(news and commentary)
We seem to have a lot of content regurgitation without proper analysis going on these days. The latest is JVC's just announced JY-HMQ30 video camera, which everyone is touting as being a large sensor, Nikkor F-mount capable video camera.
Yeah, but are they reading the fine print? The sensor is actually 1.25" and has a crop ratio of 2.5x. That's the reason why those photos on JVC's site show the 14-24mm lens on it (which would be effective 35-60mm). The new video camera seems to be a slight variation on the already announced GH-HMQ10U, which is the same camera with a fixed lens (42.5-425mm equivalent). The only other relevant change I can see is that the sensor went from being 1/2.3" to 1.25". Plus that F-mount isn't all that it seems to be, either: no autofocus.
So is this the 4K video Nikon you'd want? No. Not even close. Try a RED with the Nikon mount instead. You'd get a better workflow, something close to DX in sensor size (more like Super35mm format), and it supports autofocus on a number of Nikkor lenses.
But all this discussion does bring up the point I've made before: where is Nikon in the video business? For a company that says that they're at the heart of all things that involve optics, I find a lot of serious omissions that counter that contention.
