Art is bullish on the updates, declaring “from a color and noise perspective the RED ONE is finally a mature camera.”

The RED ONE MX is finally here, and it looks great—better than it should, considering that RED says that it hasn’t changed the colorimetry of its sensors, only its sensitivity and noise levels. How could software alone make such a huge difference? I found out… the hard way. A while back I wrote about an apparent flaw in the original RED ONE’s colorimetry that added blue to any color containing green under tungsten light, making the RED ONE truly a daylight-balanced camera if one desired bright accurate colors. As of Build 30, though, the RED ONE’s color quality improved dramatically, and the blue/green contamination problem seemingly disappeared.

Art’s article goes in-depth with the new color science, examining DSC charts and comparing new versus old waveforms. It’s not for the technically faint of heart, but if this is up your alley, be sure to also check out Adam Wilt’s two pieces on the Mysterium-X sensor as well.

Link: Step into the Matrix: What I Learned from Examining RED’s Build 30 Color Science

I posted a brief teaser here before, saying Sony is treating the film “very seriously.” Perhaps this is why I’m interested — they’re not even trying to market it as a feel-good, get-rich-quick story in order to get butts in seats. They’re marketing it as a serious movie for adults, and that’s risky in a box office economy where “families are the ones going to the movies these days. Perhaps the only ones.”

From a technical standpoint, this announcement means that RED footage can be uploaded and played back natively. Except absolutely no one has a display that’s 4096 pixels wide, and the RED itself is actually only, what, 3.5k after bayer filtering? In my estimation approximately 0.01% of the population will actually be able to view 4K footage on their computer, much less be able to detect the difference. Of course, YouTube is doing this simply to show it’s possible, not because people are actually going to use it; to flex their resolution prowess, YouTube has created a special 4K playlist. Here is one of their 4K example videos, about a surfer who mistakenly believes his surfboard is self-powered and does not require actual waves:

This is a good example of what I’m talking about, because an overexposed shot in 4K is no better — and indeed, probably worse — than an overexposed shot in 720p (you’ll have to click through to YouTube to see the resolution options). In terms of things that are missing from the filmmaking world, “YouTube in 4K” is probably the 9,438,224th-most needed thing. Still, I guess it’s nice to know it’s possible. You know, for all those times you’ve got an 30′ screen and 4K projector set up in front of a packed house, but forgot to bring anything to show.

[via CNET]

The ALEXA specs are certainly up to the task of killing film: 35mm sensor size (motion picture film, not full-frame), 13.5 stops of dynamic range, 800 EI speed, 3.5 megapixel resolution, ARRIRAW or ProRes codecs. However, the proof is in the pudding, and the only real ALEXA footage I’ve seen to date has looked disappointing, to my eye. And by disappointing, I mean it looks very RED-like: brownish, alternately murky and over-sharpened. Of course this is just one short, viewed on the web (click through for the 720p version):

Here’s some behind-the-scenes video of the above ALEXA shoot:

Despite my skepticism based on this particular short, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of great ALEXA-shot films in the months and years to come, once talented DPs get their hands on the camera. When it comes down it, cameras are the same as guns: camera’s don’t shoot people, people shoot people.

[via DV Culture]

DV Culture hears from Ted Schilowitz of RED about their new EPIC, EVF, and TATTOO cameras/programs:

Cameradepartment.tv shows off the Mayberry Studio Multi-Facet, a clever product with a clever name enabling shooters to attach numerous accessories to smaller rod systems:

DV Culture checks in with Bernie Keach of Marshall Electronics, who demoes a couple of new LCD monitors. I’m planning on buying a 5″ LCD monitor for my 5D soon (despite its pathetic 480p output), and the fact that the Marshall has peaking (focus enhancement) is certainly appealing:

Cameradepartment.tv checks in with special-effects lens manufacturer Lensbaby:

Okay, so that wasn’t hugely informative; if you’re looking for some examples of what Lensbabys are capable of (they were recently used on Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), check out Lensbaby’s movie gallery.

DV Culture gets the lowdown from Mike Schmidt of Hoodman, about their Cinema Kit Pro for DSLRs:

DV Culture meets up with Scott Stueckle of top-quality (and top-cost) fluorescent light manufacturer Kino Flo, although it looks like in this instance the DV Culture guys could’ve used a stop by a camera lens cleaning cloth manufacturer:

Just kidding, guys; I know how these trade shows are. So many products to cover, so little time (and money). More on its way…

[via FreshDV]

[via Filmmaker IQ]

Here are two digital solutions from two companies (ARRI and Aaton) transitioning from film to digital. Yes, their pricing is stratospheric compared to DSLRs (and even RED), but they’re priced-to-rent rather than priced-to-own. The question is, will either of these cameras offer appreciably better image quality than a cheaper RED package?

ARRI Alexa

freshdv_nab10_ARRI

Aaton Penelope

freshdv_nab10_AATON

Of course, for anyone budgeting a $60 million movie, the difference in rental cost between these cameras is negligible. However, other than the sensitivity, I’m not particularly impressed with their test footage (not to mention the poor editing):

[via Blake Whitman]

Soderbergh also chimes in on the “pissing contest” of increasing resolution, which I’ve also mentioned as overblown after seeing Che projected digitally in 2k at New York’s 1100-seat Ziegfeld theater. And stay tuned for the end of part 4, where Soderbergh — a major DIY filmmaker, who shoots and edits many of his films himself — discusses how the advent of digital editing is affecting films holistically.

[via FreshDV]

Barry Green over at DVXuser has written an in-depth explanation of what aliasing is, and how it affects DSLRs. If you’re shooting movies (or thinking about shooting movies) with a DSLR, it should be required reading, along with Stu Maschwitz’s follow-up. Barry writes:

The HDSLR is tasked with two jobs: taking still pictures, and taking video. If the Optical Low Pass Filters (or anti-aliasing filter) were tuned to deliver great video, you’d find that your still pictures were just awful! An OLPF is, basically, a blur filter – any detail too fine for the video system to resolve gets turned to blur. But video is, at most, a 2.2-megapixel frame. HDSLRs are designed to handle 14-megapixel stills, or 18-megapixel, or 21-megapixel or beyond!

Basically what I (and thousands of others) are doing is using the secondary purpose of our DSLR as its primary function. That cameras with such clear shortcomings in the video department are selling like hotcakes — because of their video mode — must infuriate Jim Jannard et. al over at RED, who had some of their DSMC (Direct Simulation Monte Carlo — no, wait, “Digital Still and Motion Camera”) thunder stolen by Canon and Nikon. But RED’s forthcoming offerings have a one clear advantage over the DSLR: on RED, both still and motion images are the same resolution, so they can develop an Optical Low Pass Filter perfectly tuned for both. And considering RED cameras are built first for moving images and then for stills, instead of the other way around as with the current crop of DSLRs, filmmakers should be in for a treat in the coming year.

If the aliasing is so bad, though, why not just use a “real” video camera (you know, the kind that doesn’t shoot 21MP stills)? Because while DSLR aliasing is a problem — and a sometimes-significant one — to focus on it (get it?) would be to miss the bigger picture (get it?!?). It’s the ultra-sensitive, shallow depth-of-field (in HD) that we love, and worrying about the aliasing issue is akin to not seeing the forest for the trees. Or maybe it’s more like seeing the forest as a bunch of jagged trees.

• RED RAY, their 4k (apparently now 5k) playback system, will have a pro version coming out first, in February (plus or minus a year, and definitely not minus).
• SCARLET 2/3″, their lowest-priced camera, shoots 3K footage (likely as sharp as 1080p when all is said and done) at up to 120fps. The 2/3″ sensor isn’t ideal for every production, but don’t knock it: the gorgeous The Curse of Benjamin Button was shot on a 2/3″ sensor and was the first film shot digitally to be nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar. SCARLET has some very innovative features, such as internal motion sensor, GPS recorder, and wireless firmware updates; will sell for $2,750 (body only) or $4,750 (kit) plus primes at $950 a pop in June 2010 (plus or plus several months).
• SCARLET S35 (same size sensor as the RED ONE, and roughly equivalent to 35mm motion picture film) updates coming soon; $7,000.
• EPIC-X was updated last month with RED’s new beta release plan, TATTOO (everything must be capitalized and badassed!). $28,000 for the real deal (seems expensive next to the current DSLR price disruption, but if your film is budgeted at upper-six or any-seven figures, it’s cheap).

It will be interesting to see how SCARLET competes with whatever DSLRs will be available mid next year, not to mention any other large CMOS sensor-based offerings from the likes of Canon, who are rumored to be working on a XL1-esque camera incorporating what they’ve learned from their DSLR camp (namely: put a big chip in a small camera, and it will sell like hotcakes). The cameras are certainly similar both size- and price-wise: