American Cinematographer - January 2006 - 96

BO BEYOND TNI MANUAL:

1ET THE
UITIM1TI
IlilSEl
The Ultimate Guide
to the CRN OH m

caaamlviiilde.com

The Ultimate Guide
to the CRNON G12

mm.ctnmMaMa.ctm

jMWMIliBli "TWW*

Clark captures one

of the nighttime shots

Hollywood Boulevard.

These

comprehensive DVDs cover every aspect of the camera body,
lens, and menus functions of your camcorder with clear, easy-tounderstand instruction. Each DVD features many extras on the subjects
of MiniDV, stow motion, and other video techniques. Illustrated exten¬

sively and chaptered for easy access, you can watch these DVDs as one
complete seminar or review any educational element individually.
Regardless of how much you intend to use your camera, you'll use it
more effectively when you watch one of these guides first
Perfect for students and working professionals.
Guaranteed to teach you something you don't already know about your
Canon camcorder.
Also Available for the Canon XL I s

Geuheoneymnrcddat the ftSC Store
or st www.theasc.csm

the

D-20 very comfortable,
because the camera has an

bright as we could to see what we could
recover," says Levinson. "We were
pushing things beyond what you would
ordinarily do. It didn't quite catch as
much as film, but it caught a lot of it."
He adds that images captured by the
D-20 and other new digital cameras
appear to avoid some of the edge

feature for commercial and music-video

enhancement that characterized earlier

work - but the model used

hi-def

"Sing It"

did not have this

capability.
According to Steinman, part of
the challenge of using digital cameras in
the high-end commercial world is
convincing ad agencies that shooting
digitally doesn't mean lesser quality.
"Whenever you suggest video or any
digital format, people tend to suspect
you're trying to save money," he says.
"With all the commercial clutter out
The

only Folding Truck in its Class!

for the Job.

you

need

have just the
Truck for YOU!

one

now

recommend for

can

Exclusively From

www.nalpak.com

a system you
that have

reasons

everything to do with quality. I saw
detail in eyelashes, glimmers in eyes
and shadings that are like the finestgrain film stock out there. The subtleties
are

remarkable."
Lou Levinson, senior colorist at

Post

Available

drive

Logic Studios, evaluated the
footage with Clark and Steinman, and
his first impression was that it looked

some

of the darker material

images.
During the grade with Levinson,
Clark found the D-20's reproduction of
dynamic range exceeded his expecta¬
tions. "It had tonal gradations you
expect to get from film, which you don't
always get from digital cameras. The
delineation of detail and the subtleness
of

gradation of tone scales were as
good as I've seen with a digital
camera."
He adds that the D-20 will

there, each shot has to have visual

integrity, and the D-20 is
Sometimes you don't have
room for a Full Size Truck but

quite filmic. "We didn't do a lot of color
correction, but as an experiment we did

partly
optical
viewfinder. "When you look through the
camera, it doesn't feel any different
than looking through an Arri 535," he
says. "Also, the fact that the viewfinder
is not electronic is quite important,
because that allows you to set up a shot
before the power is up."
The D-20 will eventually be capa¬
ble of running 150 fps - an important

soon

interesting aesthetic and
technical questions. "It certainly indi¬
raise

some

cates that

there

are some

creative and

explorations that need to
happen. If these kinds of cameras can
maintain the image quality we expect
from film, it begs the question, 'Why am
I not using this camera?"'
■

technical

American Cinematographer - January 2006

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2006