Now is the best time ever to buy a camera. It is also the worst time ever to buy a camera. Read this entry for a quick glimpse of what’s going on…
A quick history lesson/glimpse prior to the official perspective:
Let’s rewind the clock about ten years. In 2003, HDV format wasn’t even commercially available yet. Everything was standard def miniDV or DVCam and the biggest thing on the market was Panasonic’s DVX100 because it had 24p framerate emulation. Right around that time (maybe a year or two later), the Panasonic Varicam was released and absolutely dominated the market. 1080p shooting! 4:2:2 color space! Holy crap!!! The top of the line 1080p camera was a steal at around $80K to $100K depending on what lenses you wanted for it. Shortly after that, the HDV cameras emerged for prosumer purchase.
Fast forward a bit more (maybe like 2006 or 2007), the Panasonic HVX200 came out and we were introduced to p2 cards and 60fps shooting at 720p for around $6K to $8K. Neato!
In 2007, RED Digital Cinema announced it’s plans to release a 4K resolution camera that shoots raw for under $30K. What?! No way. It’s a scam. It can’t be done. One year later, the camera is officially produced and released into the wild – almost instantly starting a legacy of Hollywood feature films being shot on it.
In 2009 or so, the DSLR industry stumbled upon the ability to shoot video. This was an accident but a fortunate one. No more 35mm lens adapters or the resulting light loss from them. We can get that look without paying a fortune?! Jackpot! Now anyone with $500 to their name can be a filmmaker. The market is subsequently flooded and nobody knows what the hell to do about it. The DSLR cameras (still primarily designed as still photography cameras) have issues with record times, overheating/shutdown, growing pains with audio recording – but it’s a good start.
In 2011, the camera industry slowly started to notice that RED and 4K aren’t going away so the large camera companies (Canon, Sony, Arri, Panasonic, etc) start announcing and making their own 4k cameras. It’s about time. RED welcomes the competition and knows that in the end, it’s good for the industry. Meanwhile, the DSLR video revolution is progressing rapidly – solving many of the issues it had originally – model after model is being released and it’s clear that they’re hear to stay. In step the 3rd party manufacturers to build accessories and rigs for all of the DSLR shooters to make them into “real” camera rigs – better suited for cinema-style shooting.
Present time – 2013 – RED has been shooting 4K for 5 years, has updated to 5K and is now releasing it’s 6K RED Dragon sensor. Canon has several models of 4K cameras and has some extremely impressive sensor technology unlike any other at the moment (great images at very high ISOs). Vision Research releases the PhantomFlex4K camera – the first 4K camera to shoot 1,000 fps. The Arri Alexa 4K is in sights – as are 4K prosumer cameras from many major manufacturers including the GoPro Hero 3 which doesn’t shoot 4K at real-time but can do 10fps timelapse footage at 4k resolution and of course, Black Magic Design’s 4K camera priced at $4K – a great advertising strategy too (4k resolution for $4k).
So what’s the point of all this? Who cares? It’s the perspective as where things are heading… In 2012 when Black Magic Design released their 2.5K resolution camera for about $3,500 or $4K – people asked me what I thought about it. Their minds were blown. I had already owned the RED One camera for several years at that point and had been shooting 4K since 2008. My reply was simple, “I’d probably wait a year or two until they release their 4K model and just use DSLR until then”. I saw it coming a mile away… One year later, Black Magic Design unveiled their 4k camera at NAB 2013.
Similarly, it was less the four months after Canon released their $16K 1080p camera – the C300, that they announced their 4k resolution camera the C500. Well, ain’t that a bitch? At least for people that plunked down $16K for a 1080p camera that was almost immediately obsolete.
This ties in very nicely with some of the point in my blog entry about Renting Gear vs Buying Gear. Are you familiar with Moore’s Law? It’s been around for decades so definitely check it out. It’s very relevant to this technological revolution that’s happening around us.
When cameras are outdated in a matter of months, it is a horrible time to buy. Conversely, it has never been such a good time buy a camera because the quality of technology is incredible – even at the consumer/prosumer entry level.
Let’s wrap this up with a quick perspective and review of what was presented here: Ten years ago, $80K to $100K would buy you the same quality imaging that $500 or less will buy you today. The 4K resolution revolution is upon us and I can pretty much guarantee that this is what we can expect to see again with the entry level cameras… Give it about five to ten years (maybe less) before almost all entry level DSLR cameras will be sporting 4K resolution, potentially raw format shooting for the video, and high frame rate at the 4K between 60fps and 120fps.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at what the top of the line DSLR that Canon had to offer in 2005 – the Canon 1D mII which probably ran around $6K to $8K at the time. It was the best of the best. It boasted a massive 8.2 megapixel sensor – shooting RAW format and no video. Fast forward less than 10 years later to 2011 to check out the entry level Canon Rebel t3i for less than $1K boasting an 18 megapixel sensor – shooting RAW format with 1080p video and 720p – 60fps. *Note – the Canon t3i can now be bought for about $500.
With that in mind, make your purchases wisely. Do your research. And remember – the items that retain it’s value longer than anything else in this industry is not camera bodies – but the lenses we put on them. Best of luck and happy shooting!