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Mike Brennan

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Everything posted by Mike Brennan

  1. Thomas where ther eis a will there is a way! You can rent a 1920x1080 3 chip 60p camera and 10bit recorder tomorrow. (HDC1500 and SRW1 portable recorder) You can rent a 1920x1080 3 chip 300fps camera tomorrow. (Arri NAC Hi Motion) Also higher speed cameras from Phantom and Photron range. Panasonic 200 records "720p" on P 2 cards, this is varicam 960x720 pixels format. As Phil says the ccd is far less than 1280x 720 pixels, it is 3 x 960x540pixels in fact. It is pixel shifted and up resed to 960x720 pixels. Mike Brennan
  2. Anatole, Collateral was mostly shot with 1/24th or 1/33 shutter. It gives motion portrayal a slighty blurred video quality. The RED test demo was shot with a shutter higher than 1/33rd (probably 1/48th) Any digital camera that exhibits a narrow depth of field becomes more associated with the look of film than video. Hence the popularity of the Pro 35kit that despite severely reducing resolution is still considered worthwhile trade off (for TV work at least). Mike Brennan
  3. Good question Erik, I dont recall them saying what codec was used, I may have missed it... Jim? Mike Brennan
  4. It looked very very detailed. Not artificailly sharp in the traditional digital sense, just bags of detai without a strong texture that was mixed up with digital projector noise. Overall very clean noiseless balcks, Jim Jannard stated that was no post noise reduction. Hard to judge contrast ratios of course. I was impressed with a flag that was in shot, it was very clsoe to a light and highlight detial held. Flame on cigar lighter burnt out but without knowing subject lighting level that is a useles piece of information. Sharper than 2/3 inch ccd cameras for sure. Nothing was faked or staged to decieve, as far as I could tell, it had the look of a quick test with a few mates. Not a huge amount of fine detail across a broad area to judge how the codec works, compressing say a forest or lawn on a panning shot. It had a subtle look, this was at least partially due to the subject and cinematographers lighting style. I'd like to see some punchy colours in the next test, exteriors, snow capped mountains blue sky and forest would do the trick. While the camera is still in development, call the Red camera truck the Bread van :) Mike Brennan
  5. Steve, how about one of the new portable HD long zooms llenses that do not need lens supports? They are lightweight (around 2.5kg) and would be cheaper to ship than a collection of still lenses. Obviously the zoom helps to frame out unwanted objects that are hard to deal with from 500 yards or would need hauling the camera 50 feet to change shot size. Canon do a 18 x 28mm. (yes those numbers are the correct way around). Fuji have a 25 x 11mm and 25x16mm The canon is f2.8 at 286mm which is very handy. If budget is an issue in some circumstances these lenses could replace the 22x. (although I would be nevous about that) Mike Brennan
  6. Matt, it doesnt look like CGI when it moves it looks like a very nice and very real watch. The first thing that engauged me was....is is this real? I was looking for noise or moving texture or fixed parttern noise. There was little that I could see in the two viewings. Shot of sunglasses had a spec of dust on them that wasn't visible with the naked eye during the shoot. Reminds me of my first shoot on HD where the client, glued to a 24 inch HD crt kept pointing out specs of dust on his shiny product, that we couldn't see with the naked eye, except from directly behind the lens. The live action bubble gum girls (you had to be there!) didn't look like a render either. It is early days yet, but one issue fans of 35mm depth of field may have to factor when shooting is that 4k digital and 4k projection decreases the apparent depth of field. It is beginning to bother me when I see the nose and ears are soft in a medium closeup. Mike Brennan
  7. A lot of speculation here about the Red demo shots that most on this list are keen to see. Even more speculation when a few frame grabs are posted! Jim, you've had your warning, wait until they see the moving picture! Mike Brennan (saw the demo)
  8. They used the Photron for the big fish (killer whale?) shot Mike Brennan
  9. Saw the footage, twice! It was expalined it was a simple initial test of the sensor at the factory. On the face of it, I thought that the detail/resolution was better than 2/3 inch ccd cameras. Not sure about dynamic range although most would say it is better than ccd I'll reserve judgement. Exposure/projection created a low key look which suited the subjects. In respect to combination of lens imager recorder and 4k projection, the more relevant test is a big wide shot with lots of detail, like the stem footage and where 2/3 inch cameras look softer than film. Red test subject were not the best hoice to display resolution characteristics; Faces, male female, Asian Caucasion, chewing gum and blowing bubbles and smoking a cigar! closeup watch closeup sunglasses Track along silver porsche, shooting off set to show lights and flags. No sign of fixed pattern noise, blacks were very clean. Yes it had 35mm depth of field (half the subject was out of focus, noticable on 4k projector!) A good advert for 2/3 inch depth of field and 4k resolution..only half kidding folks:0 Promise of a $10k short zoom. Price point is what will drive this camera rahter than the finer points of noise and dynamic range. Those that buy Red will not be dissapointed if recorder and camera reliability are within tolerance of their particualr segment of the industry. Also saw the Infinity production model, which is a no brainer for mid res HD projects, pity it isnt 1920x1080 sensor, but this will come in the future. Given the delivery time frame it is clear that some reliablity proving will be done in the hands of customers once they have purcheased. With this in mind the biggest risk Red run is promising but not delivering industry standard reliability to a group of custmers who will be using the camera for self funded/private/speculative projects with narrow margins. This segment of the market can live with lower quality but gets hit hard if the camera breaks down or there is a recording problem that costs more to fix in post than the purchase price of the camera. But in summing up, so far so good! Mike Brennan
  10. Panasonic say the 900 is horizontally shifted 1/2 pixel.They are calling it "Super 720p" Mike Brennan The 900 can record in all of the three codecs The 1440x1080 (25p) records 50i. The 1280x1080 30p codec record 59.94i It also does Varicam. I would suggest that for indy movies 25p would be a good solution far better quality recording than 960 x720 varicam codec and in respect to US indies a fair trade for 4% pitch change. Upconverting to this codec enables it to work on FCP in native edit mode. (no support for 720 25p on FCP!) If only it had 3x 1920x1080 ccd! Mike Brennan
  11. Do we think some/most/all 35mm lenses that have been kicking around a few years would be acceptable for 4k digital camera? In particular edge softness and chroma fringing that is not disguised by film and highlighted by digital projection and large screen TV presentation could be a problem? Having Played around with 35mm still lenses on HD, even taking into account optical flaws of adapters, not all are equal! Perhaps this is a more pertinant question, how do we compare 35mm still lenses to 35mm motion picture lenses? Bottom line, what is cost of a good set of 35mm motion picture lenses suitable for a 4k digital camera? Mike Brennan
  12. Mike Brennan

    New HD kit

    First pro HD camera with pixel shifting is the Panasonic AJ HDX 900, with 1280x720 ccd with half pixel horizontal offset. Sony have a data camera and recorder, based on NGC 23 camera and SRW1 recorder, it outputs raw data from the CCD. Mike Brennan
  13. I have 1000mmm and 2000mm mirror lenses that are in the quite good categry (compared to a regular HD zoom) and 400mm. I use an optical compensator. At Fstops below 5.6 you will start to get fringing due to different backfocus distance of RGB ccds. Try out different lenses at the camera shop. Youll find some lightweight lenses that will not evenneed a lens support, try a sigma or nikon 400mm 5.6 Beats spending $60k on a 42x zoom when you only want the long end. Mike Brennan
  14. It is a T block adaptor on a SOny camera. Been around for about 12 years, initially and since 2002 in HD. Commonly used inside gimbals (stabilised cameras used by military and news) Telecast have digitised RGB and put its down fiber so it can go long distances. Mike Brennan
  15. If one doesnt have the cash or the will to keep something in the archive it will be lost regardless of the format. Digital means multiple copies which in my view increases the chances of a copy surviving. Last month in London a hugh fire in a so called secure archive wharehouse completely destroyed building and contents. FIlm has been around a long time, yet a parlimentry report in 2003 in the UK critisised the BFI for failing to store the countries national film heritage properly and that it was degrading at an alarming rate, even the saftey stock. On the other hand on August 7th apparently all/some of the master tapes of rough cuts to 4 parts of the 13 part BBC drama Robin Hood were stolen in Budapest. Apparently no copies had been made, or if they had they too were stolen. What is easy to store is also easy to steal. Production company Tiger Aspect is offering US$60k reward, newspaper reports state that the theives want $1.5 million ransom. Summary of the parlimentry repert below. Publishing a report about access to historic film, a UK Parliamentary committee says the stewardship of the nation's film heritage by the British Film Institute's National Film and Television Archive has led to "an unacceptable state of affairs." "The Public Accounts Committee comments: "Film in the Archive is decomposing, particularly nitrate film kept by the BFI in old vaults. Film duplicated onto safety stock for safekeeping is now proving more unstable than the original nitrate film. And large quantities of film in the archive which have not been examined and catalogued are not yet accessible to the public, suggesting that the BFI has been unable to keep up with the volume of work." Committee Chairman MP Edward Leigh said the BFI "does not know how much of the safety film might be decomposing or (is) at risk of deterioration". He called on the UK Film Council, which controls BFI funding, to take "a much tighter grip" over the monies it provides, which amounted to £14.5m ($21m) during the 2001/2 financial year, to ensure that the film in its custody "does not rot away." The committee recommends: "To ensure that the nation's film heritage is managed effectively, a fundamental review of the BFI will need to determine clear objectives and priorities for the Archive which are capable of being realised within the resources that are likely to be available." Dated Dec 7th 2003 Mike Brennan
  16. A rip off is a copy of someone elses idea. If you think other manufacturers will rip off the 4k technology you are mistaken as they already have their own. Hard to figure who had the first concept for a digital storage movie camera, NAC have been doing interesting stuff with digital high speed cameras for a while and now have a 4k camera, Sony started their digital line with a stills camera, the Mavica digital still camera way back in 1981. Do you mean that Oakley may be first to market a 4k digital camera and others will rip off the market? But Olympus already have a 4k camera, with seperate recorder, using pixel offset, its available for rent in Japan since Janurary. http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/crdc/hfds/service/?ote=1 In respect to your comment about manufacturers in the future releasing a product that is "half the cost" of the RED (as though it is a bad thing) isnt this is what RED is hoping to do to HDCAM? Mike Brennan
  17. I was told by the MD of a manufacturer of live bluescreen keyer that he was present with a f900 that had a bunch of cables protruding from it to deliver 4:4:4 during a test for Lucas films. This was before the f950s were available. The record is pretty straight about what Lucas eventually used. Mike Brennan
  18. Hi Steven, whose f900s were modified? Any other details? Mike Brennan
  19. If the online stock tracking graphs are accurate Jims company increased in value well over US $100 M in the week of NAB! Looks like US $200M! And here he is finding time to communicate on cinematography.com... bravo!! I suggest that based on the share price rise during NAB, there could more to come from Oakely in the digital department than selling a thousand or so movie cameras. Mike Brennan
  20. The f350 has 1440x1080 pixels in 1/2 inch sensor vs 1920x1080 pixels in 2/3 inch f900.... so what is the actual difference in size of pixels? Mike Brennan
  21. Yes in 24p, 25p 30p and 720 60p, 422 or 444 HQ SQ ect ect Mike Brennan
  22. XL H1 has 3 x 1440x1080 pixel ccd vs 1280x720pixel on the Panasonic so all things being equal the resolution of deinterlaced XLH1 should be close to Varicam in vertical res and exceed it in the horizontal Here is a tip, shoot interlace on landscapes and cityscapes where max detail is required and interlace motion portrayal is subtle then progressive on movement for the cinematic effect where producers at least buy into the mantra it strobes so it must be cinematic;) Does the JVC have true progressive? If not then there are no true progressive ccds under 2/3 inch???? Mike Brennan
  23. Were you on the shoot? Can you describe the noise? There is a dodgy gimbal based in Europe (disowned by wescam as it was written off or adapted so the rumour goes!) that has had a history of HD reshoots, wonder if it was the same one? HD Aerial advice in general Noise and interference in blacks can be hard to spot without proper monitoring but usually turn out to be a monitoring issue as the f900 is pretty tolerant to RF interference. Monitoring in helicopters is notoriously inadequate unless the company is a HD friendly outfit who understands they need to do more than rent a camera and a small monitor to operate a HD camera remotely. But like a lot of kit noise can be introduced if has a very dirty power feed from the chopper that is contaminated with aircraft comms or if camera is being powered by a cheap/dodgy DC to DC convertor. The QA 101 for electrical interference is to be able to check back footage with recorder and monitor on battery and so completly disconnected from aircraft systems. In general run on batts not aircraft power. The only interference I've had on aerial f900 was a little interference when flying too close to a transmitter tower. I am a fan of the cineflex V14 gimbal, which incidentally once had its own set of black noise issues, unrelated to aircraft system interference but now fixed. Mike Brennan
  24. 10bit ADs are same as 12bit (I think this is what is being said here?) I'm curious that many new cameras from Z1, X200 to HDC 1500 ect have 14bit ADs. Bearing in mind that they increase power consumpion and heat what can the manufacturers be thinking! Mike Brennan
  25. Will you be shooting filmstream? If so.... It requires a period of adjustment/experience to make judgements of uncorrected filmstream on a monitor. The camera also outputs an internal processing of ccd signal to video which is a little "course" out of the box. Lookup tables are available by cintel and ecinema for live conversion of filmstream. Zebra is accurate means of indicating ccd saturation Combination of the above techniques delivers results. Monitoring shadow detail is the tricky part. Mike Brennan
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