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Brainstorm a future $3,000 Samsung cinema camera!


IronFilm
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http://www.eoshd.com/2015/11/official-statement-samsung-withdraws-from-camera-market-in-germany/

This is a shame because the NX1 and NX500 are best in class for video performance and features, in some ways for stills too. Perhaps Samsung should consider building a professional $3000 cinema camera based around the Super 35mm sensor in the NX1 which plays on their astounding technological strengths

Andrew suggested Samsung should make a cinema camera, and thought that is such a great idea it deserves its own thread. (waves to Samsung reps! Hopes they're reading....  one can but hope!)

I don't think it would take much more to get there (well.... it would be a significant sized project for Samsung for sure, but easily well within their grasp to pull off). 

All they need to do is increase the size of the NX1 body the minimum amount needed so it can do this (perhaps C100/C300 shape/size? Although, I'd much much rather have the ergonomics of an FS5/FS7! But even if, g-d forbid, it has the shape of an FS100/FS700 then I'd still be "ok" with that that!):

  1. Make space for dual mSATA slots, perhaps mSATA already in their own simple plastic casing like what Atomos does with SSDs (I think Sound Devices made a good choice going mSATA on their small PIX-E5 recorder, and in a small camera it makes even more sense over the large SSDs). Dual slots are needed so you can write a proxy to the 2nd slot, or just simply if you need the extra bandwidth when doing 6.5K raw at high speed. Can't stick with SD cards, as they won't handle 4K ProRes HQ, which leads me onto my next point....
  2. Add DNxHR / ProRes, whichever licensing of DNxHR or ProRes is easiest for them to get. Though having ProRes HQ would be preferable I suspect over DNxHR (just because ProRes is more commonly recognised by the market, thanks to BMD and others widely using them), plus ProRes 444 or even raw would be dreamy! (but maybe a little unrealistic in a $3k camera?!)
  3. Add two XLR inputs. 
  4. Make its HDMI port a full sized HDMI port. 
  5. Add two SDI outputs (important to have two, what happens if one breaks? You'll have a nearly useless camera for many people, as SDI is for them *essential*. Plus is very common to run more than one monitor in a production environment, thus got to have two)

I think if Samsung did this (and nothing else, just the five points listed above: mSATA + DNxHR/ProRes + XLR + full HDMI + SDI inputs) for US$3,000 then they'd have a huge huge indy cinema camera hit on their hands! The next DVX100 or 5Dmk2 of our generation??

Even if it came out at US$5k I reckon it could maybe still be rather successful, although it would be up against the URSA Mini 4.6K, Sony FS5, and Canon C100 mk2, all at a similar price point. (plus whatever else comes out in the next 6 months) 

For bonus points Samsung could do:

  1. Camera mount: just before, I'm assuming they're sticking with the Samsung NX mount that the NX1 has, and only making the body a little bit bigger. As Andrew mentioned perhaps their mount held back sales of the NX1, maybe this cinema camera should have a different mount? Ideally I'd like to see them use the Sony FZ mount (as this would mark it out as a true cinema camera, able to be used with the best of the best cinema lenses, yet also allowing tremendous flexibility with this mount!), next best choice would be using the Sony E mount, 3rd best is Micro Four Thirds (like the JVC LS300). Branding/marketing/licensing issues mean I expect sadly all of these are out of the question. Thus I feel the best Samsung can realistically do is create their own open cinema mount, which has similar features to the Sony FZ mount. But make it completely open and easy for anybody else to adapt. Thus Samsung will start off by selling their Samsung Cinema Camera with the high prestige PL Mount, but in a blink of an eye we'll see third party manufacturers offering adapters for everything you can possibly imagine (like they do now for the Sony FZ mount!).
  2. High Speed Options: apparently their engineers managed 6.5K 240fps in testing, maybe we could at least get this cinema camera to give us 1080p 240fps or 4K 60fps?
  3. High than 4K resolutions: give us all 6.5K resolution from the sensor!! :-o
  4. Raw: need I say any more? This could hit it out of the park!


What are your thoughts? Remember, it should be based on the existing underlying NX1 technology (so not too much more R&D is needed for Samsung to get it to market), or using commonplace readily available tech (such as mSATA, or SDI connections) and hit a US$3k price point or at least not more than a couple thousand over that. 

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Partner with Blackmagic for the processor. ProRes a-go-go.

Partner with Magic Lantern for the firmware updates. They didn't seem to have a problem giving us one for raw video did they?!

+1 for full size HDMI.

I think just with those 3 relatively simple changes it would sell to pros for $3000.

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Open source firmware. Ok, I'm dreaming... ^_^

Ohhhh..... of course!! That would by a lovely "extra" to include. Even just simply an open SDK would be a huge leap forward over anything else being offered by the competition. 
Now I've got a nicely balanced 5 *must haves* and 5 wishful "nice to haves".  

 

Partner with Blackmagic for the processor. ProRes a-go-go.

Why partner with Blackmagic??? Samsung has in house far far far faaaaaar more experience with processors. 

 

Partner with Magic Lantern for the firmware updates. They didn't seem to have a problem giving us one for raw video did they?!

Just going open source with their firmware. like benymypony said, would take care of this. No need for a formal partnership, so long as they make it easy to play with then people will come (Doesn't even have to be open source firmware, as that might be too much of a dream. Could be a public SDK, or even just a good open API. Properly done in exposing it, not like Sony's half arsed camera API).

 

+1 for full size HDMI.

You do look at the side of a camera and wonder surely it can't be that hard to squeeze out a few extra fractions of a square centimeter to upgrade the HDMI port to a full sized one......   especially if it is a video focused stills camera!! Such as a GH4, BMPCC, or A7s mk2, maybe they'll finally come to their senses with  the GH5 or A7s mk3 and give them a full sized HDMI connection? At least BMD to their credit gave the BMPCC mk2 (aka BMMCC) a full sized HDMI port!

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Oh wait.... Kinefinity and black magic is offering that !  

Yeah when the URSA Mini 4.6K finally launches, and if it lives up to expectations, it could be the answer to all that. However at nearly US$5k (then once you add in CFast, V-mount, EVF, battery plate, etc..... you very quickly add on thousands more!) it is in a radically different price bracket to a NX1! Even an NX1 which is double, or triple the price, is still in quite a different price bracket to an URSA Mini 4.6K

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Yeah when the URSA Mini 4.6K finally launches, and if it lives up to expectations, it could be the answer to all that. However at nearly US$5k (then once you add in CFast, V-mount, EVF, battery plate, etc..... you very quickly add on thousands more!) it is in a radically different price bracket to a NX1! Even an NX1 which is double, or triple the price, is still in quite a different price bracket to an URSA Mini 4.6K

Totally, I know they don't fit the bill of the title...but I also know samsung could pull that out for 3-4k with a nice adaptable mount. They could cut cost with parts out from JCV with their JVC GY-LS300, using the NX1 sensor, samsung magic tech and .....ok maybe I'm dreaming ! 

Forgot to included the Aja cion also with the recent price drop, they all are 5000-8000$ market once adding everything you need to shoot. 

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Canon saw a gap for portable cameras that can be used for news so they made the XC10, but that doesnt really cut it. The NX1 produces video which doesn't need grading, the most efficient codec, a bigger sensor, in a compact package. For fast turnaround footage which can make use of Samsung's  wifi/mobile technology to get the smaller files shared quickly, it seems like a good niche to me.

Rather than a cinema camera (a market where there are established players), perhaps they should look at news broadcasters and semi pro video producers like Youtube channels and all the hundreds of people who are going to be making channels for SMART TVS. 

Or if going for cinema partnering with Blackmagic sounds like a safe bet as they have the reputation in place, and may benefit from Samsung's ability to scale things up. Samsung may be sceptical about entering a new market alone after failing to make a name for themselves in the consumer market.

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1] 2k raw

2] vectorscope

3] 1080p 240fps[no buffering]

4] 5inch amoled display

5] proress 444 12bit

6] optional pl mount adapator

7] esay user interface[ like BMCC]

8] LUT reference [rec.2020]

9] prime lenses [least 3 more] 15/50/135 mm

10] PDAF[ similar to dual pixel focussing]

 

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A blackmagic/samsung partnership is genius, they both have that which each other sorely lack.

Maybe bring in shure, sennheiser, apogee or alike for the audio just to seal the deal. I'd love to have a built in radio mic Rx, or studio quality preamps. Apogee could bring the circuitry from the One or Duet line. Now this really is starting to go into dream land.. 

Could BMD wangle them the license to use EF mount..? :heart_eyes:

I would just diiiiiiiiie ?

All I want is a Canon 1dc body...kinda like how the nx1 looks and feels with the grip...a tiltable evf like the gx8, cinema dng for raw and h.264 or h.265 for compressed footage...with a samsung log, 4:2:2 internally better dynamic range and clean iso at least up to 3200. Super 35mm or full frame is fine with me, this would be my dream camera 

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