Brands Scorecard 2013

[Bamboopictures]

Its Q4 2013, and 5 years since Nikon put video recording into their D90.
Canon, Panasonic, Sony, Olympus, JVC, and Blackmagic have claimed their stake in the large sensor space with their offerings.
Each have at times led or lagged along the way.
Who do you feel is in the lead right now in terms of feature set, video quality and value for money in the video department?
No flaming please

 

[Deunamist]

I have not used Olympus, JVC and Blackmagic to shoot video.. but for what I do (mostly sports highlights and corporate), Panasonic's higher end M4/3 (GH2, GH3) cameras are versatile enough.

 

[Bamboopictures]

And yet they pulled the plug on the AF100 while the competitors introduced entire line of dedicated video cameras.

 

[XsenseX]

Are you referring to the pro-sumer market or the professional market?

For Pro-sumer, i think its a fight between Panasonic GH3 and Sony in 2013. Canon is still the same, 'saved' by the 5D3 raw hack to maintain their position ... Nikon, JVC and Olympus are still not in the picture ...

For the Professional (lower end) market, i think its quite a good fight between Blackmagic BMCC 2K & 4K vs Canon's C100, C300, C500. Maybe Sony's FS700 sneaking in due to their super slow-mo ...

Its clear that bigger resolution doesn't mean its better. Clips from C100 can easily match BMCC 2K if you are outputting to FullHD.

Its becoming clear that the Blackmagic Pocket Camera isn't as awesome as it looked so the $1.5-3.5k range is still up for grabs.

 

[Bamboopictures]

Just playing devil's advocate. I would regard subSGD10,000 as pro-sumer.
I wouldn't write off Nikon (Very good DR on the D800 if you can overlook the other inconveniences)
JVC has a crazy idea of a camcorder with F mount but impossibly priced
Olympus, in NTSC land, is still viable , best in class stabiliser on any DSLR.
Sony: great bodies done in by their limited E mount offerings.

 

[Bamboopictures]

Call me biased. Sony killed it in 2013.

 

[Deunamist]

had some close-up experience with the BMCC a few days ago. workflow is expensive!

and yes I think Sony is making all the right moves. Canon is asleep.

 

[Bamboopictures]

Two more months before Christmas. Go ahead and surprise us, Canon.
Doesn't take much, slash the C100 to $3000. Fair?

 

[XsenseX]

Two more months before Christmas. Go ahead and surprise us, Canon.
Doesn't take much, slash the C100 to $3000. Fair?

I would grab one for USD$3k. The workflow we are all used too + high quality footage for FullHD shots makes it a brainless decision if its under USD$3k.

4K will consume you in every aspect ... Money, time and mental ... Let it grow for another 1-2 years and once a top-end iMac or Macbook Pro can handled it without all the hassle, we can start looking into it as an option.

For now, 4k remains more for high-end corporate work or Commercial Films.