At the F65 Digital Acquisition and File-based Workflow Open House held on The Lot in West Hollywood on Saturday, December 10th, Hollywood DI along with <a href="http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-highend/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-highend-F65.shtml”>SONY US and Blackmagic Design successfully demonstrated the next version of DaVinci Resolve demosaicing F65 16 bit Linear RAW footage. They also demonstrated DaVinci Resolve writing to the SRFile format (also known as SStP) on a Mac Pro system.
"This was a breakthrough moment," said Neil Smith, Managing Director of Hollywood DI."Things are moving at a very rapid rate in the digital content creation world – to see 16 bit RAW footage taken straight out of Sony’s new 8k imaging camera, the F65, and processed directly in the next version of DaVinci Resolve was quite amazing. Sony are bringing the F65 to market at a very competitive price and when you combine that with the incredible price/performance offered by Blackmagic Design‘s Resolve coloring system you start to get a sense of the sea-change that is taking place in the movie and TV production world."
The Sony F65 camera has an 8k imaging sensor that produces a true 4k 16 bit Linear RAW image. The wide dynamic range of the sensor combined with its extended color gamut gives cinematographers and filmmakers a true 4k alternative to traditional film. The upcoming version of Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve will be able to decompress and demosaic the RAW data stream into an RGB image that is useable as on-set dailies and by the editorial department. "The other fascinating development was to see Resolve writing to the Sony SRFile format," added Smith. "People typically think of SR as a tape format but with Sony’s new open IT approach, software vendors are going to be able to write to the SRFile format as well as read it. So not only is the SRFile format an acquisition format, I can see it becoming an important workflow and finishing format. In the file-based world we are moving into, SRFile based workflows will be be a very cost effective and robust alternative to existing codecs."
As well as demonstrating the F65 demosaicing on DaVinci Resolve running on a Mac Pro, Hollywood DI also demonstrated the latest version of Resolve running on a PC under Windows 7. "On our PC Resolve system we were playing 4k DPX files in real-time converted from the F65 RAW footage ,"added Smith. "It’s one thing to grade HD or 2k files on PC system, it’s quite another thing to have 4k DPXs playing back in real-time. We also showed a stereo 3D feature shot on two Sony F3 cameras that we’re grading on Windows Resolve. The price/performance of DaVinci Resolve running on a PC is quite outstanding!’
The Sony F65 camera will start to ship in January 2012 and the next version of DaVinci Resolve in the first quarter. For more information on the Sony F65 acquisition and file-based workflow combined with Blackmagic Design‘s DaVinci Resolve finishing system, please contact Neil Smith at Hollywood DI on 323 850 3550.
About Hollywood-DI
Located on "The Lot" in West Hollywood, California, Hollywood DI provides workflow consulting and post-production services for studios and independent filmmakers worldwide. The facility’s centerpiece is the versatile Fairbanks Theater, a 33-seat DI suite that offers a 2k DLP projector and a 35mm Simplex projector in a precision-calibrated environment. Offering a full RGB 4:4:4 workflow plus a complete range of 2K and HD editing and color correction tools, Hollywood DI provides the ultimate in creative freedom. Hollywood DI‘s FLOworks™ digital content management system provides time and money savings for content creators. ‘Flexible, Lean and Open’ workflows based on SMPTE and international standards allow content creators to leverage the full power of modern distributed computing and cloud based technologies. Visit www.hollywooddi.com for more information.
