My guess is that Canon will continue to get stronger in video, but will not in near-term m
Since this section has been the d800 forum for some time, I guess it's fitting that it's now the Canon forum. Well why not add the 4/3's forum to the heading.
I'm serious.
Here's the thing about all of these format discussions.
Everybody talks about cameras like what was done before is the standard we are working towards.
Kind of like film cameras that shoot digital.
Not what we could do in the future, or better put, not what we could do that I just can't or haven't been able to shoot before.
Kind of like we're back 10 years ago when everybody switched from digital to film and kept arguing that one brand was better than the other.
My 1dx for stills focuses very well, is very sharp, produces a good file (not great but good), has great solid tethering with ethernet but honestly there is very little I do with it today I didn't do with my original 1ds a long time ago.
By that I don't mean more megapixels or face detection, or faster tethering, or Nikon is better than Phase, Phase is better than Leica, but real useful change.
Somewhere on another thread someone said 35mm has come leaps and bounds. Well I'm not too sure. Yes, autofocus is better, color on some cameras easier to manage, frame rates a little faster, depending on camera, lcds a whole lot better, but regardless these are mostly improvements on platforms from 10 years ago.
If you tether the nikon the lcd blanks out, run an hdmi out cord to it to record and you have to remove the cf card, try to autofocus shooting motion and you better be locked down shooting the washington monument.
Canon isn't much different, though they did come out with a line of motion cameras, but still in the film camera mindset. Buy PL or Canon mounts but there not interchangeable. Try to get a real 4:2:2 prorezz file out of them ready for real world proxy edit, or for that matter just real world edit and you have to spend hours transcoding.
I just think all of this is old think and protecting territory.
If you want to see real camera innovation look at the two latest 4/3's cameras from Panasonic and Olympus. Unlike their big brothers they actually autofocus shooting motion and do it at exactly what your aiming at. In fact the panasonic with just a touch of the screen will rack focus in a beautiful smooth style.
The Panasonic for motion imagery in every tests comes out inches away from the more costly RED and Arri. It has real i.s. lenses, touch screen focus, articulating screens, sound in and out and sells for about the price of one good Nikon Lens.
The Olympus may be small, but the handing is first rate, the mbps is low but the in camera stabilization looks like a 10 year steadicam operator was working it and it shoots a very nice still file in 4:2, 2:3 or 16x9 format with one of the best right angle grips of any camera maker.
They both focus fast, track well, (not perfect but well) and are an inch away from being as good as any Nikon or Canon still camera, the panasonic better than most digital cinema cameras except the RED, Arri and Sony F35 and damn close to those if handled properly.
For the price of one of my 1dx bodies, I can buy one of these 4/s's systems with a complete lens set, (actually less priced). For the price of one top grade medium format still system, or RED motion system, I can buy two cases of these cameras.
I'm not pushing any camera, because I own RED's Nikons, Phase, Canons, Panasonic, Sony's and a Leica. I'm just saying if I take every innovation from all of my dedicated professional cameras and combine them, they still don't meet the same usefulness of the Pany or Olympus, except in actual file detail and honestly in real world use, they 4/3's are getting close for most media.
Don't misunderstand I enjoy my Phase backs, kind of enjoy the Canon 1dxes, like the Leica and find the RED's simply amazing for the quality they produce at the price, but none of them combined has the real world use of the two 4/3's cameras I've mentioned.
Also don't misunderstand me. I don't think the sky is falling, because it's not. It's just our industry has changed, which is not surprising as the professional making images for money business is only a few generations old so change is a given.
And I'm not the only one to notice it. In the last 10 days I've been in two camera stores. One mega store on the coast, on smaller store in the middle of the country.
At the megastore the line is two deep around the hybrid and motion camera accessory area. Zacuto products of every type are flying out the door. At the smaller store, that two years ago ONLY sold Canons, Nikons and a few medium formats, they now have about 35% of their shelf space dedicated to sliders, friction heads, senihauser mics, radio lavs, hdmi screens and every kind of gizmos, wire and battery charger available. They're both selling the little Panasonic and Olympus cameras as fast as they come in.
Maybe they're selling the 4/3 cameras to cat photographers, maybe this is just a straw poll and not worth mentioning, but if I was in the camera making biz, I'd look around and decide what my next move would be and it wouldn't be a still camera with some half baked movie function feature. It's will be a world beater at the lowest price possible, and/or if price is jacked high, they would do things that none of us can dream of.
Can you imagine the still quality of a Phase of Hasselblad, the iso of a 1dx, the true adjustable autofocus of touch screen, the sound characteristics of a Sony all with weatherproof i.s.?
IMO
BC
(sorry about the 4/3's thing . . . but it seems everything here is now fair game).