BVE 2014...

The first BVE i went to back in 2010 was all about the DSLR revolution. The cameras on the stands were the RED One, the 5D Mk2 , the Panasonic HMC151 and the Sony NEX range..  how things have changed. This year, it was all about the BlackMagic Cameras, The Alexa, The Amira and still a few RED Epics around. The 'camcorder' side of things is far smaller and more emphasis is given to proper cinema cameras and even the DSLR is still hanging on...  The Large sensor revolution really did have an impact in the last few years.

Noticeable exhibits included:

• The Atomos Ninja Blade - It won the best new product at BVE award - well deserved.
• The Arri Amira - Lots of interest in this high end TV/Indie/doc cam.
• The BMCC Production Camera. The 'almost' 4K camera.
• The BMCC Pocket Camera. It's tiny. It shoots ProRes. It eats batteries. Lots of nice rigs for it.
• The GenusTech Mini-Jib and Motion Control System - Awesome light jib and motion controller.
• The Panasonic GH4 - Full 10bit 422 from the HDMI output. The DSLR is back..now in 4K.

CVP had an impressive stand with many cameras to play with... The ProductionGear stand was rammed... lots of interesting stuff from GenusTech and others including the really interesting Samyang DSLR cinema lens kits (review coming soon), the BeSteady Gimbal Stabilizer and the Phantom2 quadcopter.  Atomos had a very busy stand showing off the new Ninja Blade, Samurai Blade and the rest of the range. While other stands went for static set-ups to test cameras, or even a kitchen with people cooking nice food, Atomos won with their girl being body painted... it attracted a lot of attention, and was perfect for test shots.

Very affordable monitoring from BlackMagic Design

I met up with Mark from GenusTech who introduced to me to James Smith of DSLR Devices who has lots of interesting products up his sleeve for the near future. Mark also introduced me to Steve from ProductionGear who was rushed off his feet doing great business on their stand. I also met up with Jeromy from Atomos. He was literally running around demonstrating the Atomos range and doing interviews left, right and centre.. It's good to see his enthusiasm and drive pay off.

The impressive Atomos Stand with the bargain priced Ninja Blade and Samurai Blade

I briefly caught a glimpse of Philip Bloom, who appears to have changed colour and lost 5 stone...haha.. bless him, he's been busy.

Looking forward to hearing news from NAB... sounds like there might be some good stuff coming.