Well, this was a long time coming. Apparently, Canon brought out a 4K 8 megapixel camera at their 2010 Expo for shooters all around the world to drool over. While the body may look like an oversized hair dryer, it's what's on the inside that will make Canon blow you away. The camera can shoot in 60p at a full 4K resolution, a 2/3rds inch CMOS sensor, and a fully functional flip-out HD LCD. Unfortunately, this is just a concept camera and Canon has said that they have no intention of bringing it to market so those of you who already started to count the remaining savings in your bank account, can safely deposit your money away. I can't say for sure why Canon would ever dangle the 4K carrot in front of us without a solid release date, but they are definitely not the first to do so (read: RED cameras). All of the ranting aside, the camera is actually not meant for video capture (as if anyone really believes that) but instead is a "multipurpose image capture device." This means that one is supposed to use the device like a camera that is constantly taking photos giving users a ton of potential pictures to choose from when it comes time to edit. Capturing photos this way sounds mildly innovative but one still can't help but think that the camera would just do better as an incredibly high resolution camcorder. Nonetheless, this camera at least marks Canon as an intentional competitor in the emerging 4K camcorder market while at the same time proving that 4K is the next big revolution to hit video. I have no doubt that we'll be seeing more of these kinds of cameras soon so keep a keen eye out on the market.
September 07th, 2010
