# The New EOS Cinema C300 / Do you believe still image cameras are going away?



## revup67 (Jan 26, 2012)

I came across this article today in my Inbox from from Digital Photo Pro which talks about the 4k and 5k cameras (not referring to Dollars). The Canon EOS C300 seems appealing at the moment but I personally don't see the still image DSLR's going away any time soon as the article hints. For one reason, there's too many purists that want photo, and photo only without the video

Here's the article

http://www.digitalphotopro.com/gear/cameras/whats-the-future-of-still-capture.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPPeNewsJan_012512

Rev


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## jrista (Jan 26, 2012)

There are still hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who still live and die by large format film cameras for all their photography. There are still millions of people who live and die by rangefinder film cameras (and even digital, for those who can afford it), or instant film cameras. I think its _*incredibly*_ rare that _any_ technology, of any kind, really ever actually dies and goes away. The only thing that really ever happens is continuing diversification of markets. The advent of HD DSLR still+video cameras is just a new kind of option. Mirrorless cameras are just a new kind of option, that will ultimately service a subset of the current DSLR crowd that uses but hates large, bulky cameras. The advent of the C300 is just a new entrant into an existing market, albeit with differences and improvements that make it unique.

Nothing will ever really "go away" or "die" or "disappear"...things will simply continue to diversify. More options, giving consumers more freedom to pick a tool that better fits their needs and/or wants than they had before. There will always be a (probably very large) holdout group of consumers who prefer DSLR style cameras. There is something to be said for the ergonomics and physical size of a 7D or a D3x over a tiny Nikon 1 body.


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## Canon-F1 (Jan 26, 2012)

> Do you believe still image cameras are going away?



no


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 27, 2012)

revup67 said:


> I came across this article today in my Inbox from from Digital Photo Pro which talks about the 4k and 5k cameras (not referring to Dollars). The Canon EOS C300 seems appealing at the moment but I personally don't see the still image DSLR's going away any time soon as the article hints. For one reason, there's too many purists that want photo, and photo only without the video
> 
> Here's the article
> 
> ...



This is a digital Cinema camera, for making movies. Cinema cameras are not still cameras. It is manual focus.


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## Daniel Flather (Jan 27, 2012)

No they won't replace still cameras anytime soon. They will close the gap between amateurs, low budget, b sides and the big production companies, so the REAL talent will win —regardless of the budget.


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## AprilForever (Jan 27, 2012)

Never.


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## ssrdd (Jan 27, 2012)

I still can't believe it and utterly hate it. 

that C300 is not full frame and no raw.


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## revup67 (Jan 27, 2012)

This is a digital Cinema camera, for making movies. Cinema cameras are not still cameras. It is manual focus.


Mt Spokane - not sure if read the article but that's not the case according to this write up. Not sure how old you are but I recall hearing similar when Beta tapes / cassettes came out as well as Reel To Reels..they are both long gone. I still have both however 

Rev


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## VerbalAlchemy (Jan 27, 2012)

Inspired by his first experience with the 5K Red Epic, Vincent Laforet somewhat recently addressed this sort of topic. http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2011/06/07/what-camera-did-i-use-to-make-this-still-picture/

I think stills from high-resolution video might replace traditional stills cameras within limited segments--i.e. event or sports photographers would certainly find applications. And if the Cinema DSLR is going to hit 4K MJPEG at 24 frames per second, I think that relatively (that is, relative to a car) affordable cameras with high-res/ high-fps capacity will test the market in the near future. 

That said, for many photography applications, it makes more sense to retain discrete modes for both stills and video-- and I don't think that will change any time soon. I also don't think that the high frame rates will translate to the high, high megapixel scene as quickly as it will to the 4K/ 5K market. That is, I doubt we're going to see a 5D mk V (or whatever the 2020 high MP Canon camera is) that fires off 45 MP frames at 60 per second-- let alone sustained speeds of that kind. This sort of speed is even more unlikely in the legitimate medium format realm. More likely, we might see bursts of 20-30 frames per second at relatively high MP counts-- but not the prolonged video recording that would legitimately replace, say, the fashion photographers camera. I haven't even addressed big segments, such as landscape photographers, that won't give a lick about this sort of advancements. So in many senses, I think many popular aspects of stills photography are pretty well insulated against cinema encroachment.


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## Hillsilly (Jan 27, 2012)

Interesting question. If you mean purely still image cameras (ie with no video capability) then I will say yes.

Currently, there are virtually no new film cameras being made (ignoring disposable cameras). Those that exist will either become damaged and irrepairable or will just see less use. While there is still some demand in developing parts of the world, I understand that sales there have also declined in recent years. There will always be film cameras, but they will become rarer and rarer.

Older digital cameras didn't have video features. Once again, these will become obsolete or see less use.

Right now, are there any significant digital cameras without video capability?

Over time it will become easier to incorporate a lot of the higher end features into cheaper models. The new Nikon V1 shoots 60fps at full resolution. I'm willing to bet that is the direction we're heading.


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## pakosouthpark (Jan 27, 2012)

Hillsilly said:


> Over time it will become easier to incorporate a lot of the higher end features into cheaper models. The new Nikon V1 shoots 60fps at full resolution. I'm willing to bet that is the direction we're heading.



+1


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## Mooose (Jan 27, 2012)

I've always believed that shooting stills was just a fad that would soon pass


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## Fleetie (Jan 27, 2012)

Mooose said:


> I've always believed that shooting stills was just a fad that would soon pass


For values of "soon" much greater than the 100+ years the practice has been going on so far... ?

No, you *must* have been joking when you said that. Sorry for taking it seriously; I don't know what I was thinking!


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## JR (Jan 27, 2012)

I dont see still DSLR going away either anytime soon. What we *are  * seeing however is the inclusion of more and more features into traditional still DSLR such as video but the still aspect will not go away.

Jacques


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 27, 2012)

revup67 said:


> This is a digital Cinema camera, for making movies. Cinema cameras are not still cameras. It is manual focus.
> 
> 
> Mt Spokane - not sure if read the article but that's not the case according to this write up. Not sure how old you are but I recall hearing similar when Beta tapes / cassettes came out as well as Reel To Reels..they are both long gone. I still have both however
> ...



Perhaps I did not understand your point. The C300 will not replace any still cameras, its manual focus. It is true that you can capture high quality stills, you could do that with 35mm motion picture cameras as well, but they did not replace 35mm still cameras.

If the question is will video cameras replace still cameras, because the video is so good that you can use frame capture, its possible, but not likely. 

I believe that, no matter how good a video camera is, a still camera can be built better and cheaper. There are compromises that must be made in order to capture the video.

I'm not sure how video tapes relate to this, they were replaced by DVD's. And, yes, I have a old 3/4 inch reel to reel video recorder, as well as beta, vhs, reel to reel audio, casette audio, I used to have the Ill fated RCA Audio Casette format as well, but it died.


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 27, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> And, yes, I have a old 3/4 inch reel to reel video recorder, as well as beta, vhs, reel to reel audio, casette audio, I used to have the Ill fated RCA Audio Casette format as well, but it died.



Ahhh...but do you have one of these laying around?







(It's an 8-track tape, for the youngsters in the audience  ).


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 27, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > And, yes, I have a old 3/4 inch reel to reel video recorder, as well as beta, vhs, reel to reel audio, casette audio, I used to have the Ill fated RCA Audio Casette format as well, but it died.
> ...



Boxes and boxes of 8 tracks from my mother's estate, as well as 3 or 4 players. I also have lots of turntables, 45, 78, and LP records and probably more things that I've forgotten about. I have a old radio from the twenties, numerous Heathkits, old Zenith Trans-Oceanic, 4 or 5 Halicrafters SW Radios, a warehouse of old technology, vacuum tubes, transistors, IC's, and so on.

I keep thinking I will find time to check / repair it and sell it, but photography is taking a lot of my time. I have a ton of photography and movie cameras, lenses, and such. I just gave three nice enlargers to the local high school for their photography class. They do stoll use equipment like that, so they will be useful rather than sitting in storage.


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## revup67 (Jan 29, 2012)

I have a few Quad records laying around  the Jeff Beck Group for one. Lucifer's Friend 1st LP (German hard rock from 1970 like Deep Purple meets Zep and Sabbath) does that count?

Side note on quad and on the extreme outer limits of this site. You can actually download DTS 4.0 (not 4.1) original quad recordings which usually result in different than the original stereo mixes from the Usenet. The group if interested is : alt.binaries.sounds.dts

An optical audio or digital Coax cable is needed. not tested HDMI however but in theory it should work as well.

great dialogue -


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## Vamp898 (Jan 31, 2012)

Still cameras going away?

The C300 is priced at ~15´300 € xDD you could buy 16x Canon EOS 60D + a very good lense or only 1x Canon EOS 60D with a very lot of very good lenses.

no, really, a 15k € Camcorder will never replace a DSLR xD


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## daveswan (Feb 5, 2012)

Not sure the focus was on the C300, more the "C-DSLR" featured at the end of the presentation, likely to be priced in the 1Dx territory.

I could see, as sensor and processor technology evolve that the division between still and motion may fuzz out, and we'll see DSLRs (Or DSCs) that can capture both with equal ease. And without incurring a cost penalty for doing so.


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## RuneL (Feb 7, 2012)

Hillsilly said:


> Interesting question. If you mean purely still image cameras (ie with no video capability) then I will say yes.
> 
> Currently, there are virtually no new film cameras being made (ignoring disposable cameras). Those that exist will either become damaged and irrepairable or will just see less use. While there is still some demand in developing parts of the world, I understand that sales there have also declined in recent years. There will always be film cameras, but they will become rarer and rarer.



Voightlander still makes new film cameras, so does Leica, Alpa, Wista Linhof, Toyo, Holga, Diana, Seagull, Shen Hao, Hasselblad, Nikon, Zeiss, Vivitar.

There's also a bunch of large format cameras and medium format in production.

Still cameras will not go away. You still need them for a bunch of stuff. Maybe they'll evolve and include video, but the Pentax 645D, Phase One, Hassleblad, Leaf, Mamiya? People still use those quite a lot. 

In the amateur/hobbyest field, they might disappear, but people who make a living doing still photography want cameras.


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## Hillsilly (Feb 8, 2012)

Don't forget the Canon 1V!

But I doubt that there will ever be a new, high selling, film camera released in future. If anything, existing manufacturers will pull out of that market. Therefore, I guess I'm referring to the 99.99% of future cameras that won't be digital medium format cameras.

But I agree totally with the comment above. There will always be a market for a product that does one thing exceptionally well. But given the ease with which video features can be incorporated into digital cameras, I just can't see any mainstream future camera lacking this feature. And this feature set will continue to grow over time.


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