Remember: A lens is not guaranteed to perform in a 5-Mpixel camera simply because it is specified as a 5-Mpixel lens.

Edmund Optics and Schneider Optics explain aspects of matching one technology’s advances with another’s.

Pictures and arrows at the following link:

Matching Lenses and Sensors

With pixel sizes of CCD and CMOS image sensors becoming smaller, system integrators must pay careful attention to their choice of optics

Greg Hollows and Stuart Singer—Mar 1, 2009

Each year, sensor manufacturers fabricate sensors with smaller pixel sizes. About 15 years ago, it was common to find sensors with pixels as small as 13 µm. It is now common to find sensors with standard 5-µm pixel sizes. Recently, sensor manufacturers have produced pixel sizes of 1.4 µm without considering lens performance limits. It is also common to find sensors that contain 5 Mpixels and individual pixel sizes of 3.45 µm. In the next generation of image sensors, some manufacturers expect to produce devices with pixel sizes as small as 1.75 µm.

David Zanit writes a nice piece in StudentFilmmakers Magazine which brings out points that one doesn’t think of until they need to be handled.

“…I wanted the shot to start calm, and then, with no warning turn chaotic. The point was to illustrate how our characters had to live in a constant state of unease never knowing when the next attack would be. I suggested we try to cover the scene in one moving take. The shot started handheld high up on a crane looking down into the camp. After a moment, the explosions started. As the explosions moved through the camp, the crane lowered, and the camera stepped off the crane and moved quickly forward through the camp.

To achieve this, the grip department had to get a special “walk around” platform for our crane. I stood on the platform wearing a safety harness that was attached to the crane. Another grip went up in the crane with me to help safety me and help with the camera before we started rolling. When the crane lowered to the ground, several grips had to step onto the crane to make up for the lost counterweight when I stepped off (to make sure the crane arm did not shoot back up into the air). They also had to unfasten me from the crane. All of this had to happen very fast; it was absolutely crucial that I did not step off early.

Standing on the crane with a mask to protect me from the dust.

Once off the crane, I still had to run forward into the camp with our very skilled pyro technicians making sure I was always safe from the explosions. My team did a great job pulling off this very difficult shot.

Read the entire piece at:
Lighting Period War Film, Shades of Hope | 
Separating Worlds through Color

Times of transition bring out the iconoclasts and entrenched white papers and no end of forum discussions. In his latest Digital Content Producer article, D.W. Leitner cuts through the arguments with a paraphrase from James Carville: It’s the audience, stupid. He’s going to Park City with the partner he brought to production, long GOP MPEG2, and he’s sticking to his decision.

He makes an end-around to discussions that started years ago and are still going on in the forums; compression, long gop, is/is not ‘good enough’. And why not? As he points out, A) He did the tests at the time, with the technology available, and B) the technology has gotten him the product he needed at the budget he had in a manner he considered painless compared to a previous headache project. In the process he mentions that the technology performed without dropouts during the recording phase, a comment that is mirrored in technical papers (albeit a Sony Broadcast document), as well as many forum comments – the post production phase also is easier and has fewer dropouts while handling more data than H.264 variations.

So, who is to knock it? Use what works.

Except – that we are in a transition that has moved startling fast – 1080i was defensible until 1080p showed up in every home for less than a 1,000 moneyunits, as well as multi-processor computers and the NLE software to support them. The testing has to keep repeating as each technology ripens. For example, Phillip Bloom makes an astounding presentation which doesn’t once attempt defense, instead showing all the same ideals of cost and quality for camera technology that wouldn’t have been discussed by movie pros 3 years ago (and then, only to disqualify.)

The good news is that the horrors of the unresolvable video delivery and presentation format wars didn’t allow a merely ‘good enough’ standard to inhibit innovation the way that 16-bit audio became.

[Editor: It seems a pity to cut any part of this brilliant lesson in art and technology by D.W. (David) Leitner (IMDB link). The except here is from the middle, but it is understatement to say that you should read the whole piece, beginning to end.
Proof in the Pudding where Red One is Concerned | Leitner’s Cinematography Corner | Millimeter

…

Or, as a counter example, view a 35mm print of Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant, also shot with a Red One.

Reviewing The Informant in the Washington Post on Sept. 18, staff writer Ann Hornaday writes that: 

As with his last two projects, the “Che” films and “The Girlfriend Experience,” Soderbergh filmed “The Informant!” on the Red Camera, a digital system that is lightweight, nimble and particularly well-suited to filming without added lights. The result with “The Informant!” is a desaturated palette and spontaneous style that recall movies made in the 1970s. (In many of the scenes, the protagonists are backlit by blurry, unruly flares of light — shots that most directors would reject as unusable. But Soderbergh embraces what might be considered a technical flaw and makes it a design element.)

I mean no personal disrespect, but what a load of hooey. Not the part about the style of movies made in the ’70s (also questionable), but the part about being “particularly well-suited to filming without added lights.” On what does she base this remarkable insight? That Red One is more light-sensitive than either film or other digital cameras (wrong, wrong), or handles highlights or shadows in a superior manner (wrong)?

The roots of motion picture lighting can be traced back 100 years to the single-digit ASAs of early orthochromatic Kodak …

… Soderbergh told me he intends never to shoot film again…

… a total of three shots involved the use of additional lighting.

Soderbergh has made an artistic choice here, one having nothing to do with the particular creative possibilities inherent to a Red One. …

… you forget about technical choices.

But I knew by its grain-free, low-light look it was shot digitally. By comparison—and this came as total shock to my system—I didn’t realize Antichrist was shot digitally until the credits rolled.

Taken from a press release printed in Millimeter:

REDucation Returns to LA Center Studios | The Briefing Room September 8th, 2009

Dates Announced for the Only RED Approved, Fully Immersive, Hands-on Education and Training

Three-day RED Post moves through all the stages of prepping files for postproduction, editing, color grading and finishing. RED Post is real world, in-depth workflow training for professionals. RED Tech and RED Post bookend Community Day, where experts and companies present innovative technologies and products to REDucation attendees and to the public. Sponsors for Community Day include; Adobe, AJA, Alternative Rentals, Assimilate, Autodesk, Automatic Duck, Birns & Sawyer-Hollywood, Bogen Imaging, BOXX, Cine RAID, Digital Vision, da Vinci, DIT Station, DVS, FilmLight, G-Technology, H20 PhotoPros, IDX, IGI, IRIDAS, JMR, KeyCode Media, Keslow Camera, LaCie, MacProfessionals, MAXX Digital, Media Distributors, MTI Film, NEBTEK, nextLAB, O’Connor, Petrol, R3D Data Manager, RedRock Micro, Rimage, Rosco, Sachtler, Schneider Optics, Silverado, and Sony Creative Software.

REDucation was developed by industry leaders that became Founding Members, including; Alternative Rentals, HD EXPO – Createasphere, FotoKem, Keslow Camera, PlasterCITY Digital Post and Michael Cioni. HD EXPO – Createasphere is the operations arm of the training and have scheduled two more dates later in the year.

Kristin Petrovich, founder of HD EXPO – Createasphere and a Founding Member of REDucation commented that, “REDucation offers the latest and best information to the RED community; the curriculum has been developed by a group of expert industry leaders under the tutelage of RED. Our event in July sold out quickly and turned into a vibrant educational and community ‘happening.’ October’s REDucation is looking like it will be another hit; engaging, vibrant and intensely informative.”

Spaces for REDucation-October are filling up fast. For further information, please visit reducation.net or call 818.842.6611.

About REDucation

Launched in July 2009, REDucation is the only RED approved and sanctioned education for learning RED. Comprised of RED Tech, RED Post, and Community Day, the training is a fully immersive, hands-on experience with international participation. Community Day is open to the public and features RED booths and presentations from recognized industry sponsors. HD EXPO – Createasphere operates REDucation, which was created by the founding group of industry leaders including RED, HD EXPO – Createasphere, FotoKem, Keslow Camera, Apple, FOX, Alternative Rentals, and PlasterCITY Digital Post. For further information, visit www.reducation.net or call 818.842.6611.

“When I became a member of ASC, I was surprised by how open and friendly everyone was. My heroes became my friends who openly shared their knowledge and feelings about filmmaking. There is an unbreakable camaraderie which I treasure.”
Goi says that the current generation of ASC members remains dedicated to the vision of the founders who were devoted to advancing the art and craft of filmmaking.

“We are partnering with the Producers Guild of America (PGA) on a groundbreaking assessment of film and digital cameras that are currently used during the production of theatrical motion pictures,” he says. “We are also collaborating with other organizations, including a previsualization subcommittee with the Art Directors Guild (ADG) and Visual Effects Society (VES), designed to help drive the industry toward a higher quality bar for the art and craft of moving images.”

Goi is a Chicago native who grew up making “little 8 mm movies” with the help of neighborhood kids. He upgraded to using a 16mm Bolex camera by working odd jobs. After graduating from high school, Goi studied filmmaking at Columbia College in Chicago. He began shooting PBS documentaries while he was still in college.

After graduation in 1980, Goi shot local commercials and documentaries and opened a still photography studio, where he concentrated on fashion and product photography. Goi earned his first narrative film credit for Moonstalker in 1987. He received ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards nominations for the telefilms The Fixer (1999) and Judas (2005). Last year, Goi also garnered an Emmy® nomination for an episode of My Name is Earl.

His other credits include Witless Protection, Fingerprints, Red Water, What Matters Most, Who Killed Atlanta’s Children?, Christmas Rush, Funky Monkey, Welcome to Death Row, The Dukes, the Emmy® Award-winning documentary Fired-Up: The Story of Public Housing in Chicago, and the TV series The Wedding Bells and My Name is Earl. He also recently wrote, produced, and directed the narrative film Megan is Missing. Goi is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the Academy of Television Arts And Sciences.

ASC was founded in 1919 by 15 charter members. In 1934, the organization created an associate membership category for individuals in other sectors of the industry who have made notable contributions to advancing the art and craft of cinematography. There are 310 active members today who have national roots in some 20 countries. There are also 160 associate members.

Taken from the ASC Website at: Michael Goi Named ASC President

Wexler at Aero Theatre – July 2, 2009       
    
Haskell Wexler, ASC, will be the guest of honor at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre for a double-feature presentation of Medium Cool (1969) and Coming Home (1978) on July 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Wexler wrote, directed and photographed Medium Cool, and he shot Coming Home for director Hal Ashby.

Ticket prices are $10 general admission, $8 for senior citizens and students (with current school ID), and $7 for American Cinematheque members. Tickets are on sale now at www.fandango.com and at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica.

Taken from the notice on the ASC website at: Wexler at Aero Theatre

JVC unveiled a potentially disruptive 3D technology at NAB this week.
The company is showing an early prototype of a 2D/3D conversion box that it is looking to further develop as a basic conversion system and, get this, sell for $10,000.
Today more elaborate methods of converting 2D imagery to 3D can run anywhere from $50,000 per […]

Read the full post at CelluloidJunkie.com

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– Cinemas in the UK are anticipating a bumper box office this summer and the Film Distributors Association has put together a trailer (see above) and website for SummerOfCinema, reports the BBC; – UK actors Meera Syal and Tony Robinson are amongst those campaigning to save London’s historic EMD cinema in Walthmastow where a young Alfred […]

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Late last week I picked up on a rumor that was circulating about European exhibitors.  Apparently, they are rejecting digital 3D versions of DreamWorks Animation’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” in lieu of 2D digital and 35mm prints as a response to being told that distributors will not pick up the tab for 3D glasses.  The film […]

Read the full post at CelluloidJunkie.com

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