September 2006

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About a year ago I first heard about the Red Camera Project. A group of dedicated people were working on making a beyond-high-def, affordable cine-style digital camera. At that time it just sounded too unreal. But since they have had a stand at the NAB, the project has gained a lot of momentum.

Personally, I took the project way more seriously when I found out that Graeme Nattress (maker of the famous filter packages for Final Cut Pro) was involved.

Some more information has been released, and they are planning on shipping the first cameras early next year. If only half of the specs make it to the finished product, it will be one amazing camera. Spotting more than 4k worth of resolution (compare this with standard definition’s tv of about 0.5k and the new hi-def of about 1k, and this by itself becomes a killer cam) at a price of $17.500, plus a f300/t2.8 lens for $5.000, you should get a working camera package for the price of a high-end DVcam system.

But the camera offers more than just resolution power. The camera will offer frame speeds of up to 60 fps (and down to 1 fps), and even higher speeds when lowering the resolution. Speaking of lowering, it will be possible to either downconvert from the full chip size (which has the same size as an 35mm gate), or to use only part of the chip. It will shoot in a variable number of formats from uncompressed RAW down to, yes, DV.

I am sure looking to their release of the first working models towards the end of this year. Might just be the successor to our trusty (if 4:2:0) DSR-570 DVcam.

Have you ever tried googling for “failure”? The first two results are pretty interesting. Google has not lost a sense of humour… And I would imagine that they have received a fair amount of pressure from the employer of the 1st one :o
Google has replied to the accusation of political bias.

Just came across a cool website, Human Clock, which shows submitted photos of times of the day. Well, hard to explain, just take a look.

Nifty layout, too.

I have been reading about their development for the past couple of years, but now it seems that the first system for fuel-cell camera batteries has hit the marked. DV magazine gives these a 3 1/2 out of 5 ratings:

Makes great sense for off the grid applications–network remotes and military use–where shipping issues and wrangling refill tanks are incidental to getting the shot. For more typical shoots, the convenience and familiarity of batteries is hard to beat.

When you are shooting in remote locations, this might be the god-send. But give that technology a bit more time, and I guess they will be the new LiIons.

Sometimes one wonders (if ever so briefly), if one has chosen the wrong occupation.

I am sort of used to coming from the dentist with a bill that is about a week’s wage. I also got used to - after having bought a 50 year old house - that, when the plumbing blocks, one has to pay about a day’s wage for a 1-hour job. I can live with that.After all, the dentist has gone through extensive training, has an expensive office full of expensive equipment. He also has a specialized insurace. When the plumber comes to clean the plumbing, he comes in a huge, specialized truck, and takes along an assistant. They come on short notice, not the least.

But the other day we had a plumber-with-a-videocamera over, to have a video-look at our plumbing. He was with us for about 45 minutes, during which he shoved a miniature camera (standard low-rez black&white) down the tubes. A few days later we received a DVD with the original footage, along with an idea of where the problem probably was. Fine up to here. But then we got the invoice - a whopping 6.000 kroner (which is one thousand US dollars). That is for - let’s be fair and include driving time, making the DVD with the short report, for max. 2 hours of work. I get less for a day’s work with a fully professional broadcast camera, a car full of specialized equipment, and of course after having gone to film-school.

This is just ridiculous pricing.

Still, I am glad to be a cameraman, not a dentist, plumber, or even a detal plumber with a little video camera.

During a re-lighting the DP and the Camera Operator end up arguing. The DP says sex is 90% work and only 10% pleasure. The Operator argues the opposite: 70% work and 30% pleasure.

They can’t agree, so seek a 3rd party to arbitrate. The only person around is the Loader doing coffee rounds. They ask him his opinion. He gets their permission to speak freely.

And so he says:”Well, if you really ask my opinion, I’d say it’s all pleasure, for if there was any work connected with it, you’d have me doing it!”