More Bang for Buck with 2010 Digital Cinematography

2010 is a good time to be buying high end digital cinematography with new cameras and sensors from RED and Arri and new cameras with old sensors from Sony.

Arri's first Alexa sensored camera will be around $70,000 probably with viewfinder. A RED One with the new M-X sensor will be around $25,000 with nothing but the camera and the RED Epic should be around $35,000 again with no accessories just the camera.

Then we have Sony, rumours persist that at NAB they will show their 'true' 4k data camera but most likely in a glass box or behind the scenes. But this year will also see the retro-fitting of their SRW-9000 camcorder with the F35 sensor - a one time back to factory thing. Sony are being very aggressive with the pricing here, camera and SR tapes, but as yet we haven't heard how much a retrofitted SRW9000 with new sensor will be. But we do know it's got to be around or below the Arri price. The current 2/3in SRW-9000 is around the €50k mark so with the F35 sensor maybe another €20K but with viewfinder and much cheaper SR tapes. So more than Arri's first camera but cheaper than a new F35.

What will people buy? Always trusted are Sony and Arri, RED still has that tag of problems and delays, but people are making money from the cameras. NAB should be a good year this year!

Grass Valley Sale Might Help Viper

So Thomson, after selling their telecine production arm, are selling the rest of Grass Valley as well as their digital signage business.

As fans of the Viper camera we like to put a positive spin on this story. If you speak to people like David Fincher or Claudio Miranda (his DP on Benjamin Button) they will choose the Viper over any other digital means of capture (maybe the Dalsa too but now that operation has been halted see story below). They love it, as do the VFX guys, because of its insistence on having an uncompressed output.

Could a buyer 'unbundle' this mismash of technologies and hive the capure side off to some specialist who could bring the Viper price down to make it easier to convert to? The sensor technology is still being developed by Dalsa or you could source from Panavision or Kodak. The industry desperately needs an uncompressed product to vye with 35mm film.

What if Benjamin Button wins for Best Cinematography at the Oscars with a digital product whose future is uncertain? Those of us who are trying to further the progress of digital in movies would have a very bitter sweet moment.

Goodbye Dalsa?

Last week DALSA Corporation announced that following the closure of DALSA's Woodland Hills, CA, cinema equipment rental facility and the termination or redeployment of the Digital Cinema division staff, the Company has wound down its Digital Cinema operations.

There was a letter of intent between Dalsa and Arri for Arri to license the Dalsa technoloogy but Dalsa has commented : "Following extensive negotiations with Arnold & Richter Cine Technik GmbH ("ARRI") for the past several months, the Company has failed to reach agreement with ARRI as to acceptable terms on a definitive agreement. As a result, the Company set aside discussions with ARRI and the Company is currently pursuing other alternatives to maximize value of its Digital Cinema operations. There can be no guarantee that any of these alternatives will ultimately lead to a successful transaction."

So another digital cinematography pretender hits the skids but this one will upset people as the technology was very promising and even made it to a Bond movie in The Quantum of Solace. Dalsa was also very popular with the VFX world because of the 'clean as a whistle' footage in true 4K.

Digital Does Well at Oscar Time

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 100% shot on the Thomson Viper, and Slumdog Millionaire, 65% shot on the SI 2K camera, are both in the running for Best Picture at the Oscars after the nominations were announced today.

Both the film's DPs were also nominated. Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire and Claudio Miranda for Benjamin Button.
Anthony was only going to use the SI 2k camera for around 35% of the movie, ostensibly the slums shots where he had rigged the camera to use it on the move but enjoyed the quality so much he ended up using more. The remainder of the film was Super 35mm.

Claudio Miranda used the two Vipers in filmstream mode mainly because of the huge number of VFX that were needed for the movie - the result as many agree is a stunning one.

Congratulations to both films and DPs.

BSkyB's New 3D Rig - pics only

Aimimage Acquires ICE

Aimimage Camera Company in Camden, London has recently acquired the assets of Ice Film. A newly formed hire company to be known simply as ICE will continue to operate from their Kings Cross location.

‘ICE’, with Peter Bryant, will keep the same professional team, continuing their tradition of tailored personal service and engineering excellence for drama and film productions.

ICE continues to offer film solutions with its 3-perf and 4-perf 35mm cameras, the latest 16mm cameras, and is introducing HD video and data cameras.

Aimimage has been supplying the British film and broadcast sector for over 25 years and has recently taken delivery of its RED digital cameras complementing our existing inventory of film lenses, grip kit and camera accessories.

Surplus equipment from the merger of the two operations is available for sale. See the Aimimage website – ‘Kit for Sale’ section for more details.

ICE joins the Camden Studio and Aimimage Camera Company in becoming one of central London’s premiere film and television facilities providers.

Are Arri Buying Dalsa's Digital Cinema Business?

A letter of intent between the Canadian company Dalsa and the German company Arnold & Richter Cine Technik GmbH or Arri includes the possibility that Arri will invest in the Digital Cinema side of Dalsa's business. The announcement states that:

"Under the terms of the LOI, ARRI would acquire certain existing assets of the DALSA Digital Cinema division. Concurrently, DALSA and ARRI would enter into a technology partnership agreement whereby DALSA will develop for ARRI custom high performance CCD image sensors and related products. Furthermore, DALSA would supply the developed products to ARRI for digital cinematography applications through DALSA’s core businesses."

Patrick Myles from Dalsa explained further by saying: "We haven't reached a definitive agreement just yet, but the general idea is that ARRI would buy some of our Origin and Evolution related assets plus we would develop and supply sensors for them. The IP would stay with us but they would license it for cinema use."

Dalsa's possible exit from the digital cinematography world wouldn't surprise some observers because sales and use has always been slow, even though eight Dalsa cameras were used for the recent Bond movie Quantum of Solace. But the news would frustrate others as their cameras were always seen to be as good as anything Sony could produce. Arri's D21 has recently been updated from the D20 and also recently gone on sale, available at more than £140,000. It has always only been available through rental.

Whether Dalsa's Origin and their new Evolution cameras are to be re-badged as Arri cameras is unclear but on the face of it the mix could be a very good one for both parties.

Ikonoskop Show First Footage

Ikonoskop, who showed their new digital camera and recording system at the IBC Convention in September, have finally put some of their footage on their web site.

Ikonoskop footage

This Swedish cottage industry camera maker is currently taking orders for the new digital camera, but if you ordered today you wouldn't get one until April next year