There is a revolution happening and it is moving fast.
Once, not that long ago, to make quality content, you needed a camera and lenses that most could not afford. People became cinematographers by going to school to access these cameras and the people who know how to use them.
You can now walk into a camera shop and spend under 10k and have enough gear to create a scene from many top tier movies. People and other resources are needed to copy anything that is thrown at you and of course the reality of CGI or AI is often an element, but at the core, the base line of it all, a good camera and lens, so good in fact you may need to reduce its inherent hard-sharp quality, are available to all of us who want them.
The Creator for example was filmed using a Sony FX3 with an antique Kowa anamorphic lens out to an Atomos recorder. This entire kit, in multiple, fit into a single plastic box. As Oren Soffer said in an interview (roughly) “If the camera gives us that basic quality we need, then done, move on, many other factors will matter more” and “All that matters is you have the right tool for the right job”.
Using that as a base line means any of the new range of hybrid cameras can record internally or externally the codecs and quality needed. Examples are the Nikon ZR with Red RAW, the S1II Panasonics with ProRes Raw internal and ARRI colour, or anything going out to an Atomos Ninja or Black Magic recorder like the FX Sonys.
What do you really need for top end quality?
Codec.
The minimum you should use would be LOG, almost universally available in a modern hybrid camera. It will open up the full dynamic range of the camera and is usually well supported by third party and software makers. You can get away with a lesser codec like Cine-V or HLG, but dynamic range or support is usually reduced in favour of out of camera ease, a poor trade.
DR is important, probably not as important as good lighting and exposure, but if a camera offers it, you may as well access it. Great work can be made with less than 12 stops of DR, but if you have access to 14+, then take it.
Minimum; LOG, preferably RAW
If your camera can feed RAW data out over an HDMI (or in some recent releases even intenally), then you should look at an off board recorder like the Atomos Ninja V or BMVA 12g. Most modern bodies will feed out to one or the other. The files will be huge, but that is the reality of it, big quality comes from big files.
Access to 10 bit/422 or better colour depth is also ideal. Recording LOG in ProRes will expand this depth. This depth will pay back in spades when colour grading. Off board RAW recorders will increase your bit rate to 12 or even 16 bit, maybe even get you to 4444 colour. The more colour depth the better.
Minimum; 10 bit/422, preferably 12 bit+
The Black Magic option talks empathically to Resolve, a programme I struggled with early on, but the higher up the codec food chain I went the better that experience became. You will have huge files, but they will be the quality you are chasing.
I have found that generally LOG and RAW formats are supported by users far better than out of camera codecs, which makes life easier and ironically, the bigger the file you record at the front end, the easier the editing after (less unpacking of highly compressed files). This means I can process massive 4k BRAW files on a base model Mac Mini.
A note on editing. Learn to power grade, which is to say, try to avoid buying someone else’s LUT’s, aim to know how to get your own look, save it (power grade) and apply as desired. LUT’s are a cheat and you learn little.
Camera and lenses matter less than above, so choose the camera that gets you to where you need to be in a form and price point that works for you. Loom to recently replaced models and second hand, but there are also deals available in new like the BMPCC4k for $1700au (with built in BRAW and ProRes RAW with nearly any lens adaptable to the MFT mount.
Minimum; A camera that provides the above with good ergonomics, handling and battery life.
Lenses only need to provide the look you are after.
This rig has changed constantly and still is, but it does the following; It records RAW (with the BMVA 12g, not mounted), it records for a long time, it is pleasant t use, it produces the look I want. A small bonus is, it looks like more than it cost ($4000 total), being basically a S5 Mk1, BMVA 12g 5” (absent), V-Mount RigidPro rig, Spectrum 50mm, handles and cable.
Cheaper anamorphic glass can add a professional look cheaply, re-housed legacy lenses are not only cheap, but actually preferred by many top flight cinematographers, budget cine glass may make life easy or add some character and even semi-pro cine glass is getting cheaper. Cropping a legacy lens and adding a streak filter can even fake anamorphic (something I have done for under $100).
Zooms are convenient, but a small set of primes are better.
Lenses I like for film making are my Hope and Spectrum primes, my TTArt 35mm, Sirui anamorphic, antique half frame 25mm, select AF lenses (12-40, 17, 45 Oly, 12-60, 9 Pana, 35, 85 S-Primes). None of these are overly expensive, some are dirt cheap.
Minimum; A decent zoom, or preferably a small set of primes.