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4K cameras will flood the market next year...
  • Atomos CEO

    At least 20 new 4K cameras will hit the market between now and NAB 2014, according to Jeromy Young, CEO and founder of production technology developer Atomos. Some can be expected to be announced at IBC next month in Amsterdam.

    ...and he's getting earlybird news to research his products !

    By early next year there will be a plethora of 4K cameras at affordable prices,” said Young. “We believe the true catalyst for 4K will come when people are using Sony Handycams and DSLRs from Nikon and Canon in 4K on a regular basis.”

    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/market-readies-flood-4k-cameras-599612

  • 29 Replies sorted by
  • He is absolutely right.

    I can add to this that similar thing will happen to raw :-)

  • but this isn't really a bad thing is it? IMO raw video should have and could have been available in 2008...the ML guys have proved that.

  • My question is what will the other specs be? Atomos is a good example. They can't even do 60P on their Blade. So what if they bump it up to 4K.

  • My question is when will the global shutter trickle down to these same affordable prices? I can only hope it will converge around the same time both 4k and RAW become commonplace. Two years from now, the typical non-professional camera sensor should look completely different from what we see today.

  • What would be the technical limitations for 4k acquisition as far as codecs, memory controllers and SD cards go? Can UHS-II devices be expected to handle 4k in codecs like AVC-Ultra, XAVC and ProRes 422, even at 48/50/60p fps?

  • Now that we are closer than ever to RAW and almost uncompressed files that allows us some space to tweak things nicely they want to impose heavy compression again for the "increased" resolution that not even professionals whatch at home...

  • the more the merrier =) i would much rather global shutter and higher framerates at 2.5k.

  • Indeed. I would be happy with a lossy 10-bit codec while we are working up to raw. I have been very happy with the results from the Protune kludge used by GoPro/Cineform

  • 12 bit compressed raw is the future and H265 may be able to give it. 4k resolution MUST have compressed form

  • The folks at RED with the high frame rate - compressed RAW, 4k and above patent will make sure that the trickle is slowed down by litigation I am sure.

  • @HenryO

    Do not worry. Such methods do not work against big companies.

  • 4k is nice, but not indispensable, we wont see 4k good quality panels at our desktops or living rooms at least for 3 to 4 years. At least not for a reasonable price. I've seen fullhd in big screens and it is perfectly capable of telling stories without distracting us out because of quality. So for me this 4k stuff is really a desperate way to try and sell "new" cameras and electronics, that we really don't need.

    Big companies an corporations are now trembling because this market structure is about to make a huge implosion, how much time for these guys get to the point they don't have anything else to sell?

  • @HenryO

    I have to agree with VK, Sony and such are WORLDWIDE names, RED is mostly recognized by the photo/video industry. I can't remember the last time I seen a commercial for a RED cam during the Super Bowl, but a Nikon commercial with Ashton Kutcher face all over it, yeah.

    Yes, at the end of the day RED is free to attempt it if they want, I would guess they are smarter with their money.

  • Market demand & cheap storage. It's about the time for 4k and raw.

  • I would invest in a set of 4K if the price was reasonable and the quality was good. I buy cameras in groups of eight, but in this case I might just get two for the cams that I usually crop or use pan and zoom with. 4K would be very handy for cropping if the artifacts can be smoothly rendered.

  • We will definitely see a lot of 4k capture devices very soon. But 4k monitors/TV are possibly mostly 2-4 years out.

    Then again, China based TCL says they will sell a 4K ultra TV for US $999 starting this fall. See http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241082/Time_to_toss_that_HDTV_4K_UHD_TVs_become_affordable

    Another Chinese company is already selling a US $1100 4K TV on Amazon with decent reviews from customers: http://www.amazon.com/Seiki-Digital-SE50UY04-50-Inch-120Hz/dp/B00BXF7I9M

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    I am going with the official forecasts http://www.4-traders.com/IHS-INC-13057/news/IHS-Inc-IHS-Boosts-Long-Term-UHD-LCD-TV-Forecast%97Predicts-4-6-Million-Units-Shipped-in-US-in-2018-17127627/

    5M unit/year forecast in the US as of 2018. They just upped the forecast, now thinking of a faster adoption rate. It is a small market for a while yet which is what I mean by 2-4 years.

    4K UHD growth is going to be determined by how fast the prices fall.

  • If BMC drops the 4k camera price (like they did with 2.5k BMC) and it sell for $3000 with Da Vinci, it should be really a nice thing to buy.

  • @Jean71

    Something tells me that BMC 4K will drop even more before next NAB.

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    I hope so, i would love to buy that camera for 3K$.

  • I'd be perfectly happy with clean 1080/60p 10 bit :)

  • I'm perfectly happy with my hacked GH2 running Intravenus v2 setting. But love seeing these prices drop for BMCC and intro of BM Pocket - things keep getting better. I'm shooting a project with GH2 now. But in 6 months I may have another project and will def be interested to see where things are then in terms of options and prices.

  • But in 6 months I may have another project and will def be interested to see where things are then in terms of options and prices.

    After my "holidays" I plan to publish blog post titled "Why BM will die soon" with tech and financial reasons for this :-)

  • BM die soon?...hope not, but will be interested to read your analysis.