Most of my work has been as a contractor or freelancer and I’ve always believed in buying excellent gear. Yet I’ve never had any producer or editor ask “what did you shoot this with?”*
Durability and reliability is the prime reason pro gear is preferred but for me anyway that calculation has changed in recent years.
I just returned from Borneo where I was mostly using Sony RX-10 prosumer cameras. I carried 4 RX-10 bodies and never missed a shot.
Everything was shot in 4K. A top end pro camera from Sony would have an edge on quality in terms of pixels and dynamic range. But not enough to spend an additional 25k.
Plus with the cheaper cameras I much less hesitant to put them in harms way. When you are less concerned about destroying the camera it provides opportunities that otherwise might not be considered.
I actually just hired a production team for a project I’m involved with as a producer. They are going to be using top notch Arri Alexa cameras with prime Cine lenses. This is GREAT gear!
But I’ll never forget the $25 Panasonic M42 28mm lens I used on a RED camera that was fantastic. It had a bit of chromatic aberration but this was easily corrected in post. Nobody questioned the results.
Our iPhone or Android cameras rival what Panavision was providing in the 80’s.
* the exception is always super slow motion or incredible low light performance.