How Many Cameras?

[fuzzynormal]

GH5

GH4

EM10iii

OM-1

5Dii

XPRO2

XT-5

P1100

DSC-RX10

iPhone15

iPhone12

Xiaomi12 Ultra

DJI Mavic Pro

GoPro Hero

All those different cameras were used to make our latest indy documentary on-and-off over the last 3 years.  We finally finished post-production (for real this time) last month.  Not to mention all the different ridiculous vintage lenses and modern lenses employed along the way. 

So that happened.  

My advice?  Yeah, don't use so many cameras...and then try to make all that cohere somehow with no legitimate color grading skills...

Surprisingly, I found the EM10iii footage the most pleasant looking color-wise when exposed correctly.

[kye]

On 11/29/2025 at 1:06 AM, fuzzynormal said:

GH5

GH4

EM10iii

OM-1

5Dii

XPRO2

XT-5

P1100

DSC-RX10

iPhone15

iPhone12

Xiaomi12 Ultra

DJI Mavic Pro

GoPro Hero

All those different cameras were used to make our latest indy documentary on-and-off over the last 3 years.  We finally finished post-production (for real this time) last month.  Not to mention all the different ridiculous vintage lenses and modern lenses employed along the way. 

So that happened.  

My advice?  Yeah, don't use so many cameras...and then try to make all that cohere somehow with no legitimate color grading skills...

Surprisingly, I found the EM10iii footage the most pleasant looking color-wise when exposed correctly.

I sympathise deeply - well done for getting through it.

I shot a number of trips with a nice camera + smartphone + action camera, and only in the last few months did I shoot my first trip where every camera had colour management support.

Matching footage from multiple older/budget cameras that don't have log profiles and colour management support is perhaps one of the hardest challenges in colour grading.  
Not only are the colours and gammas a challenge, but matching sharpness and NR and compression artefacts are also things that can make clips stand-out from each other.  I've lost count of the number of times I spot a 1-2s clip from an action camera spliced into a high-end production based solely on how much sharper it is than the rest of the footage, which could all be avoided with a simple low-strength small-radius blur to take the edge off.

Obviously ultra-low-budget docos are often subject to using whatever cameras are available at the time, and docos often need to use more rugged cameras like action cameras etc to survive different conditions, not to mention dealing with footage from other sources.

To me, a camera has to be pretty bad or pretty ill-suited to make it worthwhile to break consistency with the other material already shot.  As much as you can, pick a camera, pick a few lenses (or just one lens), do your due diligence to get familiar with them, and then just get on with it.  

It's only when you can see past the camera and the lens and the filters that you'll be able to see what you're pointing the camera at.