Another new camera (June release) @ Sony

don patterson

don patterson

I am following cameras (and technology behind those cameras) closely these days. Still stuck with using my (mint) 3 1998/99 DVcam pro cameras for another five months (maybe longer) on 4 upcoming projects (for direct to DVD marketing -- docs not narrative -- projects with a ready market). I think SD will work fine on these projects. Hope so anyway.

A fellow IndieTalk member recommended I check out this camera yesterday. I did.

Sony is now promoting their new (e.g. VIMEO footage) NEX-FS700. Won't go into details, you can explore what Sony is offering on the following URLs (with approx. price).

Heard some problems are cropping up with the newly released Canon EOS C300 (the cost is way out there -- PL, cine glass is mucho expensive)...

Was leaning towards the EX-3 but the NEX-FS700 while priced at same dollar amount, sure sounds and looks more like something I may want to invest in when I start narrative projects late fall 2012... of course there will be a new camera out there 'then'...

What do you think of the new (e.g. B&H) NEX-FS700?

There are more URLs and info cropping up every day on this yet-to-be-released camera... check out Yahoo or Google it.
 
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It looks like a great camera for sure. I'm going to see some demos and get aome hands on next week, but I can tell you that it's a way better way to go than an EX3.

EX3's are good video cameras, but they're old now. Not cutting edge. The new Sony is also a cinema camera. Big sensor, shallow DOF, better low light performance and a multitude of resolutions at some impressive frame rates.

It's going to give Canon and Red a run for their money in the under $30k category for sure.
 
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Excuse my brain bubbling out of my ears...

When I look at the new cameras (and technology) coming out... the COST of creating 'quality' imagery (and audio) in story-telling is dropping. e.g. The NEX-FS700 (barely affordable @ $9,000.00 with glass for most no-budget, indie film-makers), EOS C300 (out of my price range @ $16,000.00 without glass -- think it is out of most low/no budget, film-makers price range too), and the RED or SCARLET (with all the needed bells and whistles...), I wonder. BUT STILL... the price for quality image and audio recording is dropping (I remember buying seconds on 16mm film in the 60's -- that was expensive).

Not even going to spill words on DSLRs, other than to say, seen some mighty impressive footage done with 5D and 7D Canon's.

ADD to that...

There is so much talent on so many levels (in front and behind the camera) surfacing from so many locations around the globe (I see it on these threads, on Vimeo, etc.). Such a desire to make 'something' by so many people (with limited funds and/or without capital). I'm in awe at how technology for 'unknown-creative' people is surfacing and expanding -- enabling so many to compete with the 'Hollywood' big boys (with price-dropping visual and audio equipment).

I may not have a winner or ever get funded on Kickstarter or Amazon Studios or IndieGoGo or whatever -- but to see some of those revenue and funding creating concepts develop (although they do take their % don't they) and grow, to view others obtain financing and in some cases succeed -- really makes me optimistic.

The question is... with the dropping price of cameras, computers, editing software, etc. be able to over come the content that viewing audiences will expect ? Will those in POWER within the film industry ever open up to those 'new creative forces' underfoot, trying to get their 'low budget' productions heard and seen? Will there just be a token 'number' set up on a pedestal for the continued marketing of new cameras, computers, editing software (keeping that 'American' drive/concept/dream alive)?

Is it only about money? Or is it about vision (story-telling) that sells (because people want to experience something new outside of their realm of daily experiences)?

Evolution is a fun ride... isn't it?

Not even worth two cents...
 
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Interesting thoughts and questions, Don.

Regarding the first part: Amen.

The second part: I'd have to guess that, yes, it's about money. I would have to think that the bigwigs in Hollywood must see the democratization of filmmaking and those minor league filmmakers as competition, not as friends. And on that end of things, consider how the cost of those high end films keeps rising to ever more incredible heights. The amount of money needed just to properly market one of those films...wow.

Just 2¢.
 
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I'm not sure I buy the underlying premise that it was (and is) the lack of affordable High Quality camera that keeps indies from competing with Hollywood. How much of a production budget is just the cost of a camera? At the indie levels its high percentage I guess, but add a few explosions a car chase and an A list actor and the camera becomes one of the lesser expenses...
 
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wheatgrinder said:
I'm not sure I buy the underlying premise that it was (and is) the lack of affordable High Quality camera that keeps indies from competing with Hollywood. How much of a production budget is just the cost of a camera? At the indie levels its high percentage I guess, but add a few explosions a car chase and an A list actor and the camera becomes one of the lesser expenses...
Click to expand...

This.

Compared to A-list talent, the camera body cost doesn't even register on the page.

Heck, the production cost of 1 shot can exceed the cost of the camera by several orders of magnitude, even with cameras that cost 6 figures.

Just depends on what's happening in frame, and who's in there.
 
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Heheh. I've been wondering how much thought someone like Steven Spielberg gives to the cameras used in his films. Oh, I'm sure he's familiar with them and is keen to work with good ones and all that. Especially after seeing that great JP behind-the-scenes video Chillipie posted! He may be a real gear head indeed. But I sorta doubt that he "stresses" over them as much as we guppies do. Well, I guess he doesn't need to. He has his DP and the rest to do that for him. Not missing the fact that the primary interest of some folks on here is the photography. Of course in that case it makes perfect sense to "stress" over the cameras. Not knocking it. =)
 
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All these new cameras are great - I really like the FS700, and am very interested in the new Blackmagic Cinema Camera as well - and I feel like this has to be the most exciting time ever to be alive in terms of the technology becoming available to filmmakers at all levels.

However, I agree with several of the other posters - better cameras are great but they don't change things that significantly in terms of the ability for indies to compete with the big studios in their current areas of dominance. Give every indie filmmaker the best camera ever made and they'll still struggle to compete theatrically because of all the other things that are required for a successful production.

I think the internet, and what it enables in terms of distribution and audience reach will prove to be far, far more significant.

Francis Ford Coppola famously said “Suddenly one day some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart… and make a beautiful film with her father’s little camera-corder, and for once this whole professionalism about movies will be destroyed forever and it will become an art form.”

I doubt at the time he said that he could even imagine something like youtube. And also I don't think he could have imagined that suddenly one day that little girl would sit in front of her own webcam and make makeup tutorials that were watched by millions worldwide. Or that that little girl wouldn't be just one little girl, but thousands, or millions, all doing something different for an audience of their own.

"But wait," you say, "that's not filmmaking, and that's certainly not art!" Except that it is, in it's own way, and it's not, in a way that is much more significant. The fact is the ability to produce and broadcast anything, instantly, worldwide - available to nearly anyone - is breaking down the narrow boundaries of filmmaking as something that involves making feature films for theatrical release or television broadcast. And in this new world it's the studios that are having trouble competing for the most valuable asset of all - attention. Their massive resources, their size, their overhead, can't scale down to support themselves on the same level as an individual producer.

Unfortunately, I think sometimes the hardest thing for indie filmmakers to do right now is look away from the chase of playing at the studios game and see that they have the opportunity to make their own game, with their own rules.

And yeah - the ability to shoot full 1080p at 240fps in camera for under $10k kicks some serious ass.
 
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