Back in 2008, I purchased the first DSLR to have 1080p video recording, the Canon 5D Mark II. This was a revolutionary camera for the time. Sure, there were other cameras capable of shooting 1080p, but they were prohibitively expensive, especially if you sought to have the professional image quality that came from using high-end professional lenses. I loved this camera and I love Canon as a company for being able to release such an outstanding camera. As the years went on and more and more cameras started to come out with 4K capable models, I began to look at what my options were to upgrade. I was hopeful that Canon would continue to innovate and push the envelop as they had with the 5D Mark II, and release a competent successor with 4K capability.
The 5D Mark III was released in 2012 and I considered upgrading, but the camera’s image sensor wasn’t much more powerful than the Mark II and the camera still only recorded at 1080p. This wasn’t a big deal back then as 4K cameras were still only in their infancy and the only cameras capable of said image resolution were restricted to extremely expensive cinema cameras like those from RED and Arri. Besides, I didn’t have a computer really capable of handling this high quality content.
Just two years later, in 2014, things changed for me both in my personal life and in the camera industry. That year I found out I was going to be a father. I knew I was going to be one of those dads that documented every moment of their child’s waking life and I wanted to have the best camera for the job I could afford. That same year Panasonic released the GH4, the first prosumer level, affordable 4K camera. I was truly intrigued by this new camera. I’d never paid attention to Panasonic as a camera manufacturer before and had never picked up one of their cameras in the past, but when the hype started to build around this 4K beast, I knew I had to give it a shot.
The birth of our first child was just the excuse I needed to justify the purchase of this $1,700 camera. The camera being under $2,000 made it irresistible to me and pushed me to also buy a brand new, fully specked out MacBook Pro. I’d done this once before. You see, when I purchased the Mark II, I also purchased a fully specked out HP laptop, the difference here was that the MacBook Pro was fully capable of actually editing the footage I was capturing. That’s always the concern when upgrading camera equipment, you have to upgrade everything else in the workflow to be able to take advantage of the capabilities of the new camera. This is less of an issue for still photography, but video, especially 4K, 8K and beyond, require upgrades all around.
I was sitting pretty with my new GH4, capturing 4K video of all my son’s important moments such as first words, first steps, first everything. What’sa funny is when I told my brother I’d purchased a new camera to capture my son’s life at the highest resolution possible he said that I was “weird.” How is it weird to want to have an archive of content from your first child’s life that is of the highest quality possible? I realize, though, that by the time my son is old enough to actually care to look back on any of this content, I’m sure 16K 3D holographic displays will probably be the thing and my 4K video will probably be quaint by comparison.
Regardless of my purchase of the GH4 I still remained loyal to Canon and continued to use my Mark II for all my photographic needs. It was the far superior stills camera compared to the GH4’s measly 16 megpixels and micro 4/3rds sensor. I was eagerly awaiting the release of the 5D Mark IV, though, which was going to have 4K capability, much like the GH4. Unfortunately, when it was released I was supremely let down by how hobbled the 4K recording was. It had 4K, this was true, but at a 1.74x crop factor. Additionally, the file sizes presented a workflow issue with my current hardware. At the same time the GH5 was about to be released the next year and it was going to not only have full frame 4K, but 4K60!
Once I realized Canon wasn’t planning to take 4K seriously I knew I had to make the switch. It was at this point I decided to sell my stock of Canon gear and switch fully to the micro 4/3rds system of the Panasonic GH5. I really liked my new kit. Besides the 4K60 capability, the camera and lens system were much smaller and lighter than my Canon set up, affording me the ability to carry more gear at a lighter weight. I was really happy with my GH5 kit at this point, I had no desire to upgrade and Canon wasn’t putting anything out that was even tempting me to consider coming back to them. That was until 2020, when they confirmed details about their new R5 camera.
8K30. That’s all it took. 8K and I’m back on the Canon bandwagon. Well at least theoretically. I still need to hear how the photographic press absorbs this camera and hear about their feedback. I also need a little thing like price to be revealed. Bottom line, though, is I have a serious question to ask myself. Do I want to switch back to Canon and live that sweet, sweet 8K lifestyle or keep living in my comfortable 4K world? I’m honestly not sure yet. I’m kind of in a reverse situation as I was with Panasonic 3 years ago as I’m now waiting to see what Panasonic will announce that might make me consider staying with them over Canon. I’m excited for a potential GH6 and what that might bring to the micro 4/3rd space, if it even happens, but until then I’ve very intrigued by Canon’s confirmed 8K beast that is tentatively scheduled to be released this year, pandemics not withstanding.
The more I thought about the concept of 8K and the reality that it will not only be available at an affordable price, hopefully, and be in a form factor that many shooters are comfortable with, the more I thought about its impact on the career field. In 2020, there are few people who can make a living doing only doing photography work. Whether they produce video content for clients or make behind the scenes or educational video content, it’s impossible for a still shooter to not have at least a basic understanding of video. Even if the average freelancer is making a living with their stills, they might consider this camera, or any 8K camera, as a substitute for shooting individual frames. The idea of pulling a 33 megapixel still frame from video can be pretty enticing.
Let’s talk about pulling stills for a minute. I remember back in the 1080p days that the idea from pulling stills from video, as opposed to traditional photography, was a real possibility for many newsrooms. Think about how people consumed content, even back then, most of the time it was on a tiny screened phone or a maybe a 1080p computer monitor. Heck, I use a 1080p monitor today for my video and photo editing even though I shoot and edit in 4K. Still, taking 1080p stills never really caught on, but when 4K started creeping into DSLR and micro 4/3rd bodies the idea became more and more a reality. It wasn’t the ideal means to capture imagery, by any means, but it was a pretty easy go to, especially if you were limited by what you could shoot. Shooting stills, though, was still preferred. 8K changes all that.
With 8K you finally have no real compromise between shooting video and shooting photos. You can go to a shoot, capture your video, extract your stills, and have content that is fully appropriate to be blown up to billboard size. While I’d still hesitate to doing, let’s say, studio portraiture or advertising photography with a camera, even an 8K one, for the working freelance photojournalist I’d have no qualms about solely shooting video. I could see myself going to cover an event, perhaps a kinetic and frantic event like a protest, and shooting 8K video then coming home, editing the video on my high-powered computer, knocking out a stringer, grabbing a set of 10 stills, adding my caption info and sending the whole lot to my agency for distribution.
We’ll have to wait and see how the new Canon R5 actually works in field testing, and just how workable those video files are in a standard workflow, but I’m confident that this camera spells a new era and revives innovative Canon of old. And with Canon opening the door, with this technology, in this form factor, it will only be a matter of time before Sony, Nikon, Panasonic, and all the rest, release their own 8K monsters making this the new standard for high quality video. But are we as consumers ready for it? Are we ready for the multi-thousand dollar commitments to new computers, hard drives, memory cards and other accessories to make this format viable. Or should we just be happy with 4K, like many are still happy with 1080p, and just ignore this new era? Regardless of whether I actually switch back to Canon, I probably won’t, I’m still excited to see Canon taking the lead and forcing everyone else to catch up. This is why competition is great, folks, and I can’t wait to see what else it brings!
You must be logged in to post a comment.