Switching Cameras

[Patrick Marte]

I've shot about 20% of my documentary with the Sony Z7u, 1080i/24p (native). I'm happy with the footage, but due to logistics and budget I may have to switch to a different camera.
All things remaining the same (1080i/24p), will there be a noticeable difference if I switch to a different camera?

[Brian Boyko]

Originally Posted by Patrick Marte

I've shot about 20% of my documentary with the Sony Z7u, 1080i/24p (native). I'm happy with the footage, but due to logistics and budget I may have to switch to a different camera.
All things remaining the same (1080i/24p), will there be a noticeable difference if I switch to a different camera?

Mmm... the colors might be different if you switch to a different camera; and if you're switching to a camera with a different chip size (say, going from a Z7u to a HG20) you may have different DOF.

[Shaun Roemich]

As Brian points out, there may be differences but on documentaries, OFTEN it doesn't matter so much if it looks like everything was shot by the same person on the same gear 100% of the time. If you were shooting HDCamSR and decided to mix in 1/4" single chip CCD footage, you may be in trouble. Or maybe not. But they wouldn't look the same...

I started one doc I'm working on now with a Sony Z1 and I'm shooting JVC HD200 right now and may finish with the new JVC HM700 by the time I'm done. I'm going to have to give careful consideration to look during post, but I'm confident that the piece will work, whether or not everything looks identical.

Hope this helps...

[Patrick Marte]

Thanks, guys!