News feed from Cinematography.com http://www.cinematography.com/index.php Mon, 14 May 2012 22:04:48 +0000 120 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=56204
For the May 19 event, ASC members will convene at 2:30 p.m. at J.L. Fisher to discuss the current state of visual storytelling. Slated to speak are: Stephen H. Burum, ASC; James L. Carter, ASC; George Spiro Dibie, ASC; Michael Goi, ASC; Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC; David Mullen, ASC; Daniel Pearl, ASC; Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC; and Amy Vincent, ASC.*

The J.L. Fisher Annual Mixer and BBQ Lunch is an event held in conjunction with the ASC, ICG and SOC. It takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1000 West Isabel Street in Burbank. No RSVP required. For more information, go to http://www.jlfisher.com.

The June 2 panel at Cine Gear Expo will be held at 1 p.m. in the Sherry Lansing Theater. ASC members will delve into the artistic nature of cinematography, using real-world examples to demonstrate the process of creating a visual style for projects based on each member’s experiences. The panel will feature: Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS; Stephen H. Burum, ASC; Patrick Cady, ASC; James L. Carter, ASC; George Spiro Dibie, ASC; Michael Goi, ASC; Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC; Donald A. Morgan, ASC; Dave Perkal, ASC; Roberto Schaefer, ASC; Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC; and Haskell Wexler, ASC.*

Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles is held at The Studios at Paramount in Hollywood. Registration in advance is free for attendees. Visit www.cinegearexpo.com for details.

Both panel discussions are structured so that questions from the audience drive the conversations, and will be moderated by Dibie, chairman of the ASC Education and Public Outreach Committee for the organization.

“As production and post-production become more intertwined in today’s filmmaking environments, the role of the cinematographer as artist of the images is more important than ever,” says Dibie. “The ASC is dedicated to supporting emerging filmmakers, sharing our knowledge, and collaborating with all departments in the creation of moving images.”

Dibie notes that ASC members frequently speak at colleges and universities around the world, as well as at the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood, where many film school students join members for intimate dialogues regarding movie-making.

“We open our doors to anyone studying screenwriting, directing, producing, design, acting, etc. because it takes a collective effort to succeed in the process of telling a story for the screen with compelling visuals,” adds Dibie.

For additional information about the ASC, visit www.theasc.com, or join ASC on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/the.ASC and American Cinematographer magazine fan page at http://www.facebook.com/AmericanCinematographer.

*Panelists are subject to change]]> Mon, 14 May 2012 22:04:48 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=56204 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=56118 Vision Globale Joins the KODAK Imagecare Program

ROCHESTER, NY, May 8, 2012 – Canada’s Vision Globale is the newest member of the KODAK IMAGECARE Program, a prestigious quality program for motion picture film processing laboratories. Vision Globale, located in downtown Montreal, is the first Canadian lab to gain accreditation into the KODAK IMAGECARE Program, a truly global initiative, with member labs in 23 countries worldwide.

The KODAK IMAGECARE Program includes rigorous quality standards that assure member labs adhere to established practices with full documentation of procedures and calibration. Kodak works very closely with laboratory personnel to assure these standards are met and maintained.

In 2001, Vision Globale opened a small, independent boutique film laboratory to expand their range of services to the entertainment industry. They have now received Phase I KODAK IMAGECARE Program accreditation for camera negative processing operations, indicating to filmmakers that critical film handling techniques and quality processing standards are being maintained by the facility.

“Over the years, Kodak has been a great partner in the ongoing task of achieving consistency,” says Paul Dion, Director of Operations at the lab. “The KODAK IMAGECARE Program accreditation gives us credibility and instant recognition of our continuous commitment to the highest quality standards and assurance that all assets entrusted to us will be handled with the utmost level of expertise. Throughout the process and right up to the final audit, we had the continuous support of Kodak. Our commitment to the highest-quality services has rewarded us with repeat business from enthusiastic filmmakers who count on us to bring their wildest projects to life. In a sense, the existence of a strong infrastructure is necessary to promote film as a superior medium.”

“We are delighted and proud to welcome Vision Globale as the first Canadian laboratory into the Program,” says Diane Carroll-Yacoby, worldwide manager of the KODAK IMAGECARE Program. “They are committed to excellence and delivering the best that film can offer a customer.”

For details on Vision Globale visit their website at http://www.visionglobale.com/

Visit www.kodak.com/go/imagecare for further information on the KODAK IMAGECARE Program.

#]]> Tue, 08 May 2012 17:07:50 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=56118 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=56028 John Bailey Heads Judging of 2012 KODAK Student Scholarships;
New Student Cinematography Award Added to Competition

ROCHESTER, NY, May 2, 2012— World-renowned cinematographer John Bailey, ASC, will join the panel of judges for the 2012 Kodak student scholarship program, which recognizes student filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Nomination forms can be downloaded at www.kodak.com/go/scholarships, and the deadline for entries is June 15.

Accredited film schools from around the world may nominate up to two students each year for consideration for the KODAK Student Scholarship Award, and one cinematography student each year for consideration for the KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship Award. The cinematography student nominee may also be nominated for the KODAK Student Scholarship Award.

Bailey has a long list of memorable feature film credits including American Gigolo, Ordinary People, The Big Chill, Silverado, The Accidental Tourist, Groundhog Day, In the Line of Fire, As Good as it Gets, Incident at Loch Ness, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, The Greatest, Country Strong, When in Rome and most recently Big Miracle.

“John Bailey is a talented artist who will offer great insight to this next generation of filmmakers,” says Johanna Gravelle, Worldwide Image Capture marketing director for Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division. “Receiving feedback from a filmmaker of his stature will be an invaluable asset to these students. We are so grateful to John for his ongoing commitment to sharing his experience and knowledge.”

Wenhwa Tsao, Graduate Program director of the Film & Video Department at Columbia College Chicago, representing the University Film & Video Association (UFVA), will join Bailey on the judging panel. A third judge will be added at a later date.

Kodak, in collaboration with the University Film & Video Foundation (UFVF), annually holds this worldwide contest to acknowledge students who demonstrate professional filmmaking skills and creativity. The addition of the KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship Award is new for 2012.

“The Cinematography Scholarship gives us a chance to recognize the vision and artistry that student cinematographers contribute to the collaborative process of visual storytelling,” adds Gravelle.

As part of the competition, the judges will review sample reels, as well as evaluate the students’ faculty recommendations and academic achievements.

The following prizes will be awarded to the finalists.

KODAK Student Scholarship Award:
• Gold: $4,000 tuition scholarship and $5,000 Kodak motion picture film grant
• Silver: $3,000 tuition scholarship and $4,000 Kodak motion picture film grant
• Bronze: $2,000 tuition scholarship and $3,000 Kodak motion picture film grant

KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship Award:
• First Place: $3,000 tuition scholarship and $5,000 Kodak motion picture film grant
• Honorable Mention: $1,500 tuition scholarship and $3,000 Kodak motion picture film grant

For more information on the Kodak’s student scholarship program, visit www.kodak.com/go/scholarships.

Kodak’s initiatives for students and educators were launched in 1991 to help support future filmmakers and encourage excellence in the field of motion picture education. The company’s ongoing efforts include a range of opportunities that students and educators can use to enrich their knowledge of the art and craft of filmmaking, including educational materials, workshops and discounts, in addition to sponsorship of film festivals, awards, seminars and student showcases that raise awareness about emerging talent. For more information, visit www.kodak.com/go/education.

Join Kodak on Facebook (www.facebook.com/KodakMotionPictureFilm), Twitter (@Kodak_ShootFilm) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/KodakShootFilm).

#]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 22:43:21 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=56028 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55944 Oscar®-Nominee Dante Spinotti Named 2012 Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence at UCLA/TFT
April 30 Screening of Spinotti’s The Last of the Mohicans Open to the Public


LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2012— Affirming their commitment to the next generation of filmmakers and to the future of the film industry, Kodak and UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) have announced Oscar®-nominee Dante Spinotti, AIC, ASC will be the 2012 Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence for the spring quarter at UCLA/TFT.

“It is an honor to have Dante Spinotti as this year’s Cinematographer-in-Residence at TFT,” says Professor William McDonald. “His experience, unique cinematic eye and dedication to his craft make him an invaluable mentor for our students providing them a once-in-a-lifetime experience and education. This is precisely Kodak and TFT’s goal with our exclusive program.”

The mentorship program will begin with a free screening of one of Spinotti’s most memorable films, The Last of the Mohicans, at the James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall on Monday, April 30 at 8:00 p.m. Spinotti won a BAFTA Award for his work on the 1992 film directed by Michael Mann, and the film received considerable praise and various other accolades. The screening is free and open to students, staff, faculty as well as the general public. A Q&A discussion with Spinotti will be moderated by Professor McDonald following the screening.

Spinotti’s U.S. career began in 1986 with his breakthrough visuals on Manhunter with Mann, and continues today with the recent release, Tower Heist, with Brett Ratner. He has compiled more than 60 venerable credits to date, collaborating with such ground-breaking directors as Bruce Beresford, Garry Marshall, and Michael Apted. His work with Curtis Hanson on L.A. Confidential in 1997 led to his first Oscar® nomination, followed by a second nomination for The Insider in 2000, on which he re-teamed with Mann. Both films also earned Spinotti ASC Award nominations, with an additional nod from ASC for The Last of the Mohicans. His body of work includes such memorable films as Crimes of the Heart, Beaches, Frankie and Johnny, Heat, Wonder Boys, Red Dragon, Pinocchio, X-Men: The Last Stand, Public Enemies, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Berlin Affair, Fotografando Patrizia, Il segreto del bosco vecchio, The Legend of the Holy Drinker, and The Star Maker.

“What a tremendous experience these students will have with the incredibly talented Dante Spinotti mentoring them,” says Kodak’s Judith Doherty. “We’re so pleased with the success of this program over the years, as supporting the next generation of filmmakers is always a high priority for Kodak.”

The Cinematographer-in-Residence program was inaugurated by Professor McDonald in 2000 with the support of Kodak to enhance the learning experience of students with insight from renowned cinematographers. UCLA/TFT is the only film school that offers a cinematography residency program such as this, where students can receive direct guidance from cinematographers through screenings, workshops and one-on-one sessions over the course of 10 weeks.

The revered program’s past mentors include Allen Daviau, ASC; Conrad L. Hall, ASC; Owen Roizman, ASC; Dean Cundey, ASC; Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC; Laszlo Kovacs, ASC; Joan Churchill, ASC; Stephen Burum, ASC; Victor J. Kemper, ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, John Bailey, ASC and Richard Crudo, ASC.

For additional information about the April 30 screening of The Last of the Mohicans, visit www.tft.ucla.edu or call 310-206-8365. Admission is free. Parking is available in Lot 3. There is an $11 parking fee. A limited number of pay-by-the-hour parking spaces are also available in Lot 3.

#
About Kodak's Educational Initiatives:
Kodak's ongoing support of student filmmakers and educators encourages excellence in the field of motion picture education. The company's efforts include a range of programs that enrich knowledge and learning experiences in the art and craft of filmmaking. Initiatives range from scholarships, educational materials, and product grants to awards, seminars and workshops. Student film showcases and the annual Kodak Student Scholarship and Student Cinematography Awards also contribute to raising the profile and recognition of emerging talent. For more information, visit www.kodak.com/go/education or join Kodak on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KodakMotionPictureFilm and on Twitter at @Kodak_ShootFilm.

About UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television:
The vision of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is to serve as a premier global interdisciplinary professional school that develops outstanding humanistic storytellers, industry leaders and scholars whose diverse, innovative voices enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world. Consistently ranked as one of the top elite entertainment and performing arts institutions in the world, the School offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the study and creation of live performance, film, television and the digital arts. Our distinguished graduate and undergraduate programs include acting, directing, writing, producing, animation, cinematography, lighting design, set design, costume design, sound design, Moving Image Archive Studies, and offers PhDs in Theater and Performance Studies and Cinema & Media Studies. For more information, visit www.tft.ucla.edu]]> Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:00:01 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55944 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55898
Short answer: not a lot. The Canon C500 is big camera news, but it's not out yet, and frankly was common knowledge among the press for weeks before the show. The Blackmagic camera is nice, but it's only a small sensor and likely to be performance-limited by its extremely competitive price point. Sony have announced a 4K camera capable of high frame rates, but it'll either be expensive or noisy.

All of these things are good, but exciting? Not really. It was fairly obvious that Canon would make a 4K version of the C300 simply by adding a raw data output. It was fairly obvious that AJA would make a 4K Ki Pro recorder. So it's not so much a year of excitement, as one of a nice progression of technology, more or less what we'd hope to see and nice to see it happen as expected.

Small things have happened as well. In post, the excellent Mocha motion tracker now has a 3D solver, which saves people using egregious workarounds with corner pinning to get 3D information out of it. Adobe have released CS6, which is very nice. The list goes on.

What perhaps is most telling is that there are simply so many new products. While recent NAB shows haven't been as barren as one might have feared given the broader economic situation, there's a certain sense of climbing back up to normality now. This is entirely subjective and perhaps inaccurate; it's hard to get a broad view on new technology until it's actually released and in use, which tends to be what we find at IBC later in the year and in the months after that.

At which point, we'll be back in Vegas again, and asking all these questions about another raft of new stuff. This really is the end of NAB, anyway, as I'm about to be chucked out of the room for another year.

Hope it's been worth reading.

Best,

P]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:03:12 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55898 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55897
I should probably start with the disclosure that I've never been a huge fan of 3D for little reason more than that it always - always - makes me feel unwell. There's a tendency for 3D apologists to scoff at this position, implying that in each case there was something wrong with the acquisition or exhibition technology, the techniques employed, or, frankly, that there's just something wrong with me. There are certainly a number of ways in which stereoscopic projection does not accurately match the way we perceive real three-dimensional objects, and there's medical issues as well, such as the small proportion of people whose brains coordinate focus and convergence distance so well that a disparity between the two - which is inevitable in 3D film projection - will always be uncomfortable. I may be one of these people, but either way, it did seem intuitively true that a higher frame rate, which would reduce visible lack of temporal resolution (judder, flicker, chatter, etc) might make it easier to view the edges of moving objects, where stereoscopy is perhaps the most visible of all.

The demo shows that this intuitive truth certainly is true, at least in part. Cameron apparently doesn't believe in the idea that edge violations are a problem, and I suspect that this contributed somewhat to the fact that I ended up with a slight feeling of nausea anyway. But subjectively - and what other assessment is possible, when considering comfort - it is somewhat better. I still don't think it's the final answer. There was also no discussion of the reasoning behind using a much wider shutter angle on some of the higher frame rate material, which they did do - presumably this is just an issue of preventing the short exposure intrinsic to high frame rates from having other, undesirable effects on motion rendering.

As an aside, it's worth mentioning that the demo also included downconversions of the 48fps and 60fps material to 24fps, which is critical in a world where we will still need to produce 24fps versions - even film prints - of major productions for some time. This is somewhat easier with the 48fps version, where we simply need to drop every other frame and render in some additional motion blur using optical flow. They also showed a 60-to-24 conversion using optical flow to derive correctly-time frames. This looked absolutely fine on the particular material we saw, which had been particularly chosen and very much directed to produce lots of fast motion to elucidate chatter and flicker, and would also therefore be a trying subject for any optical flow implementation. It's almost inevitable that it would fail on some subjects, even though it's a framerate decrease rather than increase, so I suspect that 48fps may be a good compromise for productions that do want to shoot at something faster than 24, as it avoids this issue entirely. I wouldn't say there was absolutely no visible difference between 48 and 60, but I suspect the common number may end up being 48 just for this reason.

The other issue covered was overcranking for slow motion. While many modern cameras (such as Alexa, which shoots up to 120fps) would still allow overcranking even on a 48 or 60fps production, simple step printing is a lot more acceptable when the output frame rate is high to begin with - 2:1 step printing is practically invisible, because it simply reduces the effective update rate on a 48fps show back to the 24fps we've been used to for a century.

I still don't think 3D is fixed, I don't think this solves all the problems, and I am extremely used to having people tell me all the problems are fixed. I think this does make a real difference, though - not a huge difference, but a difference. With most D-cinema installations only a software update away from being able to display high-frame-rate material, I wouldn't say it's impossible that it'll catch on - but at the end of the day, we did all clamour for 24fps cameras for a reason and I suspect it may not be mainstream for a longish while, if ever.

P]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:54:56 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55897 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55893
"Mirror Mirror" was directed, shot and produced by the same creative team that delivered "The Immortals" to audiences last year, and the design of the production-through-final color workflow had been developed for that earlier project. Like its predecessor, "Mirror Mirror" had a number of complex visual elements to manage and with the experience gained on "The Immortals," this guaranteed a fast turnaround. The Film Factory’s process is centered on the Nucoda Film Master, which marries a powerful on-set solution to the final color pass. The Film Master system, which included a SAN and Nucoda Fuse assist station, was installed on set in Montreal. From the set, Kopp did a grading pass of the Sony F35 dailies, which were then sent to the editing room with the color settings. In some cases, a further grading took place prior to dailies screening in the DI suite with director and crew. Designing this system meant that the dailies – from the set through screening and ultimately delivery – were kept in a closely matched, carefully monitored environment. As he did for "The Immortals," Kopp graded every take from the first day of dailies through completion of the DI.

“Building the infrastructure frees me and the director to concentrate on what we really want to do, and that is to create something beautiful,” says Kopp. “This workflow allowed the artistic process to go on through the entire course of the project, not just at the end. It was all about the color palette and choosing visuals that we wanted in the story. If you have to worry about how the pipeline is going to work, that takes time away from what is important. Nucoda has freed us from those concerns. That is why we started with one, and now have three.”

In addition to dailies and preparing for the DI, there were previews of the film, which were graded and screened for preview audiences. When audience comments came in, the notes were incorporated into the process and considered for the final DI grade. Working in the Nucoda facilitated easy export for those previews.

Colorist Marc Boucrot, who also worked on the project for Film Factory, notes, “From our experience on 'The Immortals,' we were ready and comfortable to go through the process a second time. That was important, since the time frame for 'Mirror Mirror' was significantly compressed, and there were previews to incorporate. With four months from beginning to end, there was simply no time for missteps and confusion in the pipeline. The Nucoda was a critical piece of our success in this project.”

There were nearly 1,300 visual effects shots in the movie, and Kopp states, “The Nucoda enabled us to have one central hub, where dailies color settings, visual effects and eventually the DI was managed. There were vendors from all over the world, but the VFX Supervisor, Tom Wood, was in house with us in Montreal during the shoot, and in the post production building at Wildfire Studios in Los Angeles where editing, sound editing and mixing, and DI rooms were all together. As shots came in, we were able to look at them in the DI rooms and see how they were working. The ability to have all of these activities going on in one location, our facility, was crucial given the time frame and the visual style of the movie.”

“Keeping the process in-house was important.” Kopp adds. “Helping Tarsem execute his vision for 'Mirror Mirror' was our first priority. Every project we undertake is an artistic and technical process, and we plan and execute how to do that in the best way, from day one to the final delivery. We want to be efficient, creative, and enable filmmakers to tell the story they set out to tell. As we finish this second project with our Nucoda driven pipeline, we have seen again that the Nucoda Film Master is fundamental to our process.”

"Mirror Mirror" continues rolling out in theaters worldwide.]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:20:24 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55893 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55886 applied science, as opposed to the pursuit of pure science research for its own sake, and can be essentially seen as science for hire - with 60 institutes in Germany and 18,000 staff (thanks, Wikipedia) it's a huge organisation with a lot of money flying around, and it's mainly self-funding.

This sort of thing is why Germany is currently ascendant, but I digress.

Fraunhofer's booth at NAB is disarmingly modest in comparison to the enormous reach of the organisation, presumably because only a fairly small proportion of what they do has direct application to subjects that are relevant to NAB attendees. They do have some disarmingly crazy contraptions, including one which uses six cameras and a segmented mirror rig to produce a composite 360-degree view, complete with software to zoom into areas of interest.

Most interestingly, though, they have some very good tools for 3D shooting. There's a tool which not only provides analysis of 3D content in terms of convergence errors and depth budget, but also allows for electronic correction - introduce a vertical offset into one eye, for instance, and the software will correct the image downward. It'll correct other errors, such as focal length and axial misalignment, too, all the while producing an error report in the user interface that allows the optical misalignment to be properly corrected.

What's cute about this is that it's done very gently - knock a lens out of alignment and the software doesn't rush to snap the image back to the correct geometry, it slides the correction in gently. Another nice feature that I haven't seen before is a depth histogram, which is something that's hard to explain but seems to me to be a particularly nice way to elucidate the required information.

I still don't think it really solves too many of the problems of 3D. You still have to decide where the red zone on the depth histogram is, based on knowledge of ultimately unknowable things like the eventual screen size. You still have to compose a shot to within that depth budget, and you still have to ensure that the user doesn't somehow look at the wrong area of the screen. If you're going to insist on shooting 3D, though, this isn't a bad stab at a toolset for it. It's just a piece of software which will run on various PCs, too, taking video input from something like a Blackmagic card.

Fraunhofer is a research institute, albeit one for hire, and they don't talk about money. It's therefore difficult to arrive at a considered opinion on their products because it isn't clear what the cost is. It's easy to make something excellent if it's extremely expensive, but in this case we simply can't tell.

P]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:12:20 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55886 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55879

There are a lot of companies, organisations and people at NAB crowing about various kinds of colour processing for cameras and postproduction. We had the Academy and ACES, Arri are shouting about some sort of new setup for the Alexa, and even on the Sony booth it's possible to find a Resolve grading station and flick through various 709 and ACES-based transfer functions on some F65 material.

Where this is about calibrating displays for consistent results, as it is with things like Filmlight's Truelight and most of the ACES system, this makes perfect sense: there's not much point in encoding images using a tristimulus RGB representation if we don't know which red, green and blue we mean. To that extent, some of the most promising developments in cameras and displays involve increasing color gamut, particularly by deepening the notoriously pale and yellowish Rec 709 green. Promisingly, OLED displays (about which I've raved enough already) are manufactured by a process which makes primary selection fairly flexible, so with any luck we'll be able to have imaging systems soon - other than film - which are capable of making a dark green tree look anything other than sickly.

But where improved "color science" - term as populised by Red - is being promoted as a major discovery, I'm not so sure. We refer to cameras having "log output" as if that really means anything. Even if the data coming off the sensor were linear - which it is very far from being - most of the manufacturers seem to feel free use more or less any transfer function they choose, any curve that makes the camera look good. Which is fine, but it's largely a matter of opinion. Don't, as some manufacturers are doing here in Vegas, tout your latest sensor-to-recorder transfer curve as some sort of major discovery to the benefit of mankind. If a new curve gives you greater dynamic range, well, shouldn't you just have done it like that in the first place? What's the situation, are these building cameras for an industry which greatly values dynamic range, then deliberately cropping-off highlight detail because that's what a hopelessly outdated spec says to do? That's a fairly appalling engineering decision, if so, especially if two years later you rectify that mistake and try to claim it's a major bit of R&D.


P]]> Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:12:09 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55879 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55872
Usually, companies like Cooke don't have a particular problem fulfilling orders, but at a press conference today they admitted to being "embarrassingly backordered" and struggling to train enough people up to build their products. This is of course not something which can be rushed - either training people to build lenses, or building the lenses themselves, because the required engineering tolerances are such that conventional fabrication techniques often aren't quite enough. I'm not sure what is enough, but it presumably involves the casting of bones and strange, eldritch midnight rituals.

The situation is so extreme that Fujinon had 200 orders for their 19-90 ENG-style cine zoom before the show even opened, based solely on a press release. And this is not a simple, low-cost, everyday piece of kit - it's a $38,000 item that puts a lens with ENG style grip on PL-mount cameras. As a piece of engineering it's practically pornographic; all black anodized surfaces and glow-in-the-dark markings, although it did look a bit silly on a Sony F3, worth considerably less than the lens. Still, I applaud the design decision - ENG camera layout has clearly been the best way to go for ages, and I'm surprised this hasn't been done before.

Fuji's suspicion is that most of these lens sales are being driven by Alexa, but it's no secret there's been a massive explosion in PL cameras in the last few years and most of them will not, to be frank, in the market for a single lens with a five figure price tag.

Cooke, on the other hand, don't have anything new - they're just gamely struggling to build the things and get them out of the door, which I guess is a great position for a company to be in.

P]]> Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:16:20 +0000 http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=55872