Step 1) Pull your hair out and jump out the window
Step 2) Wait until December
I’ve been paying close attention to the HD video-enabled DSLR market for the past couple of years. I need to buy a new video camera, and these photo/video hybrids appeal to me more than traditional camcorders. However, after all of the time I’ve spent scrutinizing my options, I’ve decided that pulling the trigger before December is a really bad idea.
Why? First of all, there’s been an onslaught of new models announced recently: the Canon 60D, the Nikon D3100 and the even newer D7000, and the Panasonic GH2 (which was just announced this morning). As compelling as each new model is, you currently cannot actually purchase any of them (and physically have it in your possession any time soon). They’re all so new that the paint is still drying on their well thought out, ergonomic bodies.
A better reason not to buy right now is that the new models haven’t been put through the ringer by the critics yet. The jury is still out if the 60D will have Canon’s awful moiré and aliasing issues, if the new Nikons have the same rolling shutter/jello problems, and if the GH2 will have muddy imaging and a bunk codec. If you’re not familiar with any of that stuff, trust me, they’re real issues and you don’t want to plop down the cash for one of these things without knowing if they’ve been corrected or not.
Perhaps the best reason why it’s a good idea to wait until December are the prices. Back in February of this year, a wise associate of mine at B&H suggested that I wait until December to buy a new camera. I’m hoping that he was right. A lot of retailers and manufacturers run amazing promotions during the holiday season. There are so many sales going on at different kinds of stores during that time of year that it becomes kind of a wash, and you may not realize how good the deals are on photo equipment.
If you have the option to wait it out a couple more months, I think it’s a good idea to do so. I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to pick up a D7000 at a discounted price. But if you order one right now you’ll undoubtedly be paying full pop.
I’m also hoping that by December I’ll have a better idea of which model to get. The past two weeks have been damn near schizophrenic for me! First I was sold on the Canon 60D. Then I thought I would be better off with a GH1 and a Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens (because I love the “carry it around everyday” compact size of it). But then I was bummed to learn that the GH13 firmware hack had been locked out of the new GH1 bodies. Then the D7000 was announced and I was impressed with the image quality. I had used a D90 before and really liked it, and the D7000 was designed to improve upon that model. What was there to lose? Today the Panasonic GH2 was announced, and now I’m gravitating back in that direction.
This is becoming painful!
Lastly, another good reason to wait until December is that you can ask for the little accessories that you can’t afford to buy as Christmas/Hanukah/Festivus presents. Need a new camera bag? How about that Joby Gorillapod? Do you really want to spend your money on a speedlight? [Note: a speedlight is a fancy name for an external flash]. If you’re one of those lucky people who get fancy gifts as presents, you can even get some additional lenses, or hell, maybe even the camera body too. [Note: I wish I was you].
So that’s my whole post. Sit it out for another two innings… and don’t jump out the window (unless you have a DLSR that can shoot at 60 fps to capture the action).
By goodness, it is refreshing to hear someone else say it. I have spent the last month locked in one of the most intense product comparisons of my life.
I feel like I’m lying around my apt in sweats eating cereal not wanting to leave to go outside until mid November. I’ve got pictures on the walls of the Canon 60D still up next to the GH2, even without the Nikon or Sony, I’m dribbling, wandering back and forth, wearing a path in my rug, walking around the empty DSLR rig on it’s brand new tripod.
The sad truth,
I feel like manufacturers, trying to “limit” product capabilities, is really the cause of all my distress. It’s like when the HAL 2000 was given an bad instruction and it caused a viral breakdown of a techno-moral dilemma. So let me say to the manufacturers, “Guys, we know what these cameras can do now and just like the Sopranos “It’s over”.
Why can’t the manufacturers just go for the gusto. Canon, why only 17Mb/s when you can do probably do 50? Panasonic, why only 24Mb/s AVCHD 1080 30″i” when you can probably do 40K 30p? Why no uncompressed HD out the HDMI? Why? Why? Why? And this is software were talking about. You can see how trying to hold back capabilities is just going to flatten one product on top of another. The Canon 60D was just run flat by the “announcement” of the GH2, before the 60D even shipped!
I’m sorry Canon, but you just lost millions of dollars for the sake of 13Mb/s in data rate. Holding back or “dumbing down” product features in the tech industry is at best a very unstable platform to market from, once the consumer is informed, you either choose to offer the feature, possibly even go “branch product line” into an up-sell, or you get out tastefully to go in a different direction.
Hopefully Canon’s 60D can be a sacrificial lesson we all can learn from, and “possibly” even save it by opening the cameras OS as open source for hacking or development, or a Canon firmware upgrade – kind of like a conservative “contract for america” redeeming moment.
There was a point in the computer “value added resale” business where the consumer realized the difference between finding solutions for customers and “pushing boxes”. That awareness changed the landscape of that business permanently. There “is” a difference between true innovation and deceptive marketing practice, and the modern tech consumer market will tear you open and hack you to your very core, so whats is inside needs to be pure and the best it can be.
Maybe starving American tech manufacturers will get out in front of this thing and design a compact CCD and processor – controller board incorporating a multi SDHC “raid” array that can retro-fit into any SLR body with a little modding. Hell, I’d rather pay 800 for that with 50Mbs AVCHD off full sensor in an old Nikon body…. but, hence,
This will probably be announced mid November and I will need real counseling at that point. -I just bit the inside of my lip at the thought of it.
Leo… Thanks for your heartfelt comment! I’m with you.
I feel the same way about the manufacturers. They do hold back technology, letting it trickle out rather than giving us the whole enchilada. Apple is definitely guilty of this. Back when I owned the iPhone 3G, I was bummed when the iPhone 3Gs came out. Mainly because it looked and operated almost identically to my 3G, except it had the ability to shoot video; the one feature I really had hoped would be included in the 3G.
But you know what? The manufacturers do this because it works. I ended up buying an iPhone 3Gs before my contract was up. Apple played their cards well and won that round. So it’s no surprise that Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic follow this business practice as well.
I was perplexed by the whole hacked GH1 situation as well. It didn’t at all make sense to me that they would put limitations on their own products. The whole scenario was jaw dropping.
A brilliant guy in Russia hacks the firmware of Panasonic’s flagship hybrid photo/video camera. Suddenly this underdog camera is producing HD video footage that blows away the Canon 5D mkII. You would think that Panasonic would be overjoyed about this and learn how to fully exploit their products.
But they did the opposite. They cracked down on the hack and made it imposible to load on new GH1’s. It’s tragic!
I work with a Panasonic guru who owns a hackable GH1, and I asked him why Panasonic would purposely limit the capabilities of their cameras. He brought up a good point. He thinks that Panasonic doesn’t fully exploit cameras like the GH1 and GH2 because these models still need to appeal to consumers.
One of the stumbling blocks that users of the hacked GH1 need to be aware of is properly setting up the camera. If you’re not careful a hacked GH1 can freeze when shooting at high bit rates. You need to use more expensive class 10 SD cards, and fully understand the limitations of the hack.
If you’re the company producing these cameras, you need to make sure that it still appeals to soccer mom consumers. The majority of people who will buy GH2’s and 60D’s are average consumers, not serious film and video producers. The manufacturers don’t want the soccer moms reading reviews written by other soccer moms who had trouble with the camera freezing because they were using a class 3 SD card from Radio Shack.
So yeah, I agree with you. But I guess I accept the reality of the business side of things. It’s frustrating, but it’s also important to look on the bright side. The bottom line is that these cameras produce amazing looking HD video. The footage looks like it came from 35mm movie cameras. It’s an absolutely wonderful thing. I don’t even own one of these cameras yet, but I still need to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
I dont see why everyone is hating on the 60D i just think it is due to the fact everyone hyped it up wayyyyy to much in terms of video it is fantastic, with in terms of features beating the 7D with those audio controls, yes in terms of photography it was a step down from the 50d in many ways, but i am investing in one for video with that screen it will make it easier to get down lower with DSLR’s , as everyone is expecting the 5D MK III to have 2K recording at the mo, i think we are just over hyping video in DSLR’s at the min, plus if the 60D has say 6 -7 fps burst mode save the cash and get a 60D they have to define the reasons for each model 60d is better than 550d but not as good at 7D, just my view anyway :)