thefilmbook - edited by Benjamin B » 4K

“4K and better pixels” article

BenjaminB — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 22:35:57 +0000

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I wrote an article on 4K and better pixels for my blog on theasc.com

I discuss:
- 4K and UHD
- 6 factors for better pixels
- Arri’s 2.8K
- Sony’s 4K and UHD
- futures
- the challenge to theaters
- compression & Rec 2020
- upconversion
- image quality

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Photos of Sony PXW-Z100

BenjaminB — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 21:42:53 +0000

Here are some photos I took of Sony’s new $6500 4K camera, the PXW-Z100

Sony PXW-Z100 4K camcorder features:

- 20x zoom lens
- 1/2.3 inch sensor
- 422 10-bit 4K (4096×2160) or UHD
- 50 or 60P
- up to 600 Mbps (at 60P)
- XAVC format (like the F55)
- XQD cards
- $6500
- will also do HD

I should mention that the 20x zoom range is very impressive.
I look forward to shooting some footage with this camera.

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The recording formats: up to 4K 50P for $6500

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The ability to output 4K via HDMI is crucial, as it may allow for external recording with better quality than the native XAVC compression.

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The left side has all the controls.

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Detail of the left side controls

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The back of the camera

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The SD slot hints at the un-announced possibility of recording HD video for editing simultaneously with the 4K stream.

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The Z100 will record 4K on to XQD high-speed cards. These 64GB are rated at 180 MBytes/second.

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The HDMI output has 4K, while the SDI BNC below it is limited to 2K

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The right side of the camera has no controls

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The ability to import Log curves would be helpful.

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The screen information — not including thefilmbook

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My thanks to Alvaro Ortiz from Sony Europe for giving me a great demo of the camera.

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LINKS

Jon Fauer’s report on FDTimes

Alister Chapman’s report on XDCam-Users.com

Studio Daily’s report points out that the Z100 is priced to compete with Black Magic’s new 4K camera, which is $4K without a lens.

Newsshooter.com’s informative video report features Alistair Chapman saying future version will allow you to simultaneously record HD on SD cards, while recording 4K on the XQD

sony.co.uk: Matt Davis’ in-depthreview

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TV formats: from analog to Ultra

BenjaminB — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:12:03 +0000

At the IBC conference, I appreciated the simplicity of this powerpoint slide presented by Martin Faehnrich illustrating the recent history of television formats:

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Sony Z100 camera: 4K for $6.5k

BenjaminB — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 23:31:51 +0000

This post has been updated with photos I took of the camera here:

http://bit.ly/sonyz100photos

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Funny commercial for UHDTV set

BenjaminB — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 23:24:31 +0000

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This amusing Mexican commercial hypes the convincing realism of 84-inch 4K UHDTV sets by showing a meteor hitting the city to unsuspecting job applicants. Ironically, the YouTube video resolution is terrible

watch on YouTube

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via Corentin Harlé

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Audio: 2013 BSC Expo 4K Panel

BenjaminB — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:00:39 +0000

This 2013 panel was moderated by BSC cinematographer Phil Meheux and composed of:

BSC cinematographers Nic Morris (Being Human) & Ben Smithard (My Week with Marilyn)
ASC cinematographer & President of Cinematographer Guild Steven Poster
Milan Krsljanin, Business Development Manager, Arri GB
Peter Sykes, Strategic Marketing Manager, Sony
Thomas Urbye, colourist, owner of The Look

Most of the panelists seem to be slanted towards Alexa 2K, which is unfortunate, as it doesn’t make for the strongest debate about 4K