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Dream Camera


Steven C. Boone

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I've brought up something similar before, but how about a mini-dv camcorder under $1000 that sports an ordinary single CCD and a body design styled after a good Super-8 film camera--complete with pistol grip? And manual focus/exposure/shutter.

 

It would be a beautiful hybrid ancestor of pixelvision and Super-8 for those of us who dig low-res, no-budget beauty. What are the practical/commercial obstacles to making a camera like this? Where do I send letters begging for this camera to be made? Does this make any sense?

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  • 3 weeks later...

First, what makes an ordinary camera different from a superb one is mainly the quality of the lenses it uses. That's what make superb cameras so expensive. For some inspiration on making your own camera, you can check out Jim Jinnard, founder of Oakley, who is currently developing a 4K resolution cinema camera called The Red One. Perhaps he's the right person to give you some advice. www.red.com Only someone with expertise in optics like Jim & lots of money to develop such a camera will succeed.

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First, what makes an ordinary camera different from a superb one is mainly the quality of the lenses it uses. That's what make superb cameras so expensive. For some inspiration on making your own camera, you can check out Jim Jinnard, founder of Oakley, who is currently developing a 4K resolution cinema camera called The Red One. Perhaps he's the right person to give you some advice. www.red.com Only someone with expertise in optics like Jim & lots of money to develop such a camera will succeed.

Those lenses are purpose-built by Red? I would've guessed they were re-housed.

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First, what makes an ordinary camera different from a superb one is mainly the quality of the lenses it uses. That's what make superb cameras so expensive. For some inspiration on making your own camera, you can check out Jim Jinnard, founder of Oakley, who is currently developing a 4K resolution cinema camera called The Red One. Perhaps he's the right person to give you some advice. www.red.com Only someone with expertise in optics like Jim & lots of money to develop such a camera will succeed.

 

 

Look, all I want is a cheap Super 8-styled 24P camera... that shoots digital video. Whether it records to the fading mini-dv format or to a small on-board hard drive, don't care. I just want to run around like Guy Maddin with a little pistol-grip camera-- without the processing/telecine headaches of Super 8 film. Something like the dvx-100a or b, but in a body like this:

canon1014xlsrd7.jpg

 

I'm not an engineer or optics genius-- just tell me who to write to to get this camera made. Am I the only one seeing this?

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Look, all I want is a cheap Super 8-styled 24P camera... that shoots digital video. Whether it records to the fading mini-dv format or to a small on-board hard drive, don't care. I just want to run around like Guy Maddin with a little pistol-grip camera-- without the processing/telecine headaches of Super 8 film. Something like the dvx-100a or b, but in a body like this:

canon1014xlsrd7.jpg

 

I'm not an engineer or optics genius-- just tell me who to write to to get this camera made. Am I the only one seeing this?

 

Why not just screw a grip handle into the bottom of a dvx100 and be done with it.

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My dream camera would be a Hi8 that looks just like a DigiBeta.

 

I guess you're missing my basic point, which is that it would be nice to see 24P trickle further down the resolution chain. I know some artists of lesser means who could do something amazing with such a camera.

 

Your Hi8/Digibeta comparison, which I assume is meant to ridicule my suggestion, is off the mark. If you had said maybe a Digital 8 that shoots at 24P--never mind the format's paltry pixel count--you'd still have your joke but you'd be much closer to what I'm talking about.

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My dream camera would be a Hi8 that looks just like a DigiBeta.

that's funny.

 

the 24p will eventually get down the chain. i don't think it was until after the depression that a cheaper and lower mm film made it out to the masses.

Edited by kelly tippett
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