DSLR talk back from RED founder Jim Jannard
Just last week, I was having a discussion with with a co-worker about video recording on the new breed of DSLRs, and mentioned that if RED doesn’t get it’s butt in gear, they could very well concede the prosumer market to the likes of Canon and Nikon. As more pro filmmakers start putting the DSLRs through stress tests, they’ve finding time and again that the results are much better than initially expected.
It’s not surprising that a similar discussion has been going on in the reduser forums, in which RED founder Jim Jannard spoke out againt DSLR video quality.
I fully expect the DSLR mfgs to get it right at some point. Make a non-line-skipping 4K camera. At that point, the difference will be RAW 5K and 6K vs. whatever they make. Until then, a line-skipping 1080P camera is just not in the running for a pro camera. Can you make OK images with a line-skipping 1080P camera? Sure. Should you be embarrassed? Yes. We are not in that business.
I saw the Canon commercial about shooting “motion stills”. They should be ashamed. Just try to take a still from their motion 1080P capture… [via Electronista]
He makes some good points, but there are two basic problems. One is that the quality of DSLR video is now well beyond the “OK” point. The comprehensive Zacuto DSLR HD shootout has shown that. The second is that there’s an order of magnitude in price difference, between the RED One and a quality DSLR video shooter. The RED One is in a totally different class, and price range, than your average HD video DSLR, starting at about $20,000 for the basic kit, but it’s aimed at professional film makers. Back in 2008 RED also announced the much more affordable Scarlet model, which would be priced at $4750, which brings it into DSLR territory, but that was in 2008. Though no hard date has been announced for the Scarlet, it will probably be early 2011.
That leaves a lot of time for those interested in quality HD video to look at much more inexpensive options. This isn’t to take anything away from the capabilities of the RED cameras, as even the lowest end Scarlet promises a a real digital cinema pipeline. At the same time, such an option is months away, and HD DSLRs are already producing results that go far beyond just “OK” quality.
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