I gotta admit, this was the seminar at the Produced By Conference I was most looking forward to attending.

Description of this seminar:
Earlier this year, the Producers Guild of America and the American Society of Cinematographers collaborated in a groundbreaking study, exploring the capabilities of a group of today’s top Digital Cinema cameras. The first-ever Camera Assessment Series, held under strictly controlled conditions, yielded a wealth of data regarding the state of digital cinematography; at this event, that data will be released and discussed for the first time. Join Lori McCreary, head of Revelations Entertainment, and some of the world’s most experienced Directors of Photography for an in-depth consideration of this original research. Over the two-hour session, the panel will discuss every aspect of the cameras capabilities for theatrical feature films, including not only relative strengths on set, but extending to ease of use in post-production and digital workflow. After the session, get hands on at a special Digital Camera Showcase with participating cameras.

And here are a few of my notes …

• Testing how the new high-end digital cameras perform in comparison with film
• The film was actually output to 2K instead of 4K in order to match digital cameras
• This was all just a pure BASE test!
• Did not assess these for television production, only for film production
• They took over 60 hours of footage with 1 behind the scenes camera assigned to every camera.

Cameras tested:

• Arri 435 (Film)
• Arri D-21 (only one with an optical viewfinder)
• Panasonic 3700
• Panavision Genesis
• RED
• Sony F-23
• Sony F-35
• Thomson Viper

Some of the aspects of testing:

• 4:4:4 color
• Uncompressed Recording
• Production Ready
• Manufacturer Support
• Availability for Rental

Rules & Regulations:

• Film Look Desired
• Shots Lit for Film (did not adjust lighting per specific camera, all used the same lighting)
• 1:85 aspect ratio
• Common Industry Reduction
• No Noise Reduction, Grain Management or Sharpening Allowed

Workflow (Transfers & Conversion): Export 10-bit DPX to DI to Film Out Digital Original or Digital Cinema Package to IP/IN to Film Print

• No Editorial Process was done
• All had their plusses & minuses … personally wasn’t impressed with how the RED did
• Not all of the DOF (Depth of Fields) were equal
• What you see isn’t necessarily what you get
• Prevent surprises … project your dailies!
• Digital cameras are however becoming more cinematic in their look & feel
• Cheaper to rent doesn’t mean cheaper overall (consider workflow & post)
• The DP is more critical in the DI process

Requests to Manufacturers:

• Come up with true 2K & 4K cameras for capture & recording
• Help standardize production and post workflows
• Help standardize metadata
• Idiot proof the menus & use standard film verbiage
• Add data recovery option

Common Mistakes:

• Not doing circle takes
• Having an inexperienced data wrangler managing data … they need to know data & film verbiage
• Not having a backup procedure in place
• Deleting original before having a confirmed copy
• Assuming you don’t need video assist for digital cameras
• Reviewing your takes from original data

Recommendations Now For Producers:

• Define workflow in prep
• Define Editorial delivery
• Define On-set workflow
• Dailies, Previews
• Test Workfow
• Test Camera!

Phew … there are my notes on this great seminar!  If you’ve had a chance to work with any of the cameras, feel free to leave a comment about how it worked out for you and your project.

I believe the results were published in the American Cinematographer Magazine June 2009 … if not I think it will be soon.

Next up … a list of the companies and organizations I ran into at the conference and found interesting.