Frank Glencairn wrote:... Regarding rental value - it was never good on any $3000 camera - no mater what brand - anyway. Dollies and cranes rent for more and keep their value over a long period - if you planned to make money by renting a cheap camera in a world of fast changing technology, you just made an uniformed business decision.
In support of Frank's comment, there has recently been a two part article on the Creative Cow forum regarding rental houses and their view of the impact of digital cameras and the quickly changing technology landscape from the perspective of several large companies that have a rental business in Hollywood and other major centres.
One of the most interesting points is that the rental houses are ceding the rental of cameras in the $3,000 price range to those who do can do it on a small scale since they admit there isn't time for them to amortize their costs in the period the cameras will stay in demand as rentals. At about $3,000, they have found most operators just buy their own cameras and they may rent to the production on which they are shooting, but the rental agencies can't be competitive and are no longer in that game or are gracefully exiting that sector. From that perspective, it may be easier for people here to rent out their BMCC, as the options are gradually reducing to the sole operator/owner who rents his/her camera when it is idle.
At $1,995, I must admit even more camera operators will buy rather than rent. When you consider that there is something like $1,500 worth of software in that price, it is shockingly attractive. If I owned a BMCC that cost me $2,995, I might regret my timing but wouldn't be upset with BMD. As it is, I'm waiting for the BMPC4K and so the announcement may not impact me personally.
If I was a BMCC BMPC4K owner, I would be happy that the lower price will make the camera more attractive and that will lead to more, better, and cheaper third-party products tailored to that form factor and supporting its interfaces, and so on. Instead of becoming an interesting camera that enjoyed a brief moment in the sun and then faded from the scene, leaving you with a conversation piece that no one wants, it looks like BMD is very serious about carving out a significant market share and producing cameras with both the technology and price point that will be both irresistible to many purchases and very hard for the other major and startup operators to respond to in the way that BMD is capturing the imagination of an even larger segment of enthusiasts and professionals.
Of course there are better cameras with better firmware, but the value equation of the BMCC and its ecosystem has increased significantly with this price drop. If this was Sony or Canon, dominant players, there would be outrage that the big boys were strangling the competition and shutting out any newcomer. Governments would investigate for unfair business practices. The EU would be sanctioning the large company and banning the sale of all their products until high prices were restored.
Thankfully, BMD is the mouse that roared.
Enjoy, be happy, buy another camera or another quality lens or an audio mixer, and shoot somebody!
Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HDs