I decided to go with the bits that make your job better, the boring things that become so important when you are working and something that may increase my creative options.
Something I have noticed and something I need to fix for next year, are my processes.
For stills, I have well ingrained habits, bullet proof enough to trust and yes, I do get caught out occasionally, but I adjust on the fly and usually nobody but me knows.
Video is a lot more “technical”, it has more moving parts, more links in the chain with fewer points of forgiveness. Mistakes can and have been made, usually stupid little mistakes with disproportionate effects like leaving a small screw adapter behind on another mic, so I cannot mount the one I have to a stand, then having to use a LAV as my main mic, not my backup and the user turning it off by mistake because I failed to lock it. About three things had to go wrong together and they did.
The BMVA 7” is big and heavy, so a cage like the one I have for the 5” is needed. The VA is not blessed with a guide pin locator, but the cage has, so a more secure connection and hard edge for protection. The shade will be handy, but the cage itself makes me feel like I am taking the recorder seriously and all contact points will be more secure.
Something small but annoying thing to fix is my new Smallrig screen mount has a locking lever on the side that makes attaching a C-mount cable (for an SSD) on the bottom of the 7” recorder nearly impossible. The cage may (yet to be confirmed), give me a little more room and does have a locking screw.
I needed another SSD to enable the G9II. I am happy that the G9II is best used in ProRes V-Log, which needs an SSD for its best settings. The GH7 can do this internally, but the cost of a high speed 1TB SSD ($170au) is acceptable, a similar internal card is closer to $500, so no advantage there.
I bought cables, brackets etc and had about half of my allocated funds allocated for a BMVA 5” or a part of the BMPCC4k. These would also have needed some or all of the bits I bought anyway, the path travelled had changed little, just the order of things.
What I almost did commit funds to was buying a Sirui 50mm 1.8 (APS-C) in L-Mount. This would add a fast short telephoto (75mm on the tall side), with standard lens width (50mm equivalent) to complement my 24mm’s in MFT format (about 45-48 x 32-28) and allow me to use three cameras in anamorphic format (A & B interview and a “floating” cam etc), but I will hold off, because I do have the option of “letterboxing” my excellent MFT Hope 25 or 50mm’s or a full frame lens for much the same result.
The original and one of the smaller, lighter ones (the 24 is a brick).
I felt when I went with the 24mm for MFT that another tighter lens might be in the pipeline, the shift to L-mount making sense. The 24 is a well controlled lens and the standard for MFT. The equivalent for APS-C is the 35, but that would be the same, so I went slightly longer, faster and more flare and Bokeh aggressive.
I still have 60% of the funds needed for a BMVA 5” if I go that way (or a Vespid 40mm with adapters), and now I have all the bits needed to make that happen.
Checklist;
Three cameras that can provide at least V-Log/ProRes HQ, All-i or B-Raw quality.
Three cameras that have extended endurance (LP or V-mount power and SSD’s).
A variety of lenses for different roles from anamorphic to cinematic to commercial.
Protection and security for the monitor/recorders I have.
Clear pathways forward with a little left over.