DVFreelancer’s Naughty and Nice List 2012 Edition

Ah, the holidays, everyone’s favorite time of the year, except maybe when the bills come due. This year DVFreelancer is putting together our naughty and nice list for the world of video hardware.

Nice

The Sony FS-100 is eating into Canon DSLR video sales like alien acid blood eating through the hull of the Nostromos. The FS-100 hit the sweet spot on the chip size relative to the cost of the camera, pricing just slightly higher than Canon’s 5D MK III.

Naughty

This year Canon tops our “naughty” list, partly for the anemic offering embodied in the 5D MK III and partly for the ghastly overpriced EOS C300. Canon let their success with the 5D MK II and EOS 7D go to their head. Instead of listening to their customers, they started telling them what they wanted and letting the high end of the market drive their product line.

Big mistake. Sony fielded some very capable video cameras with APS-C chips and lens mounts compatible between the FS-100 and their Nex line of still cameras that also produces very capable video.

When I look at Canon’s behavior in the camera market I start sounding like the commentators on Fox Sports: Come on, man.

Nice

Nikon gets honorable mention in the nice category for finally caught on to 24p HD on a full frame sensor with the D800. Now, at last, you can shoot video with those marvelous Nikkor lenses without an adapter. Better late than never, guys, welcome to the party.

Naughty

Red, again. This time for supporting- no, not just supporting, but encouraging the trend toward 4K. Nevermind that Hollywood films are scanned at 2K for Blu-Ray, uh-uh. If 2K is good then 4K must be twice as good, right?

We’re already near the limits of what the human eye can detect, so what’s the point of upgrading for the sake of an upgrade except to sell more camera equipment? Though I still like 4K better than 3D.

Nice

B&H Photo Video. Still the most reliable vendor in the camera market. You could buy a turkey from B&H the day before Thanksgiving and come back with a bag of bones the day after and probably still get your money back if you were really unhappy. That B&H has managed to maintain a customer-centric approach over a span of decades, which is worth an award all by itself.

Naughty

Adorama. They were dropped from our affiliate partners after an experience I had trying to order a tablet. Later complaints from other users started filtering in. I’m not sure what changed, but I can’t in good conscience recommend Adorama as vendor anymore.