Today Canon showed off an ‘engineering prototype’ of a possible 4K Camera under development, and while they are careful to state that this will probably never see the light of day without extensive rework, the various opinions around the device are heavily polarized. This was just too interesting to pass up.
First, Gizmodo loves it, which is no surprise since they love just about any gadget.
I really hope Canon makes this concept compact 4k camera one day, even if it says it’ll never come out just like this. It’s like the looming future of cameras sculpted in black plastic, a photon blaster-cum-camera.
A mere 5.5 pounds, this working concept model shoots 4K video at 60 frames a second using a single 2/3-inch CMOS sensor.
Then, ProLost takes one look at it and struggles to hold back the vomit.
There’s so much wrong with this “concept camera” that I hardly know where to begin. It’s an atrocity of aesthetics and ergonomics. It has a fixed, not-very-special 20x zoom lens. The sensor is only 2/3”. It shoots 60fps. Nothing about this camera reflects any awareness of what digital cinematographers want. It’s as if Canon brass lifted the internet ban on the engineer’s dungeon just long enough for them to visit to RED’s web site, and then shut it down again after they’d read as far as “4K.”
Finally, Philip Bloom takes a look and gives us a more balanced response.
It was actually working and was crisp as hell…This concept camera had a fixed 2/3″ 20x Zoom lens as the chip itself is 2/3″. I am not sure what the idea of it is, they mentioned something about medical something or other. It’s obviously not a cinema concept camera due to the fixed lens. The image out of it was actually really really nice. As I have said and I and am sure you all want to, is to see an APS-C chip in camera like this and use all the current Canon glass or PL lenses…but Canon have a different marketing strategy to someone like RED. RED announce their road map and make it very public. Canon keep things close to their chest. If there is a cinema camera coming out or a new improved DSLR for video there is no way they would show a concept camera of it and show the competition what they have up their sleeve.
So all three of them are speaking of the same camera, but so many different views. Those who love technology, those who use cameras on a daily basis, and those who cover the companies. So, what do you think?
Cool, love it, but looks like a hair dryer.
You guys don’t get it at all. Why WOULDN’T WE WANT A 4K 60 FPS CAMERA? Who said you have to shoot at 4K? Didn’t you guys notice the slick “digital zoom” on the new D60 that shoots SD at 7X directly from the sensor? Good grief, why are you so stupidly blind-sided by this cam’s obviously false ergo?
Cannon is obviously looking for feedback from INTELLIGENT people on something they can easily do. Give them some creative imagination and not some stupid comments by stuck-in-the-rut old geezers! We are headed to high res, whether we like it or not, so help us get there without spending blood RED money to do it.
I for one would give much for in-cam cropping/zoom, with the future capability of shooting hi-res stuff built-in. Today we do mostly 1920×1080 or 2K, but tomorrow will be here before you blink.
Concepts are just that, concepts.
It will be interesting to see what materialises from the technology.
Until then, there’s not much worth saying.
Bill P.
RED has shaken up the whole industry. And Canon has been able to stave off the exodus to RED by hitting that unexpected home run with the 5Dmk2, but if it weren’t for RED putting pressure on them to bring to the market cameras with less compression and interchangeable lenses, we’d still be shooting with HDV. So, with this camera Canon (and I’m a Canon shooter, big Canon fan, but I can’t wait for the Scarlet to finally come out if Jannard gets his act together) is really saying “hey, we’re Canon, we can throw together a 4k concept camera just for the show”, don’t defect to those RED 4k and 5k sensors.