House Final Episode to be shot on DSLR Camera

Most popular on Fox... except for American Idol...

House, one of the most popular shows on TV, (and based on the NY Times columns of Dr. Lisa Sanders), will shoot it's final episode for season 5 using the Canon 5D DSLR camera.

So says, CNet, which is a pretty good source of information.

The decision to shoot all of the final episode of one of the most popular and successful shows on TV with a small, hand held digital video camera is nothing less than earth-shattering.

Essentially, it takes the J out of VJ.

When we started producing TV in this way, it was because the small, inexpensive cameras had two advantages: they were small and they were inexpensive.

Because they were small they were ideal for journalism. Unobtrusive, easy to carry to places like Afghanistan, they were a kind of video Leica for the digital age.

Because they were inexpensive, they could cut the cost of production for news, a place where profit margins are razor thin.

But House?

Come on, that thing must have a massive budget. 

They don't publish the budget, but House is distributed to more than 66 countries, with 81 million viewers weekly it is the 'most watched TV show in the world'.

So cutting the cost of camera expenditures is not high on their list.

And House is not alone. CNet Australia is also publishing that parts of the new Harry Potter movie and Iron Man II are also shot with the 5D. 

OK. Parts of a movie I can understand. But a whole show for TV. And in fiction? And with a big budget?

A barrier has been crossed here.

What this means is that the door to fiction - really high end fiction, is now also open to anyone.

At least anyone with a Canon 5D, at the moment.