Different camera, same strategy

What do you do when your entire visual strategy is built around a specific camera... and you're suddenly told to use a different one?

The pivot

For a recent Szentkirályi commercial, director Peter Herz and I planned on the ARRI Alexa LF. Its sensor was the ideal choice for the pristine, natural look we needed to capture in bright, sunlit exteriors.

Then came the pivot: the production's workflow required the Sony Venice.

This presented a strategic challenge. The Venice is a fantastic camera, but its sensor renders highlights very differently from the Alexa.

A fortress of preparation

With no time for prep days, my approach was to build a fortress of preparation. I started by submerging myself in the Venice's technical DNA, studying its gamma curves and analyzing footage from other DPs to internalise its sweet spot.

From there, I engineered a crucial safety measure: I had my DIT build a custom LUT with a +1 stop exposure buffer. This wasn't just a viewing LUT; it was a technical guardrail. On set, this allowed us to use the waveform monitor to meticulously ride that line, keeping every highlight within our engineered safe zone.

The result

A perfect digital negative. A happy director. A beautiful final spot.

It's a powerful reminder that the artist matters more than the tool. Story and strategy will always win out over gear.