Canon has a $16,000 one and Panasonic a $6,000 one. Cameras cost money. A $1000 camera isn't considered a "indie filmmaker" camera, it's high end consumer. You gotta remember that until the recent major adoption of the Epic, reds were mostly considered "indie filmmaker" cameras. If canon released something at that price point, it probably wouldn't be worth the $1000, or would lose them a lot of money in development.
I understand that that's the way things
are, I'm asking why can't they be different? Why can't they offer a camcorder that does those things for $1000. And it's hardly like they're going to lose money on development, since the technology currently exists in the DSLR's already on the market. They could take that technology, omit all the bells and whistles that cater toward still photography, and come up with a camcorder for filmmakers.
What's the list of things it would need?
-Use of 35mm lenses
-Ability to shoot 1080p at various frame rates from 24 to 60
-HDMI out
-XLR input(s)
-Weighted and shaped like a traditional camcorder
-Use of SD card, et al...
They could use the same type of sensors and other internal parts as in the DSLR's. If the T3i can be priced out at $800 new, there's NO reason they couldn't make some adjustments to produce a camcorder with everything listed above for around $1000.
You say a $1000 camera isn't an "indie filmmaker" camera. Why? Just because it costs $1000? According to that logic, unless I'm using a $6000 camera, I'm not an indie filmmaker, I'm just a consumer that makes movies? Sorry, but that sounds pretentious and elitist to me. I mean, they used a 7D for films like
Black Swan,
127 Hours, and
Red State. They use it for TV shows like "House" and "Wilfred." And those are hardly "consumer" grade productions.
The single biggest reason they charge so much more for "professional" grade cameras is because they know the market will bear it. So many filmmakers (apparently like you) are so used to paying crazy high prices for cameras, that $5000 is considered relatively inexpensive. But for someone like me that has no need, nor the means, to buy a camera that expensive, a $1000, or even a $1200 option would be perfect. And I would imagine there's a LOT more people out there like me that would rather have a lower priced option, than there are professionals who have no problem spending high dollar amounts on a camera... But then, that's just my opinion.
