A lot of these things won't bother you until down the road, and then you begin to second guess yourself. I've been there, you get to the point where you can't even watch certain films you shot cuz you're so angry you could kick yourself.

BUT it's just my opinion. If you're not a perfectionist like me. Shoot with whatever's on hand.

There was a time when we had little money and all we could tweak and fuss over was the script. The story was the only thing that we had control over, cos ideas didn't cost money. Back then we would beg, borrow or steal any camera just to turn the story into reality. And when it was made, we would be so proud, even though so many things in the film were far from perfect.

In an ideal world, we would love to have the best story, best camera, best crew, and cast, everything the best, but reality bites. Sometimes, throwing away some of the technological pretensions, and going back to one cheap camera, three lights and a great script helps us unlearn all the fucking bullshit that the industry has tried to force feed us.

All the rules and expectations people bring to filmmaking -- "great" script, etc. -- tend to fall apart when there's not much money. Look at low and no-budget successes, and you'll see scripts well-suited to minimal resources -- slacker films, mumblecore, low tech horror, etc. -- but not great writing. A great script, in the literary sense, with intricate plot and "character development" is useless, you'd never be able to realize it on a garage budget.

What succeeds at this level has always been something of a mystery. Production value can be completely irrelevant -- Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch, Once, etc. -- or it could be absolutely essential for the film to work (say, "The Unbelievable Truth", for a a very dated example, or "Upstream Color", for a current one).

To Shian's point, audiences may be indifferent or blind to the difference between GH3 and BMCC (or to 35mm or Red Dragon, for that matter), but most people end up spending years making/marketing one feature, and at least some people go into the medium for the visual aesthetics. If looking at the footage all those months is going to make you sick, it might make more sense to invest a little more in the camera -- consider the expense of your time, if nothing else -- whether or not it's going to make any difference to the fortunes of the movie.

@Imaginate Congrats on making it happen! Clip looks good, you're DP definitely did a good job in avoiding the harsh feel often present on outdoor shots (for both video and film). Both actors in this clip have an interesting screen presence. Once you've released to the film, please be sure to share where we can watch. Rock on!

@Imaginate That looks really nice. And nice answer too.

I agree with you, it's good to try to get the best tools... but not compromising other areas. Specially Sound and taking care of the crew. Specially if they work for free. Make up also very important.

Think about all the budget, be realistic! and expect some non-planned situations. Safe some money for that too.

@imaginate

Congrats dude, you did a fine job. To me, this is as good if not better than BMPCC footage, some of which I have seen turned out to be rather washed out, and blunt looking. I have both the GH2 and BMCC 2.5k. It's true the BMCC 2.5k yields better DR, but so much depends on who is using it as well.

I've never had a problem with it. Others have, but unless you're shooting in the desert at plus 95 degrees, it's not really an issue. I've shot all day and all night with it, and never had it overheat or get so hot it was uncomfortable.

Not sure you're still searching but I just got my pocket cam in and I think this might be a real STRONG contender here as well. Just amazing for the price. I threw up a still from the first thing I shot with it on the pocket cam thread. Took about 20 sec to get to that grade. Gorgeous.