The Canon EOS C300 cinema camera recently made history when it was used to shoot “Departure Date,” the first movie almost entirely shot on airliners in flight. The 24-minute short film was shot over 9 days across 3 continents covering 28,000 miles while flying at 35,000 feet on planes carrying real passengers.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster…
Somehow though, they made it work and the film premiered at the L.A. Film Festival on June 17, 2012.
The Apertus Axiom Camera is an open source project that looks to produce a 4K camera with a Super 35 sensor, Cinema DNG files, 150fps at 4K, a global shutter and 15 stops of dynamic range.
The plan is to launch a Kickstarter campaign in the fall to crowdfund the project at a target price “well below $10,000.”
If this camera actually comes to market with those features and price range, it stands to further disrupt the pro video market. Sony’s FS700 really stirred the pot when it was introduced as an $8,000 camera that will (at some undetermined point in the future) shoot 4K footage and capture high frame rate footage (something it will actually do now) in full 1080p HD.
Of course, performance, reliability and support are key components that the Axiom will need in order to become a real player in the market.
Head over to No Film School for a more detailed analysis of what this camera could mean.
B&H has the Blackmagic Cinema Camera available for pre-order now. This camera was the big surprise of NAB 2012 and stole quite a bit of attention from the several mainstream camera makers. Everywhere I went, people were asking “Have you seen Blackmagic’s camera?”
The initial excitement over this camera reminds me of the 5D Mark II release back in 2008. The $3k price for a camera that shoots RAW video on an SSD drive, and uses Canon EF mount lenses is quite remarkable.
Word on the street is that the Sony FS100 will get a firmware update soon that will add aspect ratio options for 2.35:1 Cinemascope, 1.85:1 35mm theatrical and 1.66:1 Super 16mm. Additional improvements are expected to include 4x and 8x expanded focus settings. [click to continue…]
