[Bwana George]

As a wildlife cinematographer shooting principally for television, I have been investigating many different cameras for HD 1080p video, that would serve my purposes and utilize 16mm, 2/3 video, Nikon lenses, and is "affordable". I looked at the RED-One in 2K, the upcoming SCARLET, the CANON 5D Mark II, and the CANON 7D. The video from the latter two would have to be severely cropped in post to work. An added benefit would be if the camera recorded in RAW, which both the RED-One and the SCARLET can do.

Just this morning I happened to find a camera on the internet that blew me away. I know nothing about it, but it seems perfect for our needs, and may even be better than the RED-One in 2K, and the SCARLET since it may never be released anyway(who can say).

It's the SI-2K by Technik. It was used to film most of Slum Dog Millionaire, and the latest Sherlock Holmes. Very impressive I must say. I am still investigating this camera and the accessories that come with it.

Is anyone familiar with this camera and has possibly used it to shoot for television? I'd be very thankful for any and all information you could give me about it. Also, I have not been able to find a distributor here in the USA, so I'd be most grateful for that info too.

Thanks.

[David Mullen ASC]

You know, George, that you still haven't changed your User Name to a real first and last name, as per the forum rules listed when you registered. You can go to My Controls and do this.

The SI-2K is a good camera, uses a 2/3" 2K single-sensor and sends out RAW which can be compressed if you want. The resulting 2K or 1080P picture has a mild softness to it, not unpleasing. The best thing is that the module holding the sensor element + lens mount comes out of the main camera and can be used as the SI-2K Mini unit. Not sure about the sensitivity / noise in low-light.

[Brian Drysdale]

It's more expensive than the DSLR cameras you've been talking about using, more RED One in price. To be honest the EX3 makes much more sense on a lower budget using the 2/3" lenses than even considering cropping a DSLR image in post. You can also fit a Nanoflash to improve the HD recording codec.

DSLR's only make sense if you want to make use of the shallow DOF, or low light sensitivity. I suspect doing what you plan will remove the latter DSLR advantage because of the noise caused by blowing up a section of the frame to fill an 1080 image during post.