Pixboom revealed some interesting things at IBC:
-12 bit mode coming this year
-Remote control API for third party development
-Broadcast module being developed
-The pre record buffer is using RAM in the camera rather than putting write cycles on the card
IBC summary article here: Pixboom Spark Updated – Pre-Record, Browser Remote Control, and 12-Bit RAW in Development | CineD
12-bit and that official handle are what I’m most hyped for.
There’s also this bit at the end of the article:
The company told us that details on ordering through normal retail channels will follow shortly, once the remaining backer units are out the door in October."
It does seem like that is important… as it should be.
Even though I personally am not all that concerned about the 12-bit option because I have Black Magic 12K cameras already, I agree that it’s going to be a nice feature.
The frame rate tradeoff is also it seems a bit less than 50% which is better than expected.
Having said that, even with a steeper frame rate tradeoff, the 12-bit mode gets the Spark closer to being a full-fledged production camera, since in film production on-camera audio is only useful for scratch recordings as a backup for timecodes for syncing purposes. Hence the lack of audio is not a problem for normal film production.
Because of that, the Spark will become a viable primary camera for a lot of indie owner/operators and for indie DoPs who often have to provide the camera(s) for production.
And since the handle connects via wifi and provides quite a bit of control, it’s going to be very nice… something you can attach to the AC’s kit so that they can do things like control run/stop so that the operators don’t have to worry about that, particularly useful for situations where the top of the camera is hard to reach which happens quite often.