Every few months a new camera launches and somebody asks if we’re switching. The honest answer is no — not unless the job calls for it. The “best camera” question almost always comes down to the project, the budget, and the post pipeline. Not the sensor of the month.
Here’s what we actually shoot on at Tigheland, and how we pick.
The everyday workhorse: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF
Most of our higher-end commercial work runs on an ALEXA Mini LF. There are flashier sensors out there — but nothing else delivers ARRI’s color science, the highlight roll-off, and the skin tones brands keep asking us for. When we’re shooting talent for TCL or any campaign where the face has to look right, the Mini LF is the default.
It’s not cheap to rent. It’s not the smallest body. But the footage just works — out of camera, in dailies, in the grade. Time is money on a commercial set, and ARRI saves time everywhere.
The sneaky utility player: Sony Venice 2
When the brief leans cinematic — slow-motion product, anamorphic, low-light interiors — we’ll go Venice 2. Dual base ISO at 800 and 3200 means we can shoot a darker scene without lighting the entire room. The 8.6K full-frame sensor gives our editors room to reframe in post, which has saved more than one shoot when the client decides at the last minute they want a vertical cutdown.
The B-cam and run-and-gun: Sony FX6 / FX3
Not every shoot calls for an A-camera package. For BTS coverage, documentary work, social cutdowns, or fast-turnaround branded content, the FX6 is hard to beat. It color-matches well enough to ARRI in the grade, autofocus is reliable enough to trust, and the form factor lets one operator move quickly without a full camera team.
The FX3 is what we hand the second unit, the BTS shooter, or use for handheld grabs that have to stay invisible.
What we don’t reach for (and why)
RED bodies are excellent — we just don’t own them, and the post pipeline is heavier than ARRI for the way our editors work. Canon C-series cameras have their place, mostly in event and corporate work. We’ve shot RED V-Raptor on rentals when the spot needed 8K oversampling. Good camera. Just not our daily driver.
The honest take
The camera matters less than people think. Lensing, lighting, composition, talent direction, and the colorist downstream do more for the final look than the body the sensor is sitting in. We’ve seen FX3 work that looked better than ALEXA work, and we’ve seen ALEXA footage butchered in a bad grade.
If you’re a brand or agency trying to figure out what to ask for: don’t ask for a specific camera. Ask the production company what they shoot on for projects like yours, and why. The answer should be specific. If it’s not, that tells you something.
Working on a campaign and want to know what we’d shoot it on?
Send us the brief. We’ll tell you what we’d reach for and why. Get in touch.
