Is the end near?

[BobFisher]

Apparently, according to some, the days of the DSLR 'combocam' are over. 

[michael]

The article is an excellent summation of the current situation.

More and better video DSLRs are on the way, regardless of whether the marketplace has moved on. The good news though is that their purpose has succeeded. More people are shooting better quality video (at least technically) and new opportunities have been created.

Michael

[fredjeang]

I'm sure that this industry is capable of producing a design that will finally match the needs of stills and motion without the robocop accessories. They are apparently difficult to merge but aren't good designer paid for being creatives?

Lots of us are waiting for a big sensor camera able to produce lots of Ks in motion so the frames are fully usable for pro stills. We are not there yet but not that far. The constant improvement of tech will allow that very soon.
That is why I've putten the emphasis on the fact that softwares are and will be needed with no resolution limitation (and certainly not 2K) that could handle both stills and videos. There are already a few of those beasts but their prices are not suitable for most of the shooters. I'm onto this learning now and I can tell you that it is very demanding. So the industry will also have to provide not only the gear but the softwares at a reasonable cost, like Lightroom for ex. Easily manageable for most of the mortals.

For the time being, the bang-for-the-buck (you say it that way no?) is the GH2. (exactly how the 5D2 was in its time). It can be argued that the Pana video version is a better choice for making videos, it depends a lot on what everyone understands as "better"...The GH2 may lack accessories but on the other hand, we can buy the accessories step by step according to your needs and budgets. And shoot stills whenever needed with a good enough quality to make a full page. When we take away the accessories, the camera is almost pocketable. The Pana video is 5000 € cash. I can't think about a more flexible solution than a dslr today.

Also, in those times, accessories are giving jobs to a // industry. I like the idea of dslr, expandible and customizable.

I don't think it will die tomorrow.

[Rob C]

Never done any real filming, so don't know very much about that, but the instinct tells me that horses for courses is still the best philosophy.

Why would an awkward method of use (still camera with adaptors) make more sense than a specialist design (motion camera)? I can't believe that anyone doing both (or either) stills and motion at a reasonably high professional level can't afford the gear or its rental; after all, doesn't even Hollywood exist via rentals?

I sense that it's turned into some holy grail kind of thing with about the same likelihood of success.

Rob C

[Morgan_Moore]

The holy grail is a nikon D3 that shoots at 25FPS (or higher)

(or even an 8 or 6mp camera.. or even 4/3 of the centre of the chip)

If that would output images to some form of recorder that also has sound capture then it would be a very serious device

The current downscale/line skipping solutions may have come to an end

Also dedicated 3mp chips have the space for massive light sucking pixels

One the resolutions are equalised I think it could be a very different story

That is what the Epic is

I am hoping canon or nikon will deliver us an 'Epic' with the same price ratio that my H1/22mp compared to my 5d2

Ie 22mp became avaialble to the DSLR shooter three years and 1/4 the price of the small company that delivered it first (Hassy)

We dont seem to see the DSLR makers seriously approaching video.. yet

S