Ken
Well-known member
My personal impressions only...
NAB this year was more fun because I wasn't looking for anything in particular and was fortunate to walk away without spending a small fortune. It's always good to see the trends and this year 4K cameras were everywhere, along with brushless gimbals in copter and handheld form. I don't want another camera. I already have a Red Epic which continues to serve me well and stays in the game on a head to head basis with Arri. Though Sony is making a go of it along with Canon it seems Red and Arri continue to hold the top spots when it comes to high end production. But the field of players continues to expand and saturate the market. And I wonder if the market can support so many players. I don't think so.
I had the opportunity to sit in with a small group of people to check out the new Panasonic Varicam 35. They are really getting to the large sensor party late, especially considering the price point they are showing (approx. $60K). I've long been a fan of Panasonic cameras. I especially like their coloremitry and form factor. They were receptive to input as the camera is still many months from release, but they'll have to really make it very attractive to lure those who already have invested heavily in other systems to make the jump.
Black Magic showed two new cameras. Personally I wouldn't drop any scratch with them. They have had so many problems with the original releases. Product support is just not good according to friends that own their cameras. Hot pixel problems, lost data and lots of waiting either for product or support. To me it is the low end of the large sensor camera market. That old saying “you get what you pay for†applies here. Even though they have a good reputation with their other products, cameras seem to have been poorly executed. Of course some beautiful production has been made with BM cameras, I'd still be wary.
I was very interested in the camera AJA showed on the floor. AJA has been making very good support products for a long time. Their KiPro line of recorders are very good. It seems they spent some time talking to people who actually use cameras for a living and tried to incorporate that experience into their CION (sounds like the name of a car). It fits on the shoulder very nicely, records internally to proprietary cards in many flavors of Prores and will record 4K to an external recorder. With a price point of $9000 (body only) I think it may be competition to the Red Scarlet.
The Digital Bolex camera seems to be a niche camera at an affordable price. Though not 4K it could be a useful little 16mm doc camera. I especially liked that they have released a black and white version. I see some cool projects being made with it.
I didn't have time to stop at JVC who were also showing new 4K cameras.
I stopped briefly at the Red booth but spent little time there just looking at a couple of the new accessories they've released. They are a year late in the Dragon upgrade announced at the last NAB. But my current Epic works like a charm and I can create some stunning images with it.
One of the difficulties in being a freelance owner/operator these days is with so many flavors of cameras and codecs it can become difficult when producers contact you and want to use the latest camera that they've heard about. This NAB show has added to that. I'm always happy to try and please the client and conform to what they want. But often these new systems are untested, or need ridiculous support added on to make it work in a way that is usable, or is incompatible with all the other gear you already have in your package. Beware... it's going to get worse!
Wireless video was something I was interested in looking at. There are a few systems available now that offer HD with virtually no latency. I looked at Teradeck and Paralinx. These are really nice products. They both offer systems with long range. I was looking for something simple. I just want to lose the BNC cable between the camera and the client monitor. But to do it for about $1000 is still too pricy for me. I'll live with the cable.
LCD lights were everywhere in every type of configuration you can imagine. A ton of Chinese companies offered everything you could want at great prices. But my experience so far with Chinese LED lights has been lots of green shift that seems to get worse over time. Two companies stood out to me at this show, and I can't say I saw everything out there (I only spent two days at the show). And both of these companies are American. Zylight has some very nice robust LED lights with lot's of punch and very controllable. Lightweight and small in size, no fans and they don't get hot. I really like them. Fiilex also had some really nice fixtures, small and very versatile. Their largest light even had a hue control (green and magenta). Both of these companies lights are not inexpensive but appear to be very good. (It is very hard to judge light quality on a convention floor lit with giant sodium vapor lights)
I only looked at a couple of monitors but was impressed with the Small HD 7" OLED. The color was impressive and they claim it's good enough for on set color correction. You can create LUTs on it, save them and export them to the camera. It had tons of great control as well. Expensive!
There was a lot of cine glass (the usual suspects) being shown but I was surprised to see Tokina had some zoom lenses including their popular 11-16mm that has been rehoused from their still line by companies like Duclos Lenses. I own one of their rehoused versions and love it. I guess Tokina got the hint and they are now doing it themselves. And they are affordable. They also were showing a mid zoom and a long zoom.
I didn't find any must have gadgets that will make my life easier. I am always on the lookout for those. I did sign up for the GoPro discount they have offered every year at NAB... $100 off their latest camera. I'm a big GoPro fan. They are just fun!
A blowup soft box used on LED's caught my eye and I bought one.
Letus was showing some anamorphic adapters. I really love the look of anamorphic lenses and would love to be able to afford a set. That doesn't look like it will happen anytime in the near (or far) future. So these adapters could be a good option. The adapters can be used with still lenses from about 28mm to 85mm. They are tricky however in that pulling focus with the adapters on is limited. They are also quite heavy and will need rod support. They are about a $2500 investment.
The best part of my show was doing a motorcycle tour through the Valley of Fire on Saturday before the show floor opened. The highlight of the week!
Looking forward to other B rollers take on the show.
NAB this year was more fun because I wasn't looking for anything in particular and was fortunate to walk away without spending a small fortune. It's always good to see the trends and this year 4K cameras were everywhere, along with brushless gimbals in copter and handheld form. I don't want another camera. I already have a Red Epic which continues to serve me well and stays in the game on a head to head basis with Arri. Though Sony is making a go of it along with Canon it seems Red and Arri continue to hold the top spots when it comes to high end production. But the field of players continues to expand and saturate the market. And I wonder if the market can support so many players. I don't think so.
I had the opportunity to sit in with a small group of people to check out the new Panasonic Varicam 35. They are really getting to the large sensor party late, especially considering the price point they are showing (approx. $60K). I've long been a fan of Panasonic cameras. I especially like their coloremitry and form factor. They were receptive to input as the camera is still many months from release, but they'll have to really make it very attractive to lure those who already have invested heavily in other systems to make the jump.
Black Magic showed two new cameras. Personally I wouldn't drop any scratch with them. They have had so many problems with the original releases. Product support is just not good according to friends that own their cameras. Hot pixel problems, lost data and lots of waiting either for product or support. To me it is the low end of the large sensor camera market. That old saying “you get what you pay for†applies here. Even though they have a good reputation with their other products, cameras seem to have been poorly executed. Of course some beautiful production has been made with BM cameras, I'd still be wary.
I was very interested in the camera AJA showed on the floor. AJA has been making very good support products for a long time. Their KiPro line of recorders are very good. It seems they spent some time talking to people who actually use cameras for a living and tried to incorporate that experience into their CION (sounds like the name of a car). It fits on the shoulder very nicely, records internally to proprietary cards in many flavors of Prores and will record 4K to an external recorder. With a price point of $9000 (body only) I think it may be competition to the Red Scarlet.
The Digital Bolex camera seems to be a niche camera at an affordable price. Though not 4K it could be a useful little 16mm doc camera. I especially liked that they have released a black and white version. I see some cool projects being made with it.
I didn't have time to stop at JVC who were also showing new 4K cameras.
I stopped briefly at the Red booth but spent little time there just looking at a couple of the new accessories they've released. They are a year late in the Dragon upgrade announced at the last NAB. But my current Epic works like a charm and I can create some stunning images with it.
One of the difficulties in being a freelance owner/operator these days is with so many flavors of cameras and codecs it can become difficult when producers contact you and want to use the latest camera that they've heard about. This NAB show has added to that. I'm always happy to try and please the client and conform to what they want. But often these new systems are untested, or need ridiculous support added on to make it work in a way that is usable, or is incompatible with all the other gear you already have in your package. Beware... it's going to get worse!
Wireless video was something I was interested in looking at. There are a few systems available now that offer HD with virtually no latency. I looked at Teradeck and Paralinx. These are really nice products. They both offer systems with long range. I was looking for something simple. I just want to lose the BNC cable between the camera and the client monitor. But to do it for about $1000 is still too pricy for me. I'll live with the cable.
LCD lights were everywhere in every type of configuration you can imagine. A ton of Chinese companies offered everything you could want at great prices. But my experience so far with Chinese LED lights has been lots of green shift that seems to get worse over time. Two companies stood out to me at this show, and I can't say I saw everything out there (I only spent two days at the show). And both of these companies are American. Zylight has some very nice robust LED lights with lot's of punch and very controllable. Lightweight and small in size, no fans and they don't get hot. I really like them. Fiilex also had some really nice fixtures, small and very versatile. Their largest light even had a hue control (green and magenta). Both of these companies lights are not inexpensive but appear to be very good. (It is very hard to judge light quality on a convention floor lit with giant sodium vapor lights)
I only looked at a couple of monitors but was impressed with the Small HD 7" OLED. The color was impressive and they claim it's good enough for on set color correction. You can create LUTs on it, save them and export them to the camera. It had tons of great control as well. Expensive!
There was a lot of cine glass (the usual suspects) being shown but I was surprised to see Tokina had some zoom lenses including their popular 11-16mm that has been rehoused from their still line by companies like Duclos Lenses. I own one of their rehoused versions and love it. I guess Tokina got the hint and they are now doing it themselves. And they are affordable. They also were showing a mid zoom and a long zoom.
I didn't find any must have gadgets that will make my life easier. I am always on the lookout for those. I did sign up for the GoPro discount they have offered every year at NAB... $100 off their latest camera. I'm a big GoPro fan. They are just fun!
A blowup soft box used on LED's caught my eye and I bought one.
Letus was showing some anamorphic adapters. I really love the look of anamorphic lenses and would love to be able to afford a set. That doesn't look like it will happen anytime in the near (or far) future. So these adapters could be a good option. The adapters can be used with still lenses from about 28mm to 85mm. They are tricky however in that pulling focus with the adapters on is limited. They are also quite heavy and will need rod support. They are about a $2500 investment.
The best part of my show was doing a motorcycle tour through the Valley of Fire on Saturday before the show floor opened. The highlight of the week!
Looking forward to other B rollers take on the show.
