Canon Announces The Development Of An Innovative Photography Solution For Live Events

Mar 26, 2014
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I'd be willing to bet that the real volume users of this kind of tech, Reuters, Getty and AP, are happy with the systems they have already developed, I remember seeing x,y,z, plane computer controlled heads for top end cameras and lenses with zoom control years ago from these companies for the Olympics.

I'd see the real market for these as rental houses to go out to people with decent budgets that don't do this kind of thing very often.

People like me, low budget but pushing to bring new perspectives, will keep using the gear we have, WiFi enabled gimbals, WFT's and CamRangers.

Big players like Reuters and Getty aren't in the business of developing and maintaining this type of system. They were forced into it because there's no off the shelf product. and some of them might be willing to switch to Canon's.
 
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cayenne

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There used to be a saying, "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

Based on my IT experience (my day job)....these days, if anyone on my team so much as uttered two of those three letters, I'd can their a$$ immediately.

Ugh, IBM is almost as bad as CA, they buy a company and proceed to destroy what used to be good, workable, dependable software.

Ok...rant mode off.
;)

Carry on with fun camera discussions!!

C
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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Big players like Reuters and Getty aren't in the business of developing and maintaining this type of system. They were forced into it because there's no off the shelf product. and some of them might be willing to switch to Canon's.
Maybe, but as they already have the systems operators along with the software, firmware and hardware all I was saying was I think Canon are too late to the party for the big users, the 2012 Olympics was the first one I noticed very heavy common use of controlled 'robot' remotes so they must have been testing much earlier than that. Obviously Canon believe there is a market, just as there must be for their $40,000 monitors, I just don't see the Reuters, AP, Getty market dropping what they have, it costs a lot more than the sticker price to change over stuff like this, and they all have experts with years of expertise with their already robust and effective current solutions. To me that seems like a hard sell.

However rental houses who don't have the custom gear and want to offer an off the shelf solution seems like a comparatively easy sell.

None of this changes my second point, Canon software sucks. I find the robustness of the WFT's very good, their connection durability and range as well as their integrated weather sealed form factor works well, the limitation is their software which doesn't give you a fraction of the control any third party camera control software does, it is also very clunky, unintuitive and slow. Why do you have to move to a different screen to view images from camera control? Stuff like that makes whatever hardware they have much less effective.
 
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Apr 25, 2011
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None of this changes my second point, Canon software sucks. I find the robustness of the WFT's very good, their connection durability and range as well as their integrated weather sealed form factor works well, the limitation is their software which doesn't give you a fraction of the control any third party camera control software does, it is also very clunky, unintuitive and slow. Why do you have to move to a different screen to view images from camera control? Stuff like that makes whatever hardware they have much less effective.
If their cameras are controlled via CCAPI and their gimbals are controlled via a similar RESTful protocol, you could write the software in JavaScript and run it in your favorite browser.
 
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Mar 26, 2014
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Maybe, but as they already have the systems operators along with the software, firmware and hardware all I was saying was I think Canon are too late to the party for the big users, the 2012 Olympics was the first one I noticed very heavy common use of controlled 'robot' remotes so they must have been testing much earlier than that.

I agree, and at least some of them would be sticking to their existing investment. But just as those companies aren't into developing cameras, lenses, image processing software, etc, I bet some will decide they don't want to keep investing into robotic camera controllers, and will phase to Canon's.

Obviously Canon believe there is a market, just as there must be for their $40,000 monitors

And Canon might be wrong.

I just don't see the Reuters, AP, Getty market dropping what they have, it costs a lot more than the sticker price to change over stuff like this, and they all have experts with years of expertise with their already robust and effective current solutions. To me that seems like a hard sell.

I doubt even Canon expects them to switch at the drop of a hat. My basic claim is, long term, those companies don't want to keep developing, manufacturing, and maintaining robotic camera controllers, so Canon has a fair chance to get some of them to switch, as long as they can make the product attractive in terms of functionality, usability, price, etc.
 
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Oct 22, 2014
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I'd be willing to bet that the real volume users of this kind of tech, Reuters, Getty and AP, are happy with the systems they have already developed, I remember seeing x,y,z, plane computer controlled heads for top end cameras and lenses with zoom control years ago from these companies for the Olympics.

I'd see the real market for these as rental houses to go out to people with decent budgets that don't do this kind of thing very often.

People like me, low budget but pushing to bring new perspectives, will keep using the gear we have, WiFi enabled gimbals, WFT's and CamRangers.


View attachment 186700View attachment 186701

The major difference here, is those rigs look fragile.With wires/ wiring exposed and nothing protecting the camera itself, they'd be a hazard on the sideline. That chunky slab Canon has in the picture fully encompasses the camera, concealing it from damage, with only the lens left exposed.Which, any enterprising person with some tape and a plastic sheet could easily protect.

In fact, not a single item mentioned in this thread looks even close to the robustness of what Canon seems to be offering.
 
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stevelee

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Based on my IT experience (my day job)....these days, if anyone on my team so much as uttered two of those three letters, I'd can their a$$ immediately.

Ugh, IBM is almost as bad as CA, they buy a company and proceed to destroy what used to be good, workable, dependable software.
That was a saying in the '80s and '90s that explained why Apple was doomed.
 
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LDS

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ethanz

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Just look at this:


Wow, it is happening. Another victim of the robots. That machine must cost a ton though. How do you get access to the Canon SDK? It sounds interesting. Canon isn't innovative at all ;)
 
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