Illya Friedman wrote:Hello Tim, and everyone.
So Hot Rod Cameras has received the credit as the source of "the rumor."
For the record, we are not in the business of lying to anyone- about anything. That is bad business in my book, and a bad way to do anything.
Any information given by a member of our staff would have been information that is only being repeated from someone who supposedly knew what they were talking about. We send out a newsletter to all our pre-order customers and we share all non-confidential relative information we get. I've never heard anything but positive feedback about sharing what information we can.
We also were told that initial shipment was only "a trickle" and that additional units were massing for larger shipments in the next few weeks. It was told to us in the same breath as the first part, and was included in our newsletter. There's no reason anyone should assume that the slow rate of delivery thus far is the only rate at which deliveries will continue.
Before starting Hot Rod Cameras I worked for a camera manufacturer; one of the only camera manufacturers that made their own imaging sensor, built entirely in our own fab (you can count those companies on one hand). I know a little bit about what's going on when someone reports a problem with a sensor or filter stack.
What I don't think most people here realize that a problem with a sensor or the filter stack is
not insignificant. The sensor is not just any camera component, neither are custom pieces of optical glass which are painstakingly tuned through batches of coatings and then must be carefully glued to the front of the sensor. Screw up any part of this process and you lose one more sensor. You can't just run another 1000 or 10000 and get them overnight, the process of making a sensor ready for instillation is not generally a speedy one.
Personally, I think it's amazing that 1) Blackmagic shared this information with the public, and 2) that the problem was diagnosed and corrected and new sensors and filter stacks are being rushed into existence.
As a rule of thumb, the better quality the image sensor the more complicated the design. The more complicated the design, the lower the yield. The larger the sensor, the lower the yield. "Yield" being the number of "perfect" or if not perfect "acceptable" sensors that come off the sensor wafer. A "wafer" can hold a few, a few dozen, or several dozen sensors, depending on size of the sensors being manufactured. Here's a pic with a bunch of Kodak sensors still on the wafer so you can see what I mean.
While an imaging sensor is not the only important component of a camera, it is certainly the heart. I have to say in the limited time I've played with, and watched the BMC Cameras images on the big screen next door (20' Barco 2K DI suite) the sensor is drop dead gorgeous. It blows every DSLR our of the water regardless of price, and surpasses many cameras costing thousands more. Hell, it matches the dynamic range of the Dalsa Evolution camera, in 2009 the undisputed king of dynamic range.
We know the BMC Camera sensor is on the bigger side, and it's got to be state-of-the-art complicated to get images like it does. I can only imagine the manufacturing hurdles that Blackmagic is tackling right now. I know one particular camera company that creates a custom software "masks" unique to every camera they sell. Those software masks hide all the manufacturing defects with their imaging sensors. Blackmagic clearly isn't doing that, and should be applauded for shipping "perfect" cameras slowly rather than flawed cameras with band-aids as fast as possible.
Interesting to note, we had a DP in our office last week who was really interested in DSLRs for insert/B/C Camera work on a $100M feature shooting in Q1 2013. While the decision is not final, I'll just say that after viewing the camera and some footage from the BMC Camera, it is now strongly in the running to replace the DSLRs. John Brawley is using them on a TV series right now, I think it's only a matter of time before we see it drafted up to "A" camera status on highly prominent productions.
Personally, I feel like I've been waiting for this camera my entire adult life, so I'm more excited than upset at the delay. Perhaps I ought to upset, as the number 1 phone call I receive is "Do you know when my camera is shipping?" Delays aren't good for business, mine or anyone else's, least of all Blackmagic's or the customers who have time sensitive projects.
So even if it wasn't that many, assuming some cameras shipped just a few weeks after the original intended release date, it's still amazing. Compare Blackmagic to some other companies pre-selling a non-existent camera system more than a year before shipping, we're not out very long. Hang tight I don't think we are that far now.
Sincerely,
Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras
Hollywood, California
http://www.hotrodcameras.com