Top 5 Technologies to watch in 2014

It’s a brand new year, and in 2014, what do we think is going to be big news this year?  We’re confirmed gear heads, and there are some definitely exciting things we’re looking forward to.  Some are rumours, while other items are just coming into their own.  In 12 months, we’ll see what is panning out to be the breakout technologies in 2014.

1. Brushless Motor Gimbal systems.  Well, what is it you ask? Early in 2013, Freefly systems introduced what some say to be a revolutionary new type of stabilizer called the Movi.  It utilized highly modified brushless motors in a 3 axis gimbal array.  Essentially its a near silent way of ‘floating’ a camera so that jars, bumps, or small movements don’t effect the images that your camera picks up.  The claim is that it had a much shallower training curve, and you didn’t need years of steadicam experience to use such a device.  For some of the budget shooters, a $15,000 price tag was a bit too high.  Enter the Asian clone makers.  For anywhere from $500-5000, you can now get a brushless motor gimbal system, depending if you’re handy or not.  Look for different styles of gimbals, and what we predict to be significant price drops over this year.
   

   Movi Stabilizer

2. Auto focus lenses for Video. These have been around for a while for stills, and to a certain extent on Video.  Canon and Panasonic have recently been really starting to have auto-focus capable video lenses and bodies as of late.  In particular we saw some excellent and reasonably priced offerings from Canon in their STM or Stepper Motor 40mm f2.8 model.  We’ll likely be seeing much more from Canon and the other competing companies.
   

   Canon’s STM 40mm

3. 4K or UHD. 4K, 6K, 8K has been coming for a while.  However, look at any big electronics chain, and you’ll find one prominently set up for display.  So why is this going to be big this year?  Well when the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and National Association of Broadcasters Show (NAB) roll around this month, and April respectively, this is what you’ll be seeing all over the show floor.  Last year, 4K was very dominant, and this year, expect even more.   Cameras such as the Black Magic 4K Camera (still coming),  Sony’s PXW-Z100, can be had for under $6000.  Heck, the latest GoPro Hero 3+ will do 4K, but in 15FPS rate. We’ll likely see many more 4K capable cameras, displays and workflows in 2014.
   

   Sony PXW-Z100

4. New Panasonic GH4 and Canon C100/300/500 replacements.  Canon has been recently dropping their pricing on the C100-500 series, and rumour has it there may be either an intermediate model (C200?) or a replacement for the C300 which has been around for about 2 years now.  Nothing has been reported at CES, but at the NAB show this year, a model may pop up.  On the Panasonic front, the rumour has it that a GH4 with 4K capability may emerge either this year or possibly in 2015.  It’s reported that it will not be a GH3 replacement, but will instead add to the lineup as a higher end Lumix model. Digital Cyclops has been using the GH line as an auxiliary camera for some time, and it’s definitely a handy low profile beast to have in your arsenal.
   
   

   Canon C100

5. High Speed Cameras.  With the Sony FS700 coming in at around $7000 and capable of shooting 240 frames per second, this became the new ‘affordable’ benchmark.  Our prediction is that there will be a new player on the block that will allow higher frame rates by NAB.  Unlikely these will not challenge the Phantom cameras used by the SloMoGuys. So… will this take the form of an HDSLR? GoPro? Video Camcorder? Only time will tell.
   

   Phantom Flex High Speed Camera

Well that’s it for this year’s predictions.  It’s going to be one heck of an exciting 2014!