For those interested in cinematography and arriving the weekend before the exhibition hall opens at the 2005 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention, April 16-21 in Las Vegas, a visit to the Digital Cinema Summit might be time well spent.
Co-produced by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and Hollywood’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at USC, the event will include a panel of manufacturers of the newest digital cinematography cameras, along with discussion on how they integrate into a hybrid film/digital imaging production and postproduction workflow.
Moderated by David Stump, ASC, the session will feature representatives from Dalsa Digital Cinema, Waterloo, Ontario, which makes the new Origin digital cinematography camera; Arriflex, Munich, the maker of the D-20 camera; Panavision, developer of the new Genesis camera; and Kinetta in Coosada, AL, which invented the Kinetta camera.
The D-20 will also be exhibited on the show floor. Panavision reported that the Genesis will not be at NAB, due to rental commitments; meanwhile Dalsa is opting for smaller venues to show its Origin camera (which was reportedly being used to shoot a commercial for an undisclosed client at press time). Rumors suggest that Kinetta may have a development announcement at the summit.
Of course, NAB will also host digital camera technology including Sony’s CineAlta cameras, Thomson’s Grass Valley Viper, and Panasonic’s Varicam. Sony and Grass Valley have both announced that they will focus on workflow by introducing new recording devices for their digital cameras.
This is particularly significant for Grass Valley, which until now has relied on third-party developers to build Viper recording options.
The company has stated a commitment to offering as many workflow options as possible. At NAB, Grass Valley will introduce its first in-house built option–the Venom Flashpak solid state dockable recording system, which enables a cinematographer to work untethered with the Viper.
Recording in Viper’s highest “Filmstream” resolution–uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB color space–Venom has a 10-minute capacity, or, the system can record 18 minutes of 4:2:2 HD. Grass Valley suggested that a film shoot might have two or three Venom systems, with one in the camera, one ready to replace it, and one writing to the transport medium to be delivered to the post house. The company expects that Venom would be available through the rental houses.
Venom has been in development for about a year, and it is expected ship this summer for around $66,000.
Grass Valley’s general manager for cameras Jans Eveleens reported that there is continued field recording research going on in Grass Valley manufacturing centers in Breda, the Netherlands, and Hanover, Germany; he hinted that additional Grass Valley recording devices would be developed, but did not have any additional plans to report.
In addition to being Grass Valley’s first recording system, Venom is also only the second portable option. The maker of the first option, Baytech, closed its doors this past year, although its CineRam system remains available at select rental houses.
Meanwhile, Sony is adding a new recording option to its CineAlta line with the introduction of the SRW-5500 videotape recorder. Today, the Sony Cine Alta 900 camera records to HDCAM (4:2:2) format, and the newer 950 recording HDCAM SR (4:4:4 RGB). Decks are currently available for both options.
The new SRW-5500 is the first to offer multi-format support, and is switchable between Sony’s HDCAM and HDCAM SR record formats.
The SRW-5500 can record and playback tapes at 24PsF, 25PsF and 30PsF, as well as 1080/60i, 1080/50i and 720/60P (to clarify, the HDCAM SR format can record/playback at 720/60P while the HDCAM format can record at 1080i and provide format conversion to playback at 720/60P).
The SRW-5500 captures content to tape at 440 Mbps at 10-bit depth, using the MPEG 4 Studio Profile compression scheme. The VTR also records 12 channels of 24-bit uncompressed audio, and features metadata handling. The SRW-5500 is planned to be available this spring with a suggested list price of $98,000.
Eastman Kodak, headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., is expected to make an announcement regarding technology for television production closer to the start of NAB. For this installment of The Road to NAB, Kodak only reported that it would show images recently lensed with Kodak’s Vision2 color negative films.
In the area of workflow, it will demonstrate its Kodak Look Manager System, which is designed to allow cinematographers to create, pre-visualize and manage film looks from preproduction through postproduction. The software-based system locks the picture data into an exportable file that can be accessed by other system users such as colorists, to help ensure accurate communications in a collaborative environment. The system has already been used by such DPs as Steven Goldblatt, ASC, BSC, who used it on the Mike Nichols film Closer.
While their potential impact on commercialmaking is unclear, low cost cameras will be featured at NAB that support the recently introduced HDV format, including Sony’s HVR-Z1U camcorder and HVR-M10U VTR. Sony’s products began shipping to resellers in February, and Sony expects to deliver 6,000 units of HDV products in the U.S. before the opening of NAB. But again, workflow will be a consideration. Apple, Avid and Pinnacle are among the companies that are promising HDV editing support; what will actually be available at NAB is another question.
