I read a book recently on technical advances in early Hollywood. One chapter was on cinematographers. To start, they were using off-the-shelf consumer tech. It

I read a book recently on technical advances in early Hollywood. One chapter was on cinematographers. To start, they were using off-the-shelf consumer tech. It was the responsibility of the cinematographer to provide their own equipment (and hold it, one but not the only reason why there weren't many women in the job). As the 1920s went on, cameras eventually became expensive enough that the business model had to change. Now studios purchased them and provided them to cinematographers working on specific films. This was part of the broader move to the studio system. It was still a while before there were a lot of Hollywood-specific cameras developed. It was still a niche market compared to, say, home movies.