The way camera (video and digital photo) companies are pushing megapixels, it reminds me of computer companies promoting a PC's megahertz and gigahertz in the late 1990s.

heath

Very true, but I think it will be a long time before you can get a consumer-level camera shooting 4k... It's like the Sanyo $150 HD cameras...

When cameras were gaining in megapixels, typically the more megapixels it had, the better the camera was, True DSLRs were the ones with 6-8-10mega pixels. Only until recently have consumer cameras with high mega-pixels...

I have a Panasonic DMC-FZ7 ($250 point/shoot)... 6 mega-pixels... and Nikon D100 ($2000 DSLR)... 6 mega-pixels... There absolutely no comparison, and there shouldn't be.

UHD is going to be made for cinema, there will be cinema-style cameras for that resolution before it is even considered for consumer cameras.

Well, you can't say the Sanyo compares even to the V1u, though I'll take a pro shooter on the Sanyo than a wannabe with the V1u in full automatic and horrible framing.

I've seen too many times to count.

heath

Just like my panasonic doesn't compare to the Nikon ;)

It shouldn't, they're different markets. People who are in the professional market understand the difference and that's what matters in my opinion.

umm let's see, DVD's are the majority stil. Now bluray will take a few years to catch on with everyone. Most people are learning what 1080P is, a few know of 2k,
Only filmmakers really know about 4k. Then this, i guess they decided to jump 15 years, someone must of stole the "Renders Obsolescene obsolete" slogan

There are plenty of uses for 2k and 4k industrial cameras besides film making, which I doubt is the driving force behind development of 4k systems. There is a market in industrial and medical imaging that is willing to pay far more than a sole indie film maker on whole systems based around 12MP video-imaging systems.

4k is coming, regardless of support from film makers. And then, the next great thing.

To a manufacturer, it's all about demand and ROI. The market exists; the technology cheapens and improves, so sure as heck there'll be more options than just RED soon enough. As it stands, the RED is impressive in how it can deliver high FPS for such a high-resolution sensor. Other manufacturers will catch up and the price will go down, and all the while, higher resolution sensors will be made.

In a few years just think, it won't be uncommon for us Joes to have access to: 12MP sensor capable of 60fps, Gig-E cable to computer or portable box for control, universal/interchangeable lens mount., and high-speed storage. Voila. But why? ;)

That all said, the digital film community sees 4k as an evoluntionary step. Sony is working on all the parts in their theatre cinema 4k line: 4k camera > 4k blu-ray disc > 4k projectors. Replacing film projectors at movie theatres will be 4k.

good points and agreed. The way technology is going, i can imagine a 4k handycam as a "consumer cam", but it'll take a few more years.

4k projection is gonna hit hard especially with sony and red coming out with 4k systems at NAB, and dont forget the 2k scarlet. Exciting times ahead indeed.

"And with the increasing pace of the expansion of technology, EVERYTHING is an intermediate solution."

lol...I think this is the greatest thing I've read in a while...I'm gonna use it to make me look wise...

:D

Hi there Chris, I see you're in my neck of the woods, welcome to the forum.

Where did you find out the scarlet is going to be 2k?

Red registered a Scarlet 2K domain name. It's not proof, but it's a fairly strong lead.

Clever, thanks.

Theres quite a few clever lads using their 1080i footage for sizing down, cropping , rotating and all the other creative things that it allows them to do when they drop a big file into a small project window.
I suppose for the forseeable future thats where the real benefits will come into play for this 2k and 4k etc.footage when dropped into the 1080 projects -
Thats the only real world application that I can see this technology benefitting me with, at any stage in the future.

That kind of pixel size for home distribution is meaningless. You'd have to have a theater sized monitor to appreciate the advantage of enhanced resolution. Even the 1080 HD doesn't give you more appreciable resolution than SD on a small screen (the kind I and many other people have at home).