Savannah Miller wrote:That's what I'm thinking. Arri put lens control in their cameras before wireless video, but i'm suspecting on the low end, people would rather have wireless video first as a lot of people use stills glass anyway which has focus by wire functionality built-in.
More significantly is that the low end doesn't actually pull focus anyway. Low end productions usually don't have enough time and/or people to be able to pull focus, and stills lenses tend to breath enough to make focus pulls undesirable as well.
And even if you're on a small production with no budget for a first-ac, a wireless monitor is always useful for clients.
Agreed.
The new tilta wireless follow focus at $299 really is about as cheap as that probably can be made in low-volumes. Blackmagic did price the viewfinder at $1500, and while affordable for a viewfinder does show that they're sometimes willing to charge a bit more if it means a quality product.
BMD wasn't really charging more; comparable viewfinders cost $3000 when BMD launched that one, plus it has an OLED display, and those aren't cheap. When BMD introduced it, I also took a look at the Zacuto Gratical that was one of the $3000 OLED displays, and really couldn't see much difference between the two. As far as image and build quality the difference was IMO nil.
I'm intrigued by the new Tilta; I'm definitely going to check that out!
I do think in their cameras from now on, they will add the usb-c recording functionality, because lots of buzz has been generated on that feature alone, and it's a decent compromise for people that still insist on SSD over Cfast 2.0 recording. On top of that, no other camera does this, so another manufacturer copies this, it will be another unique feature that sets Blackmagic apart.
That's a great idea, IMO. It's not reliable enough for high end work, but it's great for budget work, especially since CFast2 prices are still pretty high from what I've seen.