Thirty four decisions, each with a winner and a threshold

Every page here ends with a decision

A comparison that concludes "it depends" has not done the reader any work. Each of these names a winner in the first paragraph with its price, puts a live buy path above the fold, and then shows its working underneath.

Where the honest answer genuinely is that both are correct for different jobs, the page says which job goes with which and gives a threshold you can measure yourself against. Three powered devices is when V-mount beats NP-F. Five pounds is when a shoulder rig beats a top handle. Two accessories at once is when a cage stops being optional.

Thresholds are more useful than preferences, because a threshold survives your gear changing and a preference does not.

The comparisons people actually get stuck on

Most of these exist because the two options are genuinely close and the marketing on both sides is confident. Variable and fixed ND are both correct, for different workflows. A gimbal and a shoulder rig solve different problems and are sold as alternatives. Full frame and Super 35 are a look and a cost decision presented as a quality tier.

A few exist because one side is quietly obsolete for most readers and nobody says so. An external recorder was essential a decade ago and is conditional now that modern bodies write 10-bit all-intra internally. That change happened gradually and the received wisdom has not caught up.

And a few exist because the correct answer is cheaper than people expect. A wireless follow focus does not focus more accurately than a $59 geared wheel; it lets somebody else do the job from a different position. If nobody else is on your shoot, the expensive one is buying nothing.

How to use these pages

Read the short answer at the top, then jump to whichever section matches your situation. Almost every page has a table that reduces the decision to a handful of rows, and the row that describes your work is the one that matters.

Where a decision depends on a number, there is a calculator for it. Gimbal payload, rig weight, battery runtime, storage per hour and ND stops all have their own page, and running your own figures beats any general recommendation.

If two comparisons point in different directions for your situation, follow the one closer to your actual work rather than the one closer to your ambitions. The most expensive mistakes in this hobby come from buying for the shoot you imagine rather than the shoot you have.