Sony planning "affordable 4K" in '09

[Hrvoje Simic]

I sincerely doubt RED company will ever be for sale.

[PaulClements]

I have a feeling sony may have signed some kind of 2 or 3 year non-competition contract with panavision when they teamed up to build the genesis...

An interesting point, and one which might explain why they have not been too quick or vocal about a 4k camera. Perhaps once that contract is out of the way we might see Sony delivering a comparitive product with a comparitive price tag to the Red One.

[Chris Gearhart]

The article was written in 2006--thus the "early next year" datum.

[Ivan G]

I wanna see Sony on there f#*@$%*g knees when the RED is released! They know they control the HD "PRO" industry and it makes me sick to have to wait for them to make a move before anyone else does. Well, not this time. :ranting2:

[Andrew M.]

Sony is in legacy broadcast equipment business here.
I will not consider them pro in the cinematography equipment.
As a well structured company it is difficult for them to respond to a sadden technology changes and not for sure to the revolution going on. They are like big ship on the ocean and RED is like a speed boat making circle around them. Said that, there is nothing wrong with a legacy equipment manufacture to buy new small good companies.

[JohnF]

I have to say that in the past, from a video point of view, Sony used to be a great company making good reliable products.

Alas, in my opinion, this is no longer the case as they have applied the market fragmentaion model to their product range leaving a set of "not quite right products" which as a cameraman I would not be happy using.

Another side is that Sony display an incredible arrogance of recent, dismissing alot of cameramens wants, which I think is unfortunate for them as alot of formerly loyal Sony users are now moving away from them.

I'll give an example, last year when discussing HD options with Sony I expressed my want and need for a 35mm imaging chip, which as you all know would give me a versitile set of lens and shooting options, I asked if this was coming along in the near future and the Sony staff then went on to say "I didn't want a 35mm chip" I stated that I did for many reasons and that DOF was very important to me and they repeated that I didn't want a 35mm chip (they even said "No you don't.").
This discussion almost ended in an argument when the Sony representative, when asked if they will be reducing the size of the portable SR deck, told me I didn't want a smaller deck as I would want large (bulky) equipment to intimidate actors on set (like a large 35mm camera+magazine). I mentioned that without a 35mm chip that was a pointless argument. (and frankly stupid)

I left this meeting very dissapointed and quite shocked that a formerly okay company was now acting so stupidly. And as result my thoughts moved to the far more practical(price vs features) Panasonic cameras but once and for all confirmed my feeling that RED looked like the best option for the future.

JohnF

[Jeremy Torrie]

I have had similar arugments with Sony over the years. If I add up all the money I've spent on Sony pro gear since say 1997, the amount is around $500,000 CDN. Now that sounds like a lot of cash, and I believe it is. Did I ever get a thank you? Nope. A coffee mug? Nope. Have them listen to my professional opinion? I think you know. I have always pushed them about improving their technology and they simply state the numbers...we have x number of units in the marketplace and they don't seem to mind...what this speaks of is the inability to think intelligently and innovate, which is what Jannard's team is doing.

Now say what you want about the cost of their gear; It is the de facto standard around the world, and yes the Red NAB show will have a Sony 4K projector. But the point is, what do people master to? In SD it is Digi Beta, and in HD its HDCam or HDSR, or D5 and that's driven by broadcasters such as NBC and HDNet and so on who require certain broadcast standards, and that isn't likely to change.

So regardless of what format or camera we shoot on, invariably we're going to need some kind of Sony VTR to master to, and those machines aren't that cheap. It's a sad reality.

[Finner]

Doesnt matter if the genesis' max is 1080. The fact that its 1080 spread over a 35mm sensor means alot. Less noise, wider range, tone, and a sharper picture. The bottomline is, i would MUCH rather work with 1080 from a full frame sensor than 4K from a 2/3 inch sensor.

When it comes to sensors, bigger is better, regardless of resoloution (to a point). When you have larger photosites sampling a much larger imaging diameter from a lens, resoloution becomes the least important factor in the image quality equation.

4K is perfect for a s35 sensor. Not for 2/3.

I don't disagree with you for a second that a cameras sensor is the heart of a camera. A sensor is just the first step in the process of aquiring a great image. Size is great but if a camera does not preform well after the sensor it will not put out as good of an image as the sensor see's. Not much unlike a car engine, sure in basic theory the biggest engine should make the fastest car but things are a little more complex then that. It seems to me like every camera company I have spoke with will use some stat to prove why their camera is superior. For me the proof is in the image. In the past I used to jump on stats but found from time to time I was suprised with a camera that seemed to have lesser stats but performed much better (panasonic vs sony). So I have begun to no longer make any judgements on a camera until I have the chance to test it. This sony will more then likely put out amazing images and at the price it better.

I am very glad I have a RED on the way as its concept seems to make the most sense to me when building a camera. None of this is any kind of argument against the red camera all I am saying is that there is a lot more to a camera then just its sensor.

[Graeme Nattress]

I think the key thing in building a camera is a sense of aesthetic, and a goal to produce beautiful images, not just technically correct images.

Graeme

[Tom Lowe]

Whichever Red user picks up the first Oscar for best cinematography should quote Graeme on that. ;)