3 ms·

Hardware. It's like the Apple model (before they got into services). They sell a full suite of hardware that works great with their software, and they see the s

Hardware. It's like the Apple model (before they got into services). They sell a full suite of hardware that works great with their software, and they see the software as a way to keep good will, and also showcase their tech well. They also sell a paid version, if you want a few extra features.

gregsadetsky 6mo ago
Their hardware is deeply reliable, affordable, and you can see that they have super solid software chops. I made the unconventional choice of using a Blackmagic Micro Studio 4K camera for a robotic application and it turned out to be a not crazy choice - we get our choice of lenses and they have controllable focus and zoom, there's a REST API for the camera (which can connect to Ethernet), etc. To speak nothing of the crisp image. And that I can pick one up in 30 minutes at B&H (in NYC). Industrial vision cameras can cost ~the same but you'll want to rip your hair out before you get to grab an image (or change the focus - sorry, that's mostly never possible). Huge, huge fan of Blackmagic. The rock-solid free editing software is just cherry on top.
- modeless 6mo ago
  Interesting! How is the latency of this camera?
  - gregsadetsky 6mo ago
    I can check tomorrow to give you a real answer. We use the SDI output (that cable is sturdy and the bnc lock connector is rock solid) and a Blackmagic 12G SDI to HDMI converter, and then an El Gato HDMI capture card. Intuitively, I’d say most of the delay is coming from the HDMI capture side (it’s a pretty cheap usb dongle).
    - gregsadetsky 6mo ago
      I measured 40ms, so about 1-2 frames of lag. This was the camera's hdmi output captured with the el gato dongle (whose performance I underestimated..!)
georgemcbay 6mo ago
> They also sell a paid version, if you want a few extra features. And the great thing about the paid version is that updates are (so far) free with no subscription bs. I paid for it once like 10 years ago and still get every new version for free.
- Foobar8568 6mo ago
  And from what I remembered, it wasn't a too expensive license, a few hundreds?
  - InstaPage 6mo ago
    [dead]
  - kotaKat 6mo ago
    Couple hundred, or free with the cameras.
izacus 6mo ago
Yep, I was at a broadcaster when we bought a whole pack of their SDI capture cards... the only ones on the market really (everyone else wanted to sell you massively expensive enterprise "appliances") for a very affordable price (I believe they were like 500$ a piece for 4 SDI inputs?). Also they were first to sell us USB3 based HDMI capture devices that we could take around and do live capture from cameras at full HD for also a pretty affordable price (around 1000$?). Whenever we needed affordable (semi) professional gear, they were consistently the ones to look at.

gregsadetsky 6mo ago

Their hardware is deeply reliable, affordable, and you can see that they have super solid software chops. I made the unconventional choice of using a Blackmagic Micro Studio 4K camera for a robotic application and it turned out to be a not crazy choice - we get our choice of lenses and they have controllable focus and zoom, there's a REST API for the camera (which can connect to Ethernet), etc. To speak nothing of the crisp image. And that I can pick one up in 30 minutes at B&H (in NYC). Industrial vision cameras can cost ~the same but you'll want to rip your hair out before you get to grab an image (or change the focus - sorry, that's mostly never possible). Huge, huge fan of Blackmagic. The rock-solid free editing software is just cherry on top.

modeless 6mo ago
Interesting! How is the latency of this camera?
- gregsadetsky 6mo ago
  I can check tomorrow to give you a real answer. We use the SDI output (that cable is sturdy and the bnc lock connector is rock solid) and a Blackmagic 12G SDI to HDMI converter, and then an El Gato HDMI capture card. Intuitively, I’d say most of the delay is coming from the HDMI capture side (it’s a pretty cheap usb dongle).
  - gregsadetsky 6mo ago
    I measured 40ms, so about 1-2 frames of lag. This was the camera's hdmi output captured with the el gato dongle (whose performance I underestimated..!)

georgemcbay 6mo ago

> They also sell a paid version, if you want a few extra features. And the great thing about the paid version is that updates are (so far) free with no subscription bs. I paid for it once like 10 years ago and still get every new version for free.

Foobar8568 6mo ago
And from what I remembered, it wasn't a too expensive license, a few hundreds?
- InstaPage 6mo ago
  [dead]
- kotaKat 6mo ago
  Couple hundred, or free with the cameras.

izacus 6mo ago

Yep, I was at a broadcaster when we bought a whole pack of their SDI capture cards... the only ones on the market really (everyone else wanted to sell you massively expensive enterprise "appliances") for a very affordable price (I believe they were like 500$ a piece for 4 SDI inputs?). Also they were first to sell us USB3 based HDMI capture devices that we could take around and do live capture from cameras at full HD for also a pretty affordable price (around 1000$?). Whenever we needed affordable (semi) professional gear, they were consistently the ones to look at.