OK the headline is misleading for SEO stuffing or giggles or maybe both but surely you knew already why the GH2 camera is not going to NAB. Well maybe it will be on one stand in a far flung corner like a museum piece worshiped by those not fully understanding the B in NAB.
Now let us talk about the unicorn in the viewfinder: Sony. This is not stepping on any toes or smearing the fresh ink on any NDA signed. Just a straight up join the dots and some smoke and mirrors to guess what is coming from Sony in the way of new cameras.
Have Sony gone out and captured a wild unicorn? Are we going to see a jaw dropping camera on April the second released by Sony? Chatter on Twitter and on one or more Blog points to one camera being announced from Sony on Tuesday the 2nd of April followed by another later in the week. Interest and most talk is on the April 2nd camera announcement from Sony.
This is where we look at the horn on that unicorn to see how real it is. Sony posted a 2.9 Billion dollar loss back in February and that has got to hurt. Heads will roll and corporate restructure the hell out of that I hear you cry out from your arm chair. Well don’t worry that corporate restructure thingy happened already.
Yeah nice but what’s that got to do with a new camera from Sony? When you read article headlines that say TROUBLED LEGACY, and PAINFUL DECISIONS coupled with “innovative flair,” “inventors of the Walkman, and Playstation” doesn’t that immediately scream hey double down, Sony double down.
Crystal ball gazing and SEO stuffing what if Sony pinned the horn on that horse and it really did turn out to be the unicorn so many cameramen have been searching for. Well to do that Sony have to pack a lot into a camera at a price that appeals. OK going off current talk, the camera will have an FS in its title let’s say that Sony see Canon with the C300 as their target camera to kill. Sony puts ARRI Alexa punch in a form factor that pleases and is shoot, edit, broadcast ready. What if Sony saw the RED Scarlet as the camera to kill when it was splashed about as the 3k for 3k Soccer Mum camera. Again slide a gazillion features into a form factor that makes you tug your Mummies skirt and beg please can I have one. If it was built to go toe to toe with the RED Scarlet then Sony would need to go 2K, 3K maybe even 4K camera mongrel to get a good bite on that baby EPIC.
To tackle both Canon C300 and RED Scarlet cameras the Sony Unicorn camera needs to shave dollars off the sticker price. So not $16,000 but maybe $12,000 or better even $10,000 would ease the Sony Unicorn into your hands.
But wait you said 2.9 Billion dollar hole to fill. What if Sony did that unicorn camera at a sub $10,000 mark. But you said cracker 1080p like the ARRI Alexa, yes. But you said 2K, 3K or 4K, yes, yes we did. Oh course we are guessing and speculating. How dare we.
Well let’s dare again, this time with a name for the Sony April 2nd unicorn camera. If FS100 camera owners are told to wait for the much anticipated firmware upgrade again till April 19th now then let’s say the Sony April 2nd camera will be called the Sony FS150, FS170, FS200… Really!!! Go big again to say FS300, or maybe FS400 or FS700. But Canon have an FS400, so they have an FS100 too. Alright go deeper in the names then what about FS2, FS3, or shock horror Sony FS4. Maybe it is not an FS and it’s a PMW… Alright stop with the names and SEO word parking.
But what about glass? We are not going to talk about E-Mount, EF Mount or PL Mount.
But what about the Sony PMW F3 camera or the FS100 sales… That’s a debate for forums to knuckle out.
So why would Sony go hard and fast with gob smacking features and a crunched down price from what may have been a $20,000+ camera a few months ago? To get out of that 2.9 billion hole? Maybe. Or maybe they just need you to come to LA and use that Sony Digital Motion Picture Center that opens May 1.
Or maybe just maybe Sony is all about a 4K roadmap and along with the 4k projector and that Sony 4K TV the April 2nd camera could be a big sensor big resolution big output small form factor captured unicorn. After all Sony did just announce the next generation Playstation the Sony PS4 “Orbis” will support 4K Resolution Games. Sony are showing they are committed to going hard on 4K, so 4K could be coming to a small form Sony camera as early as April 2nd, or maybe a really good 1080p… Or are we just guessing?
Oh almost forgot we know one shooter has been testing a Sony camera that packs a punch. He doesn’t know we know but we do and it’s not the workshop guy you are thinking about, it’s that other guy. Or did we just guess again?