Custom camera question

[Tink1717 2]

Ok, how hard would it be to produce a totally custom video and still setup from off the shelf parts? It seems that the way cameras are shaped is based more on tradition than function and that outside of the relationship if the lens and focal plane, nothing else has a location that can't be changed. I was thinking that someone with the proper knowledge could take existing components and construct a setup for any given propose. I mean would that really be so hard?

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[PharmerPhil 0]

Yes.

[Superfletch 1]

My sentiments exactly!

Gary "Superfletch" Fletcher
D-26145; USPA Coach, IAD/I, AFF/I
Videographer/Photographer

[Tink1717 2]

OK, care to give any details as to why it would be so hard?

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[PharmerPhil 0]

Other people's jobs always seem so simple to those who don't do that sort of work. And while I don't build cameras, here's my take,...

Engineering a camera (video or still) is a very complex process, using many, many engineers of different disciplines (optical engineers, lots of different EEs, mechanical engineers, software engineers, manufacturing engineers, etc.). They don't simply take "off the shelf parts" and arrange them in a box that seems to look like it will work for the average consumer. And while no one makes everything (ie., sensors, chips, lenses, etc.) making these products talk to one another, play well together, adjust for differences and short comings of each other etc., all while being reliable (not locking up, not breaking) is a huge task. Plus, many of these companies do make their own proprietary parts such as sensors, shutters, drives, etc. And no, they won't sell them to you.

I used to work as a project manager for a couple different consumer electronics companies making products much less complicated than a digital video camera, and you have no idea how long the process takes and how many people are involved. My guess is these companies work off of a 3-5 year master product line plan, and each new camera model takes well over a year from when they start engineering to manufacturing (not counting a lot of pure R&D they do and from which they can draw).

Here's an idea. A modern refrigerator is a much less technically complicated piece of equipment than a video or still camera. And there are all sorts of "off-the-shelf parts" available (compressors, condensers, gaskets, metal racks, etc.). Build a refrigerator that does what you want it to do in some new form factor and tell me how it works out. "Would that really be so hard...?"

[davelepka 4]

We used to daydream about that in the bad old days. Looking at big, bulky Hi8 cameras, we alwas thought it would be great if you could have the lens in the center, the tape drive on one side and the battery on the other, just to even out the weight.

Even after minDV and dise mounted cameras came out, there was always talk about the 'perfect' skydiving camera, with the components laid out just so that it would almost seem like there was no camera at all.

By 2010, it's all a moot point with the CX100. The camera is so small, and so light that there's space for it anywhere you want, and it's not heavy enough that it 'needs' to be centered or anything like that. Let's face it, cameras aern't getting any bigger or heavier, so at this point I'd be more inclined just to spend the $500 on a CX, and get the warranty and all of the Sony smarts built right in.

Even the price is fantastic. I paid $1200 for my PC-1 ten years ago, and a decade later, inflation be damned, I can get a much better and lighter camera for $500. The price of everything else has gone up, but video cameras are so cheap you can make the cost back in a weekend or two, and it's HD.

Of course, the PC-1 was built on a magnesium frame which is cool as hell, and it did last me for 7 seasons and 2500 jumps.

[Tink1717 2]

Yes, I have a CX100. It's an outstanding video camera. But I still have the need for a separate still camera. Aligning the two in such a way that one doesn't get in the way of the other and so you can use them both effectively is a major pain in the ass. I get that skydiving is unique in that you need to capture stills and video at the same time and there is no take 2, but still cams that do video (like my T1i) and video cams that shoot still ( CX100) don't integrate the two in such a way as to give a good result. Yeah they shoot both but to do so on the fly, as it were, doesn't give good results. So, I was thinking that it must be nearly impossible to pull this off or some company would have done it. There are certainly enough action/sports shooters out there to justify such a project, I just think that it must be so hard that no one is willing to do it. I thought I'd look into why that is.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[PhreeZone 20]

RED has been talking about finally developing a camera that shoots video at high enough resolution that you can pull large stills out of it but so far that project is generating camera's like RED ONE http://www.red.com/cameras/ Starting price is $17,500 without lenses. The 18mm lens is $4500, the LCD monitor for it was $2500 alone. They keep trying to do a smaller form factor but it never gets delivered.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com