Rise of the Tiger: The Disappearing Stigma of 'Made In China'

A little over a year ago I went to Sony's HQ in Toronto for an open house showing off the F5 and the F55.  At the time, they were a revelation -- great cameras with impressive specs.  But with the times moving as quickly as they now do, I was hesitant to embrace the F5 or F55 as the cameras that would be in the hands of filmmakers for years to come.  A sales rep from Vistek challenged me on this, telling me these two cameras would be a great investment for at least the next five years.  Being 4K and 4K ready, I didn't argue that they were a bad long-term investment, particularly for a production company with the change to spare.  But for indy filmmakers like myself, I felt it would be worth waiting a year for the market to match the F55's specs at a fraction of the price.  I even voiced the possibility China might provide us with that answer.  The sales rep snorted at me "No professional worth his salt is going to risk his reputation on something 'Made in China.'"  I said that while that may be true -- to some extent -- this same snobbish sentiment was once said of camera equipment 'Made in Japan.'

A year removed, $50K for a 4K camera seems, well...absurdly overpriced.  In the year that's elapsed we've been rewarded with a slough of 4K (or 4K ready) cameras all under the magic $10K barrier.  Of note: Blackmagic's Production Camera ($3K), Panasonic's GH4 (rumoured to be in the $2K range) and now...

4K -- Made in China.  Today Chinese manufacturer Kinefinity announced the KineMINI with a base price rumoured to be around $3K.  But in order to make the KineMINI 4K capable, with a hand grip, configurable lens mount (EF/PL/F/B4) and two 64GB mags, expect to pay closer to $6K.  Nevertheless, $6K for a Super35mm camera capable of shooting 14-bit raw in 4K, ProRes4444 (and a host of every other format you'd want/need), 100fps in 1080p, with 13 stops of dynamic range, is, well...unbelievable.  No, there's no mention of a global shutter, so yes, it's most likely there will still be some degree of rolling shutter.  But it's $6K.  Unbelievable.  Especially when you consider Canon's widely-used 1080p C300 is still selling for $14K.

Another Chinese company making waves in the filmmaking community is Hong Kong based SLR Magic.  Over the past few years SLR Magic's T0.95 Hyperprime Cine lenses have had rave reviews and in the near future SLR Magic are set to release the Anamorphot Anamorphic Adapter.  What's special about the Anamorphot is that indy filmmakers will finally have a low-priced, easy to use, high quality option enabling us to shoot anamorphic footage with its distinctive 2.39:1 widescreen format,  horizontally streaking blue flares (made cliché by JJ Abrams), ellipsoidal bokeh, and shallower depth of field.  Yet again, another big budget filmmaking tool made accessible to no-budget hacks like myself.

In the past year, Panasonic fell short of the goal line with their GH3, a great little camera that never got the firmware update for focus peaking and a flat picture profile it needed.  With Panny's recent announcements of the 4K GH4 and the Super35mm, PL Mount, 4K VariCam 35 with 14+ stops of dynamic range, and 240fps @ 1080p, it seems the GH3 took a backseat to future proofing Panasonic's grip on the burgeoning 4K market.  As a GH3 owner this is leaves me grumbling, but I'll get over it,  particularly if the price for the GH4 is in the $2K range, as rumoured.  As the affordable 4K landscape is being defined by Panasonic, Blackmagic and Kinefinity, one has to wonder if Canon has an answer that doesn't come courtesy of Magic Lantern.  Canon?

4K VariCam 35 Prototype from NAB 2013