Blackmagic Shows How It's Done

Blackmagic, a company of which I knew nothing until this morning, has dropped an absolute BOMB onto the world of video production. There is no way to say this without sounding like hyperbole, but the entire video production industry, both pro and amateur, has just been turned on its head. This is bigger than the release of the 5D Mark II. This is a paradigm shift.

How can I possibly justify the exaltation? Well just look at what this is. It is a camera, capable of true 2.5K resolution, with a global shutter, a gargantuan dynamic range, and connectivity and design aimed squarely at the professional... for $3,000. It leaves everyone else at that price so far behind as to make them seem like toys. Even cameras that cost two, three, four times as much do not have what this camera has.

After Canon disappointed with its arrogant and cynical creation of its Cinema cameras, I had grown despondent at the thought that the next few years of video cameras were going to be stagnant, held down by corporate arrogance and greed.

But no. I should have had confidence. Like so many areas in the world of technology, a company comes out of nowhere to drive innovation forward, and drive the stagnant, grotesque, old guard out of business. It is a revolution.

I think that Panasonic could have been this revolution with their GH2 and FS100, but like so many big companies, they didn't just drop the ball, they actively chose to not even pick it up. For amateur video, the GH2 remains my hands-down favorite, but for a step up, ignore everything that Canon is making. Ignore RED. Ignore Sony. This is your camera.

As EOS-HD posted a few days ago,

This camera will be hot… It will sell out instantly. It will get hyped to death.

Boy, will it.