RAW. The space requirements are unfun, but I'd honestly say the biggest issue I had with it was the setup time it adds and the fact that external recorders like dropping frames at very inconvenient times.

You woke up and choose violence 🤣 Good points

BTW everybody does gear videos because they are higher paid using YT monetization (4x at least) and they are much more watched than other stuff on YT. Hard truth :(

I say yes to all these things, however only applies if you do only one thing. I dont use autofocus at all when filming music videos or documentary style videos, however when Im shooting portraits... I really need this autofochs. Same with most other topics you mentioned.

Some cameras are so good at down sampling their 4k or 6k that you can barely tell too

I agree with you on everything. Just about the Autofocus I'd disagree. If I am a one man team, with bad eyes... I do need to rely on a good Autofocus. I mean I just use it to focus what is of interest to me before hitting the record button and then I change to manual focus and hit the record button. I keep it simple. Why? Cause Story is King. Lately I shot a music video and it was mostly shot on Gimbal. But here it was actually wanted for the look and feel of the video.

I totally agree on not having gimbals, external recorders and 8K. Full frame depends on situation. But autofocus is very useful. I point where to focus and then I turn off the autofocus. When I need to focus again I turn on the autofocus again. It is faster and more accurate than playing with the focus ring. And yes after focusing don't leave autofocus on auto and it won't run away.

I always stay a version or two behind the tech so save a boatload of cash. For example I’m currently looking at getting a gh4 which you can get for a song now, maybe even with some lenses. Even used gh5’s are reasonable

Autofocus: I chose my Sony FX3 and 28-135 mm f4.0 video lens combo partly because of Autofocus and most of the time it works well, when I have to hold the camera on my shoulder or on a gimbal I can't manually pull focus all the time and it's hard to get right, risking making the footage unusable about as high as using autofocus. The tracking focus can also be very useful when you have a lot of other stuff to worry about while shooting. Full-Frame: I chose a full-frame camera as my first professional one since it is not only the new industry standard, but it also has nicer quality AND it lets in more light, extra useful in low-light conditions! The ISO on my FX3 together with the ff-sensor is amazing, you can film by night and barely get any grain! External Recorder / RAW: Shooting RAW may be great and all but the extra gear and storage you need is a problem as you mentioned. I don't even use the highest video codec in-camera because it takes up so much space and makes me fill a 180 GB CFExpress with like 30-40 min worth of 4K footage instead of 1,5 hours or more. It takes a lot of space, surely uses more battery, you need BIG SSD's to edit from and the 4K footage in the lower codec still looks absolutely great and can be graded fine. It's especially good enough when the end result gets uploaded to KZfaq and compressed a lot anyway. 8K: In my opinion, if you REALLY need to have extra resolution to crop your recordings for 4K output, 6K is enough. The resolution difference between 1080p and 4K is definitely noticeable and I love how clean and real 4K looks, but is anyone even able to tell a difference for resolutions higher than 4K, even 8K? I doubt it, 4K already has so many pixels that you can't see them on a computer monitor, 8K may have slightly better quality for a really big TV screen, but it's not really necessary.

Thank you, this is the base advice

this was awesome! Looking forward to more videos!

Gear reviews pay more than talking about storytelling... Great video!

The point with high quality video is very true. I just got an a7 iv and wanted to try the video mode with the best settings. I took a low light video in 4k 50p (eu mode) for about 1min and looked a bit later on the filesize and i stared at it for a few seconds to realize just how big these files are. It was about 1.7Gb for 1min video. So i get now the people who say yea you have to use a goood Computer to edit that stuff. I mean yea the quality of the video was insane but dang if you don't grade it really hard i think it's not that worth

All great points! My only counterpoint would be that sometimes an external recorder does render out a more usable file that is less processor hungry. The 10-bit files out of the Canon C300 Mark II are a great example, older machines really chug on that data even though the data rate is 410Mbps. If I shoot ProRes to my Shogun I've got a much more edit friendly file AND a quick and easy backup. I wouldn't go that route on a safari, but for interviews, it's a nice option to have.

The thing I agree most with is the resolution issue. Cameras are shooting craziest amounts of resolution wether it’s 4K, 6K or even 8K and everyone’s telling you to definitely shoot at least in 4K. But what for? The majority of video consumption nowadays is broken down to a mobile device like a tablet or mobile phone. So what’s the point? Second thing I do agree with is the Gimbal thing. I admit, that I am a really lazy shooter for the most part, meaning most of the time I simply don’t use a gimbal because it’s such a p.i.t.a. to set it up and reset it when changing lenses. I actually own a Gimbal but it’s a small Weebill S that I don’t bring along all the time. And that’s the thing with always having the latest and greatest gear. Why buy a brand new Gimbal, Camera or whatever, when your „older“ gear does the job? Great video and breakdown. Thanks for that!

Fuji’s got the best for filmmaking. And log is enough vs RAW. The smaller lenses also tend to have less Hawthorn effect impact

Really appreciated your video. I am a hobby video maker with my Fuji X-H1 and agree with most of what you saying. Actually, as soon as I got this camera I immediately dedicated a few days recording several sceneries from dusk to dawn in 1080p x 4K with 4, 5 of my favourite fuji film recipes and I am now focused and happy shooting 1080p 30 and 60 fps with saved settings in the camera Q menu for the various scenes I encounter. press a button, choose WB and ISO and I'm off being creative! On the subject of sensor and autofocus, I have the kit 18-55mm lens which I use during the day on stationary subjects and invested in a low light capable lens at f1.4 for shooting parks, streets and building interiors in dim lights, thats it, I am happy and moved on. I liked the part of shooting the Vice piece in 1080p, ahah, I have been a Vice fan since the time they were a free zine magazine in London and couldnt care less about their material being in 4K, I only watch Vice for the nitty gritty: content.

I heard David Fincher say that steadicams (gimbles in this sense) are great for a POV of a drunk person but there's no other usability according to him. I can never un hear that statement.

Thank you for this - it is bringing freedom from the slavery to gear and consumerism - this message needs more voices - to free creativity in people.

Thank you so much for this !

Love this!

The hi-res sensor comment is very apt. I'll take better low light performance and higher dynamic range from a dedicated 4k sensor (like a GH5s or a Sony A7xxxS) over 8k.

yes

Love the video. The only comment I have is regarding shooting in raw. I now use Blackmagic raw and I consider this to be my safety net. It is literally black magic how they’ve come up with a system that is so incredibly small when it comes to hd space but is so forgiving in post. White balance, exposure, etc yes, you should get these correct at the start but I’ve been doing this for nearly 40years and I still make mistakes. So when I sit down at the edit, rather than punching myself, I just smile because I know with my fantastic Braw I can nearly always fix it in post.