Answer to Sony's EX1?

[Paul Cook]

Just wondering if anyone has heard any whisperings of an answer to Sony’s EX1 from Canon?

It just seems to me that unlike sony, canon dont have a high end market to protect so theoretically they could release something priced around the EX1 that blows it out of the water.

Given what an upstart like RED can do, at the price they can do it and with the advancement of DSLR's in terms of FPS and canons massive experience in this field...arent we overdue for a merging of these markets and something truly revolutionary?

Or am I just dreaming here...

[Kevin Shaw]

Canon doesn't seem to leak much info until new products are ready for market, so all we can do for now is speculate. I suspect they're more likely to release a competitor to the Sony Z7U than the EX1, or maybe try to do something innovative using AVCHD. And don't be surprised if they take their time doing this - no sooner than this summer and possibly not even until next year.

[Bill Pryor]

I doubt they'll go with a 1/2" chip camera.

[Jonathan Shaw]

Out of interest why do you reckon they won't go 1/2" chip?

[Paul Cook]

Originally Posted by Kevin Shaw

or maybe try to do something innovative using AVCHD.

Yeah see that’s the other thing...it’s probably likely this will happen - but given most of the industry is moving to AVCHD or a similar mpeg4 medium, it wouldn’t really be that innovative.

See my issue is even at its highest rate of 24mbps - AVCHD is only marginally better than HDV. And as with HDV you really cant edit natively meaning transcoding to something more robust. Also as far as I understand it AVCHD is only 8bit 4:2:0 so the limiting factors are many.

So revolutionary to me would be 10bit 4:2:2 recording to CF or SDHC in say a cineform codec. Sure it would add an extra $300-400 to the camera but when your talking $8-10k anyway, its really insignificant.

Then the user has the option of a further cineform software purchase for editing or Cineform simply provides a free converter to convert the cineform codec to whatever flavor the user wants.

I guess my dream is something similar in power and latitude to the RED but with the advantages of a 'pro-point and shoot' and right now the only thing that comes close is the EX1.

Maybe that’s what Scarlet is for?

[Steven Thomas]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Shaw

Out of interest why do you reckon they won't go 1/2" chip?

My guess is they have no choice but to go 1/2" (or better ;) ).

Think about it, if someone never raised the game, we'd all be shooting 1/3" forever.
If they don't go 1/2" for their next round, I'm sure they will be by the following.

[Evan C. King]

I've heard something, think Z7 was what I was told...

[Richard Hunter]

Originally Posted by Evan C. King

I've heard something, think Z7 was what I was told...

Z7 is also from Sony, it is 1/3" CMOS x 3 and interchangeable lenses. Saw the product launch in Singapore last week. It records to HDV tape and Compact Flash simultaneously. A nice cam but I really wonder if Sony has a clear marketing strategy with EX1 and Z7 coming out so close together. Maybe they think that Canon isn't providing enough competition so they have to compete with themselves to make it more interesting?

Richard

[Jonathan Shaw]

I still think that Canon will release a 'XLH-2' in the near future which will have interchangble lenses and also bigger chipset, and record to solid state of some sort. I may be dreaming though!!!
It will be interesting to see what codec they would use. I have actually heard that a couple of stock footage sites have dropped DVCPro HD which I think is interesting.

Jon

[Giroud Francois]

Possibly some engineer will wake up one day and discover that 4:2:0 or even 4:2:2 are thing of the past.
Currently with digital compression, the is no reason to get any difference between luma and chroma, it is even counterproductive.
So we could see 3 sensor camera that finally encode each sensor the same way et deliver, even at SD resolution ,an amazing quality.
look at the CONTROVERSY paragraph in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_subsampling

[Kyle Prohaska]

Doesn't the H1/G1 thump the EX1 in certain ways anyways? If you use the HDSDI that is....

Canon lets their products stick around for a while I know that....they seem to really love the HDV format. I don't see them doing something tapeless for a while. They might but not if it puts the H1 in jeopardy since the price will be similar. That same thing goes with the G1 because something that could compete with the EX would be similar in price to the G1...so would they put that cam in trouble by releasing a 4th cam in their HD division right now? I dont think so but hey we can dream.

[Frederic Gittler]

Originally Posted by Evan C. King

I've heard something, think Z7 was what I was told...

The French magazine Camera Video & Multimedia published an interesting survey on the 2008 market offerings in the Pro Video section of the March 2008 issue. They interviewed most manufacturers and major professional distributors.

This survey includes a small interview of a Canon Europe Professional and Broadcast product manager who reportedly stated:

• "... our strategy is to go towards cards ... but the cost of media is still high ..."
• (on Express Card, SD and Compact Flash) "... we are going to keep the logic of the tape for part of 2008. We are waiting for the emergence of a recognized media ..."
• (on the Sony Z7) "Offering a small camcorder with interchangeable lenses is a revolution. ..."
• (on P2 and DVCPRO HD) "... Canon does not use proprietary formats, just universal formats. HDV is one, AVCHD is one too for consumers."

Of course, this is a liberal translation of what is reported by a magazine and is therefore subject to many interpretations. Overall, the statement certainly seems to be compatible with a future dual media (tape+card) prosumer camcorder.