AGENDA NEWS
Leica and Lumix love-in as Nikon and Red feud L eica and Lumix have announced they will grow even closer to develop new technology, but Red has fired a warning shot to Nikon
over a potential patent infringement. Red filed a lawsuit against Nikon in California over its virtually lossless Raw compression system, saying Nikon’s new Z 9 mirrorless now shoots Raw internally after a new firmware upgrade, and this infringes its patent. Red has a history of legally protecting its innovations, including taking Sony to court in 2013 over a similar breach, fighting off a claim from Apple and preventing Kinefinity and Nokia from using its Raw recording technology. That is why Kinefinity dropped Raw from its cameras, Apple developed ProRes Raw and Sony cinema cameras only record Raw to a separate unit, not internally. Blackmagic cameras record BRAW, but this deploys a different way to de-mosaic information in-camera and in post. Some Canons shoot Raw internally, but it is believed this is following a deal with Red, as the American company now uses phase detection autofocus and Canon RF lens mounts on its newest cameras. Red’s action against Nikon states that its in-camera Raw is ‘likely to cause irreparable harm to Red, which cannot be adequately compensated by money damages, lost sales and profits, reduced business, and injury to its general reputation and industry standing’.
ALL SQUARE While Nikon and Red are at arms, Leica CEO Matthias Harsch and Panasonic Lumix chief Yosuke Yamane shake hands on an agreement that will see their companies work even closer together to develop future technology
technology and Panasonic’s video and digital know-how. The cooperation between Leica and Panasonic started in August 2000, initially for lenses on audio-visual equipment, but that expanded to digital cameras in 2001. In 2018, together with Sigma, the L-Mount Alliance was founded, where all three manufacturers use the same mount on their full-frame mirrorless cameras. When asked if there would be jointly branded cameras, a Panasonic statement said: “Leica and Lumix offer different products to different customers and will continue to develop their own products. “We will jointly invest in and develop key technologies, but will not sell the same products under each brand. Both companies have their own design, picture- making philosophy and software (UI), so the differentiation will be maintained.”
Nikon is using a system called TicoRaw. There has been no public response from either company as Pro Moviemaker went to press. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Panasonic and Leica. The two have announced an expanded cooperation, in a bid to develop technologies. This new alliance is called L² Technology, which symbolically uses the two capital letters of Leica and Lumix. Both companies will work on cameras, lenses and next-generation software – combining Leica’s optical and imaging
THE RODE TO PERFECTION “Red’s action against Nikon states its in-camera Raw is ‘likely to cause irreparable harm to Red’”
The RodeCaster Pro II has Bluetooth connectivity, with wide-band speech for ultra high-quality phone call integration and audio streaming, wireless monitoring and more. Dual USB-C interfaces connect two computers or mobile devices, and there are studio-grade Neutrik combo inputs for connecting microphones and instruments, plus Wi-Fi and Ethernet. The £699/$699 device has a 5.5-inch, high-definition touchscreen with haptic feedback and rotary encoder. rode.com
Rode has taken the wraps off the second-generation RodeCaster Pro II, now a fully integrated audio production studio offering features that have never been seen in a single console before. It combines stunning sound quality with ease of use and customisability. Ultra low-noise, high-gain Revolution preamps deliver top audio quality with onboard effects including reverb, echo, robot and pitch shifting. There are eight banks of eight pads for 64 unique actions to trigger sounds, voice effects, commands and mixer actions.
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