are you talking about development or rental of cameras?

so tell us the names :)

Also consider that these cameras would be one in the same

I edited the title. To clarify, the idea is to have a modular camera that can give you anything from 1080p Prores / DNxHD up to 4k RAW which will most likely be in cinema DNG.

The costs of the final system are $100% dependent on what you choose to record. Notice the steep drop in price when you go from 4k RAW to 4k prores. The main reason behind this is that you can use a much slower SSD to record 4k prores (330mbs i think) than is required for 4k RAW which is more in the range of 133MB/s just for 24fps).

The point of this post is to see if people would be interested in something with those specs. I will edit my first post to match the specs I will list below:

1) 4k RAW: 14,000 (original listed price of 10,000 was a typo) Brain $4000 Recorder $10,000 SSD media $750/256GB

2) 4k Prores: $8,000 Brain: $4000 Recorder $4000 price TBD

3) 1080 Prores: $5500 Brain $4000 Recorder $1500 off the shelf SSD

4) 1080 DNxHD/quicktime MOS: $4500 Brain $4000 Recorder: $500 off the shelf SSD

These would be the starting options. The brain is the same for all cameras and you would purchase a recorder based on your needs. 4k recorders will also have 2k capability included, but if you do not need you could just get a 2k recorder and then later buy a 4k recorder when you need it.

So a single camera that can range from 4k RAW @ 14,000 to 1080p @ $4500. Furthermore there would be nothing to stop you from buying the HD version and renting the 4k recorder when needed. All of these cameras are priced without lens mounts or batteries.

So, who out there would be interested in the first professional quality, scalable, modular, full frame digital cinema camera? What do you think of the prices? I will tell you that this would be in a way an open source project so some of the pricing is out of my control.

Why recorder price and media prices are so big?

I think that this area will be next step for major manufacturers.

They now have all the required things, just not the raw and ProRes recording.

If you ask me, make ONE camera, with focus on raw only.

If you'll make proper raw compression it'll work on good stock 2.5" hdd even for 4k 60fps.

People can say different things, but trouble is that it requires big skill and very big money to actually do something.

If they could do it back then they could certainly do it now.

Why you are so sure?

Plus someone must pay for all the process (and this is hundreds and hundreds of thousands).

Btw you can make very good recorder and compressor just using new small motherboards from Intel coupled with good general CPU.

@peterosinski

I don't want anything that can't shoot 4K 60fps raw compressed, 2k 120fps in raw compressed, and that don't use stock SSDs, and cost >$4000.

It is clear that we'll see similar camera quite soon.

I think that people here are mostly DSLR shooters wich want best bang for buck, and cameras with such prices are mostly out of our price range.. people talk too much about 4k/5k stuff and when it comes to shooting they won´t even shoot raw, they are ok with prores and 1080p like on the blackmagic camera..
and you will have it very hard like a new company, I wouldn´t be risking paying 14k for camera with specs maybe like nex fs700 or scarlet..

If I was developing a camera, I would look for film S35 senzor size, good DR (13stops would be ok), 3k raw , modular like RED, open sofware ,with every plug that filmmaker needs, and for the cheapest price (under 4k if it´s possible) I would even go to wifi recording if it´s possible to do.. 1day of shooting with the epic= 1TB of storage data, think about what type of filmmakers you want to target with it.. I think good compression is really one of the key things here.. look at the blackmagic camera.. no compression, no slowmo, built in batteries, not modular, no HDMI, no xlr , no waveform or histograms , no built in NDs but yes overall a sweet camera that almost everybody wants

Thank you hedrox. The type of person you are describing sounds like they would be in the range of the 1080p Prores version.

Seeing as how the vg-900 is the only non dslr full frame camera you can get, don't you think a $5k HD full frame prores cam would have interest?

well, it is hard to say, everyone is interested in something else, if I would have to speak for myself, I don´t see a big market in FF camera that shoots only prores..

speaking for myself, when you shoot on FF (still) you have to be at T4-T-5,6 for moving objects if you don´t want to hunt focus up and down every second.. that makes film S35mm senzors better for low light work, I don´t need to bump up the iso , I just stop it to T2,8-T4 or with the gh2 T2-T2,8 and I´m fine , samyang cine lenses or slrmagic cinelenses could be good for S35mm camera.. It looks like you love the FF look, but it´s all achievable also with smaller senzors, for me price is more important than senzor size, everything same or bigger than blackmagic senzor is fine with me

and for your question, the vg900 is for me not interesting camera, and I don´t see big market in such a camera.. you have also options for uncompressed video via D800/D600/A99 ... for me.. raw video and price are more important than FF senzor.. I also have feeling that the video from VG900 is nothing revolutionary, same as A99

@hedrox

I do not love the FF look but want the option for it. I will be able to fully use the fov of my existing nikons which is a motivating factor as well as more easily getting shallow dof in wide shots specifically (but only if thats what the shot calls for).

The d600 has non-working hdmi output for recording, d800 shows posterization in hdmi out recordings, and the a99 will not take most lenses.

Dont forget this camera will give you the use of your leica, canon fd, nikon, pl, and whatever other mount lenses you want. In addition I said my camera would offer a s35 crop for those people or situations where it is needed

@vitaliy_kiselev the problem with emount is that it is weaker than a dedicated lens mount