[Tig] FC Color query

[Craig Leffel]

>> As far as Apple continuing to make adjustments for the professional  
>> colorist, I'd say they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they  
>> don't.
>> 
>> Russell Lasson

Hell Russell et al -

I've been following this discussion around here, and on a number of other forums,
and I agree with Festa that I like their interface very much. Steve Hullfish was
kind enough to bring by an old FT system and I did really enjoy driving it as
well as on a number of other demos...

however I've got some questions that I can't seem to rationalize in my head -

1. Why Does everyone expect a $1200 system ( with "free" Color ) to behave like
a system that costs over $100,000? It doesn't make any sense to me at all that a
company would invest the resources needed to truly develop custom tools and
workflows that only fit a small, niche part of their user base.

2. The informal surveys on the TIG a few years ago produced the idea that there
are a few hundred - ish Telecine style suites in the world and around 2000- ish
colorists work in those rooms. At one point I think there were 6 - 800 Ursas in
the world and weren't there just over 200 Spirit 1's sold?? Maybe there's 1000 -
ish rooms?? So let's call this level of colorist "professional" for sure. Then
obviously, there are many colorists who have worked on shows from tape and who
knows how many that is. It's not the same kind of professional skill set, but
let's call that professional Color Correction too. So? How many users is that?
20,000? 40,000? I kind of doubt it, but OK. One of Apple's BIG pushes at NAB was
that they have over 800,000 registered users of FCP. That's not even counting
the illegal copies, and who knows if that includes the student discounts as
well........... SO, why would Apple care the slightest bit over the
"professional" Colorist? Doesn't it make more sense that they would devote their
time to the FCP user who happens to need the Color tool?

3. If all Apple wants to do is sell Hardware, as has been furthered in many a
discussion... is there any difference to them if you buy FCP with the intent of
using it "professionally" or if you intend to use it in your bedroom? I would
offer that there's no difference to them. You are probably going to buy a lot of
support gear as the professional... but Apple doesn't SELL any of that. Sure,
you might load their new tower as full as it goes, and throw in fiber cards,
xsan, etc. But that's like $15,000. And, if you go by the numbers above, again -
very small percentage of users - even potentially considering this...

4. Why does anyone expect Color to perform like a product that costs
literally 100 times what Color costs? Seriously... why?


If you read the above carefully, you'll notice that I have not made any
statements about HOW Color works. I'm not saying you can't do jobs on it, or
that you can't compete with a "professional" Colorist using Color . Some of you
can and are... that much is obvious. Some of us so called "Professionals" will
be using it soon as well, if not right now.... SO that's NOT the point. I just
think there is a clear danger when raising expectations to a level that doesn't
fit a business model. It's obvious to most of us what we'd like, hell, demand
out of the system.... but before you go and make yourselves crazy - consider the
big picture - and what 800,000 registered users actually means. I don't think we
will be in the driver's seat on this on ultimately. Sure, in the beginning,
they'll want to know what's expected in one of those "Color Rooms" -- but
eventually - the novice, beginner, and budget user will win - because they are
the majority... and when's the last time you can think of in American Business
History where the majority customer didn't rule? Even if you just take Protools
as an example, they eventually had to come out with different versions to
satisfy the user base. Even then, systems became incredibly cheap, and folks can
work on a laptop as easily as a tricked out desktop and console. The gross user
base will drive this thing - don't kid yourselves.


My 2 cents on the subject -

Happy Knobtwisting - or Mouse clicking or slider tapping - whatever it is you do -


Craig Leffel



Senior Colorist
Optimus
Chicago