Zack Birlew
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2006
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- Location
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- Website
- www.babsdoproductions.com
Hey guys, just thought I'd post my findings and thoughts about some products at NAB this year. Here goes:
1. Arri - Alexa has a cool workflow situation but the image quality isn't anything to get too excited over. It simply comes off as the RED camera with an Arri logo on it, I don't think users will find their footage looking any better than if they had used a RED. But in any case, it's good that there are options out there and it puts film even further into the coffin. The new Fujinon zooms are awesome as well.
2. Zeiss - Compact primes are cool with the interchangeable mounts and all, although they are pretty big so I wouldn't plan on lugging a set of these around for pure still photography work.
3. Litepanels - The Sola Fresnels... buy/rent these things right now! All the possibilities for lighting with these is just mind blowing. I just wish they weren't as pricey, but ultimately they'll end up being big rental items anyway. Got some prices though I don't remember the exact numbers: ENG Sola - $650, 650w Sola - $1,600-ish(?), 2K Sola - $2400-ish(?)
4. 3D in general - Not much really. Most of the stuff being shown has been shown already last year, lots of very lame solutions that just look off every time, obviously still working on it. Lots of two-cam rigs so there's your new market for the meantime while...
5. Panasonic - Panasonic's 3D camera dominates their booth and although it's cool and all, I just don't see it really taking off over two camera rigs. The 3D, again, just doesn't look any better than if you stuck two cameras together. Having it in one camera helps make it easier but it still needs some work if they want to sell a lot of them. I think it ultimately is the failure of the side-by-side approach, the prism mirror box method is just the better way to do it. Their micro 4/3 camera is cool but it comes out in December and Scarlet should be out in full force by then so it's going to be a little too late for many. If they really wanted to change things up they should just release a firmware update for the GH1 to up the bitrate and enable uncompressed HDMI-output or release a GH2 with this features NOW and not LATER, that would be more than enough to insure the success of Micro 4/3 and this camera's success.
6. Canon - Ain't got nuttin' as far as new stuff since they announced the XH-series replacements last week. They do have lots of their vDSLR offerings all over the place though, so that should be a message to everyone.
7. JVC - Poor JVC, left out in the rain again this year. Just a minor bump to their existing camera. I haven't seen the 4K camera yet, didn't get a chance to look yesterday. But not too much action going on there.
8. Adobe - Insane crowds all day long, CS5 is a hit!
There's more to talk about but I've got to head on over there. I'll post up more stuff later. Others feel free to post their thoughts as well.
1. Arri - Alexa has a cool workflow situation but the image quality isn't anything to get too excited over. It simply comes off as the RED camera with an Arri logo on it, I don't think users will find their footage looking any better than if they had used a RED. But in any case, it's good that there are options out there and it puts film even further into the coffin. The new Fujinon zooms are awesome as well.
2. Zeiss - Compact primes are cool with the interchangeable mounts and all, although they are pretty big so I wouldn't plan on lugging a set of these around for pure still photography work.
3. Litepanels - The Sola Fresnels... buy/rent these things right now! All the possibilities for lighting with these is just mind blowing. I just wish they weren't as pricey, but ultimately they'll end up being big rental items anyway. Got some prices though I don't remember the exact numbers: ENG Sola - $650, 650w Sola - $1,600-ish(?), 2K Sola - $2400-ish(?)
4. 3D in general - Not much really. Most of the stuff being shown has been shown already last year, lots of very lame solutions that just look off every time, obviously still working on it. Lots of two-cam rigs so there's your new market for the meantime while...
5. Panasonic - Panasonic's 3D camera dominates their booth and although it's cool and all, I just don't see it really taking off over two camera rigs. The 3D, again, just doesn't look any better than if you stuck two cameras together. Having it in one camera helps make it easier but it still needs some work if they want to sell a lot of them. I think it ultimately is the failure of the side-by-side approach, the prism mirror box method is just the better way to do it. Their micro 4/3 camera is cool but it comes out in December and Scarlet should be out in full force by then so it's going to be a little too late for many. If they really wanted to change things up they should just release a firmware update for the GH1 to up the bitrate and enable uncompressed HDMI-output or release a GH2 with this features NOW and not LATER, that would be more than enough to insure the success of Micro 4/3 and this camera's success.
6. Canon - Ain't got nuttin' as far as new stuff since they announced the XH-series replacements last week. They do have lots of their vDSLR offerings all over the place though, so that should be a message to everyone.
7. JVC - Poor JVC, left out in the rain again this year. Just a minor bump to their existing camera. I haven't seen the 4K camera yet, didn't get a chance to look yesterday. But not too much action going on there.
8. Adobe - Insane crowds all day long, CS5 is a hit!
There's more to talk about but I've got to head on over there. I'll post up more stuff later. Others feel free to post their thoughts as well.
. Jvc 4k camera in different hall, will check out later. Panasonic 3d camera can't run without two cards in it, no 2d mode, just use one video channel, also can't display 3d really in lcd or viewfinder, need polarized glasses(?), also about as big as an hmc150, no filters possible without mattebox. Also, they have no plans to work on a new anamorphic adapter for hd... grrrrr. Presentations starting got to go.