An SDI cable question??

[Chris Burke]

I recently purchased a camera from Lensauthority. Inside the very nice KATA case that they just gave me with the camera, are LOADS of BNC cables. Too many to list. My question, is the cable the same whether HD-SDI or SDI?? I am a film guy, but I suspect yes. Can I use any of these wonderful cables for 4:4:4 output.

 

It is an F3 I scored for a grand. Only has 179 hours on it. S log, 444 RGB output, KATA case and they threw in a 12 foot HDMI cable in addition to all the BNC. Footage in ProRes HQ Slog 422 with bargain glass looks good. I bought it for many reasons. It does seem still to be a viable camera. I can use the same lenses on it, my Aaton and my Nikon F100. Huge thank you to Lensauthority. They really impressed me.

[Jaron Berman]

Sorta. Technically any 75 ohm cable should be able to carry HD-SDI up to a point. HD-SDI is a higher frequency signal than composite video, by a lot. So it doesn't pass through certain things the way composite does. Solder, for example. You cannot reliably use soldered connectors with HD-SDI. So if the ends are crimped, then yes - except for long runs (200+ ft) basically any 75 ohm cable with 75 ohm connectors SHOULD work. If it's less than 25' even real junk should work reliably. You can run tests on the cables using a leader scope and signal generator, etc - but if you're hopping your f3 to a recorder you could almost use wet pasta to carry the signal. Not really but you get the point. HD Cable from belden or canare is tested and guaranteed but if you have a pile of old cable from those companies, chances are it's the same but not "certified."