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Cameras that can shoot RAW

Top RAW Cameras

Arri is the king of jungle while Red is the tiger of the jungle. These two cameras have dominated the cinema industry for years due to their large size sensors and the ability to shoot RAW videos which are the two major requirements for production. The next major requirement to make proper use of the large sensor and RAW capability is lenses with good quality glass. Generally the lenses used for production have huge glass. The purpose of the huge glass is to use the center part of the lens thereby getting the best images possible. Whether it is the sensor or the lens the more outer edges you use the more softer images become, but when cropped to the inner part the sharper the images get thus making post production more effective. If shot in 4K cropping your video to the desired part of the frame is possible thus giving better control over framing in post production. The Blackmagic is one special camera which can shoot RAW internally and straight .DNG or ProRes formats instead of shooting in other RAW formats and then converting it to .DNG or ProRes for editing or VFX. The only major down-side here is the small sensor size.

RAW capable Cameras

There are plenty of mid range cinema cameras that can shoot RAw but can get no where near the Arri or Red due to their sensor sizes being comparitively small. Although they have RAw capability or Log in them the sensors are around APSC size and hence not used much in big budget filming, the reason being very little or no flezibility. Inspite of their down-side they are expensive and so practically one would only think of the Red which again is cheaper when comparedto an Arri. In fact Canon has crippled some of their hardware in DSLRs to protect these line up of cinema cameras like the C100 etc. Practically, the reason one could think of one of these cameras is to get the taste of RAW and post production experience they could offer but when we realize the limitations we want to get our hands on a Red or an Arri, but if you cannot afford it, some DSLRs can do it with an external recorder like the Atomos Ninja hooked up to a Nikon Z series cameras. Now you can shoot RAW with an External Recorder besides other ways of shooting RAW internally as well.

DSLR with RAW capability

Although DSLRs were originally made for photography Canon made the 5D series taking photography to a new level and this gave video possibilities to a new level as well which must have been a surprise to the very Canon makers. A team of genius guys called the Magic Lantern used the full frame 36mm sensors and fairly good hardware opened the doors to RAW videos. Since the 5D was not originally built for this purpose it has overheating issues when it comes to long footages, but with experience it is possible to use bypass the mid range cameras and come closer to the Arri or Red hence it is possible to use these DSLRs as a second camera next to the Arri or Red and shoot RAw and match them in post production. The cost of shooting RAw videos with Magic Lantern was a dream come true to DSLR users and the next model like the 5D Mark4 many thought it would go to the next level but unfortunately Canon cirppled their own hardware and RAw was not possible, but the few models like the EOSM etc still are able to shoot RAW. The possiblity of production with a DSLR in low budget but compatible with top cinema cameras is again a dream-come-true for film production.

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