Paul V Doherty
Active member
Assume the following:
1) Nikon's upcoming announcement is not related to a new D3 or D300 successor with video.
2) RED has an announcement at around the same time - coincidence?
3) Nikon and RED are the only manufacturers with no legacy product line or high-end video products to protect by crippling the lower end, especially Nikon because they have no video product line at present.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
Hypothesis:
Nikon will announce a mainly motion camera with still capability.
The camera will be APS-C with standard Nikon F-mount.
It will use a similar sensor to the D90, but with vastly improved rolling shutter with film-like reset speeds.
It will not feature SLR optics, it will be pure EVF/LCD display only.
It will be in a motion-friendly form-factor: eg. horizontal orientation camcorder (i.e. HV20 et al), or possibly a vertical orientation throwback to 8mm movie cameras with a handgrip.
It will have full manual control over all parameters, fully adjustable whilst shooting motion.
Autofocus will fully function during motion shooting, possibly assisted by I.R. to compensate for SLR optics not designed for video autofocus.
Any F-mount lens will work with the camera, including non-AI and full manual lenses.
It will offer a variety of motion resolutions and framerates, with a cutting edge codec.
It will feature quality down-rezzing from the native sensor resolution to the recording format, including SD and Web resolutions.
Most important will be 1080/30p/24p/25p, with options for 60p or higher at reduced resolutions.
There will be no recording time limit and the sensor will not suffer from heat or cooling issues at 30p or less.
Still image quality will be on par with the D90, but the camera's physical controls will favor motion ergonomics, not still photography.
The camera will have a proper record button. :cheesy:
Audio will be 48k/16bit stereo with XLR line/mic 48v switchable, dedicated audio level controls and dedicated audio level meters on the camera body.
There will also be a 1/8" stereo minijack for consumer microphones/line input and a built-in stereo microphone in the camera body.
Storage will be via built-in CF slot and optional dockable HDD.
Price will be in the $2k-$3k range, body only.
Nikon will market the camera squarely at the high-end consumer, perhaps evoking the romance and fond memories of 8mm home movies as a marketing hook - "Finally - Hollywood movie quality at home!"
This will catch the interest of high-end consumers who remember the joys of making home/student movies on 8mm/16mm and who care about things like focus, DOF and colour rendition - in other words, older people with money to burn.
This marketing technique was highly successful with several retro reissues of classic cars, eg. Mustang, Mini, Volkswagen Beetle, et al.
Nikon will also market the camera squarely at the indie/low-end cinema market, including schools and universities, and wedding photographers/videographers.
The economic benefits to a professional individual or educational institution with a pre-existing investment in Nikon SLR glass are obvious.
A brief perusal of YouTube and Vimeo demonstrates that many D90 users are older upmarket consumers shooting rather good footage of their kids, and university students honing their skills shooting arty cafe footage and their friend's bands.
The old myth that says video consumers can't handle 35mm DOF and want everything easily in focus is just a plain myth designed to keep the high priests of Hollywood on their pedestals, with their mysterious and magical "film-look" out of reach of discerning consumers..... until now
Sure, the soccer mum with a $400 camcorder doesn't want to worry about things like focus, DOF and DR, but go above the $1k price point and you get a completely different consumer.
I believe this can be successfully put to market for less than $3k - the D90 proves it.
The logic is simple: D90 @$1k translates nicely to a more professional full-motion camera at $3k by the same manufacturer.
Nikon has got 90% of the job done with the D90, all they need to do is tweak the sensor/codec flaws and package it in a motion-friendly device.
What does this mean for RED?
Who knows! :shocked:
Just my $0.02
1) Nikon's upcoming announcement is not related to a new D3 or D300 successor with video.
2) RED has an announcement at around the same time - coincidence?
3) Nikon and RED are the only manufacturers with no legacy product line or high-end video products to protect by crippling the lower end, especially Nikon because they have no video product line at present.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)Hypothesis:
Nikon will announce a mainly motion camera with still capability.
The camera will be APS-C with standard Nikon F-mount.
It will use a similar sensor to the D90, but with vastly improved rolling shutter with film-like reset speeds.
It will not feature SLR optics, it will be pure EVF/LCD display only.
It will be in a motion-friendly form-factor: eg. horizontal orientation camcorder (i.e. HV20 et al), or possibly a vertical orientation throwback to 8mm movie cameras with a handgrip.
It will have full manual control over all parameters, fully adjustable whilst shooting motion.
Autofocus will fully function during motion shooting, possibly assisted by I.R. to compensate for SLR optics not designed for video autofocus.
Any F-mount lens will work with the camera, including non-AI and full manual lenses.
It will offer a variety of motion resolutions and framerates, with a cutting edge codec.
It will feature quality down-rezzing from the native sensor resolution to the recording format, including SD and Web resolutions.
Most important will be 1080/30p/24p/25p, with options for 60p or higher at reduced resolutions.
There will be no recording time limit and the sensor will not suffer from heat or cooling issues at 30p or less.
Still image quality will be on par with the D90, but the camera's physical controls will favor motion ergonomics, not still photography.
The camera will have a proper record button. :cheesy:
Audio will be 48k/16bit stereo with XLR line/mic 48v switchable, dedicated audio level controls and dedicated audio level meters on the camera body.
There will also be a 1/8" stereo minijack for consumer microphones/line input and a built-in stereo microphone in the camera body.
Storage will be via built-in CF slot and optional dockable HDD.
Price will be in the $2k-$3k range, body only.
Nikon will market the camera squarely at the high-end consumer, perhaps evoking the romance and fond memories of 8mm home movies as a marketing hook - "Finally - Hollywood movie quality at home!"
This will catch the interest of high-end consumers who remember the joys of making home/student movies on 8mm/16mm and who care about things like focus, DOF and colour rendition - in other words, older people with money to burn.
This marketing technique was highly successful with several retro reissues of classic cars, eg. Mustang, Mini, Volkswagen Beetle, et al.
Nikon will also market the camera squarely at the indie/low-end cinema market, including schools and universities, and wedding photographers/videographers.
The economic benefits to a professional individual or educational institution with a pre-existing investment in Nikon SLR glass are obvious.
A brief perusal of YouTube and Vimeo demonstrates that many D90 users are older upmarket consumers shooting rather good footage of their kids, and university students honing their skills shooting arty cafe footage and their friend's bands.
The old myth that says video consumers can't handle 35mm DOF and want everything easily in focus is just a plain myth designed to keep the high priests of Hollywood on their pedestals, with their mysterious and magical "film-look" out of reach of discerning consumers..... until now
Sure, the soccer mum with a $400 camcorder doesn't want to worry about things like focus, DOF and DR, but go above the $1k price point and you get a completely different consumer.
I believe this can be successfully put to market for less than $3k - the D90 proves it.
The logic is simple: D90 @$1k translates nicely to a more professional full-motion camera at $3k by the same manufacturer.
Nikon has got 90% of the job done with the D90, all they need to do is tweak the sensor/codec flaws and package it in a motion-friendly device.
What does this mean for RED?
Who knows! :shocked:
Just my $0.02
