The IMAX 3D Digital Camera

[Tim Tyler]

IMAX has developed the first fully integrated dual 65mm 4K digital large-format 3D camera.

• The IMAX 3D Digital Camera delivers stunning image quality and is smaller, lighter and easier to use than other 3D digital camera systems on the market.
• The IMAX 3D Digital Camera is a true 4K stereo camera. This means that both the left eye and right eye images are captured at full 4K resolution.
• Transformers: Age of Extinction is the first feature film to ever use the new IMAX3D Digital Camera.
• Exclusively in IMAX theatres, sequences filmed with the IMAX 3D Digital Cameras will be presented in a 1.9:1 aspect ratio – offering moviegoers 26% more of the image than standard cinemas for a truly immersive IMAX 3D experience.
• The production team on Transformers: Age of Extinction was able to capture major action sequences of the film – including chase scenes and helicopter shots – in high-resolution 3D in a way that was previously impossible thanks to the compact size of the new cameras.

What’s unique about the new IMAX 3D Digital Camera?

As part of IMAX’s commitment to innovation and providing filmmakers with the highest-quality technology, IMAX developed the first fully integrated dual 65mm 4K digital large-format 3D camera.

The IMAX 3D Digital Camera delivers stunning image quality and is less than half the weight of other 3D digital camera systems on the market. The IMAX 3D Digital Camera will provide filmmakers such as Michael Bay with versatility that only 2D digital cameras have been able to deliver in the past. In Transformers: Age of Extinction, the production team was able to capture chase scenes and helicopter shots in high-resolution 3D in a way that previously impossible.

Exclusively in IMAX theatres, sequences captured with this camera will expand to fill more of the IMAX screen with unprecedented crispness, clarity, color and 3D for a truly immersive experience.

 

What is the resolution of the IMAX 3D digital camera?

The IMAX 3D Digital Camera is a true 4K stereo camera. This means that both the left eye and the right eye images are captured at full 4K resolution.

How does the IMAX 3D Digital Camera compare to the IMAX 2D & 3D film cameras?

For more than 40 years, IMAX’s 15perf / 65mm film cameras have been the highest-resolution cameras in the world – delivering 10x more resolution than 35mm film.

IMAX designed the IMAX 3D Digital Camera as a complementary tool to its other 2D and 3D IMAX film camera systems as well as other camera technology that filmmakers may be using. Filmmakers typically use several different types of cameras on set for different types of shots so IMAX wanted to be able to provide them with the right tool for the right job to help achieve their creative vision.

While digital is advancing at a rapid pace, IMAX’s 15perf / 65mm film cameras continue to be the industry gold standard in terms of resolution and it expects they will to continue to be for quite some time. For this reason, IMAX is continuing to build more of these cameras to meet the demand it is seeing among today’s leading Hollywood filmmakers.

How does IMAX present films in a larger aspect ratio?

The technical term for the proportional relationship between an image’s width and its height is called aspect ratio. Most films today are presented in an aspect ratio called CinemaScope (2.40:1). When a film is presented in CinemaScope, it is often cropped and uses only part of the image the movie camera captures. This is the reason most ordinary screens are very wide but not particularly high – like looking at the world through a narrow slit.

IMAX provides filmmakers with the ability to use an expanded aspect ratio for the IMAX presentation of their film so they can utilize much more of the originally captured image - either during production through filming with the extremely high-resolution IMAX camera or protecting more of the image during their post-production process.

Exclusively in IMAX theatres, sequences of Transformers: Age of Extinction that were filmed with the IMAX 3D Digital Cameras will be presented in a 1.9:1 aspect ratio – offering moviegoers 26% more of the image than standard cinemas for a truly immersive IMAX 3D experience.

 

More info at https://www.imax.com/imax3dcamera/