A common question in the NAB 2011 Redrock Micro booth was “what’s up with the microEVF?” At the time, Redrock mastermind Brian Valente was telling everyone that they had decided to delay the electronic viewfinder they had announced last fall in order to re-evaluate the market. Today we present a bit more information. Nextwavedv noticed last week that Redrock Micro had updated their Facebook page with a mini-update on the microEVF and since we have a good relationship with Brian, we asked for some additional clarification.
The updates
Here’s the info that Brian sent
- we were the first to announce an EVF design with HDSLRs in mind
- since that time, many announcements, all seeming to add features to justify a price of $750 or even more
- to us, that runs counter to the idea of HDSLRs and democratizing high production value. Something different needs to happen
- so we decided to go a different route and instead rethink our EVF as something closer to half that price, but maintain all the critical features - 1:1 pixel, signal pass-through, high resolution, etc. and keep the unique Redrock look of compact lightweight size
- so we’ve announced that we are delaying our microEVF and going back to the designs to see how we can produce high quality for around $350-375 target. It would be a minor miracle, but that’s what we’re working on.
- like our Facebook page to keep up with updates on this project
- no release date announced
So, there you have it straight from the source… keep your eye on planet5D for any additional news on EVFs and other HDSLR news.
(cover photo credit: original prototype photo from RRM from fall last year)
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I'm a little annoyed with the way Red Rock seems to downplay the competition while never truly seeming to deliver on their higher demand products. This kind of press release is designed to belittle other manufacturers efforts and slow their sales until RR can get their act together. Its not cool and I personally feel they should stay quiet until they can deliver on their long delayed claims.
I think Zacuto done the job already.. They are expensive..yes..but i think no one cached them until now.
Mitch, Thanks for your reply and yes I have watched the intro from Steve Weiss @ Zacuto and taken his explanation and reasonng on board, but my point is that if Redrock Micro can now look to effectively halve the production costs on their Micro EVF, why can't they do the same withe their "machined" products? Martin
So, Redrock Micro said to us in their statement regarding the micro EVF that: ....we were the first to announce an EVF design with HDSLRs in mind since that time, many announcements, all seeming to add features to justify a price of $750 or even more to us, that runs counter to the idea of HDSLRs and democratizing high production value. Something different needs to happen. Yes, indeed something "different" does need to happen. Why don't they realistically look at the costs of their HDSLR rigs to help promote this so called democratization?!? I'm sure this question has been asked many times before and is as "old as the hills", but why do the US 'premium' makers of this kit charge so much for their rigs - just metal and rubber really - no electronics etc - blah? I suppose they've just tested the market with an inflated price, and we've paid!
Much like the mystical remote follow focus it was announced a year ago and still nothing...
REDROCK MICRO are the King for announcement, but we waiting so long time and we don't see anything on the market !
A minor miracle indeed! This sounds like an indefinite delay.
I suggest you actually look into designing an manufacturing something...anything really and see if you feel the same. To say something is metal and rubber is just naive. Design, prototyping, materials cost, packaging, marketing, guarantees and maintenance, infrastructure all factor into the cost. Some of the manufacturers work strictly with US vendors, which allow them to deliver products faster but are also more expensive. I know many different rig makers and none of them intentionally try to gouge anyone. They all just try to make products they (and the market want to buy) and keep things as lean as possible with just enough markup that they can make new stuff and keep the business running.
You may think they're overpriced and you're entitled to an opinion - but I suggest you watch the Zacuto podcast we did where we asked that question at the very beginning of the interview. http://blog.planet5d.com/2011/04/podcast-29-steve-weiss-from-zacuto-now-online/
You obviously didn't see our other report from NAB - the FF will be shipping in June - they're targeting June 15.