LCDVF Founded: 2009 Owners: Tõnis and Tarmo Liivamägi Awards: Developer of the Year from Enterprise Estonia candidate for European Business Award 2011 Best Entrepreneur in Tartu 2010 Users: BBC cameraman and film-maker Stephen Brooks Charles W. Kennedy, personal photographer of the US President Staff: 7
Tõnis Liivamägi believes that one of the reasons for his success is the fact that he gave out dozens of product samples to the opinion leaders of the photo and film world for free. As the product is of high quality and the Chinese and other competitors have not been able to copy it yet, it is still experiencing success in sales. “There have been many attempts to reproduce our product, but fortunately all have failed so far,” adds Liivamägi. The office, production unit and creative team of LCDVF are still located in Tartu in a modest wooden building. The office still sends out dozens of samples every day. Profits should be increasing, but this is not the case, as most of the profits have been reinvested.
hand operation (no camera crew required to open the flip for example), automatic suspend and wake on camera signal, to name but a few. It is the dream of every cameraman, as the screen shows everything a cameraman needs!” says Liivamägi. The whole development process of the new product has taken place in Estonia and it will also be produced in Estonia, just like its cheaper predecessor. The main sales argument is once more the price-to-quality ratio. An equally good product from Sony costs 10,000 euros.
Last September, the new generation viewfinder was launched at IBC 2011. The electronic viewfinder turns the camera into a professional, convenient filming gear. „After the success with our non-electronic viewfinder LCDVF, we identified a clear market demand to develop a reliable electronic system in addition to it, closely following the same principles that have proven to be crucial to the film-makers community: unparalleled design and usability, excellent feature set, durability and last but not least -- justified pricing“, said Tõnis Liivamägi, the CEO and founder of Kinotehnik. The next generation viewfinder LCDVFe is a universal electronic viewfinder for any camera which has a standard HDMI signal output. Compared to the LCDVF, it is more expensive, costing around a thousand euros. It is meant for people whose daily business is in the film industry. Or is it? Whereas the cheaper viewfinder fits only the more expensive range of DSLRs with three-inch LCD screens, the new one can be fitted onto cheaper cameras, costing around a couple of hundred euros. In terms of picture quality, the new viewfinder of the Liivamägi brothers will make the camera of an average film enthusiast just as good as a professional film camera costing between 30,000-100,000 euros. “It is like a tiny but very powerful computer, which analyses the sharpness and exposure time of the picture. You can now hold or mount the camera in the very way you want. You can really see whether you’re in or out of focus. It will be equally at home on a Sony F3, RED Dpic, or on a DSLR. There are few features worth highlighting once again as they were underlined by many: ultra-fast startup (0.8 seconds), no latency (always less than 2 frames), very good battery life (up to 6 hours), one
“Experienced cameramen who have tested our new product are left with huge smiles, as they immediately recognise a good viewfinder,” confirms Liivamägi. “Sometimes they have had the chance to test such a product, but they haven’t been able to afford to buy one, as cameras with such a viewfinder usually cost tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Tõnis Liivamägi confirms that he is already thinking of the next product idea. He says that he does not plan to quit until he has got his small foot in the large film industry. Liivamägi dreams of producing made-to-order film technology and also props. For instance, if a Caterpillar tractor with a jet ignition engine is needed at a film set, he would be able to create an authentic look for the screen.
SUMMER 2012
I LIFE IN ESTONIA
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