American Cinematographer - June 2010 - 80

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the compressed dailies are recorded on a standard SDHC card and can then be removed for immediate editing on Avid or Final Cut Pro systems. An overscan output for monitoring will provide a view beyond the frame borders. Output video options include HDSDI at 4:4:4 and 4:2:2. Aaton also plans a provision for an unlimited number of cascading 3-D LUTs to preview the cinematographer’s intentions and to store settings for later use in post. The next iteration of the Penelope-Delta will be shown at the IBC show in Amsterdam in September, with an eye to releasing the system in early 2011. For more information, visit www.aaton.com. Aaton Introduces Penelope-Delta By Benjamin B French camera manufacturer Aaton showed the first prototype of the Penelope-Delta digital camera system at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in April. The Penelope-Delta is a digital magazine that adapts to Aaton’s Penelope 35mm film camera, thus enabling the same camera body with lens and optical viewfinder to be used to shoot either 35mm or digital. The conversion between film and digital use is estimated to take less than 30 minutes. Penelope-Delta’s digital sensor is a Bayer-pattern CCD built for Aaton by Dalsa Corp. Aaton announced a unique dual-sensitivity feature, which, the company states, allows for the sensor’s base sensitivity of 800 ISO to be reduced to 100 ISO. The camera is also said to have very low noise at its 3,200 ISO setting. Penelope-Delta is designed for image capture at a resolution exceeding 4K. The dynamic range is 13 stops. Aaton is known for its cameras’ ergonomics, and the Penelope-Delta extends the company’s “cat on the shoulder” philosophy to the digital arena. The weight of the Penelope-Delta will be 16.5 pounds, including two onboard Li-Ion batteries and the internal Solid State Disk recorder. The camera’s low power consumption should allow for three to six hours of operation, depending on the ratio between record and pause modes, without having to swap the onboard batteries. Additionally, a custom operating system enables a four-second boot-up, and the noise level is measured at 19 dbA, a low value attributed to wide vents and a large, slow-moving fan. The Penelope-Delta will simultaneously record two file formats onboard the digital magazine: uncompressed RAW at up to 800MB/second in a DPX wrapper, and compressed dailies in Avid’s open DNxHD format, either in the low-res 36MB/sec flavor, or in higher quality 10 bit. The uncompressed files are internally recorded on a lightweight, removable DeltaPak that contains four 2.5" SSDs;
80 June 2010

Panasonic Unveils 4 ⁄ 3 " HD Camcorder Panasonic Solutions Company has announced the AGAF100 AVCCam HD camcorder, a professional micro 4⁄3" video camcorder optimized for high-definition-video recording. Targeted at the video- and film-production communities, the AF100 delivers the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of a large imager with the flexibility and cost advantages of compatibility with a growing line of professional-quality micro 4⁄3" lenses, filters and adapters. The full 1080 and 720 production camera offers superior video handling, native 1080/24p recording, variable frame rates, professional audio capabilities and compatibility with SDHC and SDXC media. The design of the AF100’s micro 4⁄3" 16:9 MOS imager affords depth of field and field of view similar to that of 35mm movie cameras in a less expensive camera body. Equipped with an interchangeable lens mount, the AF100 can utilize an array of lowcost and widely available still camera and cine-style lenses. “Designed in consultation with the filmmaking community, the AF100 eclipses the video performance of other cameras in this price range,” says Joe Facchini, vice president of Sales & Product Management, Media & Production Services, Panasonic Solutions

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American Cinematographer - June 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - June 2010