We had to visit this place to see 8k test stuffs they provided.
It was a boring documentary film but the quality of sound and image was incredible. I think as 8k becomes more popular in 2020 , the stills camera industry suffers even more , the MILC market will shrink even more than the last year 2019.
In just a matter of a couple of years or so most of us will be shooting everything on a 8k video camera as they will act like a true hybrid camera , maybe that is why Panasonic share price is going up now.
Now Nikon is even more doomed than it was in 2019.
Maybe the L mount is the winner. I kinda feel it may well be a race between R vs L as they seem to be able to understand the importance of video more than the Z and E.
Sony wants to keep the Alpha 7 system just as weak as possible in video department to save their high end pro video market. This was exactly what Nikon did to save their venerable almost dead D-SLR system when they really needed to do their best with their Z in 2018.
So now Sony is becoming like Nikon overly protective of their own old half-baked system.
Oh I almost forgot, there is also an Apple store inside of this building and I returned my broken iPhone to them and they gave me a new one. The camera industry needs to update their service and support as well as their tech and camera UI in 2020.
Personally, I am really interested in the new Sharp 8k m43 camera. If Sony wants to stay relevant in affordable hybrid high resolution 8k /4k camera market , they must answer to the Sharp and the new Panasonic and Canon 8k FF cameras.
But I think they cannot as they are too protective of their CineAlta pro cameras.
Why ILC industry has to die 4- FF will not save the industry(updated):
It's been a long time since the last time I actually shopped at a physical shop in my local area. I just visited mall because I needed to return a Gap Jacket I bought online and Diesel jeans.
Both are not bad at all for their price or the money I paid for online during the last BF sale week, but I just realized that I did not need it and I wanted to get a denim jacket instead.
And walking around here with my camera I realized there are a couple of serious problems for normal people carry their camera when they go out or shop at a mall or department store...and camera makers should work harder to find some sort of solution or workaround for these problems.
These are:
1 a dedicated camera with a big lens require some sort of neck strap and that really damage a good wool or cotton jacket. I think a few of my good sweaters got this issue and now no longer wearable out side of my house.
2 it is extremely difficult to shop around anything with a big camera.
I think this no2 is a serious issue, many people still take their kids or friends out for shopping but if they have a dedicated camera especially something serious like FF or MF, they are often even not allowed to shop at most of malls here.
This local mall is quite benign or even kind or very well understanding of our situation or issue, so they do not kick us out or ban, but many fancier or more upscale malls do.
So when I go more upscale malls where I buy my Richard James jacket or something like that, I cannot carry my camera on me.
And to normal people cameras and even people having or carrying that are quickly becoming obnoxious , and they may even think carrying a dedicated camera means a criminal or at least synonymous with he or she is a criminal or at least an obnoxious person.
When I have my cameras with me in a crowded public place I often feel that. Many people gaze at me, they do not stare at me, but they want to , I can feel it.
Some times a few brave guys come up to me and ask me why I am still using such a big and old camera?
Sure it is not an old camera we camera obsessed people know it , but to most of NORMAL people it is all the same, anything not sell phone or Sony RX100 something is an obnoxious old camera.
So I think camera makers should try something non-interchangeable lens camera that has serious IQ advantage over the current smartphone and RX100 series.
Maybe multi m43 sensors with phone-like computational image averaging tech is the solution.
If it is not an interchangeable lens camera , I realized that people do not take it very obnoxious or potentially dangerous or threatening to them(or their privacy).
I think they need to wake up, just upping sensor size and mega pixel counts do not solve this issue. Actually makes it worse.
Like I have been saying it many times since about 2013, the so-called FF is not the solution for them, it never becomes a mainstream, nor will it ever be a positive thing to most of NORMAL people.
To most of NORMAL people the bigger a camera kit on his shoulder appears the more obnoxious the person carrying it seems to be.
Like it or not, we people with a dedicated camera or cameras are now observed as a crazy person or people in any public place....unless it is in historic part of Rome, Paris or any great European or Chinese cities.
Seriously forcing those APS-C people to go FF by deliberately crippling all APS-C cameras will not work out great for them as their real reason to stick with APS-C is the potentially smaller system size and potentially much smaller amount of money they need to spend for it.
Also keep upping resolution in the limited sensor surface area will not work out great for them either as the high pixel density requires the better lens that will increase lenses bigger and more expensive.
Seriously , I think most of guys at FM or DPR worshiping for the Sigma 35mm f1.2 Art lens or more obnoxious 40mm f1.4 Art are all really out of touch with the real world or they only shoot landscape or portrait in a studio or some sort of set up place.
I think if they shoot around in a crowded area then they may re-appreciate lenses like Sony FE35mm f1.8 or Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 and finally get why some of us prefer these kind of tiny lenses to the Sigma 35mm f1.2 Art or Sony GM, let alone the Nikon's Noct 58mm prime.
UPDATE:After following all the new camera and lens announcements from those so called big three Canon Nikon and Sony for a few days, I am pretty convinced that they will all fail and lose significant amount of sells this or in next year.
I think the main problems of the ILC industry are these below:
1 it is not cool to carry cameras. I think this is the biggest reason why cameras do not sell any more. It is really difficult to even walk around normally with a huge camera with a set of some nice lenses. It really does not matter FF or crop, both are very big to normal people and these companies are trying to make it even bigger, so how can they sell these so-called FF cameras?
2 it is super difficult or at least annoying to return camera lens related products. this is also a huge negative, I can return PC, computer parts, phones, clothes ,etc. pretty easily online or at a physical shop. But camera related things after testing it , it is really difficult to return in most part of the world(maybe except in the USA and Canada).
3 they never listen to their core user base, ignoring their request of serious lenses for APS-C for many many years.
instead, they try hard to move them to FF by restricting choice of APS-C lenses. but there are many people do not want to be look like a complete camera nerd in a city area or when they are out with their friends or family members.
honestly, those camera companies no longer have the luxury of ignoring those people and just trying to move them to FF land. the cost of this arrogant marketing is really huge ,IMHO, as they(APS-C users) are the majority of the ILC buyers. the APS-C still owns about 75 percent of the entire ILC market.
If they think every one willing to drop 3k or 4k USD on a camera, they are dreaming , seriously that will never happen. people are not really stupid , or as generous as they think most people are. 3k US is a serious amount of money, and many people need to buy many things not just ILC products.
4 they have never innovated anything really new since about 2013 although every announcement Sony has made since then hyped up as a serious game changer to the point everybody even Sony users got seriously annoyed by those Sony fanboy sites like SAR, DPR, FM,etc.......
none of these are really game changing products at all, let alone disruptive or inventive products.
everybody really logical and realistic knew that and they stopped buying anything really new. the A7R2 , the A7R3 , the A7R4 are all very identical if you just use it for normal stills and video shooting sessions with a good set of lenses.
In case of Nikon or Canon, it was even worse, they released nothing really new or interesting since about 2012.
So how they can make us keep spending over 3k USD for a lukewarm camera update every year? I think I may stop buying any more camera until I see some one moving to the right direction with computational and AI powered smart camera. It is 2020, no longer 1998, so why can't we just get software update via email or any simpler way? Why do we have connect our cameras to our PC or Mac to get a FW update? Why they do not add a new set of features every update just like Google or Apple does ? All what they can do for 3k or more money we must pay is just fixing bugs a few times a year?
Why doesn't any of these major FF or MF camera makers try to invent a modern simple camera UI or smart camera OS?
Seriously, it is not getting better but worse, and this industry truly deserves the current anemic sales.
Finally, they should make some seriously selfie-friendly cameras or camera systems, like it or not, the biggest or most popular photography genre now is selfie. And ignoring that huge market is really stupid, to say the least.
Ask any one under 40 years old , they say they are interested in selfie and the biggest reason why they do not like the ILC is it is difficult to use for selfies.
I think rightly utilizing Face-detection AF is a good start point, but they need much more than that to get the selfie part right.
They also need to make a smarter easier image sharing system. Ignoring this really leads them to seriously fail, it even led the industry giant Kodak(the biggest player back then) to die. Compared to Kodak in their hey day, Canon, Nikon and Sony are all tiny.
