While it is several months old now (early 2014 before NAB), Larry Jordan gave an interesting talk at BVE (Broadcast Video Expo?) on how realistic it is to start shooting and distributing our projects in 4K. At first I thought he was essentially saying, "It isn't realistic yet..." But there are advantages and I found his insights useful to the point where I'm now wondering whether the pre-order I have in on the 4K Atomos Shogun recorder is pre-mature. Not because I don't think that 4K isn't going to take off, I think it will. And in fact, it already clearly is, even just since early this year. On a quick roll through BestBuy yesterday, I saw that Sony now has 4K TVs for under $2000 USD. Now to be honest, it will probably be a while before traditional broadcast sends out much 4K programming but I think in this revolution, the online broadcasters have already taken the first step--Netflix, YouTube, and others.
But 4K may not be a higher priority than some other things that I need in my overall video production gear line-up. I have cheap, consumer grade monitors and while one of the is a wide-gamut Dell Ultrasharp, it is not really color critical. At least I'm pretty sure most colorists would consider it un-workable for their projects. Maybe I should invest in a decent HD or higher res color critical monitor that I could use for grading? Maybe start with one of the newer HP Dream Colors?
I have a decent near field monitors for audio but the room in which I edit and master the audio is completely untreated, and un-tested, for that matter. My ears tell me this room has got issues. Maybe I need to invest in a test microphone and bass traps?
And another thing I've had my eyes on for a long time is a quality camera slider or perhaps even a small jib.
In the sound recording realm, I'd really like to get into a Sound Devices field recorder and some quality (super)cardioid and shotgun mics (the NTG-2 is ok, but not amazing).
What do you all thing? Would you cancel the pre-order on the Shogun for now? Which would be highest priority for you?
-CuJu
http://youtu.be/rzhIRR7pH0I