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It appeared to have appeared and vanished within the blink of a watch, however do you know that AJA created a full-fledged cinema digital camera referred to as the CION?
Feeling related in fashion and coming across the similar time to when Blackmagic began absolutely diving into the digital camera world – which was in all probability a part of the issue for AJA – the CION was a well-spec’d 4K-shooting full-size digital camera that appeared thrilling on the time. So what occurred to it?
Body Voyager has been making a sequence on deserted cinema cameras and so they took a take a look at the AJA CION of their newest video.
The CION was focusing on the identical markets that ARRI and RED have been dominating. It was Tremendous 35mm and had a world shutter—one thing nonetheless uncommon at the moment. It may do 4K as much as 120 fps. And, the value level on the time was comparatively low cost for what they had been providing. It in all probability would’ve finished effectively, if not for the Blackmagic URSA.
AJA has a whole lot of parallels to Blackmagic Design. They made a reputation for themselves with mini converters and related {hardware} for post-production. Individuals very a lot recognize AJA merchandise. They needed to simplify video workflows and in addition began providing their merchandise in worth ranges the place the common shopper may choose them up. Tremendous related.
Quick ahead to NAB 2014 when AJA first introduced the CION. It was meant to fill the hole between high-end cinema cameras and prosumer cameras.
The worldwide shutter and 4K 120p output had been spectacular. Whereas full dimension the digital camera was light-weight at round 6 lb with a magnesium alloy exterior. Operation was easy and designed for single operators who possible would even be the house owners.
The opposite benefit of the CION was all of the connections. Is sensible contemplating the businesses roots. It had six SDI outputs, two HDMI outputs, two XLR inputs, Thunderbolt for PC direct recording, two LANC connectors, and a D-Faucet output for accent energy.
It might be constructed as much as work for any workflow you wanted. Ergonomics and suppleness had been the purpose and that was based mostly on the truth that related choices within the inexpensive tier had been finicky to make use of and normal not optimized for true productions.
Picture Credit score: AJA
Sadly, Blackmagic occurred to be engaged on a really related product with their URSA. Nonetheless, competitors isn’t at all times a demise sentence.
One space the place issues began to go improper was with the sensor. As we had been speaking in regards to the rarity of among the choices you could possibly see that the CION was restricted by the potential of the sensor they had been in a position to purchase. International shutter is a pleasant function, however on the time it got here on the expense of extra essential issues like dynamic vary.
It was solely 8.2 stops, which was a lot decrease than the listed vary and examined poorly in comparison with the Blackmagic URSA that was launched within the following years.
Value was one other level of failure. It was launching at almost $9,000, which made it one of many dearer 4K choices on the market. Blackmagic got here in swinging with the very related URSA at $6,000 and even the Manufacturing Digicam 4K with related high quality was solely $3,000. There have been extra compelling choices for a lot much less cash.
Competitors hit AJA on the worst attainable time and Blackmagic was relentless. Yr after 12 months Blackmagic was dropping new, even higher cameras at superb worth factors. Even with worth cuts and firmware updates, AJA was combating a dropping battle. In 2018 AJA determined to discontinue the digital camera.
Timing was what actually killed the CION. If it had not sat in manufacturing for as lengthy and launched a 12 months or two earlier they may have gotten a leap in the marketplace and will’ve used that momentum to make developments. AJA was so shut.
The fascinating factor is that even the URSA in its authentic kind didn’t have too lengthy of a life both. However that’s a complete different video in case you are .
Do you bear in mind the AJA CION? What are your ideas on how its launch was dealt with?
[source: Frame Voyager]
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