EmailLast month camera company RED announced that they were making a phone - the Hydrogen One. The phone was billed as the next step in mobile cinema, and its most anticipated feature is its holographic display -- which no one still really knows anything about.
YouTuber Marques Brownlee was lucky enough to get his hands on one and he made this video to show us what the camera is all about:
Why is it important that a camera company is making a phone though?
This is an indication of where video and filmmaking is going. It used to be that if you wanted to make professional film or video you needed a lot of large and expensive equipment. Now, you can pretty much do the same thing with just the iPhone or Samsung in your pocket. While most camera makers have ignored this trend, some companies, like Zeiss and now RED, have positioned themselves to be players in this new market.
RED, as said in the video, looks at the new phone as the professionals first choice for mobile cinema. While more people will probably still have iPhones, if you are looking for something that is small, mobile and incredibly powerful, you may spend the reported $1,500 for the RED phone. If you are the kind of person that sees their phone as a camera first, then this may be for you.
We are particularly excited about the last prototype in the video, which showed a major lens attachment module which looks like it will be able to link up with standard lenses rather than attachments made especially for phones. Modules overall are exciting, as you could think of a time when you can have your phone in its basic phone form, with many attachments (lenses, audio, lighting) that you can easily slide on and off a phone.
One thing is clear here: mobile cinema and video production is here to stay, and is only going to get better and better as the technology looks to serve this niche specifically.
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