Zacuto 16K Camera

[Michael Hopper]

I came across this little blurb from Steve Weiss of Zacuto in a YouTube video titled "Alternative Camera Brands" on Zacuto's channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVpmO3POcYw&feature=youtu.be&t=2294

Right at the end he says "we'll announce more about OUR camera in the coming months, of course... ...It's going to be a sixteen K camera"

They also mentioned having once before planned a camera, however by the sounds of the conversation they were referring to an April fool's day 64K camera joke.

Between this and the Black Magic UMP 12K pushing resolution I'm curious to see where Red is aiming DSMC3. 8K is very useable for my needs long into the foreseeable future although I could get lots of use out of the higher framerate 8K that might accompany the higher resolution IF it's not cropped sensor. I harbor more desire for more dynamic range versus more resolution otherwise.

Has there been any mentions of this existing anywhere else?

 

[Brian Timmons]

I could be hearing this wrong but it sounded like they both were saying this as a joke.
Of course, who knows. The BMD 12k camera sounded too crazy to be true and yet it is real.

Speaking on this issue regarding resolution, I think there will begin to be much greater discernment
between pixel quantity and pixel quality and the codec that has the last say over both them.


Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[Cameron Currier]

Hah. Definitely sounded like a joke.

 

[Morgan Ryan]

I wonder how Zacuto is doing business-wise. I haven't heard of any new or exciting products from them in a while. I imagine it must be tough right now for them, as there are so many accessory companies out there flooding the market.

 

[Michael Hopper]

Brian- you're definitely right that it is more of a quality over quantity that will win over customers.
For example, Forza Silicon have been showing off their ~14-18K 60P sensor (https://www.forzasilicon.com/forza-100-mp-cam-platform/). Will the benefits from that drastic of a resolution increase be more beneficial than the downsides to the much smaller pixel pitch? We've seen this before in the still cameras world. While there was a huge megapixel race between a few manufacturers, there were some that decided to work on bigger photosites, expanding DR, and other usable features. A great example is the upcoming A7IIIS, where they prioritized larger photosites for better low light performance versus just stacking in more resolution.

You nailed it on the head with the codec being a huge determiner. It will be interesting to see how BMD's new raw ,whatever the Zacuto camera brings and ProRes Raw stack up against R3D in a workflow.

Cameron- I thought it sounded like a joke too, but in the first 20 seconds of the video they state they would be making an announcement about their camera at the end of the video. The video is from February 19th, not April 1st so I'm inclined to think there is some validity to the statement and not just an April fools joke. I believe they were chuckling about a once upon a time moment when they may have made an April Fool's joke about releasing a 64K camera.

Morgan- I'm sure they've been heavily impacted by Covid like most of the world, but based off their FaceCrack page they're still making headway. That video aired right around the time they released their new ACT Recoil rig.

I suspect maybe we haven't heard much from them because they're silently working away on this camera, perhaps a bit delayed due to virus.

These new cameras interest me purely for perspective. DSMC2 is nearly 5 years old** in essence (specs from Weapon 6K Dragon Q4 2015 match DSMC2 6K Dragon Q3 2020, Weapon Helium on release day= DSMC2 Helium today). I'm not expecting DSMC3 announcements anytime soon. This Post from May, 2019 was pre-covid and Komodo delays

You won't be seeing DSMC3 until at least the END of next year...

The market advancements help foreshadow things we might see from Red for them to stay competitive.