HDR video cam at Siggraph!!!

[Zack Birlew]

Makers of the Spheron HDR camera have a working prototype of the HDRv HDR video camera. Uses PL glass so far with Nikon being worked on. 1080p 1-30fps and in the exr file format with 20 stops of dynamic range. Got iPhone pics but don't know how to post =(. However, press apparently swarmed the booth at unveiling yesterday so watch for headlines!

Update: forgot to mention records >5 hours uncompressed video in fiber coupled storage unit (so far anyway)

 

[Cüneyt Kaya]

20 stops?

if true, wow.

if they have it red will get it too i guess :cheers2:

 

[Dan Hudgins]

Photos from Zack Birlew's iPhone!

Photos from Zack Birlew's iPhone!

Got iPhone pics but don't know how to post =(. However, press apparently swarmed the booth at unveiling yesterday so watch for headlines!

I'm putting Zacks photos up for him...

To see the full size images you may need to log into REDUSER then right click on the image and open in new tab. etc. depending on your OS and browser...

 

[Noah Kadner]

Sounds like a step in the right direction. HDR is something we'll have on all future cameras someday, hopefully soon. But 30 fps and a 'fiber coupled storage unit' tells me this is not primarily intended for movie making nor expected to be cheap.

Noah

 

[Dan Hudgins]

2 REDs are better than one?

2 REDs are better than one?

Its been like a year since I posted about using two REDs to get HDR at 4K, it seems a simple enough rig to build, a bit odd that they are not in use today to shoot those high ratio shots people feel they still need film for...

 

[Zack Birlew]

Oi! Read carefully! 1-to-30fps! 24fps is a go!

 

[Noah Kadner]

Oi! Read carefully! 1-to-30fps! 24fps is a go!

Saw that- yeah they should amend their advertising so people don't get confused.

Noah

 

[Craig Ryan]

if its working where's the footy? No Stills?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Supposedly the camera is working, but still in prototype stage... There doesn't seem to be any footage or images from it online yet. While the 20 stops is an impressive claim, I'm still wondering how well the camera handles noise, aliasing, etc.. and how its resolution actually measures up.

 

[Craig Ryan]

ah there's already another thread about it and links to this

http://www.fxguide.com/article556.html

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

My biggest concern would be aliasing. I assume they're using a bayer pattern sensor with multiple ND sensor sites.

I also can think we can pretty safely assume this'll be a rental camera. Definitely an interesting product to look into next year. If they can get the FPS up a bit higher it would be a fantastic camera for shooting explosions and what not with a really high DnR.

 

[Zack Birlew]

Well, fxguide pretty much summed it up as far as tech details go. However, the spheron people are still waiting for the server to come in and they are pretty miffed that it may not come in on time!

 

[Dan Hudgins]

OLPF plus sub-pixel registration

OLPF plus sub-pixel registration

My biggest concern would be aliasing. I assume they're using a bayer pattern sensor with multiple ND sensor sites.

If they use heavy OLPF on each sensor and you use sub-pixel registration of the two images when you combine them using like 16K resolution and then down size you should not see double images much.

That can be done with two existing RED ONE as well, up to the Solarization limit of the CMOS sensor, once things overexposed turn negative you have a problem, but you might be able to blank out that part of the shadow image by using the un-Solarization highlights of the highlight image, something to try but I would need to work with some in the Bay Area that has two RED ONE that they can SMPTE sync etc...

 

[Joseph Ward]

So if this is not CMOS it's CCD?

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

Maybe they've developed a new chip that doesn't rely on bayer pattern who knows.
The article says its not a CMOS and it has a global shutter so if its not CCD either then who knows.

 

[Joseph Ward]

Supposedly the camera is working, but still in prototype stage... There doesn't seem to be any footage or images from it online yet. While the 20 stops is an impressive claim, I'm still wondering how well the camera handles noise, aliasing, etc.. and how its resolution actually measures up.

The FXGuide article says they will have photos soon.

As this server was yet to be seen as of 6pm Wednesday we can't discuss much about it or show you any images of it, but if it arrives as hoped we will film coverage of the working camera today and post it in fxguidetv this week.

Software and compression algorithms.
The expect to take delivery in August and start showing their work in September.