camera makers may finally focus on something besides more and more resolution

[Ian-T]

But see, that line of reasoning isn't logical. It assumes that all camera parts are interchangeable and you can just take feature X and put it into camera Y without significantly redesigning it. DSLR have their flaws because their sensor was made for shooting stills and not for shooting video so it's not like Canon and Panasonic can take the GH1 and 7D sensor, remove all the bad part and just put it into a prosumer body. That would probably require a redesign from the ground up and that costs money.

Well of course they are not interchangeable… I never said that there wouldn’t need to be some design changes. I’m just asking how significant do you think those changes need to be? I thought the GH-1 was a great example to show the convergence of the video world and the stills word…all while keeping the price dirt cheap. If you and I were having this same conversation just two years or more ago about the GH-1 you’d probably think it wouldn’t be possible…especially this soon and without a significant amount of design changes and costs. But here we are. At least for me, I now see that it’s possible to marry the two technologies for dirt cheap. Maybe it would be more difficult to do this in a camcorder body….I don’t know. But surely it’s possible to make these small changes that Barry suggested on another thread in the camera body they currently have without too much R&D. I think once they conquer that then it’s just a matter of time before they come out with a camcorder body version.

 

[dcloud]

I think its all a matter of Retrun of Ivestment
That dream cam will come... just not right now.
They've got something going down the pipeline and they cant just stop it and waste all their money.. they have to ease in to it. give it a couple of years.

 

[Huy Vu]

If you and I were having this same conversation just two years or more ago about the GH-1 you’d probably think it wouldn’t be possible…especially this soon and without a significant amount of design changes and costs. But here we are.

I don't see what the difference is. The GH1 and VDSLR in general isn't a triumph of technology. The video feature is an afterthought that's tucked on to a chip designed for shooting stills and hence it comes with significant drawbacks. I don't think that reflects how far we've come in term of lowering costs for higher quality gear, the severe limitation of the VDSLR shows that. If you and I were to have this conversation two years ago it would be about a camera like the Scarlet, not about the GH1. And a lot of we say back then would continue to hold true today considering the Scarlet is no where near ready for release.

But what it comes down to is that it's pointless for us to judge what the manufacturers are capable of doing based on the VDSLR simply because we don't know. It's not even comparing apple to apple because nobody has done it yet. If Scarlet comes out today, then we can say "Look, RED released a cinema camera for under $10k with 35mm sensor, so that shows that the math works out and Canon, Pana, Sony etc. can do it for that price," but since even RED is still developing the camera, it stands to reason that maybe it's not as simple and cheap as everybody think it is.

 

[Ian-T]

Fair enough.

I held off using Red as my example for the same reasons you mentioned Huy….because the Scarlet really doesn’t exist yet. But, if/when they deliver by the end of summer as Jim recently stated, I would think there’s no excuse for the major manufacturers to do the same. The question in my mind would then be, “how could a start up company like Red (in business only for little over a few years) come up with such a game changing feature filled product at such a low price in comparison to these other companies?”

The upcoming cameras that the Red company is building are a totally new concept from their Red One…so it’s not like they haven’t put much into R&D to get to where they are (or will be). But yet they’ve managed (or will manage) to keep costs down. How did they do it? I don’t know…but maybe Canon, Panasonic and Sony put most of that money into advertisement etc.

And I agree dcloud…give it some time. I think they have the ability now but will wait a little to release the perfect Scarlet killer. But for now I believe, if anyone, Panasonic can really kick a lot of &$$ with just a few minor tweaks on what they already have (in the GH-2). But then again I’m not as picky as some pros might be.

 

[sidjastudios]

also it would be nice if the video camera had built in ND filters, XLR audio in and recording audio at 48k, color bars, zebra bars, hard switches for gain and white balance and 2 P2 card slots. What I am talking about is maybe a HPX 170 with a 4/3 chip and lens mount that shoots Avchd-intra, also wile we are asking why not a COMOS with a Global Shutter

Agree with all of this EXCEPT for the P2 card slots. I would MUCH prefer some sort of commodity storage solution (CF, SD, etc.) than a vendors proprietary solution any day of the week.

Also, let's throw in Canon's ability to tether/monitor via a computer, Panasonic's face tracking continuous auto focus (because, let's face it, auto-focus is valuable sometimes!), uncompressed HDMI out, and a REAL headphone jack

 

[dcloud]

i do feel they have something lined up until 2012.. which isnt micro 4/3.. maybe theyll scrap the 2012 plan and have a 4/3 cam but i doubt theyll scrap their upcoming (2011) or current (2010).. its on the pipeline already.