roxics
Veteran
I think there is a cultural difference between the asian companies that make most of the cameras we have and the western companies. Most of our lower end gear comes from asian companies like Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Nikon, Samsung, Olympus, etc. When you look at Western camera design like ARRI, Panavision, RED, Aaton, Grass Valley, Thomson, Silicon Imaging, Vision Research, Digital Bolex and Blackmagic Design you get a different set of priorities. We have very few lower end western designed cameras. I'm talking digital video here, I'm not going back to the heydey of western film cameras.
The asian manufactures seem obessed with compressed codecs even into the pro space where they are coming up with ever newer professional compressed formats. The western cameras seem to be pushing further toward raw and/or standards like ProRes.
I want to know why it is that western companies have taken so long to push into the consumer space and why it is that asian companies cannot seem to get on board with western philosophy on camera design/codec choice? Is it really just a cultural difference or is there a price factor involved? Could it be a language barrier and the fact that higher ups at asian companies just can't or don't typically read English forums like these where we express our desires and reasons why?
I'm glad to see both Blackmagic Design and Digital Bolex moving into a more consumer friendly space since most western camera companies have found a niche in the top end of the market. But as of right now only Blackmagic Design has the capabilities to compete with multiple models and they are still heavily overshadowed by the asian giants that sell a lot more units and can sell something like a DSLR with flip out screen and large sensor for $800.
My hope is that one day Blackmagic or any one of the other western companies can work their way down to something like this without taking forever to do things like putting a headphone jack on or a ProRes codec as a record option on an $800 camera. I'm not discounting the BMPCC here as it's already in this price range and a fine camera, but it isn't as fleshed out as say a GH3. If the GH3 had Raw/ProRes and a 13 stop sensor most of us would probably overlook the BMPCC. But I like were they are going, I just think it's still a work in progress froma company that is new to making cameras.
The asian manufactures seem obessed with compressed codecs even into the pro space where they are coming up with ever newer professional compressed formats. The western cameras seem to be pushing further toward raw and/or standards like ProRes.
I want to know why it is that western companies have taken so long to push into the consumer space and why it is that asian companies cannot seem to get on board with western philosophy on camera design/codec choice? Is it really just a cultural difference or is there a price factor involved? Could it be a language barrier and the fact that higher ups at asian companies just can't or don't typically read English forums like these where we express our desires and reasons why?
I'm glad to see both Blackmagic Design and Digital Bolex moving into a more consumer friendly space since most western camera companies have found a niche in the top end of the market. But as of right now only Blackmagic Design has the capabilities to compete with multiple models and they are still heavily overshadowed by the asian giants that sell a lot more units and can sell something like a DSLR with flip out screen and large sensor for $800.
My hope is that one day Blackmagic or any one of the other western companies can work their way down to something like this without taking forever to do things like putting a headphone jack on or a ProRes codec as a record option on an $800 camera. I'm not discounting the BMPCC here as it's already in this price range and a fine camera, but it isn't as fleshed out as say a GH3. If the GH3 had Raw/ProRes and a 13 stop sensor most of us would probably overlook the BMPCC. But I like were they are going, I just think it's still a work in progress froma company that is new to making cameras.