Digital cinema cameras

Posted By Max Burgess on September 16, 2009 12:00 am | Permalink

The new breed of digital cinema cameras and the workflows that accompany them mean post production has to be much more aware of the camera market than ever before. Updated builds and firmware always have a knock on effect, but understanding different camera systems is vital in planning the workflows that go with them.

Always the marketeers favorite, RED Digital Cinema did an amazing job of having such a presence at the show without actually being there. Every other stand seemed to have a RED One camera on it showing either their latest accessory or workflow tool. I briefly spotted the much anticipated RED Epic and Scarlet traveling through one of the halls. Prototypes or release build's I wasn't able to see but I definitely hope there was circuit boards in them.

Despite this phenomenon, I was left wondering about where RED is heading in the market. In my experience the camera has found it's home in lower budget productions, the ever tightening budgets of the music video sector is a hotbed of RED productions, but as soon as the money gets better Arri's and Sony F35's start becoming more prolific. Even when the Epic finally makes it's arrival who will be able to cope with the potential of 28k image resolutions. My MacPro can barely cope with 4k and I am pretty sure their RedRocket video card will not make up for the other 24k?

Arri might have RED a little worried with their Alexa prototypes that could yet again change the layout of of camera systems. Similar specifications and almost similar pricing points yet easier workflows might reduce post production costs and make them more attractive?