KOMODO....

[jamesbridges]

New photo

 

[Christoffer Glans]

What's that thing? Exposure meter?

 

[Phil Holland]

New photo

Higher resolution:

That's the new GDU RF Body Cap.

Jarred's post:
"GDU EOS R / RF Port cap now in stock. Milled from a single block of 6061 Aluminum with an assist lever machined from a solid chunk of Brass. $49. GlobalDynamicsUnited.com"

Added the other shot of the cap with the Canon EOS R as it helps gauge the size of Komodo a bit better.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Exactly my point. There's a difference between bashing the competitors based on their specs and reputation, but actually judging the cameras by their own merits and working with the material in post gives a whole other perspective.

AMEN. And this comment totally contradicts several comments you have posted in this thread. I actually do know somebody working with KOMODO material and they are blown away. #justsayin'

The Pocket 6K is no Dragon 6K, that's for sure, but it's so close, too close to be ignored. And this is just the first version of their s35 6K.

OMG .... when did the Dragon 6K get released??

You do realize that at the moment that a RED sensor is shipping - there is already another (or multiple) sensors in design and development. RED has a sensor team that works full time. They don't keep working on the sensors that are already done

I sincerely do not mean to be disrespectful - I just have a very opposing point of view and opinion vs many of your comments. I could be wrong ... been wrong before once or 2-300 times.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

What's that thing? Exposure meter?

It's an LED light pipe - most likely a tally light. It could be a power indicator as well.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

AMEN. And this comment totally contradicts several comments you have posted in this thread. I actually do know somebody working with KOMODO material and they are blown away. #justsayin'

I can't really contradict myself when I know nothing of what Komodo can do. What I do know, however, is that the capabilities of the other cameras are far greater than people give them credit for.
It's great to hear that kind of feedback on Komodo, but until I have files to play around with it's hard to measure it against others for myself. Hint hint :tongue_smilie:

OMG .... when did the Dragon 6K get released??

You do realize that at the moment that a RED sensor is shipping - there is already another (or multiple) sensors in design and development. RED has a sensor team that works full time. They don't keep working on the sensors that are already done

I sincerely do not mean to be disrespectful - I just have a very opposing point of view and opinion vs many of your comments. I could be wrong ... been wrong before once or 2-300 times.

Dragon is a few years old yes, how about Arri's sensor? Point being that Red and Arri cameras still go for a lot compared to mid-tier cameras costing a fraction. And even if both Arri and Red is still performing better, others aren't that far behind anymore.

The point I'm trying to communicate is that A) The market in which Komodo is entering is vastly different from the high-end market where the current Red lineup is and B) The camera market is changing very fast and even the higher-end lineup will face some competition from drastically cheaper options.

Looking at where the market is heading and looking at the performance of the mid-tier cameras (BMD, Z Cam etc.), I don't find it irrational to see that for anyone but the highest budget productions, it would be hard to justify a Red over the others if you are budget-minded. That's why I want Komodo to succeed in this market, it's a needed tier to exist in under the current status of the market.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

I can't really contradict myself when I know nothing of what Komodo can do.

Well .. you have more or less proclaimed that KOMODO will fail if XYZ specs don't match XYZ specs of the lower priced competition, right? Yet, you say " but actually judging the cameras by their own merits and working with the material in post gives a whole other perspective" ????

Dragon is a few years old yes, how about Arri's sensor? Point being that Red and Arri cameras still go for a lot compared to mid-tier cameras costing a fraction. And even if both Arri and Red is still performing better, others aren't that far behind anymore.

Far behind?? Behind where RED was along time ago? You say that like RED is standing still. Sure seems to me like most camera companies - at least when you talk "specs" - are just catching up to where RED was while ago. Do you think for one split second that RED is not planning to announce their next gen camera some time after ARRI announces the specs of their new camera that they have already acknowledged?? Do you really think it will be ... ONLY 8K or less? KOMODO is NOT RED's new "flagship" camera. It's most likely an experiment for them. It's CERTAINLY is not going to dictate the success of the company.

The point I'm trying to communicate is that A) The market in which Komodo is entering is vastly different from the high-end market where the current Red lineup is and

Agreed. 100%. And it's not going to have all the same features as a Gemini. And I don't think it is going to be what you think it should be or needs to be.

B) The camera market is changing very fast and even the higher-end lineup will face some competition from drastically cheaper options.

That sound familiar. You mean like RED forcing SONY and ARRI to lower prices of their digital cinema cameras?

One thing that is 100% fact is that cameras will get less expensive, and also more powerful and image fidelity will increase. In 2-3 years we will be shooting movies on 100MP digital cinema cameras. And no, they won't be $6000. And yeah - next years cell phones will crush a lot of the video done on DSLRs for the web right now.

Looking at where the market is heading and looking at the performance of the mid-tier cameras (BMD, Z Cam etc.), I don't find it irrational to see that for anyone but the highest budget productions, it would be hard to justify a Red over the others if you are budget-minded.

You see the BMD and Z Cam as "mid tier"?

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Well .. you have more or less proclaimed that KOMODO will fail if XYZ specs don't match XYZ specs of the lower priced competition, right? Yet, you say " but actually judging the cameras by their own merits and working with the material in post gives a whole other perspective" ????

I was talking about the competition, which many dismiss because of reasons not really found in actually trying them out. I have no doubt Komodo will perform well, but will it do so enough to compete in that tier? That is the question.
Do you really think it will succeed if it cannot meet the expectations of that price-point in that range? As mentioned, Hydrogen was trying something similar and it didn't go that well. I hope Komodo does better.

Far behind?? Behind where RED was along time ago? You say that like RED is standing still. Sure seems to me like most camera companies - at least when you talk "specs" - are just catching up to where RED was while ago. Do you think for one split second that RED is not planning to announce their next gen camera some time after ARRI announces the specs of their new camera that they have already acknowledged?? Do you really think it will be ... ONLY 8K or less? KOMODO is NOT RED's new "flagship" camera. It's most likely an experiment for them. It's CERTAINLY is not going to dictate the success of the company.

I already explained in detail my thoughts earlier. The market is going towards a diminishing return in picture quality. What is "enough" for cinematographers to work with? To "not be far behind" I don't mean far behind years ago, but now, at this time. Catching up with full-frame, catching up with better specs, better color science. It's exponential, not a straight line. Of course Red is still moving forward, but not at the same speed as the rest of the market. I've explained all of this a few times now. The success of Komodo will affect a big portion of the owner-operator market, that is a pretty rational opinion, no?

Agreed. 100%. And it's not going to have all the same features as a Gemini. And I don't think it is going to be what you think it should be or needs to be.

If it's something else than within the realm of Z Cam's, Pocket 6K's etc. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be or aim to be. Seems pretty clear what kind of camera and price-points it aims to be. I think Jarred also mentioned something about being around Z Cam territory. So, going by all that, what else can it be but a competitor to those kinds of cameras?

That sound familiar. You mean like RED forcing SONY and ARRI to lower prices of their digital cinema cameras?

One thing that is 100% fact is that cameras will get less expensive, and also more powerful and image fidelity will increase. In 2-3 years we will be shooting movies on 100MP digital cinema cameras. And no, they won't be $6000. And yeah - next years cell phones will crush a lot of the video done on DSLRs for the web right now.

Once again, we need to factor in diminishing returns into this calculation. No part of the high-end cinema market will be affected, it will always be expensive and always be cutting edge. However, I think that down from there will be a radically different beast. Since Red isn't only used by high-end cinema and television, I predict that anything but the highest-end cinema and television will have a hard time justifying a $50000 over a $5000 camera if diminishing returns of quality mean there's almost no perceivable difference in the end product for those people's kind of gigs.

You see the BMD and Z Cam as "mid tier"?

Yes. There's a lot of trash talk against those companies, but let's face it, Red had a bad reputation in its startup years, but proved against that. It's ironic that the talk these days is the same against other companies in the same way as it was against Red in the beginning. These cameras perform well, so does the Kinefinity. They aren't perfect, they have problems, but remembering the Red One's out in the field back in 2007 and 2008, these new cameras on the market perform better in many cases.

I would say that getting a full-frame image at 8K is pretty good for something you won't call "mid-tier".

 

[Brian Boyer]

You see the BMD and Z Cam as "mid tier"?

I was going to ask the same thing. I think that's where the disconnect is between what he's been saying and what others, including myself, have been saying.

I would say that getting a full-frame image at 8K is pretty good for something you won't call "mid-tier".

Are you judging mid-tier by price, performance, or both? At what price point does the high-end start in your opinion?

 

[Savannah Miller]

A bunch of the blog sites reported that the Pocket 6K dropped to $1996, Ursa Mini G2 to $4796 and the pocket 4K to around $1096 I believe? Either way those articles are gone but Blackmagic may lower the prices of these cams and release something new at IBC. These are interesting times.

 

[Zack Birlew]

That's the problem I have with Komodo, it's got to be competitive with what's out there and the Pocket 6K is a beast to contend with! Now there's the Sony FX9, the Panasonic S1H, and who knows what else is coming down the line. The other issue is all of these newer cameras are going to have 10-bit at minimum now, that's definitely a big competitive advantage that wasn't there before. Honestly, if the Sony A7S on the shelf was a 10-bit camera, we wouldn't have purchased a used RED One MX to film our first feature (currently putting final reshoots in, it looks fantastic!) but because of 8-bit and all of the green screen and VFX we were going to do, we sought a 12-bit RAW camera and the RED One MX fit perfectly with our budget. Now though, the BMD Pocket cameras would have been our first choice for our budget, most likely the 6K but the 4K speedboosted is pretty nice too, and the Panasonic S1H would be hard to pass up at the next level above that for features alone. Of course, if an A7S III comes out with 10-bit video minimum, the same amazing low light or better, and possibly RAW and 6K with the E-mount ecosystem, then that would wipe the floor with a good deal of competition until 8K hits with the FX9 sitting pretty at the top for a wide array of pro uses. I know RED is the only game in town currently for 8K video but I have a feeling that this generation of cameras coming out is going to be a pretty tough fight for them unless they pull the switch and the entire line goes 8K or even double digits overnight. For end users, it's going to be a fun transition before 8K hits mainstream and I do hope the best for Komodo but to put it bluntly, it's got to give me a reason to choose it over the Pocket 6K.

 

[Bastien Tribalat]

That's the problem I have with Komodo, it's got to be competitive with what's out there and the Pocket 6K is a beast to contend with! Now there's the Sony FX9, the Panasonic S1H, and who knows what else is coming down the line. The other issue is all of these newer cameras are going to have 10-bit at minimum now, that's definitely a big competitive advantage that wasn't there before. Honestly, if the Sony A7S on the shelf was a 10-bit camera, we wouldn't have purchased a used RED One MX to film our first feature (currently putting final reshoots in, it looks fantastic!) but because of 8-bit and all of the green screen and VFX we were going to do, we sought a 12-bit RAW camera and the RED One MX fit perfectly with our budget. Now though, the BMD Pocket cameras would have been our first choice for our budget, most likely the 6K but the 4K speedboosted is pretty nice too, and the Panasonic S1H would be hard to pass up at the next level above that for features alone. Of course, if an A7S III comes out with 10-bit video minimum, the same amazing low light or better, and possibly RAW and 6K with the E-mount ecosystem, then that would wipe the floor with a good deal of competition until 8K hits with the FX9 sitting pretty at the top for a wide array of pro uses. I know RED is the only game in town currently for 8K video but I have a feeling that this generation of cameras coming out is going to be a pretty tough fight for them unless they pull the switch and the entire line goes 8K or even double digits overnight. For end users, it's going to be a fun transition before 8K hits mainstream and I do hope the best for Komodo but to put it bluntly, it's got to give me a reason to choose it over the Pocket 6K.

A word of caution about FX9 (which I'm sure will produce awesome images with its "inherited from VENICE color science and dual base ISO of 800/4000") : according to the leaked press announcement, it won't record in 6K internally. Like an EVA1, it will downsample from the full 6K readout to record 4K. And it won't record 4K DCI at launch, only 4K UHD (with 4K DCI coming in a firmware update). Codec is 4:2:2 10 Bit (HEVC based at last !), there's options to record 16 bit RAW (they don't specify its resolution nor if it's only via proprietary Sony recorders or not).

I repeat : it will be an awesome camera nonetheless.

EDIT :

And here it is. And it's still using XQD Cards, not CFExpress. Oh and contrary to what I wrote above, it's still XAVC, not HEVC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq0WoZMBCxs&feature=youtu.be

 

[Granit Neziri]

When can we realistically expect this camera to be released? I really want to invest in a new camera but i would prefer not to wait a whole year before i have it...

 

[Bastien Tribalat]

When can we realistically expect this camera to be released? I really want to invest in a new camera but i would prefer not to wait a whole year before i have it...

Don't quote me on that but I'm pretty sure that we can expect it between this fall and NAB next year.

 

[Christopher bell]

check out the link below if you guys want to pick up your RF caps for your Komodo

https://global-dynamics-united.myshopify.com/products/gdu-canon-rf-port-cap

 

[Bérenger Brillante]

I'm looking at Steven Soderbergh picture of Komodo. The power switch on the side is interesting. It looks like a regular on-off switch.
Does it mean instant off, or instant on ?

 

[Mendes Nabil]

Do you guys think Komodo will be unveiled at IBC?
If Yes, announcements generally come at the beginning or at the end of this event?

 

[Gregory Karydis]

This is the latest info re IBC and Komodo:

No Komodo news at IBC, Komodo still is deep in it's public and private testing phase

 

[Bastien Tribalat]

Do you guys think Komodo will be unveiled at IBC?
If Yes, announcements generally come at the beginning or at the end of this event?

Jarred has said a few pages ago that they won't talk about Komodo at IBC. (which does not say when they will )

 

[Ugo Del]

If someone can’t tell the difference between the pocket 6k/Red/Varicam/Arri image feel and colors then he should definitely buy a pocket 6k. But there’s no conspiracy behind the fact that trained pro eyes choose the Alexa for 90% of the solid productions despite the lower specs on paper. I’m amazed to see people throwing all these cameras in the same bag for comparison, just based on what numbers they read. The Pocket 6k color science is really weak, the skin tones are not nice (the raw files are available online). You get what you pay for. I just hope the Komodo will get a better IQ than those cameras it’s compared to.