Demystifying Digital Camera Specifications Part 1: What’s in a Pixel?

Demystifying Digital Camera Specifications Part 2: Keeping Harry Happy

Demystifying Digital Camera Specifications Part 2: Keeping Harry Happy
The Nyquist Theorem, linking optical and digital sampling, The implications of Fill factor and optical low pass filtering, The Nyquist boundaries of of motion pictures, and Limiting resolution.

Continue watching FreshDV’s presentation of this informative series here or at FreshTV. You can also download H.264 720p and 1080p versions of this Part 2 presentation from Panavision.

Demystifying Digital Camera Specifications Part 1: What’s in a Pixel?
A short history of CCD/CMOS development, Sub-sampling and Super-sampling, HD lens and camera design strategies, Photosites - the tradeoff between resolution, dynamic range, and noise, Digital output signals from cameras, UHDTV, 2K and 4K cameras, and DCI Standards for 2K and 4K.

Continue watching FreshDV’s presentation of this informative series here or at FreshTV. You can also download H.264 720p and 1080p versions of this Part 1 presentation from Panavision.

“…Avid VideoRAID solutions help customers keep up with the fast pace of digital content creation by maintaining full performance and data protection, while rebuilding the drives in the background. Customers will also be able to take advantage of real-time playback of up to two streams of uncompressed HD on as few as eight Avid VideoRAID drives. Additionally, Avid is offering all new VideoRAID ST and SR customers a three-year warranty on drive mechanisms and enclosures and will provide advanced exchange of replacement parts to customers at no additional cost.”

The VideoRAID ST includes a 5-drive tower while VideoRAID SR is a 16-drive rack mount configuration. Capacities are 2.5TB to 16TB per system. Here’s a quick glance at the featureset:

* Real-time parity RAID
* Full performance during drive rebuild (albeit without “full content protection”)
* 2.5TB to 16TB capacity
* SR model includes load-sharing, redundant power supplies
* Field-replaceable controllers, drives, and power supplies

MSRP starts at $4795 USD for 2.5 TB. Expect these new VideoRAID offerings to begin shipping in Q2 2008. More info at www.avid.com/videoraidST

(via Making the Movie)

“As someone who does Same-Day Edits at almost every wedding, the day is usually segmented into 20-30 minute blocks of time, so this works perfectly with the 8GB card workflow. For example, at most weddings my assistant and I will each shoot about 10-20 minutes of prep. We meet up before ceremony and I dump both of our cards at that time and back them up.

Out here in Southern California, almost all of our non-Catholic ceremonies are about 20 minutes long, which means they can be easily covered with one 8GB card in HQ mode. Again, this makes importing ceremony footage for SDE and back-up very easy. Likewise, the cocktail hour and grand march/first dance can also usually be fit on one 8GB card. This is all I need for my SDEs, so once I have all of the footage from these 8GB cards, I have my second shooter switch to the 16GB card for the bulk of the reception while I edit for the SDE.”

For wedding videographers that have been apprehensive about migrating to HD and/or solid-state, this article may help dispel some of the confusion and hesitation. Speaking personally, Daniel has a good workflow in place and this solution seems to fit his needs perfectly. Perhaps it will fit yours as well.

For more info on the Sony XDCAM EX1, check out our repository of EX1 links and resources. And as always, purchasing the XDCAM EX1 via our B&H linkage helps to support FreshDV at no additional cost to you.

* Uncompressed wireless system for both HD-SDI and SD-SDI video.
* Multiple formats of video with two channels of embedded audio.
* Latency less than 1ms.
* Transmission range up to 100 feet (30m) through walls and up to 150 feet (50m) in line-of-sight conditions. Use in actual production may vary.
* Conservative 11w power consumption.
* Ships with an IDX V-mount, allowing a direct attachment to an IDX battery for rear mounting on a camera. It can also powered directly by DC.
* Sleek and lightweight: weighing just 1.7 pounds, and no visible antenna.
* Wireless transmission via MIMO/OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), operating between the 5.1-5.8 GHz frequencies. No special license is required.
* Selection of four manual or auto-select frequencies with 256-bit encryption.

Norman Hollyn:
“…the three things that caught my eye, have to do with distribution realities and how they impact production choices. The first was from Lerner, who was commenting on how the international film market is getting more selective in what they will buy from indie filmmakers.”

Says Lerner:
“What we have done, like most of the big independents, is we moved our target from the straight-to-DVD movie to more theatrical films. Today, with the exception of “event” movies, we are doing the same movies as the studios, just with less money.”

Mark Gill goes on to talk about the niche for indie film budgets under the “kill zone” between $50 and $100 million…studios claim a return of just 1% from films in that range, contrasting sharply with the 35% return on $100 million+ budgets. You can read the original article and Norman’s further analysis here.

(Via Final Cut User)

“…AJA Video is adding RED-specific video outputs for some of the unique frame sizes that the REDALERT and REDCINE software applications can produce. This additional support for RED will be included in the version 6.0 software driver for the award-winning KONA 3 video card. The version 6.0 software update will be a free upgrade for KONA 3 users, and will be available for download in late May of 2008.”

The following frame sizes will be offered as video playback options within the
Apple Final Cut Pro>A/V Devices tab in Version 6.0 of the AJA KONA driver software:
2K
* 2048×1152 - outputs the image to 2048×1556
* 2048×1024 - outputs the image to 2048×1080
Note: These 2K frame sizes can be output to either a 2K DCI spec projector or to a 1920×1080 HD video monitor using the AJA KONA 3 real-time 2K crop feature.

1920×1080
* 1536×864 - outputs the image to 1920×1080
* 1536×768 - outputs the image to 1920×1080
* 1024×576 - outputs the image to 1920×1080
* 1024×512 - outputs the image to 1920×1080
This real-time image output automatically centers the picture and fills the rest of the frame with black.

More info at aja.com.

Since CoreMelt plugins are 10-bit, naturally they have written a few white papers on how to leverage these plugins and effects to complete 10-bit finishing workflows in Final Cut Pro. Here’s a writeup on how to finish Red Digital Cinema footage within FCP, retaining maximum color information. For more details on 10-bit codec and effects pitfalls, read this article.

ShotPut EXpress features Single card (manual) and Multiple card (auto) modes. Simply insert the SxS card into a PowerBook or Notebook’s ExpressCard slot and ShotPut EXpress makes secure, verified copies of the SxS card’s video contents (the BPAV folder) in up to three (3) locations. ShotPut EXpress makes a printable activities report log of all the file transfer activities. This text file shows all the details including names of cards and files, the copy destination names, file sizes, duration of each transfer and aggregate transfer time, date, etc. A great way to document and organize your project and billable time.

Fast Copying: Perform copies at top speed without the overhead of Finder or Explorer.
Automatic or Manual Copies: Manually select one or more drives to copy. Or use the auto offload mode to sequentially copy SxS cards upon insertion.
Easy Folder Naming: Save time and improve consistency and organization by auto-naming the copy folders.
Improve Workflow: Make up to 3 simultaneous SxS card copies at the same time.
Reformat Cards: After offloading is finished, automatically Erase the BPAV folder contents and Rename the card so it’s ready to return to the camera.
Security: Verify byte-to-byte comparisons of your media copies to ensure integrity of the files.
Verification Report: Create a record of file transfer activity, how the copies were named, time, date, etc. Save complete details for project organization and billable time.
Print Offload Log: Offload results are presented in a text file, printable with the click of a button.
Session Error Checking: Prevents overwriting of existing folders and duplicate offloading of the same card.
Progress Bar: Displays overall percent completion and file-by-file progress during the copy process.
Copy Cards or Disks: The BPAV contents of any mountable volume (drive) can be copied.

You can purchase ShotPut EXpress for Mac or Windows via Imagine Products.