I got an email this morning from Canon announcing their new PTZ control box. That aspect on it’s own wouldn’t be much of an announcement as Canon has plenty of PTZ cameras and controllers, although I have noticed and both Sony and Canon are bringing out MORE than they have in the past. The thing that caught my eye was the capabilities of the controller. It is pretty much a switcher, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Canon can update some firmware and you have a switcher, or does finally release a fully fledged switcher in the near future.  

Canon focuses strongly on the lens and camera-it always has, but I can’t help but feel that the future of video, at least in the next few years before AI takes over completely, is heading towards that semi-robotic future. PTZ cameras are taking over serious places in the world of cameras-Sony has developed its own (The FR-7) that can integrate with their DSLR/mirrorless lenses, smaller competitors like Obsbot have auto tracking built in and do it pretty well, and there are plenty of units and ideas that help people film without the help of a cameraman. The prices and lenses are pretty much the determination of how good a setup you have, but you are able to build a simple to autonomous controlled multiple video solution with a reasonable budget. You can see a bunch of budget camera trackers by MarkusPix, who apparently loves to buy things and I’m jealous of his equipment budget. Those are quite telling for the fact that they’re relatively cheap-under $500 and track reasonably well for single subjects.

Enter Canon’s RC-IP-1000 control unit. With the ability to integrate with over 200 Canon cameras over IP, Serial, HDMI and SDI, it’s a control surface monster. It does lack the ability to include additional “outside” cameras, which is probably Canon’s goal as they typically don’t like playing nice with other equipment, but you have incredibly precise control over Canon cameras, including a multiview of sorts and HDMI out (which you could probably record like a switcher although I’m sure it’s not fully supported). It IS a strong sign that Canon is taking the next step of autonomous cameras seriously, and when the time is right and the AI works out, you will likely see more cameramen out of a job. They have the face tracking algorithms right-as they have fine tuned the dual pixel control on most of their camera to perfection. A lot of smaller companies are getting that tracking algorithm correct now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they release their own pretty soon to use for their IP and automated cameras.

I’m thinking that Canon is aiming at the television network cameramen right now, probably with the goal of fully autonomous cameras coming next, and then eventually fine tuning that for things like sports and quick camera movements for certain tv shows. It’s only natural of course-to save on budget, timing, space and other considerations, but to me it’s a clear view that companies are beginning to take this technology seriously to the point where you’re now seeing that making a difference in the professional workplace.

I have my own cheaper and smaller PTZ configuration cobbled together right now. I might even have a tutorial on it, but while it’s a decent 1080 configuration or 4k, it’s still not quite the level of professional tv show cameras. With Sony’s and Canon’s focus on those types of cameras being developed, it’s again a matter of time before those situations and camera people needed are obsolete.

In this instance, I can imagine that you replace the cameramen with a single producer on cameras, a producer on cutting and board, and maybe 1-2 as head producer and cue or effects. Either way, from a 5-10 person job to a 3-4 person job makes a huge difference in the world of professionals and will definitely start shaping that future of AI/tech/cameras and more concepts for the future to come.

EDIT:

Here’s a video on the autotrack features on the Canon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BZhtmMZsJc

And here’s the link to Markuspiks, who has an awesome array of cameras to play with. https://youtu.be/_VZVmv7Lj-w?si=8cTZjRj4lBxVgzG7