Video of Philip Bloom giving his opinion on the dslr revolution, taken off youtube
Guys like Philip Bloom(above) and Vincent LaForet(amongst others) have made the revolution even more worth taking note of. Apple's premiere editing brand; Final Cut has come out with it's latest version; Final Cut Pro X. This new NLE has come with features that cater more towards home-based filmmakers with dslrs hoping to make it big on youtube, with idiot-proof functions such as h.264 rendering and direct export to youtube among many of it's amazing features. Companies such as Zacuto have furthered the interest in providing rigs made for dslr filmmaking. On the other end, companies producing quality video specialized cameras are forced to tone down on their pricing and provide us with more full frame sensors and mounts supporting the tempting idea to interchange lenses.
Oh how amazing all these seem. Yet, these companies churning out video dslrs like Canon and Nikon took awhile to capitalize on this accidental stumble, upon a new market. It took awhile for Sony's dslr line to churn out it's first top-draw video dslr, the Sony Alpha A77. Canon and Nikon both didn't intend for it's hdslr to attract filmmakers and thus didn't fully design a camera for that specific purpose yet(although rumors are on the way).
Sooner or later, the revolution will just be a passing phase as:
1) Video cameras are integrating attractive features of dslrs into their system without the cons of dslrs...at a relatively cheaper price than before.
2) Higher resolution playback discs appearing on the market e.g. Blu ray & HD DVD which will make dslrs native compressed video codecs look like it only belongs to DVD.
3) Higher accumulated cost of a dslr production(rigs, data recorders, audio gadgets etc) vs a video camera with a slightly higher cost than dslr but has near lossless codec, manual audio controls and no need to buy unnecessary rigs etc.
4) HDSLR makers hesitant in continuing the footsteps of these great filmmaking dslrs(technology is moving fast, sooner or later, dslrs will just be obsolete)
5) People buying dslrs will grow, clients will charge less for freelancers either because they now have the know-how's to make a video or that freelancers not knowing market rates will under charge, with clients giving them less money to continue spending. More frustration
6) The advent of 3D, Motion graphics, Animation is making more mainstream waves. It is cheaper to buy a single software to create endless creations.
The moral of the story is, that if dslrs don't step up, i think all these factors will hurt the revolution more than it can take. Resulting in collateral damage to dslrs then to video cameras that is unreversible. DSLRs have monopolized filmmaking but is choking the art by not moving forward fast enough. My senses tell me that it is going to fade-out, but then again. that's just an opinion.
Fadly.M.H.Wychowvski©
