Phantom Digital Cinematography Cameras

[studiocarter]

Perhaps I should check cinematography.com - is it being discussed there?

There is a news posting that can't be replied to.

[Daniel]

In fact, all of this is "old news" as this was announced on American Cinematographer (Sept 2006) a few months ago...

http://www.ascmag.com/new_products/Sept ... hp#prod172


But concerning Phantom 65 camera, I think that their 4K approach (as stated by Vision Research an image size of 4096x2440) is not enough to be compared to real 65mm film resolution. (not even considering IMAX format).
4K is now the "standard" digital image resolution for 35mm scan... but some experts points that 35mm digital resolution for scanning is around 6K or even 8K.... so that 4K approach for Phantom 65 seems to be completely not enough.
I think the Phantom HD camera is however an interesting option for high speed digital recording at HDTV resolution. An uncompressed workflow seems to be possible through some kind of TIFF sequence output from the camera.

Regards,
Daniel

[christoph]

But concerning Phantom 65 camera, I think that their 4K approach (as stated by Vision Research an image size of 4096x2440) is not enough to be compared to real 65mm film resolution. (not even considering IMAX format).

well, depends on how you look at it..

a traditional 35mm print will have around 1K when finally projected, because it has to go through several generations of IP/IN.. so the difference between a scan that originated on 2K or on 4K will be nearly gone by then. 4K has still an avantage if critical effect work has to be done, as any transforms result in softening the image.
in addition to that, a digitally originated frame is usually sharper and cleaner than a film scan at the same resolution. the new superman movie was shot digitally exactly for that reason.

but sure, if we could compare a 70mm direct contact print of a 65mm originated film negative to the phantom 65 there's little doubt that the film print would look "better". but since the reality is that nobody can afford to shoot 65mm for fiction films anymore, nor that there are many 70mm cinemas left, i guess a phantom 4K to 35mm filmout will definitely look as sharp as the best film scan (at least as far as resolution is concerned - colors and dynamic range is a different issue).

what i find interesting that suddenly there a rather compact and affordable solution to get a 65mm depth of field look. better hire a good focus puller though ;)
++ christoph ++

[Daniel]

a traditional 35mm print will have around 1K when finally projected, because it has to go through several generations of IP/IN..

I believe the resolution is highier than that on a print : around 1.8K to 1.4K is what I remember reading from other sources. However if 2K and 4K DCI digital projection systems (for example) becomes a reality on the majority of cinemas theatre in the relative near future (10 years ?) there will be no loss in resolution due to the IP/IN process.

Concerning medium format resolution, if we compare still photography, the digital backs from Hasselblad do have a spatial resolution of around 16, 22 and 39 megapixels.... Whilst Phantom 65 is offering around 10 megapixels...

http://www.hasselblad.com/products/back ... cf-ms.aspx

what i find interesting that suddenly there a rather compact and affordable solution to get a 65mm depth of field look. better hire a good focus puller though ;)

I agree! It is anyway an innovative proposal compared to other digital cameras out there and it will allow some people to use their medium format lenses on the camera...