HD For Indies

Yesterday I drove up to Six Flags Fiesta Texas (in San Antonio) with Doreen and we rode roller coasters all day. (Hang on, this'll get HD relevant in a few paragraphs). The Big Three coasters there are the Poltergeist coaster, the Superman coaster, and The Rattler.

Poltergeist - the coaster equivalent of a taking crack just before skydiving into a hurricane - you start off with a bang, just about literally - you go from a dead stop to 60 in about 3 seconds - as an observer on the platform, it looks like some kind of unrealistic visual effect - by the time the last car is where the first was, it's going 50+ mph. As soon as you get up to speed (in 5 seconds of less), you IMMEDIATELY go into a fast 'n furious set of loops, turns, twirls, and overenders - if you look at the track from outside the ride, it looks like a big tangled ball of yarn. It doesn't take up much space, but loops in/under/over/through itself many times. The ride probably only lasts 45 seconds of so, but seems much longer, and you're in CONSTANT thrilling motion (as a tall guy, I kept feeling like the intertwined steel supports were constantly about to take my head off).

Superman - the theme on this one seems to be flight simulation, looping along like Superman would. The entire park is built into a valley, with the edges excavated out to make vertical walls. The Superman coaster's track loops and soars over the edge of the cliff several times, in big, clean, pure arcs and loops, fast and smooth. Oh, and to make it really feel like flight - you're sitting upright with your feet hanging free. We rode in the front car with our bare feet sticking out, it was GREAT - a thrilling sense of flight. I had on MP3 playing sunglasses, playing the theme from Kill Bill ("Battle without Honor or Humanity") and it was.....hmm...what's the phrase? Oh yeah - F*****G AWESOME.

For a finale for the day, we got on The Rattler, an older wooden coaster. It had a classic start where you leave the station and clank-clank-clank up a climb, and nothing else that day matched the sheer visceral intensity of the first dive and swoop it takes. We sat up front on that one, too, and I really got whey they call it The Rattler - it'll rattle your teeth out! Wooden coasters have a lot of give and shake, and we finished and Doreen asked what I thought of it - "It's like this" I said, holding up my half full water bottle in front of her, and then shook it vigorously into a froth - "that's my brain now." I later described it as "the epileptic indecisive coked up coal car ride." It wasn't clean, it wasn't pretty, but MAN it was fun! After the second time on it, I was ready to call it a day - too rattled. On my second ride through, though, I got to thinking about it - the first dive and big swoop were great, and the plunge into the dark tunnel (yes, actually through the rock) with an unexpected turn in total darkness were great, but other parts of the ride didn't measure up to that "maintain sufficient thrill level" mark - you're just going pretty fast and jerking around, but waiting for the next really cool thing to happen.

At the end of the day, I can't say which was "better" than the others - each presented a different kind of experience and thrill, each with their different pros and cons. Poltergeist was intense but brief, Superman was a consistent thrill without the peak experiences of the others (although footies al fresco into the oncoming breeze was a blast), the Rattler was shake-your-brains fun at first, but exhausting and kinda flat at times. And if I did have a favorite (hmm, now I'm leaning towards Superman), it is just my opinion, and yours may be different, based on what YOU consider to be the most fun (or even TYPE of fun). And also that I wouldn't want to pick one at the exclusion of the others - I'm glad I hit them all (and they hit me), and I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of those experiences - different flavors of speed and fun.

OK, so what does this have to do with cameras? This reminded me of some notes I wrote upon returning from my recent trip to LA where I saw a lot of cameras and vendors and facilities. Different vendors, different products, all try their best to be great for what they do - but everyone's definition of "best" or even "better" varies, depending on their goals, value systems, etc. Everyone's assumptions about what is most important probably varies, as does their ability to implement it as well as they'd like to. Also, in the end, some of it is going to break down to being a matter of flavors - you either like orange mango or you don't, or you like chocolate or vanilla better than the other and there's really no point in trying to argue you out of that position - it's just the way you feel about it. Bearing that in mind, read the rest below.

So I went and dug up my notes, written within a coupla days of my return from LA. I've tweaked a bit until I can get clearances from vendors (so I may supplement in the future, plus I have full writeups on Genesis and Dalsa coming):

Camera pros and cons, in no particular order:

Cameras, and products in general, are a reflection of the values and priorities of their makers. So the priorities of the makers come through in the product, either as a direct, intentional creation, or as a byproduct of the innate talents and capabilities of the companies and individuals producing them. After spending 10 days in LA visiting with camera makers, rental houses, DPs, colorists, etc., here are some of my thoughts and observations on some products out there:

Panavision has values of interoperability and compatibility with their extensive (and extensively field proven) range of accessories and gear while generating a very professional image in a self contained package.

The Dalsa Origin is the product of folks who make extremely good imaging sensors - so the camera is a no compromises image generation device. And it rocks at that task. The problem is, some compromises might be nice to have - 4K or the highway seems to be their unspoken mantra at this time. Smaller form factor, dual link HD-SDI, onboard recording capabilities, etc. would make this a much more flexibly capable system.

ARRI (whom I didn't visit with, just saw one at DGA Digital Day and chatted a bit with their guys there) made a digital version of one of their film cameras (the D-20), down to through the lens viewfinder with mechanical spinning shutter. Dalsa does that part too, giving a certain lovely characteristic to motion blur you don't get with non-shuttered imagers I've seen..

The Thomson/Grass Valley Viper (again, only saw at DGA Digital Day) is a very nice, technically astute camera with some clever details to the workflow - HD-SDI outputs with a log curve, it was AFAIK one of the first to do this. It is the product of a video technology company, and as such is has 3 2/3" CCDs and uses B4 mount lenses - so isn't quite the film camera replacement from a lens and DoF perspective.

Some pros and cons of the various cameras:


PANAVISION GENESIS:

Pros: shipping, multiple features already shot with it. Good looking image, FULL Panavision accessories integration and compatibility, HD deliverable (makes post easier), log curve (they call it Panalog, resets white to 70% and arcs/tapers it off above that level), compact form factor with recorder (integrates with SRW-1 without need or SRPC-1, which is built into camera). Also has dual link HD-SDI outputs if fully uncompressed is desired. Super 35mm sized image sensor. Panavision is a trusted name - see the long list of features already shooting on it. The name brand, and the quality that implies, clearly carries significant weight in Hollywood, as evinced by the list of projects already shot on it. Can record audio in sync with video. Single sensor CCD for cine lens compatibility.

Cons: 1080p is highest resolution, max frame rate is presently 50 fps, but can shoot variable frame rates, rental only from Panavision, limited availability (about 40 some odd worldwide right now). No mechanical shutter, and no through the lens viewfinding.

DALSA ORIGIN:

PROS: Shipping product. Extremely sharp images, extremely high resolution (4Kx2K, 2:1 aspect ratio), the only shipping 4K camera of the bunch. Also, extremely good dynamic range, perhaps the best of the shipping bunch from my personal osbservations. Super 35mm sized image sensor. Rotating mechanical shutter and through the lens viewfinding for film like motion rendering and DP familiar operation. Single sensor CCD (UPDATE - I had CMOS listed yesterday, that was incorrect, thanks to Patrick's quick eye to catch me on my mistake) for cine lens compatibility. If you want to go 4K, this is the one to beat. The workflow for 4K is also VERY well thought out, and the Codex device makes the much more manageable.

CONS: At present, it is BIG and unwieldy, and is something they need to work on. It can be handheld, as proven by some test footage I saw, but is a daunting beast to behold. But to my mind, the biggest detriment they face is the workflow - they shoot 4K, and they ONLY shoot 4K. At present, there is no HD-SDI out. You can only record 4K RAW Bayer pattern data out of the camera. Their currently recommended solution is to record to the Codex recorder, which is itself a model of flexibility and capability (more on it later, but it rocks). Which is fortunate for Dalsa, because they need all the flexibility then can get. 4K or the highway seems to be their unspoken credo. It would be nice to have options with this camera - such as 2K or ANY flavor of HD-SDI, or to at least have the option of any kind of compression for a smaller form factor. At present, if you wanted a Digibeta or SR copy, it would require some kind of processed output off of the Codex box. I feel they've overshot the market - but if they could shrink the form factor, add onboard recording, add 4K downsampled to 2K/HD/HD-SDI recording options, I think they'd have a real winner, more in line with the market's needs and desires.

The camera is also rental only - which helps for support (since the rates also includes support all through production into post production), but also means there is only one source to rent these from - Dalsa.

36fps max recording rate (camera capable of 50fps, but no recording solution capable of those speeds).

Dual sound audio - no provision for recording audio with picture, have to sync audio in post. Hmmph.

THOMSON/GRASS VALLEY VIPER:

PROS: good dynamic range (see Collateral or Miami Vice), nice color representation, can shoot 4:2:2 linear or 4:4:4 Filmstream mode (utterly uncorrected RGB output from sensor). HD workflow with LUTs, keeps the post more flexible and affordable than data or 2K. Can record audio in sync with video.

CONS: A video technology based device - 3 CCD design with a prism beam splitter, requires video style lenses, 30fps progressive max fps, 60 fields (half res) maximum frame rate. 2/3" not 35 or Super35 sized sensor...but that can be useful at times as well (Michael Mann liked it for Miami Vice). No mechanical viewfinder, and no through the lens viewfinding.

ARRI D-20:

PROS: from Arri, who has a strong rep for form factor, ergonomics, and accessories. 35mm or Super35mm sized image sensor (forget which), DOES have spinning mechanical shutter (has benefits for motion blur), and they are working on a direct data recording option as well (demoed at NAB). Can record audio in sync. Single sensor for cine lens compatibility.

Cons: HD resolution max, video frame rates, HD-SDI only recording, no onboard recording, no data recording as yet, how does offspeed work (recording and post extraction). Rental only.

SILICON IMAGING (no LA presence so didn't visit with, but drawing this from NAB visit and emails):

Pros: 2/3" sized image sensor (right?), detachable image block is tiny; very high quality, full raster, 10 bit highly efficient, relatively low data rate wavelet based codec (Cineform wavelet RAW codec). Very flexible frame rate modes 1-72 or so fps possible, and since disk recording it is cake to deal with offspeed in post. Mac support for codec expected this fall (maybe IBC?). Can record to the fully built up portable unit or just the image block and run a GigE cable back to a laptop or computer. With the (large) exception of Premiere Pro only editing, very indie viable workflow - low cost storage, low data rate native codec editing, affordable camera, etc.

Cons: you're married to Adobe Premiere for native codec editing right now. No HD-SDI recording option that I'm aware of. For editing or posting on non-WinXP environment,gotta export to other formats - is possible but cumbersome. Altasens sensor is decent but not outstanding, not in same league with Dalsa, ARRI, Panavision, or Red samples seen to date...then again, this is a very nearly shipping camera for $20K (w/o lenses), the price is entirely reasonable for the quality you get.

RED ONE:

Red One, if ships with specs as stated (YES unfair to compare shipping to unfinished, but let's just project forward a year and assume these are all still the same specs from everybody for the moment)

Pros: Can record up to 4520x2540 in data mode, purchaseable for $17,500 for the body (Viper is circa $80K I think), Super35mm sized sensor, windowable sensor, works with PL mount S35 and S16 to start with, Nikon and B4 mounts to follow for compatibility, 1-60 fps recording in 4K, 1-120fps recording in 2K w/S16 lenses, data, onboard, or HD-SDI recording options, records audio as well (at least 4 channels). Record RAW data to REDRAID, record Redcode full raster wavelet based codec to either solid state memory device or RedDrive devices (based on 2.5" SATA disk), or to any standard HD-SDI type device (if shooting HD resolutions). Shoot 720p, 1080p, 1080i, 2K, 4K, or 4.5K. Record (depending on format you're shooting) to to the above list. Purchaseable or rentable. I've seen some test images and....WOW.

Cons: New entrant, no working prototype seen or even test footage publicly screened as yet, unproven track record, brand new company and product. LONG way from shipping, working, proven reliable product. In terms of workflow...I can't think of a downside, knowing what I know. The final image quality, after compression and whatnot is still unknown, but I'd imagine it'll be possible to record images even better looking than what I saw (and remember, those were some of the very first tests) to a Codex or similar type device. Wait, that's not a con.

End notes.

OK, that'll give you something to chew on, I'm trying to get my world organized before I leave town for 2 weeks...

-mike