Z-CAM quietly announce 8k and 6k FULL FRAME cameras - no joke!

[Oliver Daniel]

I enjoy following Z-cam in their FB group - they seem to be the only company in the world who directly design cameras based almost exactly on what the user says they want (small form factor, ProRes, RAW, ND filters, HFR and so on) 

They announced 2 new full frame 8k and 6k models of their E2 on April Fools, but this has been confirmed by ZCAM as no joke. 

As some of you may know, I like to think of new or different cameras in a way that extends your creativity. ZCAM interest me because of their unique approach. 

What do you think of this news?

 

[androidlad]

Now the firmwares for their cameras will never come out of beta...

[Oliver Daniel]

3 hours ago, androidlad said:

Now the firmwares for their cameras will never come out of beta...

Give them the benefit of the doubt. Most of us love the underdog - I hope they pull it off. 

[tweak]

6 hours ago, androidlad said:

Now the firmwares for their cameras will never come out of beta...

They are using the same bodies and systems etc. I have faith, they are making huge leaps all the time. People said Prores would never happen, yet they have delivered and are about to release a new firmware with Raw, HLG and some other goodies. I don't know how they do it, but they do. 
I recently purchased an E2 and I'm really impressed, for the money it's amazing, even if they changed nothing from this point I'd still be satisfied I got my monies worth.

[kye]

More cameras = more competition = better for customers

[Alt Shoo]

Z-Cam is a company that is going to disrupt some concepts in the cinema camera industry. After NAB, there should be some insight for many cinematographers on what gear to invest in. Z-Cam and their offerings will be on the short list for these individuals, including myself. 

[webrunner5]

6 minutes ago, Alt Shoo said:

Z-Cam is a company that is going to disrupt some concepts in the cinema camera industry. After NAB, there should be some insight for many cinematographers on what gear to invest in. Z-Cam and their offerings will be on the short list for these individuals, including myself. 

Yeah it would appear as of late a lot of people have been paying a lot of money for a brand name more than hardware cost.

 

 

[Kisaha]

Don't they have the 4K S35 camera also for October/November release? Their current m43 one is too knew also, definitely they need resources for firmware upgrades and bugs e.t.c

It takes almost 2 or more years for Canon (still waiting for that C100mkIII!)/Sony to produce a cine/video camera, it is amazing if the Z cam do 3 and a half in one..

[andrgl]

1 hour ago, Kisaha said:

Don't they have the 4K S35 camera also for October/November release? Their current m43 one is too knew also, definitely they need resources for firmware upgrades and bugs e.t.c

It takes almost 2 or more years for Canon (still waiting for that C100mkIII!)/Sony to produce a cine/video camera, it is amazing if the Z cam do 3 and a half in one..

They’re planning to release 5 cameras in 2019:

E2 C

E2 GS

E2 S35 6K

E2 FF 6K

E2 FF 8K

 

Canon and Sony are slow, old, behemoths. Literally dumpster fires of money. They need to sell 10,000x units to make a penny.

Being a tiny company in China you could stay afloat selling 500 cameras a year. Their government basically subsidizes industry with cheap loans and no cost shipping.

[tweak]

2 hours ago, andrgl said:

They’re planning to release 5 cameras in 2019:

E2 C

E2 GS

E2 S35 6K

E2 FF 6K

E2 FF 8K

 

Canon and Sony are slow, old, behemoths. Literally dumpster fires of money. They need to sell 10,000x units to make a penny.

Being a tiny company in China you could stay afloat selling 500 cameras a year. Their government basically subsidizes industry with cheap loans and no cost shipping.

All these cameras share a lot in common, the main thing is switching out the sensors, it's not as though they are designing totally new cameras from scratch. 

It's amazing really that camera companies have somehow convinced us all that this type of thing takes years to do... Hats off to Zcam shaking things up.

[zerocool22]

Has anybody used a ZCAM product here before? How is it like? Is it stable(bugs like kinefinity)? How is the support(do they have a EU/US division)?  Have not seen any video's either though.

[tweak]

5 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

Has anybody used a ZCAM product here before? How is it like? Is it stable(bugs like kinefinity)? How is the support(do they have a EU/US division)?  Have not seen any video's either though.

 

7 hours ago, tweak said:

I recently purchased an E2 and I'm really impressed, for the money it's amazing, even if they changed nothing from this point I'd still be satisfied I got my monies worth.

 

[zerocool22]

Ok im intrigued. 6K or 8K resolution is way too much though. Wondering about the DR of these cams and if there will be additional codecs(only prores right now right?). Im spoiled by braw right now, so something similar would be great.  

[sanveer]

What's the mount? Any guesses of the pricing? I could use these for photography if they have enough dynamic range. ???

[Laurier]

8 hours ago, andrgl said:

They’re planning to release 5 cameras in 2019:

E2 C

E2 GS

E2 S35 6K

E2 FF 6K

E2 FF 8K

 

Canon and Sony are slow, old, behemoths. Literally dumpster fires of money. They need to sell 10,000x units to make a penny.

Being a tiny company in China you could stay afloat selling 500 cameras a year. Their government basically subsidizes industry with cheap loans and no cost shipping.

I bet the sensors in those camera are from Sony ...

I would not be surprised it the FF6k is share the same sensor with the A7iii and the Mavo LF.

[zerocool22]

2 minutes ago, Laurier said:

I bet the sensors in those camera are from Sony ...

I would not be surprised it the FF6k is share the same sensor with the A7iii and the Mavo LF.

Well if the FF6K turns out to be a mavo LF for half the money, its gonna sell like hotcakes. 

[zerocool22]

What additional costs do you have with this camera?
- what batteries does it need? 
- It takes CFast I see, thats a good thing.
- no SDI though or am seeing that wrong?
- Any good rigs out there for it(as now it just looks like a small brick which is not the most ergonomic or most handy like handgrips)

[IronFilm]

21 hours ago, Oliver Daniel said:

I enjoy following Z-cam in their FB group - they seem to be the only company in the world who directly design cameras based almost exactly on what the user says they want (small form factor, ProRes, RAW, ND filters, HFR and so on) 

I certainly love how much interaction they're having with all sorts of people on social media, my worries though are:
1) a few loud voices can sway them in going in perhaps the wrong direction for the overall market (for instance their first focus for them after the E2 was in making a global shutter camera, not a good pick in my opinion)
2) their prices seem to be going up and up and up.....  soon they will no longer be a cheaper alternative to Panasonic MFT cameras, but instead they'll be competing directly with Kinefinity. And I'd hope they don't overlap like that. Is better for there to be two Chinese companies which have one targeted at (cheaper) high end cameras, and the other one targeting (cheaper) mid/low end affordable cameras. 

11 hours ago, Kisaha said:

Don't they have the 4K S35 camera also for October/November release? Their current m43 one is too knew also, definitely they need resources for firmware upgrades and bugs e.t.c

It takes almost 2 or more years for Canon (still waiting for that C100mkIII!)/Sony to produce a cine/video camera, it is amazing if the Z cam do 3 and a half in one..

It helps they seem to be basing them all on the same general "E2" platform / body.  But with different sensors/mounts. 

21 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

- Any good rigs out there for it(as now it just looks like a small brick which is not the most ergonomic or most handy like handgrips)

Their are cages made specifically for the E2

[Laurier]

1 hour ago, zerocool22 said:

Well if the FF6K turns out to be a mavo LF for half the money, its gonna sell like hotcakes. 

Yep , well the blackmagic pocket 4k is more or less the terra 4k for 1/3 of the price.

But by the time they come out, it will probably have to compete with the A7s3, at that point I expect the A7s3 to kill all other sub 10k camera for video in term of performance/price.
It s getting more and more probable that we will get some form of video raw out of it, so the benefit of a a mavo LF/E2 FF would be a lot less obvious.
Most  FF video camera seem to cap at 60fps at full sensor readout, so we might not even get a higher frame rate than a A7s3 either.

[zerocool22]

6 minutes ago, Laurier said:

Yep , well the blackmagic pocket 4k is more or less the terra 4k for 1/3 of the price.

But by the time they come out, it will probably have to compete with the A7s3, at that point I expect the A7s3 to kill all other sub 10k camera for video in term of performance/price.
It s getting more and more probable that we will get some form of video raw out of it, so the benefit of a a mavo LF/E2 FF would be a lot less obvious.
Most  FF video camera seem to cap at 60fps at full sensor readout, so we might not even get a higher frame rate than a A7s3 either.

Not sure sony would release something that will wipe their FS5/FS7 line of the table.