8 Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos
Are you interested to know which is the best camera for shooting music videos?. We can explore about it in this article.
The music industry is one of the fastest growing industry at the moment and that too at a pretty fast pace.
Thus, comes the demand for the best equipment ranging from audio to video quality and In line with this growth is the surging demand for quality video content.
Maybe you are producing content for your clients or even for yourself, you must produce high-quality video content and behind every great video is a great camera.
But it can be hard to choose what to get in today market where it is full of different products and with user reviews being more confusing than ever.
it’s very hard to arrive at an informed decision on what to get.
So, today in this post, we are gonna discuss and review some of the best cameras for your next music videos.
Note : This post may contain affiliate links. You may read our disclosure here for more details.
8 Best Cameras for Shooting Music Videos
Below are the features you need to focus on while choosing the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos.
- Resolution
- Lens aperture
- Lens zoom range
- Lens quality
- In-camera Software
- Media Type
- Deliver great image quality
- Great focus accuracy
- Refined AF system
- Compatibility with lenses
Let us see what are all the best cameras have these features and suitable for filming music videos in the below section.
Canon EOS 5D DSLR Camera
Canon EOS 5D DSLR Camera is one of the best cameras for shooting a music video and it is also one of the most powerful and yet versatile.
This 30.4-megapixel camera, despite a relatively lowly 96% coverage viewfinder is recommended and used by many professional and enthusiast photographers.
We can all agree that technology has moved on a long way and prices have fallen considerably since its launch but the 5D will remain, for many people, the first accessible route to the shallow-depth-of-field and low-light performance that full-frame cameras can bring.
Even if you are looking to shoot in a low lighting condition? Not to worry as Canon EOS 5D offers you a standard 100-3200 ISO which can further be expanded into 50-102400.
This is the kind of flexibility that I am talking about and you need to approach delicate tasks with confidence.
Canon EOS 5D also is a touch-screen LCD monitor which is quite easy and fun to operate and also makes switching things up a breeze and right at your fingertips, so that way you can continue shooting as your set and scenery change.
It also allows digital-to-analog conversion (on-chip) to enhance the sound recording. This is a camera that delivers power and brilliance. So its one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos in the market.
Nikon D500 DSLR DX-Format Camera
The D500 is another dream camera.
It will do a great job of recording your high-quality music video.
It is also fast, effective autofocus system, 10fps shooting capability, and first-rate metering and white balance systems.
Get Nikon D500 DSLR DX-Format Camera Here
It is also a reasonably-priced camera that is both powerful and rugged. Nikon’s baby D5 is perfect for the action photographer.
Features
- APS-C CMOS sensor, 20.9MP
- 2-inch tilt-angle touchscreen, 2,359,000 dots
- 4K video capture
- High-tech autofocus
The camera is aimed for serious enthusiasts and professionals, the D500 also has two card slots: one that accepts SD-type media while the other is for the faster XQD cards.
Although they’ve been around for quite some time, XQD cards haven’t become commonplace yet, with most cameras only accepting SD-type media, but this could be set to change.
Nikon’s baby D5 is perfect for the action photographer and in this case Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos.
Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K Digital Cinema Camera
If you are looking to take your career to the next level, then this camera can be of great help.
Blackmagic has managed to shake up the camera and video industry by packing up with a lot more pro features like, for instance, raw recording into their earliest cameras.
With their raw support system, this enabled low-budget filmmakers or producers to produce high-end quality and it is one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos which previously was only available in expensive cameras.
Get Blackmagic URSA Camera Here
The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K has a Super-35mm CMOS sensor and also shoots resolutions up to 4.6K (4,608 x 2,592) at up to 60 frames per second (fps).
You can also capture either the 12-bit CinemaDNG or ProRes up to 444 QT.
Along with the new external controls, you’ll get built-in two, four, and six-stop ND filters and the ability to capture on either CFast 2.0 or SD cards and output via the camera’s 12G-SDI output with timecode and REF input.
It also has two XLR inputs with phantom power and is available in different lens mounts.
The lighter the weight the better and Blackmagic managed to do so with just (5 lbs.) which is, by the way, a huge improvement over the massive and unwieldy original URSA.
Recommended for-
- Event Videographers
- Documentarians
- Indie filmmakers
- Corporate filmmakers
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X 10.11 or newer
- Windows 8.1 or newer
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
The LX5 is the fourth camera to carry the LX name but Panasonic has not seen the need to meddle too much with the essential ingredients – the LX5 even features a redesigned version of the same sensor as its predecessor, the LX3.
A fast-aperture Leica Vario-Summicron lens, compact metal body, flash hot shoe and plenty of external controls make the LX5 a very appealing camera for the photo enthusiast.
Get Panasonic Lumix Camera Here
Pros-
- Excellent raw photo quality
- Sharp, bright lens
- Compact but comfortable design
- Broad manual shooting feature set.
Cons-
PEG processing should be better.
Performance is unquestionably better than the LX3, and also fairly better compared with its competitors.
It starts up in a fairly zippy 1.6 seconds. Focusing and shooting in a good light will take about .4 seconds and up to 0.8 seconds in dim light.
The nonflash shot-to-shot time is way better than the other cameras 1.4 and 1.6 seconds for raw and JPEG, respectively, jumping to a not-so-good 4.6 seconds with flash.
Continuous-shooting frame also rate outpaces its class, but at 2.6fps it’s still hit or miss. It does deliver better battery life than the others as well.
Despite its shortcomings, especially its weak JPEG processing, I think the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 delivers an excellent all-around shooting experience–fastest in its class, fully featured, and capable of shooting some very nice video along with photos.
Sony Alpha a6000 Digital SLR Camera
Sony has come within a whisker of creating the perfect CSC in the shape of the A6000, with just a few niggles stopping it being very good indeed.
The a6000 has 179 phase-detect points but 25 are also contrasted detection points for the camera’s hybrid autofocusing system covering approximately 92% of the sensor and by far the most comprehensive of any contemporary camera.
Hence this is one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos.
Get Sony Alpha a6000 Digital SLR Camera Here
To top this, it combined with the new Bionz X processor which allows the camera to shoot continuously at 11 fps with subject tracking.
Sony claims that the a6000 has the fastest AF performance on the market, though those statements should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Sony expects NEX-7 customers will head in the direction of the A7, while NEX-6 customers will be catered for by the new A6000.
The A6000 has quite a similar look and feel to the A7.
It also features a newly designed 24.3 million pixel APS-C CMOS sensor and the sensor has a gapless on-chip design, which is supposed to increase the light collecting efficiency.
Sony a6000 Specifications-
- 3 MP Exmor™ APS HD CMOS image sensor
- Hybrid AF System with 25 contrast-detect and 179 phase-detect focus points
- Full HD movie shooting up to 1080p @ 60 fps
- Battery life for up to 420 images
- Tiltable 3″ LCD with 921K dots
- OLED viewfinder with 1,440K dots
- Intelligent Scene Recognition and Face Detection
- Electronic First Curtain shutter
- Up to 11 fps continuous shooting at full 24.3 MP resolution
- Peaking AF display for precise manual focusing
- WiFi with NFC Capability
The Alpha A6000 is now an even better value.
Nikon D5200 Digital SLR Camera
D5200 Digital SLR is a more affordable alternative to the D5300.
The Nikon D5200 is an upper entry-level DSLR that improves on the D5100 by offering a 24MP CMOS sensor, 1080i60 movie capability, a side-articulated 921K dot 3.0″ tilt/swivel LCD, and new processing filters.
The D5200 is equipped with a much more significantly upgraded AF system, based around the same Multi-Cam 4800DX AF sensor that are used on the D7000, and the same 2016-pixel RGB metering sensor.
Get Nikon D5200 Digital SLR Camera Here
The D5200 is also compatible with Nikon’s optional WU-1b WiFi module.
Nikon D5200’s key features
- 1MP DX format CMOS sensor
- EXPEED 3 processing
- ISO 100-6400 standard, up to 25600 expanded
- 5 fps continuous shooting
- 39 point AF system, 9 sensors cross type
- 2016 pixel RGB metering sensor
- 1080p30 video recording, built-in stereo mic
- 921k dot 3″ vari-angle LCD monitor, 170° viewing angle
Overall, the D5200 is a solid all-round performer that is geared toward beginning DSLR users from an operational standpoint, and shares many specifications with more expensive enthusiast offerings.
It also combines both excellent image quality and impressive high ISO performance with an articulated screen and video capabilities that hold appeal for video shooters with a post-production workflow.
It is good for users who demand the utmost in image detail at low ISO values and videographers who can make use of uncompressed video footage (ofcourse this is one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos) and not so good for photographers who work primarily in live view and videographers who want high quality 60i output.
Canon EOS 550D
Canon EOS 550D offers a lot more technology, and at a higher price, than we might expect for a camera aimed squarely at this sector.
Although it might seem that is logical for the 550D to replace with the EOS 500D, however, the older camera is set to continue in Canon’s lineup, which leaves the 550D pinched between its entry-level and the nominally enthusiast peers.
The EOS 550D resolution has jumped to 18 megapixels on the same size APS-C CMOS sensor that gives the T2i a 1.6x crop factor (35mm equivalent).
The processor is also a Digic 4, the same as the T1i, but a slightly nominal ISO sensitivity range has gone to 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800) while the older camera was 100-3200 (expandable to 6400 and 12,800) with an “improved” HD video function offers manual exposure control and a movie crop function.
So this HD video camera is one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos.
Pros-
- Good image quality
- Good video quality
- Fash AF and shutter
Cons-
- 72 dpi output
- Comparatively short battery
Canon EOS 550D Features-
- 18 Megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
- DIGIC 4 processor with ISO 100-6400 (Expansion to 12800)
- Continuous shooting at 3.7fps
- Full HD movie recording with manual control and selectable frame rates
- 7cm (3.0”) 3:2 Clear View LCD with 1,040k dots
- iFCL metering System with 63-zone Dual-layer Metering Sensor
- Quick Control screen to change shooting settings
- Exposure compensation +/-5 stops (although the viewfinder scale is still +/-2 stops)
- Select the maximum value for Auto ISO
- External Microphone socket
- Movie crop function
- Eye-Fi connected functions compatibility
Canon EOS M10 Mirrorless Camera
The Canon EOS M10 looks very similar to the Canon’s lead system camera, the EOS M3, but without the actual main manual controls.
It also has an ultra-simple design, thus providing accessibility through being a largely point-and-shoot model.
There is no mode dial-up top to switch from manual to aperture priority mode and so on. Instead, you get a still and video shutter button and a switch that flicks between video, stills, and Auto.
The Canon EOS M10 is offered with a collapsible 15-45mm F3.5-6.3 IS kit lens, taking up residence below the more advanced EOS M3 in that company’s mirrorless lineup.
A replacement for the Canon EOS M2, the M10 also offers an 18MP APS-C CMOS sensor, 3″ 1.04M dot tilting touch screen LCD, built-in Wi-Fi with NFC and 1080/30p video recording.
The M10 provides a built-in flash, but no viewfinder or hot shoe for an accessory unit.
Its Hybrid CMOS II AF system gets an upgrade over the M2, jumping from 31 to 49 points. Its ISO range extends from 125 to 25600 expansion.
I already can imagine that plenty of casual photographers will get along just fine with this camera. So this is one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos.
Pros-
- Good image quality
- Excellent hue accuracy
- Solid high ISO performance
- Good JPEG buffer depth
- Fast buffer clearing
- Shoots Full HD video
- Fairly good video quality
- Includes an external mic jack
- Streamlined, comfortable camera body
- Excellent touchscreen menus
- Durable touchscreen tilting mechanism
- Highlight Tone Priority and Auto Lighting Optimizer features help with high-contrast scenes
- Built-in Wi-Fi with NFC
- Tilting 3-inch touchscreen
- Compact
- Affordable
Cons-
- The 18-megapixel sensor is getting long-in-the-tooth with less dynamic range and lower high ISO performance than most current competitors
- Very poor Auto white balance under tungsten lighting
- Slow startup and mode switching
- Sluggish AF speeds
- Mediocre continuous autofocus performance
- Mediocre burst speeds
- Shallow buffers when shooting raw files (but that’s typical for the class)
- No priority-mode exposure control
- Autofocus is a bit on the slow side
- No high-framerate video option
- No 4K video capture
- Nowhere on the camera itself to mount an external mic
Overall, It’s compact and lightweight, so it’s very convenient to take anywhere you need to shoot your videos!
Conclusion about Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos
The decision on what camera to buy is up to your choice and it should align with your needs, plans, skill level, and budgetary limits.
Finally, don’t think too much, grab yourself one of the Best Camera for Shooting Music Videos specified above and go ahead to record those high-quality videos like a pro.
If you are interested to know on how to create a reaction video then you can read it here.
If you have liked this review, please share it with your other Photographers and let them know about it.