Why I left my Sony FS7 behind for a FS5

Unless you really like talking about cameras, this will probably bore you.  But I'll try to keep it as top line as I can and I'm not really a pixel peeper anyways.  This week I made a switch I'd been thinking about for a long time.  I sold my Sony FS7 and purchased a FS5.  It was a tough decision and to a certain extent I already miss the FS7 but in the end I think it'll be worth it.

There were two major reasons for the switch.  Those are money and size.  Size is an easy one... the FS7 is a beast and I would frequently be sore after a day of shooting.  The FS5 is the perfect size.  Small enough to carry around, large enough to put on your shoulder.  The second reason is money.  I don't usually talk dollars and cents, but if someone is considering one vs the other I figure it might be helpful.

I sold the FS7 w/ cards and everything for $6750.  I was into it for about $7500 (bought used), but I used it on every shoot for 2 years so it had more than paid for itself.  I purchased the FS5 used for $3900.  So far I'm netting $2850.  BUT, my big concern was about quality loss between the two camera's codecs.  No argument that the FS7 has a better codec.  So I was concerned about that.  Which is why I did the raw upgrade for the FS5 ($500) and bought an Atomos Shogun Inferno setup ($1800) and sold my SmallHD 501 (for $1,000).  So all in all I saved $1500 and in the end got a BETTER image quality than the FS7 which would require more money/add ons to get the RAW/ProRes out.  I can use the ProRes for interviews, and the native codec for events/other stuff.

Which gets to the third reason I switched.  XQD stresses me out.  I know it's necessary for the size of the codec the FS7 uses, but as someone who always shoots on location and frequently shoots out of town, the XQD format is stressful.  Here's an example... last year I shot all day for a client.  I transferred the cards as I went because I was taking the last flight out of town to Vegas to shoot for another client the next morning.  Got through the day, loaded up, airport, security, flying, get to the hotel in Vegas to discover that somewhere between the load out and that moment I had lost my card case.  I think it was when security went through my bag, but regardless I was missing 6x 128gb XQD cards.  LUCKILY I had left 2 in the camera, because I was out of luck.  I had a shoot in a few hours and there is literally no way to get XQD cards quickly in most locations.  By the time I ordered new ones the shoot would be done.  Vegas didn't have any place I could rent them from, and certainly no place local to buy them from.  If I hadn't left 2 of them in my camera I'd have been out buying a new camera at the local best buy to get the job done.  With the FS5 I'm shooting to SD, and I can always get a replacement in an emergency.

I know, I know.  10 bit 4:2:2 400mbps vs 8 bit 4:2:0 100mbps.  But still.  For most things it doesn't really matter and when it does I shoot ProRes and I have the ability to try RAW.  Plus for events and stuff I'm saving a TON of space on my RAID.  A 128gb card in the FS7 lets me shoot 62 minutes of 4k.  I get 15 minutes more (77) at half the size (64gb card) with the FS5.  And frankly, who's going to know the difference when it's someone standing at a podium talking to a power point.

So that's my camera story.  I have a tendency to buy and sell a lot of cameras, so I'm sure the FS5 will move once the C200 gets some kinks worked out.  But for now I'm psyched.  And if you're wondering about my camera history, here's what I've owned (still and video)... Olympus E300, Canon 20D, Canon 5D, Canon 5D mark II, Canon 5d mark III, Canon 5d mark IV, Sony EX1, Canon C100 mark II, Sony rx IV, Sony FS7, Sony FS5.

Never say no . . .

At my company, AV Collective, we do a lot of video work.  But we pride ourselves on being like an extension of our clients' companies.  Meaning we want it to be as seamless as calling the person a few cubes over when you need something done.  The other day we had a project come up that is the PERFECT illustration of this mentality.

It was a regular Thursday morning when I got an email.  We'd been working on a big video project for a client and had gotten some bottle comps done (12 of them) for one of the shoots we did.  They looked awesome and sparked an idea with the client I wish I'd come up with... Let's do enough bottle comps that we'd be able to hand them out at the meeting.  GENIUS!  Except that the place who did the original comps didn't have the bandwidth as we now needed 200 and we needed them in the mail in a week.  Normally a company would say "sorry, we do videos" but in a previous life I ran a mount room and did a LOT of work like this.  So the wheels started turning.

In under a day we got a printer on board who'd rush the labels through for us.  First problem solved.  Logistically it made more sense for one of our team members to fly to the location of the  meeting, buy the bottles and then clean/wrap them on location since shipping 300 (the number we started with) would be almost $7,000.  Then the number got cut to 200 and it was discovered that shipping a day earlier would save about $6k on shipping.  Which is great cost wise, but cut our production time significantly.

Monday and Tuesday was "bottle acquisition time".  By end of day Tuesday we had the 200 bottles courtesy of the internet and going to MANY Walgreens, CVS, Mariano's, etc.  We went to the client on Wednesday and de-wrapped, re-wrapped, and packaged 200 bottle comps to get them out to Miami in time for the meeting.

It was a crazy amount of work, especially considering we still had to execute the video simultaneously (we had 2 shoots and the edit to do in there too), but all went off without a hitch.  An old boss of mine taught me to "never say no" which as been a guiding principal in what we do at AV Collective.  It would have been much easier to say "sorry, we do videos and photography... good luck with your bottles."  Instead we were able to say "of course we can make this happen, just let me work on logistics."

And the feedback was worth the late nights... "Everyone is totally over the moon about this video. They think it is culture changing for our organization. Don't underestimate the power of a little video!"

6 months into being my own boss...

At the end of 2014, the company I was working for as a Senior Producer / Editor closed it's doors.  Bittersweet moment as we'd been doing great work creatively, but they weren't able to sell the ad space necessary on the network to keep it viable.  It left a lot of talented people looking for work.

For the first time in my 15 year career (I started young haha), it left me looking for a job.  Prior to that moment I'd never actually had to look for a job.  I was always open to new opportunities and they'd come up without my having to go find them.  So what to do now?

Even with a full time job, I'd always freelanced.  Using a lot of my vacation time for shoots and projects and staying up until the wee hours of the morning editing, after getting home from work.  So, with the support of my family, I decided to take AV Collective, the Chicago based photography and video production company I started a few years ago, full time.

Next thing I knew, it was July and I'd been doing it for 6 months.  They've been a great six months and I've learned a TON about the business and myself.  I figured before the next couple months flew by as well, it'd probably be a good idea to outline a couple things I never realized when I decided to take the plunge...

1. It's lonely.

I'm not one to share a lot of personal things out in the open, but the first thing I didn't really think about was just how lonely it can be to be in an office when you're an entrepreneur.  What do I mean by that?  Well two things.  There isn't that person at your office that you immediately go see Monday morning after watching the latest episode of True Detective.  Those conversations become IMs or texts and it's not the same engagement.  Secondly, with the nature of this business, clients want things done quickly and to fit their budgets.  I didn't feel right asking someone else to take the same risk I was and just go start something on our own.  I have a team of people I turn to for shoots or edits or graphics or whatever else.  But they're not a sitting in my office team.  So those moments where you and a co-worker run out to a store or go play wiffle ball home run derby aren't there.  But six months in I'm looking to add a full time person to my team so the solitary nature of things should change.

2. Paperwork sucks.

I knew this going in.  I'm a creative minded person, not a paperwork minded person.  My pre-pros and shoots and projects are all buttoned up to a T, but the money/contract side has always left me a bit uncomfortable.  I use FreshBooks for all my accounting/invoicing and expense/time tracking.  It's amazing and easy to use, and I can just send an invoice and forget it.  Time tracking used to be the bane of my existence.  Account people hitting me up every month to make sure all the hours were in.  But I see what they're saying now.  I need to be able to track to the minute what I spend on a project so I know if it's worth doing the next project for a client.  If I'm billing them at my CODB rate (more on that in a future post), but spending more hours as the project progresses, I'm actually losing money in the long run. 

3. Contracts, contracts, contracts.

Along the paperwork lines, contracts were my next headache.  Going into a project everyone has the best of intentions, but it's important things be buttoned up so everyone knows expectations.  I had Loren Wells come up with some great contracts for me that I'm able to update for each project.  It really helped more than I thought.  If it does one thing for me, it helps clients know that I'm not some fly by night operation and it makes sure things are buttoned up on their end before we engage in a project.  It also helps when projects get side lined.  I just had a project with a great client get put on hold.  I hadn't sent them a contract, my fault, so while they'll still pay for the time I'd spent so far there's nothing to protect me for the time I'd set aside for it in the coming weeks.  Being a small business you have to balance cash flow much more carefully and contracts, with deposits and very specific terms help you do that.

4. It's important to work on projects you're passionate about.

I'm very dedicated to every project I work on.  But there's a big difference between that and being passionate about something.  If anything, that's what I feel I've slacked on a little bit the past 6 months.  I love all my clients, and they become more than clients when you're a small company.  But the more personal projects can't take a back seat to the paying stuff.  I firmly believe if you love what you do, the money will follow.  Stay tuned for what that means as I put a personal piece together.

5. It's liberating to say you work for yourself.

I was at a 4th of July BBQ and someone asked what I did for a living.  I told them I run my own company doing video production.  First, you get the "I'm so sorry for you" look.  But then I get to explain that I get the flexibility of doing things my way.  If I don't think a project will deliver what the client needs for their specific budget/timeline I can tell them that and say that I'd love to help out, but this is what it would take.  Which is very liberating.  It's also a headache and fantastic freedom to not know what you might be working on in 3 months.  Anyone I meet could be my next client and I have the freedom to take a project that might have a lower budget than a big agency could take on, but I can do and put out an incredible end piece I'm proud of.  Not to mention the feeling when you put together a creative concept and the client buys into it.  I can see how every project benefits the plan I have for AV Collective.

So there you go.  It's been an incredible journey so far.  I've had some amazing clients and I feel more connected to them knowing that we're an extension of each other's companies.  My goal for the next six months is to really focus on the storytelling passion I have, but more on that in another post.  This one has rambled on long enough.

- C