First RAW Footage From D16 Shows That Digital Bolex Means Business
It's been quite a journey for the Digital Bolex team. There have been plenty of bumps along the way, and plenty of haters who said the Digital Bolex would never come to fruition. Well folks, we've finally got the first RAW 24fps footage from the prototype of the D16, and it's clear that the finalized version of the Digital Bolex nearing its completion. Check out the original footage (and several graded variations) below:
First, here's a video that shows the original ungraded footage alongside several graded variations of each shot. The grading was done in FilmConvert:
And here's another quick grade:
Of course, it's difficult to judge the merits of this camera based on 6 seconds of footage and a few basic grades, but you can head over to the Digital Bolex site and download the RAW CinemaDNG files to judge for yourself. Having played around with a few of the stills myself, I have to say that I'm really impressed with the overall sharpness of the image and how much information can be pulled from the blacks.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the sensor (and therefore the final image of the D16) is still being calibrated by the team at Ienso Electronics in order to maximize the dynamic range and limit the noise. Therefore we can expect the final version of the camera to have a cleaner output and a bit more DR than what we can see in these early camera tests.
As the week goes on, we should begin to see more RAW footage from the Digital Bolex, as well as more graded variations, so keep your eyes peeled. And depending how the rest of the D16 camera tests go, it's entirely possible that we'll have some idea of the manufacturing schedule and shipping dates for the original pre-orders from the Kickstarter campaign.
What do you guys think of the first footage from the Digital Bolex? If you've created your own grades of the footage, post the links in the comments!
