NAB 2019 rumors (and releases)
- Thread starter alohype
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Cary Knoop
Veteran
I assume it was off a 4K disc that was upscaled by the TV itself.
Going back to my big screen days of the early 90's, the high end projectors like Barco had Faroudja line-doubler chips. If someone could afford it, that was the set to have. Sony's chip made its "Improved Definition" image look too synthetic. I recall watching Monday Night Football on it and, after the director cut away from the announcers, the action on the pitch left a ghost trail. But that was the first generation consumer video processing. I figure, these days, 8K sets have enough oomph to make HD look like 4K.
G
Guest
Guest
Also, those L mount Core SWX NPF flatpacks look cool.
Seem like an awesome alternative for anything that requires long days. I dislike using a 5” monitor for anything but framing, but the battery itself is something i might try to re-apply to other products. Maybe even a mixpre!
Seem like an awesome alternative for anything that requires long days. I dislike using a 5” monitor for anything but framing, but the battery itself is something i might try to re-apply to other products. Maybe even a mixpre!
indiawilds
Veteran
So what is the consensus about NAB 2019? Good, bad or ugly?
puredrifting
Major Contributor
From all of the stories I've seen and read, boring. Boring is the word you are looking for. And NAB 2018 was boring and uneventful too. In 2019, no new cameras introduced (unless you count Canons new consumer one piece cameras?), some new lighting from Aputure, some inexpensive new wireless from Deity and Røde and not much else of note (from what I've seen, I didn't go this year).
I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic. Makes sense, I truly think our little production world is ratcheting down in volume, scale and scope. As far as cameras, I think we are safe to say that the resolution wars are essentially over at 8k (not saying that 12k and 16k aren't coming but largely, when they do come, nobody will care). High end production continues to shrink, on the low end and even intruding into medium level work, budgets, amount of work continues to shrink, often replaced by DIY or low end work produced by kids/in-house semi skilled labor for free or close to it. A huge amount of production being done for social media (the only crewed production besides documentary I have done in 2019 was to shoot the NAACP Image Awards for Facebook Live), but most of it being done at low budget and abbreviated crew rates and scale. I think what we are seeing in 2019 has been coming for a long time, it's just really starting to show. Not everyone shares my outlook but realistically, Hollywood as we knew it is dying a rapid death, high-end filmed entertainment, other than derivative blockbuster franchises that I barely consider cinema, are
almost dead. How many feature Rom Coms, mid-level comedies, dramas, and family films are still being produced? Hardly any, it's mostly TV, OTT content and comic book franchises and you can see with the OTTs, especially Netflix that the buying binge is coming to an end, although Apple may go on one to ramp up their offering.
It's pretty much what we thought during the first few years of the Digital Revolution, a LOT more video will be produced, but the amount of it produced by working FT Pros will drastically fall as the DIY and "everyone is a DP/Director/Producer" reality sets in. And lastly, you've been hearing about
the new reality of producing gear in the CIPA numbers, Canon rumblings about layoffs, closing facilties and plans to introduce new models for the foreseeable future highly curtailed. And this is from an industry giant. We're also seeing other subtle echoes of this from Sony, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and others.
It seems as if gear is going through the exact same machinations that crews have gone through for the past decade, too much product (or crew), for a limited and shrinking market. How many high end alternatives to Arri, RED, Panasonic, Sony does the market need? Does the market need a new FS-7 or C300 MKII when a lot
of that work is being done now with sub-$2k BMPCC 4K, mirrorless and soon, phones? What was probably the most trumpeted product from NAB 2019? The Røde Go, a prosumer $199.00 wireless mic system. What does that tell you about the market?
The amount of colleagues I have who are getting out of production is rising, many are going back to school, selling real estate, starting non-production related businesses. One of the best PCs I have worked with just bailed on production and instead became a PC for Coachella,
she just worked three months straight out there and made enough money to keep her going for the whole year. I think it's wise for all of us still in production to explore plan B options as from here on out, it isn't going to become any easier to even make a living in this business, much less be financially successful.
I love what I do as I am sure most us do, but why financially kill myself just to do my dream career? You have to be a business person before an artist unless you are okay being a starving artist and living a life below the poverty line, it's wise to do what can make you money.
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Cary Knoop
Veteran
What impressed me most at NAB 2019 was the plethora of internet streaming/video sharing technology.
NAB could only be so-so. There's just nowhere to go on most fronts. It's so played out in the camera market, they are touting full-frame cameras in hopes of getting new sales and getting volume up; ooohhh Vistavision .... meh. None of my stuff projects on an IMAX screen. I don't need it. LED lights have had a wonderful run in figuring out what a good light is and giving us every variant. That market still has a bit to go, but is largely matured. Resolve 16 is cool. BM must have a pile of software engineers cranking out some really nice stuff and integrating it so well. Rode showed us that the pro audio market has nowhere to go so they introduced a dead-cheap little bugger that can be handy for some and useless for others.
As Drift said, the reckoning is coming. Once the spare-no-expense flood of production to capture the streaming market has ended, there will be a lot of people on the streets. There were 487 scripted shows produced in 2017. Insane. If those were weekly shows, that's 69 shows per day to watch. Ratings of a decent show on network television is at about 1%. Shows used to get canceled for less that 20% rating.
On the other hand, there are a bunch of enterprising Youtubers out there doing a grand job. There are many examples of success. I recently came across two guys that are building a huge wooden boat. It started out as a side project and now, due to contributions, they are at it full time and hired a shooter and editor. But then, when the boat is done, what's next? It's a struggle.
As Drift said, the reckoning is coming. Once the spare-no-expense flood of production to capture the streaming market has ended, there will be a lot of people on the streets. There were 487 scripted shows produced in 2017. Insane. If those were weekly shows, that's 69 shows per day to watch. Ratings of a decent show on network television is at about 1%. Shows used to get canceled for less that 20% rating.
On the other hand, there are a bunch of enterprising Youtubers out there doing a grand job. There are many examples of success. I recently came across two guys that are building a huge wooden boat. It started out as a side project and now, due to contributions, they are at it full time and hired a shooter and editor. But then, when the boat is done, what's next? It's a struggle.
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
There is everywhere to go on every front.
I dont own one bit of kit (apart from Cstands and my SD audio recorder) that is any good. That is elegantly designed and a pleasure to be with. That helps me concentrate on story not cine cr_ap.
-cameras are archaic rubbish in the main.
No inbuild lavs
No inbuild vision transmitter
No adult AF
Menu hell
Cable hell
Cant see in sunlight hell
Cant AF with an eye in the EVF
the list is endless.
Have a look at a DJI drone.. its current not 1990s. Extra little cameras for depth sensing, gps, whatever - in the size of a golf ball (or phones of course!) - imagine what could be rammed into a cinema camera.
-lights
No one has just made something simple and powerful.. just a bunch of light to get with a 2.5 hmi for 500w of led draw - nope they just add craps apps and RGB that compromises firepower.
-monitors..
cable hell.. crap all over the image.. monitors should be 4:3 with the crap off the image
-lenses
Yep that missing S35 ENG lens that starts at 16. How hard is it to top the 24-105/Sbooster option in a grown up housing?
No pro zoom options in MFT - a realistic must for getting close to 2/3 ranges - which are hard in S35
-lens mounts
choose between easy slip and rattle stills bayonets or huge flange depth PL.
Auto focus.
Jabbing a screen wont work.. it upsets the shot. Someone needs to scratch thier head on cinematic AF.
(and yes the cameras will need AI, distometers, extra little cams like the DJI)
LUTs
The shooting profile should be recorded as meta and talk to post software - no clients needing a burn in for quick turnaround - they would not even know log was used unless they took the time to change the look
Timecod.
Single button synch? No synch? - the cameras just know the time (like my $100 phone)
Sinch on the timeline.. make it easy.
Everywhere to go!
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G
Guest
Guest
@morgan_more
Totally agree! There is so much farther to go on all front, and companies are worried about giving too many bits. There are so many things that should improve and can improve!
Hoping the “K” (aka megapixel) race is slowing down, and important new features can start to be implemented.
Totally agree! There is so much farther to go on all front, and companies are worried about giving too many bits. There are so many things that should improve and can improve!
Hoping the “K” (aka megapixel) race is slowing down, and important new features can start to be implemented.
Cary Knoop
Veteran
Manual focus is king, especially for cinematic productions.
Computer assisted manual focus is (will be) vastly superior to completely manual, especially for 4K and up with moving/tracking shots. We've all seen blown focus on top-dollar films. It's clear there's lots of room for improvement (e.g. computer assisted MF) since it's still too expensive to go back and reshoot blown focus shots, even for top-dollar productions.
And as Morgan and James pointed out, current cinema systems are far behind cell phones and drones, even the latest AI AF for DSLRs, form factor, size, usability, connectivity, integration: agree there's a lot of room for improvement!
Look at what could be achieved by simply taking away crippling as well as iteratively improving products throughout the product cycle vs. typical 'launch and leave it (until next hardware release)' model of many manufacturers (the more they cripple, the less they iterate and improve released products appears to be the pattern).
I was there, and though there were more interesting things floating around than that, not many were related to actual production.
Even the VR arena's tanked; last year there was still a VR pavilion, even though it was modest. This year, we had Insta360 with a huge booth (think Black Magic), Kandao with a rather small both, and ZCam. No DJI, no GoPro, no FreeFly that I was able to find... not even Intel and AMD had booths on the floor.
Most of the Big New Things (tm) shown were behind the scenes technology demos and monitors.
It's definitely ratcheting up in volume, but the budgets are tanking because there are too many people with no business sense willing to work cheaply (or freely) and too many people who'd rather go cheap (or free) than get an ad spot that makes their brand look appealing.
On the bright side though I've hear people say that crowdsourcing is the new studio system, and there's a lot of merit to that, especially since so many of the Hollywood tentpole lacklusters have been tanking left and right...
puredrifting
Major Contributor
While I agree with Morgan's assessment, I guess I have so many years in this business and have reviewed and written so much about cinema and video tech, I am doubtful that you will see manufacturers move to solve very many of the issues that he brings up. Solving those issues isn't sexy from a marketing standpoint, they are things that should have been solved a decade ago. None of them will probably cause market domination. Manufacturers like resolution, specs and gimmicks, they think that is what sells cameras, not actually addressing the needs to the people who actually shoot programming. I'd love to be proven wrong and hope I am but I don't see too much of that happening.
It's more that there's no money in it or it's not doable. Take the monitor with a 4:3 screen with the data outside the image; it can't be done at a price you would pay. Volumes are so small on production monitors that they have to use what is available. So someone would have to make a 4:3 display with a high resolution that could be used. There's no volume market for such a device.
That S35 ENG lens that starts at 16. Too heavy, too expensive. There's the Angenieux Optimo S35 that has an ENG zoom range of 12x. It's $107,000 and weighs 27 lbs. There's no Moore's Law for lenses that will change that price or weight.
AF - sonar, AI, and other technology won't tell the camera what to focus on. Ward's focus system costs more than most cameras. The AF currently included in cameras is the AF technology that makes sense for the price range of the types of cameras we are talking about.
That S35 ENG lens that starts at 16. Too heavy, too expensive. There's the Angenieux Optimo S35 that has an ENG zoom range of 12x. It's $107,000 and weighs 27 lbs. There's no Moore's Law for lenses that will change that price or weight.
AF - sonar, AI, and other technology won't tell the camera what to focus on. Ward's focus system costs more than most cameras. The AF currently included in cameras is the AF technology that makes sense for the price range of the types of cameras we are talking about.
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
Monitor. I get you.. then put a small screen below the main one
Lens - what is the cost of rehousing a 24-105 and booster, not $100k
AF
One needs a screen to jab to tel the computer what is of interest.. just not a screen that is attached to the camera
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
https://www.transvideo.eu/CineMonitorHD-Evolution
But yeah, at over $4K you are correct about the price.
Fun fact: standalone 4-6" Steadicam monitors in the green screen CRT era cost between $10 and $15K. I had two for some years.