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Last year, the American Society of Cinematographers and the Producer’s Guild of America orchestrated a follow up to 2009′s Camera Assessment Series with the Image Control Assessment Series. Unlike a shootout where the relative strengths and weaknesses of the selected cameras were pitted against one another, ICAS was an attempt to unify the different camera systems under a single workflow: the Academy Color Encoding System, or ACES.
One of the big hits of NAB 2013 was the Canon 1D C. The funny thing about that is the 1D C was teased in late 2011 and impressed in 2012 with Shane Hurlbut and Po Chan’s “The Ticket”, yet launched in March 2013 to very little fanfare. It seems that people didn’t quite know what to do with a DSLR that shot 4K video. (The $12K body-only price tag is potentially intimidating.) Perhaps it was the announcement of an April firmware update that allows it to capture 4K at 25 fps or that more people just got to put their hands on it that the camera finally started to click. (more…)
It’s easy to forget how recently film lorded over the Hollywood; how absolute, how unquestionable it’s dominance as the medium of choice.
Sure, digital was convenient, and certainly there was that mysterious theoretical crossover point at which image quality could uncannily pass the Turing test of a trained DP’s eye, for film. But there was a lingering denial in many hearts that such a day would come, and for so long, this held true. Nothing could match the latitude of a film negative, not to mention replicate that “look.” Video was confined to a “choice” for risk-taking filmmakers, eager to push the aesthetic envelope of audience comfort (think David Lynch or Lars von Trier) or by trigger happy directors prematurely convinced of its substitutability and advantages (Michael Mann comes to mind).
Yet Moore’s Law marches stoically forward, and with it, hearts follow minds into the future reality, which has finally become the current one. The all-caps opposites – staid, storied ARRI and its foil, the plucky upstart, RED – took an early lead in getting real films, indistinguishable from the namesake, into theaters. Notably, the gorgeous Skyfall was shot on the Alexa and the approaching Hobbit trilogy was EPIC shot. Sony, never one to be left out of seemingly any market, answered with the formidable F65, used on the forthcoming M. Night Shyamalan feature. A new oligarchy around the centerpiece of cinematic technology – the camera – was forming, as suddenly as the market came up for grabs. Canon, seeing (more…)
This coming Tuesday, join Adorama and Canon for an in depth Presentation by Larry Thorpe, Senior Fellow of the Professional Engineering & Solutions Division of Canon USA, Inc., on the Cinema EOS cameras, including the newly announced C500, C100, 1DC, as well as the C300.
The presentation will be followed by hands on time on the full Cinema Family products, CINE lenses (Primes and Zooms) and the Pro Camcorder lineup (XF/XA products).
Food and drinks drinks will be served. Doors open at 6, the presentation starts at 6.30, and you’ll have the opportunity to go hands-on with the gear at 8.
The event will be held at Union Square Ballroom, 27 Union Square W. Please click the image to RSVP. See you there!
Adorama Rental Co’s Miguel Goodbar meets with Canon’s Chuck Westfall to discuss the new 4K flagship cinema camera, the EOS C500, EOS 1D-C 4K cinema DSLR, new compact cinema zoom lenses and concept 4K display.
We find out who these cameras are aimed at, where the 1080p C300 fits in the range, and why Canon has its sights on 4K.
