This is why 8K matters, Vincent Laforet tells us why he has switched over to the RED Weapon with 8K Helium sensor. At over $49.5K dollars this technology is not cheap but when you are at the top of your trade price is no option.
Vincent Laforet is among the most influential pioneers working in contemporary photography and film today. His unique commercials for such well-known brands as Apple, Nike, General Electric, CNN, and Canon, and his groundbreaking photography for magazines such as National Geographic, Vanity Fair, and Sports Illustrated, to name just a few, cover a broad spectrum of subjects and narratives. Yet a common thread runs through his work: It always features cutting-edge technologies that make the photographs and films inventive, iconic and unforgettable.
A few weeks ago, a portrait I shot got a bit of attention from the press at the Cinegear convention that takes place every year at Paramount Studios.
Here’s a link to the JPEG of the 8K image which I hope doesn’t blow up my account with DropBox here.
Cinegear is an event that brings together all of the leading tech for the cinema industry – it’s a wonderful event to attend and I can’t recommend it enough.
The Key here is that a STILL image garnered attention at a CINEMA event … why, well obviously it was shot on a motion camera at 8K – in this case the RED WEAPON 8K camera which is capable of capturing 36 megapixel stills in full RAW up to 60 times per second. And when you slow down to look at the quality of this image… it kind of speaks to the future of where we all are headed.
And don’t forget the RED 8K Weapon is capable of recording 30 seconds back in time … that’s 1800 full RAW 36 MP frames at the touch of a button … think about it.
And yes – you can use your Canon, Leica, Nikon and the majority of cinema lenses on this camera to pursue your visual dreams – whether they be in motion or still … why choose if you can get both? And you can control every function on this camera literally with you iPhone as well with apps like FoolControl…
While many will see the cost of a RED system as initially out of their reach, I would remind you of the 2 megapixel Kodak camera that shot 2 frames per second in 1999 … and of the iPhone that came out almost 10 years ago that obliterated that camera in many ways 7 years later. It’s just a matter of time before this technology makes it way into all of our hands as prices and mass adoption takes hold. And there are already plenty of much more affordable entry level systems that RED provides – I call them the gateway drugs to be perfectly honest. Once you see the quality coming off of these sensors … just as with still cameras you want more an more Megapixels and frames per second. FULL STOP.
While we can’t readily imagine a RED camera being sold on the shelves of Best Buy just yet … give it time. Mark my words and call me crazy … but the tech will definitely make its way onto consumer shelves much more quickly than many of us are anticipating. History has already proven this trend, and cycles are only speeding up…
The Convergence of Stills & Motion at 8K from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.