NAB 2014 Post-Mortem

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NAB 2014 Post-Mortem

May 10, 2014

A NAB blog post one month after the show? Better late than never but this is pretty bad. So what’s left to say? Well in my opinion this year’s show was in a word, underwhelming. Among the countless new wares on display there was really only a handful that would stop you in your tracks with the freshness of their concept or utility. If my saying this comes off as waning enthusiasm then it might be true and I've been thinking a lot about why that is.

Not to point out the obvious but over the last 5 years monumental things have happened for the filmmaker. Within a very short span what was prohibitively expensive and difficult to achieve for 100 years of movie making became affordable and thus accessible to a whole new generation of artists. For the first time ever, anyone with a couple of grand could produce cinematic images and find an audience.

This was a two-fold revelation –

Manufacturing, imaging, and processing breakthroughs along with mobile technology facilitated high-quality, low-cost acquisition and postproduction and then through new social media avenues, a waiting pool of resources and viewers.

In 1979 on the set of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola said, 

“To me, the great hope is that now these little 8mm video recorders and stuff have come out, and some... just people who normally wouldn't make movies are going to be making them. And you know, suddenly, one day some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart, you know, and make a beautiful film with her little father's camera recorder. And for once, the so-called professionalism about movies will be destroyed, forever. And it will really become an art form. That's my opinion.” 

This statement no doubt sounded ludicrous in 1979 but the sentiment of technology empowering art is a beautiful one.

Turns out he was right and it did happen, in a big way, and predictably these developments not only empowered artists but ignited an industry-wide paradigm shift. Over the course of the last decade, media has been on the course of democratization and it’s been a very exciting and optimistic time to be in the business. But here we are now in 2014, the dust has settled and the buzz has worn off a bit. It's back to business as usual but in our new paradigm, one defined by a media experience that's now digital from end to end and completely mobile. One where almost everyone is carrying around a camera in their pocket and being a “cameraperson” is a far more common occupation than ever before.

Because so much has happened in such a short time, it's now a lot harder for new technology to seize the public’s imagination like the first mass-produced, Raw recording digital cinema camera did. In the same vein, a full frame DSLR that shoots 24p video was a big deal. A sub $100k digital video camera with dynamic range rivaling film was a big deal. Giving away powerful color correction and finishing software for free was a big deal. I’m always looking for the next thing, the next catalyst, and with a few exceptions, I didn’t see much in this year’s NAB offerings. I predict more of the same in the immediate future – larger resolution, wider dynamic range, and ever smaller and cheaper cameras. This is no doubt wonderful for filmmakers and advances the state of the art but in my opinion, unlikely to be as impactful on the industry as my previous examples.

That said this is not an exhaustive NAB recap. Instead I just want to touch on a few exhibits that really grabbed me. New technology that will either -

A. Change the way camera / media professionals do their job.

B. Shows evidence of a new trend in the business or a significant evolution of a current one. 

Or both.

Dolby Vision

Dolby's extension of their brand equity into digital imaging is a very smart move for them. We've been hearing a lot about it but what exactly is it? In 2007 Dolby Laboratories, Inc. bought Canadian company, BrightSide Technologies, integrated their processes and re-named it Dolby Vision.

"True-to-Life Video

Offering dramatically expanded brightness, contrast, and color gamut, Dolby® Vision delivers the most true-to-life viewing experience ever seen on a display. Only Dolby Vision can reveal onscreen the rich detail and vivid colors that we see in nature."

It is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image achieved through ultra-bright, RGB LED backlit LCD panels. Images for Dolby Vision require a different finishing process and a higher bandwidth television signal as it uses 12 bits per pixel instead of the standard 8 bits. This allows for an ultra wide gamut image at a contrast ratio greater than 100,000:1. 

Display brightness is measured in “candelas per square meter”, cd/m2 or “nits,” in engineering parlance. Coming from a technician's point of view where I'm used to working at Studio Levels, meaning my displays measure 100 nits, when I heard Dolby Vision operates at 2000-4000 nits, it sounded completely insane to me.

For context, a range of average luminance levels –

Professional video monitor calibrated to Studio Level: 100 nits
Phone / mobile device, laptop screen: 200-300 nits
Typical movie theater screen: 40-60 nits
Home plasma TV: >200 nits
Home LCD TV: 200-400 nits
Home OLED TV: 100-300 nits
Current maximum Dolby Vision test: 20,000 nits 
Center of 100 watt light bulb: 18,000 nits
Center of the unobstructed noontime sun: 1.6 billion nits
Starlight: >.0001 nit

After seeing the 2000 nit demo unit at Dolby’s booth, I now understand that display brightness at these high levels is the key to creating a whole new level of richness and contrast. It’s in fact quite a new visual experience and “normal” images at 100 nits seem quite muddy in comparison.

These demonstrations are just a taste of where this is going though. According to Dolby's research, most viewers want images that are 200 times brighter than today’s televisions. If this is the direction display technology is going then it is one that's ideal for taking advantage of the wide dynamic range of today's digital cinema cameras.

Because it poses a challenge to an existing paradigm, and even though there are serious hurdles, Dolby Vision is rich with potential so was for me the most interesting thing I saw this year's NAB show. It really got me thinking about what the ramifications would be for the cinematographer, camera and video technicians, and working on the set with displays this bright. It would require a whole new way of thinking about and evaluating relative brightness, contrast, and exposure. Not to mention that a 4000 nit monitor on the set could theoretically light the scene! This is a technology I will continue to watch with great interest. 

Andra Motion Focus

My friends at Nofilmschool did a great piece on this >>>

Matt Allard of News Shooter wrote this excellent Q & A on the Andra >>>

Andra is interesting because it's essentially an alternative application of magnetic motion capture technology. Small sensors are worn under the actor's clothing, some variables are programmed into the system, and the Andra does the rest. The demonstration at their booth seemed to work quite well and it's an interesting application of existing, established technology. It does indeed have the potential to change way lenses are focused in production but I do have a few concerns that could potentially prevent it from being 100% functional on the set. 

1. Size. It's pretty big for now. As the technology matures, it will no doubt get smaller.

Image from Jon Fauer's Film and Digital Times >>>

2. Control. Andra makes a FIZ handset for it called the ARC that looks a bit like Preston's version. It can also be controlled by an iPad but that to me seems impractical for most of the 1st AC's I know. In order for Andra to work, shifting between the systems automatic control and manual control with the handset would have to be completely seamless. If Auto Andra wasn't getting it, you would need to already be in the right place on the handset so that you can manually correct. It would have to be a perfectly smooth transition between auto and manual or I don't see this system being one that could replace current focus pulling methodology.

3. Setup time. Andra works being creating a 3D map of the space around the camera and this is done by setting sensors. A 30x30 space requires setting about 6 sensors apparently. Actors are also required to wear sensors. Knowing very well the speed at which things happen on the set and how difficult it can be for the AC's to get their marks, Andra's setup time would need to be very fast and easy. If it takes too long, it will quickly become an issue and then it's back to the old fashioned way - marks, an excellent sense of distance, and years of hard earned experience. 

Arri UWZ 9.5-18mm Zoom Lens

We associate lens this wide with undesirable characteristics such as barrel distortion, architectural bowing, and chromatic aberrations around the corners and frame edges. Because Arri's new UWZ Lens exhibits none of these characteristics it offers a completely fresh perspective for wide angle images. 

DaVinci Resolve 11

Now a fully functional Non-Linear Editor!

One potential scenario, imagine a world where all digital media could be reviewed, edited, fixed and enhanced, and then output for any deliverable in one single software. Imagine if said software was free and users at all levels and disciplines of production and post-production were using it. Just how much faster, easier, and cheaper would that make everything across the board from acquisition to delivery? Forget Blackmagic Design's cameras, Resolve is their flagship and what will guarantee them relevancy. It is the conduit through which future filmmakers will tell their stories.

Being a Digital Imaging Technician, I can't help but wonder though what will happen to on-set transcoding when perhaps in the near future, editors themselves are working in Resolve and are able to apply Lookup Tables and color correction to the native, high resolution media they're working with. 

Sony

Sony always has one of the largest booths and the most impressive volume of quality new wares at NAB. Being an international corporation with significant resources spread out over multiple industries, I think they've done a surprisingly good job of investing in the right R&D and have pushed the state of the art of digital imaging forward. A serious criticism however is they do a very poor job of timing the updates on their product lines. Because of this many of us Sony users have lost a lot of money and found ourselves holding expensive product with greatly reduced value as little as a year after purchase. Other than that, Sony continues to make great stuff and I personally have found their customer service to be quite good over the years. I always enjoying catching up at the show with my Sony friends from their various outposts around the world.

Sony F55 Digital Camera

The one thing that Sony has really gotten right is the F55. Through tireless upgrades, it has become the Swiss Army Knife of digital cinema cameras. One quick counter point, after seeing F55 footage against F65 footage at Sony's 4k projection, I have to say that I prefer the F65's image a lot. It is smoother and more gentle, the mechanical shutter renders movement in a much more traditionally cinematic way. It's sad to see that camera so maligned as the emphasis is now very much on the F55. Sony is constantly improving this camera with major features coming such as ProRes and DNxHD codes, extended dynamic range with SLog 3, 4k slow motion photography, and more. Future modular hardware accessories allow the camera to be adapted for use in a variety of production environments. 

Like the Shoulder-mount ENG Dock.

This looks like it would very comfortable to operate for those of use who came up with F900's on our shoulders. 

While this wasn't a new announcement, another modular F55 accessory on display at the show was this Fiber Adapter for 4k Live Production which can carry a 3840x2160 UHDTV signal up to 2000 meters over SMPTE Fiber. If the future of digital motion picture cameras is modular, then I think Sony has embraced it entirely with the F55. 

While F55 Firmware Version 4 doesn't offer as much as V3 did, 4k monitoring over HDMI 2.0 is a welcome addition as it's really the only practical solution at present. 4x 3G-SDI links poses serious problems and Sony is aware of this and has invested substantially in R&D for a 4k over IP - 10 gig ethernet solution. 

While it's difficult to discern what you're actually looking at in the below image, the 4k SDI to IP conversion equipment was on display at the show. 

If this technology could become small and portable enough that a Quad SDI to IP converter could live on the camera, your cable runs could be a single length of cheap Cat6 ethernet cable to the engineering station where it would get converted back to a SDI interface. This would solve the current on-set 4k monitoring conundrum. In the meantime, there really aren't a ton of options and Sony currently has only two 30" 4k monitors with 4x 3G-SDI interface that could conceivably be used on the set.

The PVM-X300 LCD which was announced last year and already has come down in price about 50%.

And the first 4k OLED, the Sony BVM-X300. While it's difficult to perceive 4k resolution on a display of this size, the image is gorgeous and will no doubt be the cadillac 4k professional monitors once it's out. Sony was being typically mum about the specifics so release date and price are currently unknown. 

Sony BVM-X300 4k OLED Professional Monitor. I apologize for the terrible picture.

Sony A7s Digital Stills and 4k Video Camera

I'll briefly touch base on the Sony A7s as I'm an A7r owner and have absolutely fallen in love with the camera. To those interested in how these camera stack up, the Sony Alpha A7, A7r, and A7s are all full frame, mirrorless, e mount, and have identical bodies.

The A7 is 24.3 MP, 6000x4000 stills, ISO 100-25,600, body only is $1698.

The A7r is the A7 minus the optical low pass filter and higher resolution 36.4 MP, 7360x4912 stills, ISO 100-25,600, body only is $2298.

The A7s is 12.2 MP, 4240x2832 stills, ISO 50-409,600, body only price is $2498. 

If anything, I think the A7s is indicative of an ever rising trend - small, relatively inexpensive cameras that shoot high resolution stills and video. I'm guessing that most future cameras after a certain price point will be "4k-apable". That doesn't mean I would choose to shoot motion pictures on a camera like this. When cameras this small are transformed into production mode, it requires too many unwieldy and cumbersome accessories. The shooter and/or camera department just ends up fighting with the equipment. I want to work with gear that facilitates doing your best work and in my experience with production, this is not repurposed photography equipment. 

Interestingly enough though despite this, the A7s seems to be much more a 4k video camera than a 4k raw stills camera. On the sensor level, every pixel in its 4k array is read-out without pixel binning which allows it to output over HDMI 8 bit 4:2:2 YCbCr Uncompressed 3840x2160 video in different gammas including SLog 2. This also allows for incredibly improved sensor sensitivity with an ISO range from 50 to 409,600. The camera has quite a lot other video-necessary features such as timecode, picture profiles, and balanced XLR inputs with additional hardware. The A7s' internal video recording is HD only which means that 4k recording must be done with some sort of HDMI off-board recorder. 

As is evidence from many wares at this year's show, if you can produce a small on-camera monitor then it might as well record a variety of video signals as well. 

Enter the Atomos Shogun. Purpose built for cameras like the Sony A7s and at $1995, a very impressive feature set. 

Hey what camera is that?

Shooting my movie with this setup doesn't sound fun but the Shogun with the A7s will definitely be a great option for filmmakers on micro budgets. 

One cool and unexpected feature of shooting video on these Sony cameras with the Sony e-mount lenses (there aren't many choices just yet) is that autofocus works surprisingly well. I've been playing around with this using the A7r and the Vario-Tessar 24-70mm zoom shooting 1080 video. The lens focuses itself in this mode surprisingly well which is great for docu and DIY stuff. I have to say I'm not terribly impressed with this lens in general though.

Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens

It's quite small, light, and the auto focus is good but F4 sucks. The bokeh is sharp and jagged instead of smooth and creamy and it doesn't render the space of the scene as nicely as the Canon L Series Zooms which is too bad. Images from this lens seem more spatially compressed than they should. 

At Sony's booth I played around with their upcoming FE 70-200mm f/4.0 G OSS Lens on a A7s connected 4k to a PVM-X300 via HDMI. I was even less impressed with this lens not to mention quite a bit of CMOS wobble and skew coming out of the A7s. It wasn't the worst I've seen but definitely something to be aware of. This really should come as no surprise though for a camera in this class and even Sony's test footage seems to mindfully conceal it.

Pomfort's LiveGrade Pro v2

As a DIT, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention LiveGrade Pro. 

LiveGrade Pro is a powerful color management solution now with GUI options, a Color Temperature slider that affects RGB gains equally, stills grading, ACES, and support for multiple LUT display hardwares. Future features include a Tint Slider for the Green-Magenta axis nestled between Color Temp and Saturation. Right Patrick Renner? :)

Conclusion 

So what's the next big epiphany? Is it this?

What is Jaunt? Cinematic Virtual Reality.

Jaunt and Oculus Rift were apparently at NAB this year and had a demo on the floor. This writer however, was unable to find it. My time was unfortunately very limited but other than Jaunt and the invite-only Dolby Vision demo, I'm feeling like I saw what I needed to see. What will be uncovered at next year's show? More of the same? Or a few things that are radically new and fresh?

NAB 2012 - Round Up

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NAB 2012 - Round Up

I suspected that this year's show wouldn't be as overloaded with new product as last year because most of the major players have already rolled out the flagships that will carry them for the next few years. I found this to be somewhat the case but not entirely as there were definitely a handful of "show stoppers" on display. The emphasis this year seemed to be much less on new, groundbreaking wares and more "this is what we're working with now, and here's how we can do it better." 

While NAB is in many ways a portal of things to come, this year there were far fewer 3D announcements and a lot more emphasis on 4K which is evident in the current market as well. 3D has struggled to gain much, if any, traction outside of theatrical content and the resolution war is heating up now that all the major manufacturers are, or will be (IBC is next), intro-ing cameras offering greater than HD resolution. This is interesting because it's really not much different than the megapixel war with consumer digital cameras. Resolution while incredibly important is still relative to optics, image processing, presentation, and many other factors. Bigger isn't necessarily better though it's obviously a huge marketing opportunity for these vendors.

Maybe my interests have shifted somewhat as my market, broadcast bound projects, has decidedly settled on the Alexa for now. Because of this my energies are very tied up with solutions for that platform. That said, I didn't spend 3 days at the show exclusively checking out new cameras and hardware but spent much of that time researching workflow and archival solutions and demoing tons of new options for creating on-set deliverables, a topic I've covered at length on this site.

What was really excellent though wasn't all the new gack but the opportunity to meet in person so many people I've been in correspondence with. That's what's great about NAB - getting all these professionals from various facets of the industry together in the same location and the exchange of ideas and information that results. it's inspiring and I left Vegas feeling optimistic about the business and where it's going. 

Quick note, what I had on hand to shoot stills with this year was the trusty Leica M9 w/ Summilux-M 35mm Lens. My favorite camera in the world but defintiely not the best choice for shooting product closeups so I'll apologize for the the uninspired photographic component of this post. 

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ALEXA. I was pleased to see Arri announce some very nice new features. Nothing earth shattering, but quietly useful. 

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4:3 Sensor no longer exclusive to Alexa Studio:

You can now purchase an Alexa Plus with a 4:3 sensor in it. You cannot upgrade your existing camera to the new sensor which is certain to sour a few owners. However, this is nice because the Alexa Studio is a hefty rental and as neat as it is, I'm not entirely sold on the optical viewfinder. I'm not a camera operator though and a handful of my colleagues are really into it. I can definitely see the appeal. It will be great to have a more cost effective rental option for anamorphic capture or simply recording a big old square raster with spherical lenses for VFX work. The flexibility of the Alexa system continues to evolve along with the market. Ryan Koo wrote a good article on the topic >>>

2K ProRes Recording:

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Existing 16:9 Alexa sensors will soon be able to record to SxS cards in ProRes 4444 or DNx RGB at 2K resolution, 2048x1152. The new 4:3 sensor will be 2048x1536. Not a ton of extra resolution but appealing nonetheless. Also on the horizon - new debayer algorithm for improved sharpness and real time ArriRaw playback out of ArriRaw Converter.

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Also at Arri's booth, Pomfort was there demoing their solution for Alexa color management, LiveGrade.

Pomfort's Patrick Renner

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I've written about this software at length and have been a beta user since day one. It's really come a long way and now that CDL and Pre or Post Linearization Color Correction has been implemented, LiveGrade is a legit on-set color management solution for any number of cameras. 

I think there is such a plethora of great NAB coverage I'm not going to spend the time creating a massive post covering all the big beats like I did last year. Here's a few things that stuck with me though - 

BLACKMAGIC DESIGNS:

I'm pretty excited about Resolve 9 but interestingly enough, this is the talk of NAB 2012 - the Blackmagic Cinema Camera aka "My First 2K", a $3000 camera that comes with $1700 of freebies (and I mean that in the MOST non-condescending way. I'm actually quite interested in this camera.. but c'mon look at it.. ViewMaster!)

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One thing that no one is talking about with this camera is that the sensor is quite small by today's standards, a bit more generous than Super 16. The mount is EF and these still lenses are going to be quite telephoto on this small sesnor. 3x more telephoto in fact so that super wide angle Canon 8mm is going to be about a 24mm in Full Frame terms. The other thing is the practical resolution of a Bayer pattern chip at 2432x1366 after demosaicing is a bit less than 1920x1080 with chroma subsampling around 4:2:0. That's just the nature of debayering but it does offer very robust recording formats, 12 bit Raw and Log encoded ProRes 4444 and DNx RGB. 

Resolve 9

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The users spoke and BMD clearly listened. Resolve 9 is now a full fledged dailies solution with the inclusion of audio pass-through and syncing, burn ins, super clean interface and media management, and intuitive new toolset. No word on whether the dailies component of 9 will be available in Lite or whether Lite will even continue to exist. I'm guessing you're going to have to shell out $1000 to have access to the new features which fair enough. Or you can just buy their camera and get it for free ;)

On the topic of dailies and on-set deliverables -

Everyone is getting into this game now. Assimilate was showing Scratch "The Next Thing" (working title) which is looking more powerful than ever and in my opinion Lab still offers the best cost to value ratio and user support. YoYotta was demoing realtime F65 rendering with Yo Dailies, ColorFront introed a low cost version of On-Set Dailies called Express Dailies, Filmlight has their low cost version Baselight Transfer, Adobe SpeedGrade CS6, etc. Not to mention a handful of software startups with their own offerings. Price tags on these wares run the gamut of course and each one offers its unique take on the complex problem of creating a dailies pipeline. Now that there are so many options, in my opinion the true separating factor will be support. The importance of having an actual human being to communicate with for troubleshooting, software customization, and feature requests can't be understated. Among this crop, some definitely understand this whereas others, maybe not so much. 

On a software related note - Autodesk Smoke all-in-one editing and effects package now for Mac. $15,000 $3500. Yet another once nearly unattainable pro tool looking to go mass market through aggressive pricing. 

SONY:

4k projection of a variety of material from the F65; all manner of conditions and mixed lighting. It was very good to see what this camera is actually capable of and it turns out, the potential is enormous. 

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4k can only be fully appreciated in a proper 4k projection. It's difficult to gauge the extra resolution on a HDTV or even one of the smaller 4k LCD displays that were floating around the show. Suffice to say, the image quality is remarkable. 

4k Stitch View:

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This is a very interesting application of 4k technology. 2 F65's side by side, both rasters are seamlessly stitched into one 8k picture that can you can pan and tilt around in realtime with no resolution loss until you get to 1080. It's applications like this, an unintended useful outcome of the technology, that really excites me about all this stuff. I think this technological renaissance we're experiencing in motion pictures can and should extend far beyond the realm of film/tv.  

Sony NEX-FS700:

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Everything about this has me scratching my head - from the form factor, to the generous specs (btw 250 fps at 1080p), the TBD 4k Raw recording, to the price ("less than $10,000). It's an odd one but it's a potentially very cool imaging machine nonetheless. 

CANON:

Canon EOS-1D C

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I'm way more excited about this than I thought I would be; the specs are out of control and the images coming out of the camera are really impressive. This is a true digital stills and motion picture camera. It's got the form factor of a SLR but all the video features you could ask for - clean output, multiple resolutions and sensor windows, multiple compresson schemes, etc. The 4k video isn't raw but is compressed to 422 at 500 Mbps and written out to compact flash. I didn't see any interface on the camera other than HDMI so I'm assuming a 4k raw recording via transport stream isn't possible. Regardless, I think this is THE camera for someone looking to do both high quality stills and video with one machine and not looking to spend a fortune on peripheral equipment. 

This cracked me up so I took a picture -

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ISO 204,800! On the monitor the video was looking super clean at 1600 but these days that isn't as special as it used to be. 

Canon C500:

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I think where the C300 was lackluster, this camera brings it. No one seems to know how these 4k streams will be recorded quite yet but Convergent Design is ready to accomodate whatever with the Gemini Raw. All these cameras, it's a little overwhelming. I think with all of these new acquistion options, a universal workflow is going to have to emerge or anything that comes out trying to reinvent the wheel is going to sunk before the ship even sails. Once again, we've just been spoiled by the ease of the Alexa. For large scale productions requiring a fast turnaround, vendors offering up something new need to make it as painless as possible or it's going to be a tough sell.

PANASONIC:

Behind glass and very difficult to photograph was this.. 4k "Varicam" Concept Camera.

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It's modular and comes in pieces like the EPIC and it's about the same size. Not much info to be gleaned other than AVC Ultra codec recorded to P2 Micro cards which are high capacity SD cards encased in stainless steel or some kind of tough alloy and the 4k recording is not Raw but rather Linear RGB. I'll reserve judgment but my instincts are leaning towards, "Too little. Too late."

SONNET AND THE TOPIC OF "MAC EXPANSION":

The consensus at the show regarding Apple's commitment to the pro market was grim to say the least. Even the future of 17" MacBook Pro has been called into question... I'm seriously about to start stockpiling computers. But you never know with Apple and that's the thing. They could announce something tomorrow and this discussion would be over. One has to maintain a cautious optimism with Apple products which is why I haven't started my stockpile just yet. I try and get as much mileage as I can on-set with 17" MBP's. I'll bring a tower out if I have to but my M.O. is usually to try and keep a small footprint and do a lot with a little. That said, I'm very excited about some of the stuff Sonnet is working on. Like the RackMac 1U shelf for Mac Mini's!

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And this kind of blew me away.. xMac mini Server

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xMac™ mini Server 1U Rackmount PCIe 2.0 Expansion System With Thunderbolt™ Ports

Sonnet’s Xmac™ mini Server (previously known as RackMac mini Xserver) 1U rackmount PCIe 2.0 expansion system with two Thunderbolt™ Ports mounts a Mac® mini inside a specially designed enclosure that also contains two x16 (x4 mode) PCIe 2.0 slots, a 150W power supply, and an installed Gigabit Ethernet card. This system enables users to plug in two PCIe 2.0 adapter cards (one half-length and one full-length) to slots connected to the Mac mini via locking Thunderbolt cables while allowing the connection of additional Thunderbolt peripherals to the daisy-chain Thunderbolt port.

A powerful and expandable computer that fits in your rack? This might be it. If Apple jettisons the Mac Tower, maybe they'll come out with a suped-up Mac Mini. Drop it in something like this and you're ripping. At least in theory ha.

Echo Express Pro Expansion Chassis for PCIe

These are a nice size.

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The Magma Thunderbolt ExpressBox 3T is a similar solution but it's a monster. The thing holds 3 PCie cards so it's nearly the size of a tower. You could get to a certain point where you're trying to make a laptop into something that it's just not. Is it worth it and is it really even feasible? At any rate, modularity is now the name of the game and I like to see lots and lots of viable options. 

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AND ONE LAST THING:

I'm really running out of time for this post but this an item that's very cool and under the radar that I wanted to write about -

AXIS1 Single Channel Wireless Lens Control System:

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This impressively machined motor can be used for focus, iris, or zoom and the control is very nuanced. The range is similar to what you would get with a Preston. These are produced by a gentleman in the UK named Peter Hoare and the kit goes for about $5000. I've been looking for a solution for wireless Iris control and a couple of these might be it. 

That's all I've got for now. I'll try and revisit this post at a later date. 

NAB 2011 - WRAP UP

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NAB 2011 - WRAP UP

Time flies. Been back for over a week and just now finding the time to sit down and sort through all this stuff. This was my first year at the show and if there's anything I learned, you have to have a solid plan of attack before you get there because there's just no possible way for a couple of people to cover it all. I was there for 3 full days and I didn't even make it to the North Hall. I feel like we barely even glossed over the stuff I was most interested in. Next year will be a little different ;) 

As I mentioned - there were some strong themes for 2011. 

3D

High Quality Indie priced equipment and accessories

Uncompressed Workflows

Small Solid State Recorders

4K Cameras and Displays

For me, the 3D wares were of most interest. Now that I have a nice, passive 3DTV my borderline obsession with stereo imaging has only been further cemented. This stuff is just cool. It never gets old for me so my number one priority at the show was to see what kinds of solutions equipment and software vendors had been working on. Needless to say, tons of new ideas and concepts have been implemented in upcoming equipment ranging from forehead slappingly useful to just plain bizarre. 

For now, I'll just share some thoughts and photos. I did shoot some interviews notably with Stefan Weiss, creator of the Weisscam system and Sebastian Cramer, the developer of the Screen Plane 3D Beamsplitter Rig, one of the coolest new products I saw at the show. I'll save those for next time. 

Diving in..

Here's one of the most interesting things I saw and not something that I've seen covered on other blogs. Straight out of Blade Runner - The Sensics 3D Virtual Reality Monitoring System.

That's me in the pilot seat. It's a very strange feeling as you pan the camera around. A little disorienting to be honest. 

They didn't have a lot of information on this at their booth. They basically just gave us a demonstation and let us try it out. I wanted to get an interview but when I came back on Wednesday, they were gone. Very mysterious! This company does a lot of miltary contracting and their primary business is virtual reality for training purposes. It seems like this 3D monitoring system is just something they're toying with. I must say though, while it was a little awkward to work with, it was pretty cool and I think with some refinement could actually be pretty useful. 

The left and right eye images from the rig are piped directly into the corresponding goggle so you really get a strong sense of the stereo you're creating. I don't know how useful it is for operating though because you obviously can only see what the lenses are seeing. It's a little wacky but was very interesting nonetheless.

Here's another one of my fav's, and in my opinion one of the most ingenious and promising new 3D acquistion systems - the Phantom 65 Z3D - a result of collaboration between Abel Cine Tech, Vision Research, and Zepar Optics.

Have you seen a professional 3D rig this small? It's a perfect size. The sensor in the Phantom 65 is about the size of a credit card so the Zepar twin lens puts 2x 2k rasters on it side by side. And because it's Phantom, it's one of the cleanest most high quality raw codecs out there which can also go up to 300 fps. Awesome on so many levels. 

This is a Parallel Rig meaning you can't toe in the lenses to change the convergence plane like with a beamsplitter rig. If I recall though, there was something in the preview system that allowed for pixel shifting the video output to create convergence. Maybe I got that wrong. I think my brain was already at the saturation point when the system was explained to me.

There is a small amount of inter-ocular adjustment that can be done in the lens system but I don't have those numbers in front of me. Because you're limited in what you can do with the I/O and Convergence, the system's hardware control system gives you a "3D Safety Window" similar to the the Pansonic 3D-A1 and other fixed-lens 3D camcorders. You set your IO and Depth Budget on the hand unit and it tells you the maximum foreground and background distances you must keep your scene within to not create parallax violations.

The Zepar lenses come in a nice set of 20mm T4, 24mm T4, 28mm T4, 35mm T2.8, 50 T2.8, 75 T3.6, 100mm T5.6.

Synced Focus, Iris, and I/O are built into the lens and all parameters are controlled wirelessly with the hand unit. So cool I can't stand it.

Because of the small size and low weight of the Z3D it's ideal for Steadi, handheld, and location work where a smaller footprint is required. With careful stereography I'm convinced the Z3D could be used under most circumstances. I'm super intrigued with it and am hoping to get more hands-on time in the near future. 

This is my favorite new beamslitter rig, the Screen Plane Production Rig -

I spoke to the guy behind it, Sebastain Cramer, at length and he was kind enough to share some thoughts on camera about some of the unique functionality of the rig. Saving that for another time but what really impressed me is the speed of setup and the flexible configurations. 

At a glance -

The mirror box pops right off and can only fit on one way. I've used the ET rigs a lot so that's my point of reference. They're sturdy and reliable but one of my biggest gripes is that mirror box. It's a bitch to get it on and off and I've found that if it isn't properly seated, one more point of misalignment is easily created. The Screen Plane makes the mirror much easier and faster to work with. 

Tilt axis on the rig. Check out their site for a better explantion but this feature is just awesome. To tilt up or down, you don't need to do it on the head, you can do it right on the rig. With this you can easily point straight up or down and it's a very strong locking system. He demo-ed for us in the interview which I'll have online soon. 

Parallel or Converence Mode - You cando convergence by toeing-in with motors like a typical beamsplitter or you can shoot in parallel and preview convergence with some very smart software. I don't have a photo of the control unit, though I remember taking one ;( but what this system allows you to do is shoot the cameras and in parallel, send the video taps through a signal processing box and then pixel shifts the rasters to create a convergence preview on-set. It's completely non-destructive so the final convergence point is then determined in post production. There is a strong argument out there to shoot in parallel and converge in post and this rig makes doing this much easier. However if toeing-in on-set is favorable or required for say 3D Broadcast, a convergence motor module is avalable. The signal processor can also output a 1080 side by side over SDI for 3D daliies. The system as a whole is very well designed and executed. If I was doing a project requiring a fully functional beamsplitter, this would be my rig of choice. 

Weisscam T - I've been a HS-2 user since it came to east coast a few years ago so I was excited to see some actual product from Weisscam's next gen sytem, the appropriately named "T"

I had the pleasure of chatting with Stefan Weiss, the creator of the sytem and he broke down for me how the new system works. Saving that for an upcoming video but to paraphrase - the T is completely modular and is an optical block that can take several different sensors. The first that will be released will a 2/3" size followed by a 2K and 4K. Like the HS-2, the T captures frames to its internal buffer and then outputs raw Bayer sensor data to the new Weisscam Recorder. I also recall that like the HS-2, the T outputs linearized 1080 video as well for traditional workflows. 

 

Weisscam SSD Module fits directly into the recorder. Are we noticing a trend yet?

There are some issues with the current version of Weiss Raw and the lack of support in most widely used post production systems. Those issues have been addressed in the new recorder as several different formats are selectable such as ArriRaw and Uncompressed DPX with metadata. Once again, the finer points are in the interview so I need to get it out asap. Next weekend ;)

Here's some other stuff that grabbed me -

4K Displays. Tons of new 4K LCD's from Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Astro, and other. The image quality is phenomonal on these displays. The 4K footage Sony was screening from the F65 just blew my mind. I've never seen images of that clarity. If there were any naysayers left at this point, anyone who saw that presenation has something to chew on. It's about to become a 4K world and then after that, who knows? Sony has the right idea and I can't tell you how impressed I am with them both as a company and with their people. They are so helpful and freindly and I'm very pleased to have a good relationship with them and am looking forward to continuing to build it.

Wondering when we're going to see a 4K scope? 

Sony SRM-L560 4K LCD Monitor

Astro DM-3400 4K LCD Monitor

Auto-Stereoscopic Displays. These were cool but they have a long way to go. The lenticular screen just shows itself too much and the viewing angles are problematic. This technology is in its infancy though and I'm certain that in due time, these will probably be as good as a passive display with polarized glasses. There's something about putting on the glasses though that helps to block out the rest of the world and helps the viewer to focus on the stereo image. I find the experience to be very immersive and with the auto-stereoscopic displays, it's too easy to look around at the rest of the world. It also kind of hurts your eyes after awhile.

3Ality's 3DFusion Auto-Stereoscopic Display

eMotion Auto-Stereo Display. This one was small but probably the easiest to look at. 

Phillips version. You can really see the tiny lenticular lenses in this one. It really doesn't work so well yet but the technology is promising. 

SinaCAM HDC1-D 2D/3D Optical Block Camera with 2/3" imager. Never seen one tinier and the video demo looked pretty good as well. 

The Ikonskop A-Cam DII. We've been hearing about this for years and it's failed to materialize until now. Funky form factor but I've gotta say, the images looked fantastic. With all the options available now, I'm just wondering where in the market a camera like this fits in.. 

Zacuto Z-Finder. Everyone was showing their own version of these and Zacuto's was hands-down the best. So sharp and comfortable to use. They've really done a fine job with it as they've taken their time bringing it to market. I'm waiting for a version with loop through HD-SDI and False Color. Then I'm sold. 

I haven't talked much about post because I kind of skimmed through those booths. There are tons of great new products coming down the pipeline though. Blackmagic Designs had a massive presence this year with probably more new product than anyone but Sony. There's lots of info already online about what they showed but here's something that really grabbed me - Ultra Studio 3D.

Utilizing the ultra fast Thunderbolt connection, this box lets you capture and playback Uncompressed HD, 2K, and 3D right on your laptop. 

Also there will soon be a Thuderbolt hardware add-on for the Matrox MXO2. I love that they keep upgrading this thing. They could have sold me a new one by now but instead the box that I've had for 2 years just keeps getting better with new firmware upgrades and now, hardware add-ons.

Lacie Tunderbolt Little Big Disks. To fully utilize Thunderbolt throughput, all disks must be solid state. These are not so they don't come close to touching the full potential but at 500 MB/sec, they're still plenty fast. That means you could download a full 32GB SxS card in less than 30 seconds. I'd take it. 

Small fixed lens 3D camcorders with Auto-stereoscopic LCD's. I saw a JVC and a Sony and I suspect there were more that I missed. These would be fun to play around with and the auto-stereo display on the flipout LCD actually works pretty well. 

JVC 4K Compact Camcorder Prototypes, code name, "Falconbrid." Nice name.

Here's something else that was quietly introduced - a 4K camera head from Astro Designs, makers of fine broadcast displays. 

4K goes out over Optical to Astro 4K recorder -

Nikon Lens Mount. Assuming other options will be available. 

Astro 4K Sample Workflow

And some of the more perculiar offerings -

3D-One Fixed Lens Camcorder. I had a hard time getting information on this at their booth. It's an interesting form factor featuring a binocular viewfinder but it didn't really seem to be displaying stereo. This was definitely one of the more "unique" items at the show.

 

 

Here's another one - the iSpeed 3, A high speed video camera from Olympus that shoots 720p only and is controlled with this beefy, laptop sized device that mounts on top. 

That's all I've got. I'll be putting the videos up hopefully next week. Looking forward to NAB 2012!