DIY Telecine camera upgrade options

[RCBasher]

So these are the ones to beat for about 500USD it sounds like.

Point Grey Grasshopper3 GS3-U3-32S4C (Sony IMX252) 2048x1536
Point Grey Chameleon3 CM3-U3-31S4C (Sony IMX265) 2048x1536

It is mentioned above that they both use the same sensor? When I looked them up it seems one uses a IMX252 and the other a IMX265. Maybe I misunderstood.

What I meant was, they use the same sensor technology. Imaging performance is effectively identical but the readout speed is slower on the IMX265. The USB 3 interface is capped at around 1.4Bbps on the Chameleon (and Blackfly) cameras too, which helps to keep the cost considerably lower if you do not need the very high rates the Grasshoppers can do.

If I understand right I don't even need to slow the projector down to capture at 2048x1536 12bit unless I want to do say HDR stuff if I use good powerful lighting. Some of the film is quite dark and I would like to extrapolate as much.data out of it as I can. Is the CM3-U3-31S4C capable of doing say 20fps in 12bit mode at 2048x1536?

With bright enough lighting then speed is not an issue. My exposures with a high powered RGB LED system are in the range 10 to 300us, depending on film density. You could go up to 100x that and still not have to slow the projector. With fast exposures, there is no need to remove the projector shutter blade either. The CM3 can do 31fps in RAW16 bit mode (12bit data) at full resolution. For some strange reason, on the Chameleon Point Grey have not included a RAW12 bit mode. I am in a dialog to see if they will add it in, like the Grasshopper and Blackfly cameras have. Fortunately, the CM3-U3-31S4C is still fast enough in RAW16, but the CM3-U3-50S5C (2448x2048) drops to 19fps in RAW16 whereas it should hold up around 23fps if it had RAW12.
BTW, you should deduct about 1fps from the above maximums when in external trigger mode.

One more thing. I write a lot of my own programs for things I build. Are these devices using weird closed protocols?

Point Grey (as do most manufactures) supply an SDK do go with their cameras. It is free, but expect to have to do a lot of hard coding to get the results you will require. The biggest problem being lack of de-Bayer at higher than 8 bit. Also, the camera gamma should be avoided at all costs. You should plan to write your own functions for these, or try and find suitable 3rd-party library functions.

Good luck with your project!

Frank

[onryo]

Thanks Frank for info.

Think I am gonna pull the trigger on the CM3-U3-31S4C-CS. Unfortunately it is out of stock at moment. Also when trying to make an account I could not find Sweden in the drop down. Actually I could not find any of the Nordic countries in the drop down. I'll proxy buy it from the USA if needed

Point Grey (as do most manufactures) supply an SDK do go with their cameras. It is free, but expect to have to do a lot of hard coding to get the results you will require. The biggest problem being lack of de-Bayer at higher than 8 bit. Also, the camera gamma should be avoided at all costs. You should plan to write your own functions for these, or try and find suitable 3rd-party library functions.

Was nice to see that Gray seems to supports multiple platforms with their SDK too. If there is good software out there then awesome. If not I like to have the possibility to plonk out some code or find something on github.

With bright enough lighting then speed is not an issue.

Have a feeling this will be the fun part! Last source of light I built was a 10 Watt RGB watt laser =)

Just hope the "Eumig Mark M" that I ordered on FleaBay is ok to use.

All the best!

Erik

[RCBasher]

Think I am gonna pull the trigger on the CM3-U3-31S4C-CS. Unfortunately it is out of stock at moment. Also when trying to make an account I could not find Sweden in the drop down. Actually I could not find any of the Nordic countries in the drop down. I'll proxy buy it from the USA if needed

I think you should probably go through their EU website. I buy mine through Point Grey's UK agent, ClearView Imaging. They had stock last week but not sure if they are allowed to sell to you as outside of their UK remit. Could be worth to at least ask.

Have a feeling this will be the fun part! Last source of light I built was a 10 Watt RGB watt laser =)

I run the equivalent of around 450W RGB LED lighting. It is in a short flash between 10us to 300us and lens f4 to f5.6 depending on the film density. With a stop motion transport you will have at least 100x the time for an exposure, so can get away with a lot less power in the lighting.

Frank