Film and Digital Times - June 2007 - (Page 6)

by Oli Laperal, Jr. Oli at NAB HD Iconic’s HD-RH1 HD camera, at a mere 2.5 oz, is no bigger than an egg! Canon HV20 true HDV camcorder with a full 1920 x 1080 CMOS sensor, 10x zoom lens, 24p, has a price under $1000. Is this a new full HDV benchmark? At NAB 2007, the display in contrasts was not limited to large, flat-screen monitors. We saw emerging technologies and inevitable obsolescence, the sudden availability of powerful new toys at surprisingly low prices, and the demise of previously held methodology. We all know what DV did to Betacam SP, what NLE did to the editing process, what digital did to analog, and what Prosumer HD camcorders are doing to High-End HD camera systems. Now we see the dizzying escalation of the revolutionary and evolutionary technological process: tapeless, full-blown color correction and DI suites as free add-ins to editing systems, 4K origination at a price lower than yesterday’s Standard Definition unit, 8K images in the league of 70 mm, 15 perf Imax film, and more. Sony’s press conference opened with an impressive 3D HD film by Vince Pace and James Cameron. The F23 is Sony’s top CineAlta HD 4:4:4 camcorder. Over 100 units are scheduled for delivery and sale by Band Pro. XDCam now does dual-layer 50 GB media. Just announced: low cost CineAlta XDCam EX using Flash Express memory card recording camcorder at under $8000 aims at HD/ HDV tapeless camcorder success. Silicon Imaging. SI-2K. $14.5 – $23.5K. 2K DCI. ASA 320, 4:4:4. 2/3" 16:9 single CMOS chip, in PL lens mount by P+S Technik, disk recording. Outputs 12 bit uncompressed to intraframe codec, 5:1 compression, does 150 FPS in HD. 11+ f stops, ISO 400, 150 FPS. 180 degree shutter cameras, with Cooke S4 primes and Angenieux Optimo 24290 mm, did hand-held and Steadicam, used a 3 axis head on a GFM 8 meter crane, and an Italian Eagle Dolly. The gyro was a New Zealand custom build. Richard rated Red at 250 ASA at 24 fps, and felt no restriction compared with a film or other HD camcorder. Richard found the Red to be very practical and workable, and almost as easy to use as DV. Redcine is a nice complete post tool. Red is currently working on a small pocket camera, and a 4K UHD projector. Red lenses included a 300 mm and 18-50 mm mini zoom. Dalsa’s Evolution 4K and Origin II camcorders. 4096 x 2048 image sensor, 16 bit, 12+ f-stops, 1–30 fps, ASA 250, PL lens mount, successor to Dalsa Origin 4K. Also, Dalsa lenses, including anamorphic, prime, zoom and tele. UHD and beyond NHK’s Ultra High Definition 8K system. 7680 x 4320 uncompressed! Try to stream 32 million UHD pixels at 24 GBits/sec., compared with 1.5 GBits/sec. of HD. At more than 16x the resolution of HD, images were comparable or better than 70 mm 15 perf Imax film. With its superb images, 22 channels of audio (22.2) and a 24 speaker system from 3 different heights, reality is simulated through twin JVC 8K UHD projectors. After being blown away by the majestic beauty of 8K imagery, I was told by Mr. Nagamitsu Endo of NHK NY that they are now developing an even higher resolution system. Is HD obsolete? UHD Red 4K Digital Cinema, at 4096 x 2304 using Red code 12 bit which is wavelet based at 12:1 visually lossless compression showed an impressive short epic film directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand. Not bad for a 2 day test shoot. Booth lines were typically an hour long to see the short 4K “film”. CEO Jim Jannard was personally directing traffic to the mini theater, and giving a short intro. Multiple working camera systems, support for Cooke-developed /i Technology, and smooth post process with Apple Final Cut Pro and Quantel Pablo. Film Arri showed working prototypes of the Arri/Zeiss Master Prime lenses in 14 and 150 mm. The Arriflex 235 camera now goes up to 75 fps, and uses a fibre screen for a brighter viewfinder. The Arricam Lite will soon have its software souped up to run 48 fps instead of 40 fps. More video support accessories such as matteboxes and follow focus. Faster Arriscan with 5 fps at 2K and 1.5 fps at 4K. Aaton Xtera. New Super 16mm film camera; or upgrade your XTR Prod. New Aaton Penelope 35mm camera. Eastman Kodak was tucked away in a lonely, far away meeting room. What were they thinking? These are the guys who invented the Bayer pattern, integral to the chips of many Digital Cameras we saw. Still, they pointed out that 85% of 1-hour TV dramas in the USA on 5 networks are shot on film. Vision2 HD 5299/7299 for scan only is rated 3201000 ASA, even 2000 ASA. Introduced last year, it covers 13 to 20 f-stops. 6 June 2007 Lighting Arri showed new reflectors for the Arrimax HMIs. Mole Richardson: HMI PAR heads up to 12/18K with new, larger G51 pins, and a PAR head design for tungsten lights. Kinoflo. Vistabeam (10x light output of the 4 bank and half the size) and Barfly. Post Richard Bluck, the test’s cinematographer, shot for a mere 2 days. He treated the two prototypes, Boris and Natasha, as Apple, with over 800,000 FCP users, showed the new Final Cut Studio 2, available now, with Final Cut Pro 6, ProRes 422 HD 10 bit 4:2:2 advanced

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Film and Digital Times - June 2007

Contents
Red, Green, Blue
Aaton Penelope
Phantom Menace
Oil at NAB
Cooke Tour: How to Build a Lens
Lighting with Paint

Film and Digital Times - June 2007

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