Sharp announces 8C-B60A 8K Professional Camcorder

[Chris Hurd]

"Sharp Corporation announces the release of the 8C-B60A 8K (60p) professional camcorder, a world’s first, integrating capabilities for video shooting and recording, playback, and line output. The 8C-B60A was developed with technical cooperation from Astrodesign, Inc., a company possessing 8K image technologies."

Full press release, specs and images at:

Sharp announces 8C-B60A 8K Professional Camcorder at DV Info Net

[Jack Zhang]

Edius is insanely popular in Japan, I haven't seen ProRes in use by NHK much, so figures Grass Valley HQX is the codec.

Astro Design have been making HQX codec SSD decks for 8K for quite a while. Wonder if their SSDs will be compatible with this camera.

[John Nantz]

Just checked the exchange rate and did a quick calculation ...

So, 8,800,000¥ @ 0.0088 $/¥ = $77,440 (not including sales tax, or lens either?).

Dang, that's a little outa my league.

[John Wiley]

Yeah I don't think this is exactly targeted at owner operators! It's not hard to figure out that this camera is a direct response to Japan's promise to broadcast the 2020 Olympics in 8K.

Interestingly they've come pretty close to what a lot of shooters are wanting ergonomically - an actual, ENG-style, shoulder mount camera but with an S35 sensor. I'd love an FS7 or EVA-1 in this form factor!

[Greg Smith]

Originally Posted by John Wiley

Interestingly they've come pretty close to what a lot of shooters are wanting ergonomically - an actual, ENG-style, shoulder mount camera but with an S35 sensor. I'd love an FS7 or EVA-1 in this form factor!

It's going to be around 10 kg with a lens, viewfinder and battery, and the specs say it idles (non-recording) at 80W. That's like twice the weight and four times the battery consumption of a rigged EVA1 or FS-7. I love the shoulder mount form factor in general, but this doesn't look at all like a camera that was made for comfortable all-day shoulder shooting.

- Greg

[Doug Jensen]

10 kg is not at all excessive for a shoulder-mount camera. My fully-rigged Ikegami HL59/BVV5 betacam used to be that heavy, and currently my F55 shooting RAW is more than 13 kg. They key is BALANCE. Cameras like the FS7 or EXA1 are not well-designed for balance so even 5 kg on cameras like that is much harder to carry for long periods of time. You are comparing apples to oranges, and if you have never shot with an orange, you can't appreciate how weight disappears when the camera is properly balanced so your shoulder takes 99% of the burden. Also, mass = stability, so a lighter camera is not necessarily desired. 10 kg for a fully-rigged 8K camera seems just about right.