Why Shouldn’t I Buy a Camera Now?

Cameras have changed significantly in the last 4 years. We’d already seen Disc and solid state cameras before then, but the Tsunami of 11^th March 2011 was the beginning of the end of Tape. Sony’s HDCam Camcorders were generally the weapon of choice with the HDW-F900R and HDW-790 being the main stay of the Doco and Drama world. Panasonic had the 3700 which I still believe was the better camera, but Sony had the badge and sheer numbers in the market place. Arri wasn’t in this market yet, nor Canon. Red had started delivering four years previous but was a gamble in the field at that time, more common on set. Let’s take the F900R. HD 1080 x 1920 3 CCD Chip 2/3" Camcorder, F10 at 2000lx, 54dB Video Signal to Noise ratio, shot 24fps to 29.97fps or 50i / 59.94i, fixed frame rates. Records to tape, HDCam wasn’t full resolution at only 1080 x 1440. 8 seconds of Picture Cache/Time Lapse as a chargeable option, Down Converted output as a chargeable option, No S-Log, No variable frame rates, no choice of Codecs. The last New F900R I sold (it was fully configured) went for £54,420 + VAT. So then the world changed to solid state and then large format. A new generation of camcorders was born. So today sticking with Sony, look at the PMW-F5. Single CMOS 4K 35mm Chip, T14 at 2000lx, 57dB Video Signal to Noise ratio, shoots anything from 1fps to 240fps, MPEG2, XAVC, ProRes, DNX, RAW via an adapter, SxS Media, XQD/SD/MS via adapter, Full res HD or with an option 4K or UHD, No Picture Cache, 2K and 4K RAW offboard with an AXS-R5. All for under £10K + VAT with viewfinder. All this in 4 years!  Why wouldn’t you buy a camera now?