Innovation

[vincent kardasik]

but thanks God for Patents...

Best quote on this thread!
Ketch, I love your commitment! You're always 100% on what you think and I guess it's the same in what you do.
Innovation is everything! We need more and more people thinking that way!
I've got tons of respect for people like Ryan and Brook. Keep on that way Guys!

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Curt, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, both for your innovation and for your perseverance. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you are not dogging on Ryan here, and that if you had an actual accusation you'd come out and say it plainly.

I have huge respect for both Brook and Ryan and I do not see any crass copying at all. There is a difference between copying and other people merely also heading the same direction. To use your movie example, just because I do a western doesn't mean other people cant do. And guess what? They may be made of the same elements (dusty western town, train station, horses, spurs, the lone cowboy, etc). But it's not copying unless they use my script or (as you put it) they literally rip by bytes. To make that analogy to machining parts, that'd be if someone snuck into your shop in the middle of the night, stole your Cad drawings or tooling setups and then made literally the same thing for half the cost.

Frankly Red should have made this top plate themselves as a default and integral part of the camera. The concept of putting a cheeseplate on top of the camera is the obvious step and everyone's been doing that since Red1 days. Also shimming the bottom is an obvious thing since it's Reds problem that they didnt follow the height standard that already pre-existed in the marketplace.

Most camera aks are just obvious stuff...handles, rods, cheeseplates, etc. It really comes down to execution and cost. Competition is wonderful.

Sometimes innovation is coming up with clever fixes or workarounds and the ability to set up shop and get customers. But unless you're doing someone truly not obvious or expected (which can then be patented), you have to expect others to compete with you on similar things. What's really bullshit is all the knockoffs on eBay that are literally the exact same CAD drawings that got shipped off to China and now that factory is screwing over the person who hired them in the first place. Or someone who buys a product, measures it carefully and re-creates a new CAD and then starts spitting it out again. But unless you're dealing with those scenarios, play ball.

I am deeply thankful for View Factor, FMJ and Wooden Camera and hope everyone wins and races to create the best products at the best prices for this burgeoning community.