TC

Good times indeed. Canon are not getting my money. Blackmagic is. But what next from Canon? C200: same electronics again, but 35Mbps for $12,000? C50: same electronics again, but plastic body and no clean HDMI out for $5000?

Looks good. But to me it just reinforces what many have been saying about Canon's strategy. Artificial market segmentation. Deliberately crippled hardware. It is cynical and nobody likes it. Within less than a year of each other we have two cameras with almost identical hardware, the main difference being the codec. $8000 for 24Mbps 4:2:0, $15,000 for 50Mbps 4:2:2. Neither of which is state of the art. Both of which have been implemented by Canon many times before in different cameras. Is Canon aiming to have it's Cinema-EOS range look like it's Powershot range? [url="http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cameras"]http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/digital_cameras[/url] I count 32 different camera models, with a price difference of just $10 at the lower end.

OK, so it is shipping now. And we have all seen what it can do. Any Canon apologists still out there? Anyone still disagree that Canon is deliberately holding back technology to maintain their fantasy price points?

[quote name='jgharding' timestamp='1345461721' post='16066'] ....and the 28mbps cap, which is so insanely low compared to the power of the technology in there. [/quote] Yes, it is crazy. The 24Mbs AVCHD codec was first seen in 2006 when a 1Gb card would cost a hundred dollars and the card write speed wouldn't allow anything more. It is an anachronism which is totally out of sync with today's technology.

It's a welcome addition to the party and the footage looks great. But it seems to me that (apart from sensor size) you get more for less with the Blackmagic Camera. But Blackmagic needs to start shipping soon, because their competitors are moving forward too.

Hey, Canon is pushing hard too: today they announced an exciting new superzoom compact. And it is available in red! http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/21/canon-announces-powershot-sx500-is-sx160-is-superzoom-cameras-a/?m=false

[quote name='Germy1979' timestamp='1345349225' post='16017'] $10,000 less than a C300. [/quote] Yep, $10,000 less than the C300. And it offers 1080/60p. It's not as small as the C300, but the built in shoulder mount option and what looks like a very sturdy handle and mic mount will surely make it very popular for news gathering and documentary shooters. Main downside I see is 28Mbps max bitrate (even if Sony's implementation of the codec is the best there is). Sony have been getting so many things right recently, they really ought to show us some love and lift that to at least 50Mbps.

I think this is quite a big announcement an it will be very popular outside of the narrative filmmaking world. And is it true it has a dedicated SSD recording module available separately?

I love the irony of this. Theoretically, this little Australian company should not be able to compete with the market leaders such as Sony and Canon, who spend billions on R&D every year. I am sure the sensor in the BMCC is not as capable as the best that Sony and Canon can produce. And yet the strategies pursued by the electronics giants themselves have made this possible! By deliberately holding back their own hardware through firmware crippling and artificial market segmentation they have left the door wide open for a small company to compete with them by assembling a camera from largely off-the-shelf components. And now that Blackmagic Design have done it you can be sure that other companies with similar strengths are looking at doing the same. The horse has truly bolted.

Oh wow.

[quote name='EOSHD' timestamp='1343350221' post='14575'] It isn't a Leica. It is an SLR Magic! [/quote] Aha! Much more sensible choice. :-)

That looks like a Leica 50mm f0.95 attached to your FS100. Are you made of money?

[quote name='Junius' timestamp='1343201948' post='14469'] Some morons over at RedUser already talking shit: [url="http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?83028-Black-Magic-Design-Cinema-Camera-update"]http://reduser.net/f...a-Camera-update[/url] [/quote] The thread on RedUser seemed quite reasonable to me. Very reasonable by RedUser standards. Largely positive comments, actually. The screen grab does look to be noisy, though, and that worries me a bit. However, with raw or a high bitrate codec the noise should at least be organic.

This is the future. Control of the camera industry needs to be wrestled away from the Japanese electronic giants now. I don't care if the BMCC is a month late, it is going to show us (and already has) just how much the likes of Canon, Sony and Panasonic have been holding back the technology in this field.

[quote name='Trankilstef' timestamp='1343123798' post='14404'] Actually, the more I think about this camera, the more I think the biggest drawback is the price. [/quote] Yes, it is not a complete disaster. It may even offer the best image quality (for stills) of any camera of its size currently on the market. It would, though, take you 30 seconds of fiddling with the touch screen before you can take any photos. :-) Same size camera with a proper shutter speed dial, jog wheel and 2012 sensor and they have a winner.

It has some plus points: small size, APS-C sensor (not a smaller format). That's about it. The best thing I can say is that it is not as bad as I thought it would be. I have absolutely no intention of buying one. There will be a market for it, but not at the price they are asking. A quick skim of the forums suggest the reaction is overwhelmingly negative. Canon's 18MP APS-C sensor was good in 2009 and I think they have made some minor improvements since then, but the latest sensors from Sony absolutely destroy it. The future does not look bright for Canon.

A re-housed Sony RX100?  Anyone on here own one of them yet?  I have been checking the footage on youtube and it looks great.  The perfect B-cam in my opinion.

There's some footage from this camera on youtube now from various people.  For the most part it looks very good.  And let's state the obvious - much sharper than the 5D3, or indeed any Canon camera under the C300.

[quote author=gene_can_sing link=topic=884.msg6472#msg6472 date=1340602840] I'm sure Canon has engineered the 1D-X with some major fault which will they hope will spur people to then buy a 1D-C, which will lack something major which will spur people to buy the C-500. At that point, you are one broke Canon Fan boy. [/quote] Of course, it's Canon - they have carefully engineered omissions in *ALL THREE* models!  Not even $30k avoids Canon's deliberate crippling. 1D X: No headphone jack, low bitrate codecs, no clean HDMI out. 1D C: Marketed as a video camera (actually, cinema camera) with internal 4k recording, but no video specific firmware features such as focus peaking or zebra stripes.  No video specific hardware changes either, such as a swivel screen, despite the enormous price difference to the almost identical 1D X.  But it does have a headphone jack. C500: Video specific firmware features and ergonomics, but no internal 4k recording.  Twice the price of the 1D C which has this feature. 

All sensible requests, but I suspect it is too late for some of them.  If they plan to release next month, the camera is probably already in production.  Only firmware changes possible now.  Despite the battery and mount issues, I can't wait to collect mine.  Pre-ordered on announcement day.  5D mark II will go on eBay shortly afterwards.

Why don't they just go the whole way, and watermark the video output from every Canon DSLR with the words, "NOT FOR VIDEO USE. PLEASE PURCHASE THE C300. ONLY $16,000 BODY ONLY."

Great, Canon engineers can faster develop new technologies, only for them to be disabled in firmware by the marketing people.  Don't see the Canon crippleware mentality changing anytime soon.

Apart from manual controls, the key question will be whether it has a record length limit and if so, will it be 12 minutes or 29?

[quote author=sandro link=topic=649.msg4782#msg4782 date=1335535477] I doubt Canon was so stupid to limit the resolution via software though [/quote] I fear you over-estimate the intelligence of the-powers-that-be at Canon.  Amazing engineers, but it is run like most big Japanese companies - by an elite group of old men stuck in the past and completely out of touch with reality. Anyway, back to the subject of this article - Magic Lantern.  Fantastic news!  I think we all know the firmware is the main limiting factor in the 5D III's performance.  I haven't ordered yet and have been a vocal critic on these forums, but if it can be hacked to give a higher bitrate, I'm ready to buy.

We had all better stop complaining about the video from the 5D3.  Soft is the new sharp.