Apertus AXIOM Beta 4K camera
- Thread starter bruceallen
- Start date
Samuel H
Major Contributor
@optitek:
You wouldn't put worthy efforts if it wasn't for money. Cool. Then you say nasty things about them, like their effort is worth absolutely nothing, etc. Not cool. Luckily, not everybody is like that.
Don't get me wrong: I decided to go my own way instead of working with them because I want the opportunity of profit to drive my efforts. But that doesn't mean my efforts are worth more than theirs (in fact, I have concrete proof of the opposite: they're waaaay ahead of me on this by now).
You wouldn't put worthy efforts if it wasn't for money. Cool. Then you say nasty things about them, like their effort is worth absolutely nothing, etc. Not cool. Luckily, not everybody is like that.
Don't get me wrong: I decided to go my own way instead of working with them because I want the opportunity of profit to drive my efforts. But that doesn't mean my efforts are worth more than theirs (in fact, I have concrete proof of the opposite: they're waaaay ahead of me on this by now).
We are not talking about solving the world hunger here. This is about making a product , tangible and very well evaluated with the monetary cost. It's a waste of everyones time IMO. This is my business- something I do every day. Pretty successfully I might add. This project has too many major holes in it to get any traction. This buildup here looks too much to me like IPO prelude only for a crowd funding. Hence the vulture reference. The fact they they are ahead of you doesn't mean anything. You are one guy that has no experience or time to focus on this and they are many in the same situation but, since they are many they got further. Simple.
Any product is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it. Simple. Again.
Any product is worth as much as people are willing to pay for it. Simple. Again.
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Bruce BMC and AJA have cameras now- this camera-with the very slim chance it has -will come out in a couple of years. Guess where the sensor tech will be then.. Oh - only sony and canon know that haha
bruceallen
Well-known member
I agree on sensor tech and I also agree that there will likely not be a perfect Axiom camera this year or next year.
However, if you think into the future: the one thing that Blackmagic and AJA have done is encourage 3rd-party sensor vendors by showing a gateway to products. Now, Sony is very far ahead and has massive investments in place. However, surely it's possible that other sensor manufacturers might make something that can compete in some way in the future? Even if not in pure image quality, then in FPS, cost, etc.
If you think back to Android version 1 and the first Android phone, you could have said "why are people developing this stupid phone with outdated components when Apple and Nokia and Blackberry have much more advanced stuff (and will be even further ahead in years to come?)"
But it wasn't about the particular components, it's more about building a platform that ANYONE can use to build future products. Not just these Apertus guys. Also commercial folks. I dunno, I thought this might all be interesting to you!
I mean, you guys make awesome lens mounts. You have zero interest in building a camera?
At the moment, we are divided into:
a) cameras made by big manufacturers where we can't hack anything
b) machine vision cameras (which are insanely overpriced for what they do). I called up folks about a machine vision camera with that CMOSIS sensor and the price quotes I got were really high. Until now, those were my cheapest options if I want, say, a 4Kx3K 300fps global shutter camera.
c) building stuff from scratch (no thanks)
So I agree with you but also don't see why they are particularly vulture-ish or bad.
They're just offering another option and that's not a bad thing for filmmakers. If someone is planning to sell a 4Kx3K 300fps global shutter camera for a non-very-high price, then cool. Send me a link!
Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
This is not directed at anyone in particular, but many times in articles about this camera I see a misconception being repeated: that the designer/manufacturer of open source hardware will not be able to make money, or that it isn't a commercial venture. That's not necessarily the case, as being open source doesn't preclude being commercial or making profits. Open source hardware businesses are becoming increasingly common, and some of them do fairly well and sell tons of the items they manufacture. For instance, Arduino (1 million units sold?) and Raspberry Pi (2.5 million units sold?). So perhaps Axiom won't make billions on the Apertus and make its founders rich, but the camera may sell well enough to make the company sustainably profitable and allow them to keep designing and manufacturing new models.
A relevant article: http://www.open-electronics.org/the-truth-about-open-source-hardware-business-models/
A relevant article: http://www.open-electronics.org/the-truth-about-open-source-hardware-business-models/
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Yes. Open source just means "Hey, here are the blueprints, you can now build it yourself". But that doesn't preclude the designers from building a ready-made product. Some people will want to buy a ready-made product that is community upgradeable. Where the community can expand the feature-set, and you don't have to rely on a single source for updates or new features.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Take out the "It's a waste of everyones time IMO" and I aggree with every word there. Just make sure you don't offend people, and everything's fine. We're here to talk and share opinions (and opinions are like noses: everybody has one, and they are full of holes).
combatentropy
Veteran
Thanks, Bruce and Shenan, for the insightful responses.
The open hardware movement reminds me of the computer hobbyists of the 1970s, which preceded the dawn of the personal computer. At the time, the industry was dominated by big players like IBM and DEC. One might have wondered, how can anyone join in the competition without loads of capital? Apple was one of the companies that spawned in a garage.
The open hardware movement reminds me of the computer hobbyists of the 1970s, which preceded the dawn of the personal computer. At the time, the industry was dominated by big players like IBM and DEC. One might have wondered, how can anyone join in the competition without loads of capital? Apple was one of the companies that spawned in a garage.