Grave Warning Issued to Other Digital Cinema Camera Companies

[Tom Lowe]

 

[Peter Mosiman]

hahaha :cheers2:

 

[Andrew Walker]

Its even funnier the second time around. Of course I saw this on your twitter Tom. I kind of wish we could just go back to calling FF35, Vista Vision. But now that I think about it FF35 is a little better, easier to type.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Yeah. I was wondering about that the other day. I wonder if Paramount would allow Jim to use that name "Vista Vision"? :thumbup:

It does have a great sound to it.

 

[Andrew Walker]

Yeah. I was wondering about that the other day. I wonder if Paramount would allow Jim to use that name "Vista Vision"? :thumbup:

It does have a great sound to it.

I think Paramount would let Jim use it, if he paid them for it. In my dealings with the studios nothing is free. Especially when its something that hasn't made them any money in a while. Do they own the name "Vista Vision"?

 

[Tom Lowe]

I think Paramount would let Jim use it, if he paid them for it. In my dealings with the studios nothing is free. Especially when its something that hasn't made them any money in a while. Do they own the name "Vista Vision"?

I don't know. That's a pretty niche legal question on a very specific topic. Anyone know? :biggrin5:

 

[Shane Betts]

What about Epic-Vision?

 

[David W. Jones]

Me so thinks FF35mm is still in exile with Yoda.

 

[Tom Lowe]

David W. Jones: "Me so thinks FF35mm is still in exile with Yoda."

Yoda: "You must unlearn what you have learned..."

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I can't wait for Epic / Scarlet FF35...

But it's EPIC 645 FTW!!!

 

[Ace]

FF35 will ignite the anamorphic lens industry. You may very well be getting a 10k image (interpolated horizontally only) when unsqueezed...

 

[Ace]

Note that when I talk about uprezzing at resolutions such as 5K, its a completely different ballgame to interpolating from resolutions such as 2k, even 4k. Providing for things like fractal anamorphic unsqueezing (uprezzing) you could get some stunning wide-screen imagery from the detail recorded on a FF35/anamorphic combo..


Coming soon.. REDOMORPHIC LENSES

 

[Tom Lowe]

Yeah, I mean FF35 6K RAW anamorphic is obviously gonna be jaw-dropping!!

 

[Shawn Nelson]

Meh

Why stop at FF35? The difference between it and the 1.3x EpicX is going to be negligible. The real deal is the 'Lawrence of Arabia' "65mm" 645

 

[Matt W.]

I expect 2/3'' 3D will gain prominence before vistavision or IMAX digital. "Normal" sized cinema screens only need about 2k of resolution; beyond that it's diminishing returns. While IMAX has the potential to be as spectacular as 3D, IMAX screens are prohibitively large and expensive. And focusing on IMAX or vistavision is too hard for action films, where the format is best used.

Smaller chips, higher frame rates, and 3D have the leg up on big sensors, now, though this could change. And unfortunately, both technologies are somewhat mutually exclusive as 3D requires a more mobile camera (as you need two very small rigs if you mean to combine them into into one 3D rig) and a deeper depth of focus as focus becomes a somewhat redundant depth cue. The first company to introduce an easy-to-use 2/3'' 3D camera will make an infinitely bigger splash than a company that introduces a vistavision sensor, a size which most professional cinema lenses do not cover and for which few ACs could reasonably pull focus. Add to that the fact that image quality fanatics prefer film to digital in the first place and you're looking at an ultra-niche market here, at worst, a market dominated by high end hobbyists and stock-footage shooters at best. I would bet against this sensor size.

 

[Tom Lowe]

I can see pixels on the screen with 2K projectors from the 10th row, so there is room for improvement. And anyway, major US theater companies have already pulled the trigger on converting thousands and thousands of screens to 4K projection, including AMC and Cinemark. Believe me, FF35 6K RAW will produce stunning 4K masters.

 

[Matt W.]

You've got some good points. I was amazed when I watched a blu-ray of Dark Knight that the IMAX footage looked substantially better than the 35mm anamorphic stuff--even the night footage where I can't imagine how they pulled focus. So the "big" formats have potential to look noticeably better than 35mm, even at 1080p.

But the visibility of pixels with digital projection in general is more complicated than just that; it changes with contrast ratio, frame rate, etc. I've never seen a "pixel" in a 2k DI printed to 35mm, for instance, even if I have seen detail lost where it might be visible on the negative. And if the 4k projector upscales 2k, you may have some softness from bicubic interpolation, but visible pixels will be less of an issue.

And you're lucky to have movie screens that big. The vast majority are very small these days, sadly; I don't know if you live in LA but the screens there are very unrepresentative of those most everywhere else. Certainly vistavision-sized digital is an exciting technology, but it's battling against a more commercially viable one (3D). Hopefully both can coexist as distinct attractions--they offer unique and compelling benefits, and each befits a certain type of film and director, I think. But I wouldn't put all my eggs in this basket yet just...

 

[Tom Lowe]

I agree with you about 3D, Matt. I think 3D and 4K (including 4K 3D) are going to be the big winners in the years ahead. I am much more excited about AVATAR, for example, than many people I know. Seeing it on an IMAX-Lite screen in 3D a couple weeks ago, I was extremely impressed!!

 

[Matt W.]

Yes, I too attended Avatar Day and I thought it was really incredible. I'm extremely excited about that movie and have been for a while. That, John Carter of Mars, and Tree of Life are my most anticipated upcoming films.

I would love to see a 4k 3D standard in the future. Hopefully my fears about 3D and large format being incompatible will be proved wrong. But for now I'm on the side of 48fps 2k 3D rather than large format, though I welcome any improvement in image quality and any increased access directors have to their preferred medium, be it 3D digital or IMAX film. Watching something like Lawrence of Arabia (on 70mm, of course) makes me very sad that current blockbusters are all fast cuts and talking heads--and that's not to mention the often stupid subject matter we get in summer films. I honestly think large format has the capacity to improve film language (or at least restore something of a lost art), but I think 3D will allow for a new language to be written through that formal trait--and that's more significant in my mind.

 

[Tom Lowe]

I see that you have good tastes and interests, Matt! Tree of Life and Avatar are by far my most anticipated films... maybe of all time. Or at least since I was a kid standing in line for Return of the Jedi.

Welcome to the forum!