Sean's Psychic Predictions - 2013 Edition

We've been known to make the odd prediction here and there about cameras and new technology that will be coming in the not so distant future.

This year I thought it would be funny to list some of the things I think will be released this year.

One of the main buzz words going around now is 4K. It's been around for quite some time but not many people were really aware of it. We think that this year will be the year that 4K becomes a mainstream technology. There will be more 4K cameras that are affordable and we may even start to see 4K TV sets in consumers homes. Not many homes, but they'll exist.

2012 saw the announcement of the most hyped and pre-ordered video cameras in history, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. With all the delays and hurdles that the Blackmagic has had to overcome, we predict that Blackmagic will ship a camera this year. Another one of our Blackmagic Cinema Camera predictions is the 8K, full frame, EF & PL mount, removable battery Ultra Cinema Camera Extreme (based on current BMD naming scheme).

The other major prediction we have for 2013 is the Canon XDC Full Frame 4K Cinema DSLR (X for whatever number Canon chooses), unlike the impending 1DC, we think that this sub $5000 body will be Canon's attempt at smoking out the BMD Cinema Camera. So many people want 4K video with out the price tag that comes along with it. I somewhat agree, I mean, how hard can it be to make a camera shoot 4K when GoPro did it in the Hero 3 Black Edition?

As for the fate of the Mac Pro tower. Tim Cook, somewhere on the internets, said that a new Mac Pro will come out in 2013. It's one of the most frequently asked questions here at the store. We hope that Apple will refresh the Mac Pro, not just with a new set of aging processors, but a complete over haul. Since we're all over the place with our predictions, we'll just go ahead and list what we want to see in the next Mac Pro and call it a prediction.

2013 Mac Pro Tower:
New, more compact form factor ( Similar to that of the G4 Cube but meets Mac mini)
2 x 10-Core E7-8870 2.4GHz Processors
48GB DDR4 Memory
nVidia Quadro K5000 Graphics Card
Dual Blu Ray SuperDrives (BD-XL)
512GB SSD (With room for 4 more 2.5" Notebook Sized HDD/SSD)
3 ThunderBolt Ports
1 HDMI
USB3
FW800
1 PCIe expansion Slot
User Accessible Upgrades (RAM/HDD/PCIe)
Sub $4000 price tag

The Panasonic AF100 was a highly anticipated camera in 2010. The times have changed and it's been left behind. 2013 will hopefully bring about the AF200 (or 300 or whatever hundred) that will put Panasonic back in the game! 8K (with 4K, 2K and 1080 options) that records 4:4:4 200mbps on MicroP2 Cards! Sub $10,000 for the body and a Panasonic made PL mount.

We think that Canon will make a T5i and Nikon will make a D3300. Apple will make Retina everything, maybe even a Retina TV (4K actually, but Retina will be they're name for it in a TV set).

Now just remember, these are predictions, not facts or good rumors. They are things we think we'll see and things we'd like to see in 2013. These are just guesses not anything solid enough to take to the bank. But if the Mayans could make 1 prediction and get the whole world talking, what's the harm in doing the same. Take them with a huge grain of salt. We're not psychic or privy to any insider information.