There's always a compromise

Andrew Chen has written a great blog post about a recent visit he made to Pixar's Emeryville headquarters. Matt Silas of Pixar invited him to tour the facility, and at the end of the tour, Chen asked Silas what his favorite Pixar film is. Here's how Silas replied:

“This is such a tough question, because they are all good. And yet at the same time, it can be hard to watch one that you’ve worked on, because you spend so many hours on it. You know all the little choices you made, and all the shortcuts that were taken. And you remember the riskier things you could have tried but ended up not, because you couldn’t risk the schedule. And so when you are watching the movie, you can see all the flaws, and it isn’t until you see the faces of your friends and family that you start to forget them.”

The lesson that Chen drew is that developers will always think that their product is s**t, no matter how good it actually is. The lesson I take is that every product, every service, every work of art, is a compromise. Pixar is arguably the most successful movie studio of the last 30 years--with the exception of the recent "Cars 2", Pixar has had a nearly unbroken streak of both critically and financially successful motion pictures, starting with the original "Toy Story". And yet, even Pixar has to compromise in the production of its films. Team members sometimes have to take shortcuts and avoid changes that might have improved the films in order to stay on schedule.

"Supercar" manufacturers like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce and Bentley like to say that they build "no compromise" automobiles, yet of course there are compromises: Their cars can cost upwards of $300,000 and get eight miles to the gallon. The compromise for their "no compromises" cars is to spend a huge amount of money when you buy, drive and service them (not to mention buy insurance for them). Buyers and reviewers regularly complain about the compromises made in the design of DSLRs and camcorders: Why is the imager's resolution so low (or so high)? Why doesn't it have a 1080P/60 mode? Why does it have a limited slow-motion capability (or none at all)? Why did they use a HDMI interface instead of SDI?

Every manufacturer has to make compromises in its products. Some are made because they have to keep the price of the product under a certain amount. Some are made to protect the profits from other product lines. (For example, if a new $10,000 camcorder is just as good and does everything that the company's $30,000 camcorder does, customers would be crazy to buy the $30,000 model.) And some impose compromises on the buyer: For example, if you want a true cinema lens, you'll need to spend several times as much for it as for a lens designed for still photography.

Product developers know that there's never enough time or money to make their products perfect. They work to make their products the best they can under the constraints that they have to live with. Even with software and services that can be continuously modified, they have to ship at some point. They may ship with a minimum viable product and then improve it from there, but they have to ship. That's why there are always compromises.

Ricoh agrees to buy Pentax from Hoya

Engadget has reported that Hoya, one of the largest glass makers in the world, has sold its Pentax camera business to Ricoh. Hoya acquired Pentax in 2007 and will retain Pentax's medical instruments business. Pentax has partnered with Samsung for DSLR product development since 2005, and it's unclear whether that partnership will remain in place once Ricoh takes over. Pentax has also had some recent success with projects that were apparently fully developed in-house, such as the 645D medium format camera and the new Q, touted by Pentax to be the world's smallest digital camera with interchangeable lenses. Ricoh's acquisition of Pentax is scheduled to be completed in October of this year.

Panasonic's GH2: Evolutionary, not revolutionary

Photokina is open, and Panasonic has officially released the GH2 DSLR, its next-generation HDSLR, priced at $899.95 (U.S.) for body only, $999.95 with a 14-42mm lens, and $1,499.95 with a 14-140mm lens. (Panasonic also announced a 100-300mm lens, but it looks like it will be almost as expensive as the GH2 body.) The camera will ship in December.

The GH2 has an 18 megapixel multiple aspect ratio imager (16 megapixels output), and an autofocus speed of 0.1 second. Like the GH1, the GH2 supports fully manual control in video mode. The camera's ISO range is 160-12,800, and Panasonic claims that the GH2's imager has 3 dB better noise and 200% better sensitivity than the imager in the GH1.

The GH2 captures 1080p at 60fps (NTSC) and 50fps (PAL), but outputs 1080i at both frame rates. Both the NTSC and PAL models also shoot and output 1080p at 24 fps, and 720p at 60 or 50 fps. The GH2 supports variable frame rates of 80%, 160%, 200% and 300%.

The GH2 has continuous full-quality video output from its HDMI port while the camera is recording. It's not clear if the camera overlays settings on the HDMI image while recording like the Canon DSLRs do, but if it doesn't (or if the overlays can be turned off), the GH2 would be the first DSLR whose HDMI output can be monitored and recorded for real applications. The camera doesn't have continuous autofocus in video mode, but it does have Touch AF in video. It has a rotatable, 460K LCD and a 1.4 megapixel electronic viewfinder. Finally, the GH2 has an audio input and stereo microphone, but professional users would likely be better off with an external audio recorder.

Based on its specifications alone, the GH2 is a good news/bad news story. The 18 megapixel imager should result in lower light sensitivity, but Panasonic claims that it's achieved significantly better sensitivity than the GH1. The higher pixel count of the GH2 should also increase rolling shutter problems, and the GH2 doesn't have the features of the AG-AF100 that are designed to minimize rolling shutter, so it remains to be seen how the GH2 performs. Panasonic claims that the HDMI output works when the camera is recording, but it's not clear if it's exactly the same image as that being recorded on the GH2's memory cards. The GH2 captures 1080p but outputs 1080i. It doesn't have continuous autofocus in video mode, but it does have one-touch autofocus.

Once the real-world reviews start coming in, we'll know more about the video performance of the GH2, but at least on paper, it seems to address most of the shortcomings of the GH1 at a more aggressive price.

Nikon's D7000 is official!

Specs and prices for Nikon's new D7000 are out, thanks to Engadget. Here are the key specs for video DSLR users:

• ISO range 100-6,400 with 25,600 extended range
• Dual SD memory card slots
• 6fps still frame burst rate
• 1080P at 24fps, 720P at 24 and 30fps
• Continuous autofocus in video mode
• Maximum recording time 20 minutes per clip (multiple clips can be recorded if there's sufficient memory)
• Built-in mono microphone with jack for external stereo mic

And now, the price: In the U.S., the list price of the D7000 without lens will be $1,199.95, and $1,499.95 for a D7000 with a 18‐105mm f/3.5‐5.6G ED VR lens. Nikon will begin shipping the camera next month.

The D7000 is priced just above Canon's 60D and well below the 7D, and it has continuous video autofocus that neither the 60D nor 7D have. Once formal reviews start coming out, we'll know much more.

Can we PLEASE have a manual video mode? (UPDATE: Sony listened...)

Update, 7 September 2010: According to EOSHD.com, Ichiro Takagi, Deputy President of Sony's Imaging Business Group, announced that Sony will be adding manual video controls to some of its NEX- and Alpha-series DSLRs (most likely the NEX-5 and Alpha A55, although Takagi-san didn't mention specific models.) The new firmware is to be formally announced at Photokina at the end of the month, so unless Sony announces yet more new models between now and then, the firmware will upgrade existing models. (Now, if Nikon will only get on board...)

Nikon and Sony have recently announced two important DSLRs: The D3100 from Nikon and the A55 from Sony. Both cameras have 1080P (at least under some conditions), both have continuous autofocus in video mode, and both are priced very aggressively (especially the D3100). However, both are missing something every important: Manual controls in video mode.They do video in full auto only.

Both cameras support both manual and full auto operation in photo mode, so all the capabilities for supporting manual video are built in. Everything, that is, except for manual support in the cameras' firmware. Why did Nikon and Sony choose not to implement manual video mode? One argument is that given the target audience for these cameras, first-time DSLR owners moving up from point-and-shoots, manual video would be too difficult to use and too intimidating. However, shooting good pictures in manual still mode isn't easy, yet both cameras can do it.

In my opinion, the reason reason why Nikon and Sony have left out manual mode is that they don't want to cannibalize other, more-expensive products. Nikon is likely to have a higher-end DSLR with manual video mode coming very soon for $1,000 or more (U.S.), and to date, Sony's position on full manual is that if you want that, you'll have to buy one of their camcorders. Only Canon has gotten it right, with 1080P and full manual control in the T2i/550. Canon, which sells at least as many DSLRs as Nikon and quite a few more than Sony, trusts its customers to be able to flip the necessary switch to enable or disable manual control.
Manufacturers have the right to put whatever features they want into their DSLRs. However, if a customer wants manual video control, they're not going to accept full auto, and if they can't find manual in a camera in one product line at a price they can afford, they'll buy a camera from someone else.

Panasonic to intro Micro Four Thirds 3D lens by year-end

According to Engadget, Panasonic is working on a 3D lens for its Micro Four Thirds cameras (G1 and G2), and plans to ship it by the end of the year. The 3D lens will use the Lumix G-series mount. It will operate on the same principle as the snap-on 3D lens just announced for the HDC-SDT750 camcorder; the right and left eye images will be split and recorded together on one imager. The focal length and aperture range of the lens hasn't yet been disclosed, and the lens shown by Engadget is still a prototype.

Panasonic is clearly very serious about 3D for both camcorders and DSLRs, and it'll be interesting to see how other manufacturers respond.

The "secret weapons" for shooting the "House" season finale

It's well known by DSLR fans that the season finale of Fox's "House", which aired earlier this week in the U.S., was shot entirely with Canon 5DMkII DSLRs using Canon lenses. Canon's lenses are designed for still photography, not video, so it's incredibly difficult to pull focus with them without assistance. In a new article in Videography, Gale Tattersoll, the show's DP. revealed that they used Redrock Micro's new wireless microRemote follow focus (which uses an iPhone for its user interface) and microTape camera-mounted ultrasonic rangefinder to enable assistants to pull focus with the Canon lenses.

I haven't seen any published prices for the microRemote yet, but I have seen a proposed price of $500 for the microTape. Zeiss and Leica have both released prime lenses designed for DSLRs that have cinema-style barrel lengths, so that it's much easier to manually pull focus. However, the Zeiss lenses are much more expensive than the Canon equivalents; B&H sells each Zeiss CP.2 prime for $3,900 each, and the family of seven lenses, from 18mm to 85mm, sells for $27,300. The Leica lenses are even more expensive.

microRemote is likely to be a few thousand dollars, and will work with all the Canon lenses. You'll be able to get cinema-style functionality from virtually any Canon lens with a one-time investment in the microRemote and microTape, plus follow-focus gears for the individual lenses. Potential buyers need to see more reports of in-field experience with the microRemote and microTape (and Redrock Micro actually has to price and ship them,) but it's beginning to sound like they could literally save thousands of dollars for cinematographers by allowing them to use still lenses instead of cinema primes.

Canon's new Rebel T2i "...Delivers a very similar picture to the 7D in every video mode"

One of the first in-field video shoots with the new Canon Rebel T2i is on the interwebs. According to Nino Leither, the Vienna-based cinematographer who shot the footage, the video from the T2i is virtually indistinguishable from that of the Canon EOS 7D, which costs twice as much. For professional videographers and cinematographers, the 7D is hardly expensive, but the Rebel T2i will cost $899 with a kit lens and is priced to be a "step-up" DSLR for consumers who want more than a point-and-shoot. The fact that you can shoot HD video with cinema-level depth-of-field control and interchangeable lenses using a DSLR that costs less than a high-quality consumer camcorder, at a data rate that no consumer camcorder can touch, is amazing.

One thing that's gone largely unnoticed is that Canon's DSLRs, along with models from most other manufacturers, come with software that allows the cameras to be configured and controlled over USB. You can configure white balance, gamma, exposure modes and much more from your PC. In Canon's case, you can even monitor the Live View display and shoot video or stills remotely. Professional video cameras use devices called CCUs (Camera Control Units) that do the same thing, but they cost thousands of dollars. (There are some camcorders that allow settings to be stored on a memory card and then swapped between devices, but they obviously don't allow live control.) The ability to bring multiple cameras to the same settings, and even operate them remotely, with a piece of free software is amazing.

Just as Canon's 5D and 7D set new standards for HD price/performance, the T2i will push that bar even further.

Update, 26 February 2010: Gizmodo has gotten its hands on two more videos shot with preproduction T2is. One video was shot in Beijing's Zhongguancun shopping district, which is apparently China's answer to Akihabara in Tokyo. The other one was shot in New York City. Again, the videographers said that, subjectively at least, the video shot by the T2i is very close or equal to that from the 7D.