Carl fresh from IBC, gives us his thoughts on the future.
2015’s International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) was the chance for many manufacturers to release new 4K products for the Indie and small post house market. And we are shopping for exactly this sort of camera so exploring the stands and trying the products was one of my main tasks! Cameras on our shopping list include Sony’s FS7 and new compact FS5, Canon’s new C300mk2, Panasonic’s DVX200 and Blackmagic’s new Ursa Mini 4.6 and 4K. Of course I approach cameras as an editor, Mark feeling left out had to make do with constant texts and phone calls from the stands.
Pairing any of these cameras with a Shogun external recorder will give us quick turnaround in the edit with native DNxHR recording of 4K so that ticks my primary concern in the work flow! So it is on to ergonomics. Display conditions don’t really give me a feel for image quality so I’m mainly looking at ease of use and layout. Straight away the Canon falls off the list in my eyes in this regard! The Sony FS5 is impressive but the clear winners are the Panasonic and Australia’s home grown Ursa Mini. Two very different cameras, the Panasonic’s fixed lens gives us a run and gun production camera with fast setup. The Ursa gives us sexy bokeh shots and specialist shots using our canon lenses – but slower to set up and requiring a lot of accessories. Ergonomically I like them both, with clear, crisp, large LCD viewfinders and well laid out controls. So let’s have both!!!
Well not quite – we’ll probably start with the DVX200 to replace our current production camera for 4K work and run and gun productions, following this up with purchase of the Ursa for those sexy shots, macro and long lens nature work. The sweetener with the Blackmagic gear is DaVinci Resolve, full version with every purchase. This is the industry standard in colour grading software and is rapidly gaining a reputation in the editing area too.
Next report – Drones! A feast of offerings on show, stay tuned!
Cheers, Carl
Carl at Atomos IBC stand.
Carl will be back next week where he will be thoroughly grilled by the image acquisition inquisition, check back soon to see his thoughts.
