Pete Tomkies wrote:A camera is just a box with a sensor or a box to put film in). The "core vehicle" to film making or photography has always been the lens which is why lenses often cost a lot more than cameras.
I agree with your statement about lenses. But one cannot exist without the other. So when I am taking about the basic premise of a camera, I am considering the lens to not be something that is adjunct. People, I think you have to look at my statement in the context of the post.
I have nothing against CFast cards. I think they are terrific. It is my opinion that they are costly compared to other digital media. I own and use them. But there is also the other side of this story. The film industry is plague with vendors and manufacturers, other than those that really does specialize products, who overprice everything because it has been the status quo.
Manufacturing electronic devices, which most of the digital cameras (and equipment) are, is expensive when it is in the initial phase due to R&D and tooling. But once the die and operation is in place, the cost of generating the goods eventually decreases, and in large quantities, this is a dramatic decrease. Think computers, your DVD player, etc. And as I said, there are going to be specialize equipment that are not mass produced and that is the exception. However, those that are not the exception, like media, monitors, and the like are priced gouged by the makers and vendors - just because they can. A good example is BMD. BMD makes quality cinema cameras that I will say is at par with RED and Arri. BMD has it priced right. I don't have to explain myself - we all know and have seen this movie.
Let's talk about C-Fast cards. Did you know that there is only two or three fabricators (in China mostly) of the C-Fast cards? Sony, Angelbird, Lexar and the likes do not fabricate their cards. They assemble and package them. So why is it that a Sony or Angelbird much more expensive that a run-off-the-mill unknown brand on Amazon? It is about having to have higher margin in goods and profit because they inventory, guarantee numbers, and have limited distribution. Those run-off-the-mill brands do not have to guarantee numbers and have much lower labor cost in labor and just dump their media to markets as many as they can, with a very narrow margin. Sony and their likes pays the same as those run-of-the-mill so called manufacturers for the same C-Fast cards coming off the same fabricator's plant. In the end, everything really begins from just 2 or 3 fabricators.
I'm not trying to justify anything here, but just think about it. It is my opinion that there is still a huge margin that's just profit base and nothing to do with the source and making of the media itself. Food for thought here people.