It's an exciting time for the digital imaging market - at least for consumers. The migration from film to DSLR introduced a host of digital resources into the camera, but mechanical components still meant a series of functional bottle-necks in the imaging workflow. With the advent of Mirrorless, almost all of the imaging functionality transitioned into the digital domain, unleashing the traditional pervasiveness and speed of innovation into more aspects of capture, processing, transferring, and store, while simultaneously enabling typically post-production computational technologies to migrate up the imaging stream towards capture.
Simultaneously, the optical part of the equation has had time to catch up, and the depth and breadth of mirrorless-compatible lenses in the market now rivals that of all other technologies. Photographers and cinematographers worldwide have more choices than ever with which to execute their visions and create content.
There's no arguing there are benefits, both measurable and subjective to older technologies. It's hard to match the narrow depth-of-field of some of the old film cameras, and the airy, whimsical feel they create with their image results, or their dynamic range. But it's equally difficult to make a case against embracing the excitement associate with all the innovation found in today's imaging market, both in photography and video.
Source: (D/Y Photography)
The Fuji GFX100s is a good example. It takes the company's flagship medium format GFX monster and shrinks both its size and price almost by half with very little sacrifice of features, bringing it in line with many full frame cameras like the Canon EOS R, Sony A7 and new A1 series, and others. RED digital cinema and BlackMagic are similarly broadening their corresponding lineup of cinema cameras to feature sets and price points that make it much more accessible to a wider range of users. Examples include RED's KOMODO, Sony's FX line, Canon's EOS R, and the Pocket Cinema 6K cameras.
And I'm not forgetting cell phones and GoPros, which are equally wonderful tools as part of an artist's tool-kit. Phones and GoPro's main limitation is related to optics. It's physically impossible to make up digitally what those instruments lack in sensor and optical sizes and range. The net result is that today's content creator has a plethora of choices at their disposal, in an increasingly affordable, portable, and mobile way.
When we started Outex, one of our goals was to enable a versatile system that allowed the user to mix & match cameras and lenses for the desired outcome. Never has that advantage been more pronounced. In today's age of rapid innovation and advancements, it literally pays to have a modular housing system that both fits multiple cameras, and grows with your needs. As an artist that has both a creative, and a practical benefit. Outex lets you use the same/similar system for film, DSLR, mirrorless, and many medium format and cinema cameras, along with all of their corresponding glass (lenses) - anywhere, and in any environment.
The below example from our News page shows Nikon Ambassador Lucas Gilman using a prototype Nikon Z6 tethered to an Atomos Ninja V recording, using the Outex Pro Kit Large withe Dome.
And it offers the modularity you may need for additional use-cases with tripods, lighting, grips, and tethering - external connectivity for power, data, or control. That means whether it's a tethered Pocket Cinema camera camera tripod-mounted off the side on a moving boat filming whale migration, or a powered camera & lights connected to an external battery source for a glacial time-lapse project, almost anything is possible with the camera, lens, and tools you want.
