Sigma fp: Big Cinema On a Budget
Gone are the days when you would need a huge crew, an ungodly expensive camera with just as expensive lenses and the budget to match! With these new affordable cinema cameras at our disposal, a seasoned pro, even a budding filmmaker can achieve the look of a big budgeted film. Two cameras in particular which allows this potential are the Sigma fp and its variant the fp L. The Sigma fp was released October 25th, 2019 and was touted (still is) as the world’s smallest full frame interchangeable cinema camera.
The camera was released with a warm reception, with negative comments coming from die hard Sony and Canon brand loyalist, who somehow personally felt threatened by the camera and from users who simply didn’t understand the concept behind it. This concept is all about modularity and how you can create the type of camera you want to shoot with. If you wanted to do street photography, a user would keep the package simple, but if you wanted to rig it out with all of the bells and whistles of a full fledge cinema rig, you could!
What makes the fp series of cameras so special is that it records 12 bit uncompressed CDNG RAW files. The bit rate for these files are even bigger than some of REDs RAW format. This digital negative you are creating is a “Thick Negative.” Meaning the image captured retains all of the information required to do extreme color grading and heavy higlight/shadow correcting in post production.
Notice the extreme blown highlights on the wood railing and the roof of the house.
The highlight detail is recovered in the railing and the roof. This is the power of uncompressed RAW.
There are a lot of naysayers and old guard gatekeepers who are afraid of change because they spent tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands on their “Industry Standard”cinema camera kit. Then to have some enterprising kid or a budget minded DP enter the industry swinging a camera and support system at a slither of the cost and getting quality gigs, must be really disrupting.
Using cost effective cameras for ENG work or making movies with ‘prosumer’ cinema cameras isn’t a new thought. Sony made two successful movies that played in theaters using their consumer friendly camera the Sony a7SII. Proud Mary starring Taraji P. Henson and The Possession of Hannah Grace starring Shay Mitchell, were both filmed using these affordable cameras. Other than the autofocus, the Sigma fp series of cinema cameras are way more capable than the a7SII.
It reminds me of the days when recording studios took up huge rooms and you needed session players to create a musical masterpiece. Nowadays all you need is a phone, musical app and the will to create a potential Grammy winning record. This is what’s now happening to the world of cinema. It’s becoming heavily democratized. To be successful in filmmaking, all you really need is a good story. Of course you still need to ensure the story looks and sounds beautiful, but basically making a hit movie isn’t as difficult anymore.
On set in Manhattan filming a movie with a rigged out Sigma fp and Atomos monitor.
I’ve gotten my hands on both of these cameras and can confirm that the Sigma fp series is a game leveling camera. Recently I’ve been using it on booked gigs and the clients I work with are more than satisfied with the image. I even remember one time when I was offloading footage while a talent was still in the room and the talent excitedly said “Wow that looks amazing!” I smiled and thought to myself, imagine if I recorded in CDNG. Seriously, I actually recorded it in the fp’s internal compressed codec of .MOV. A codec really used for delivery and not for capture!
Footage from Sigma fp with Iris 45mm cinema lens and light post processing.
As a cinematographer/DP/shooter, I use and own many different cameras. From rigging and shooting with super premium ARRIs and REDs, to capturing images with more affordable “in between” cinema cameras like the Panasonic EVA1, Komodo, the FX series from Sony and others. The Sigma fp line of cinema cameras can more than hold its own and in some cases, even surpasses the abilities of the more expensive cameras.
L-Sigma fp L with kit lens and Shogun monitor. R-Sigma fp with Irix 45mm cinema lens and Ninja monitor.