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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Collister Dragon Test for ASC

Hi,
Just great.....But sometimes I feel that too much of DR may make the image look a little artificial.....

When the captured footage has too much dynamic range for the look you're going for, you can always crush blacks and clip highlights in post. That is a very simple and quick process. However, if the footage captured is lacking dynamic range, there is almost nothing you can do to fix it.

Dragon is making it possible to shoot in high-contrast situations that normally would have required a ton of lighting to narrow the dynamic range in front of the camera (to fit within the limited dynamic range offered by the film stock or digital sensor), without that aggressive interference, and capture the scene with a much more natural manner, all the while freeing the cinematographer from having to avoid lights, reflectors and defusers from entering the frame, and move the camera more freely. I'm not saying that using DRAGON people should drop lighting altogether, but rather that light manipulation will now be for artistic purposes only, because with Dragon and with HDRx, the concerns about "fitting the world into the limited dynamic range of the camera" are now officially over.

I for one, am very excited about that.
 
love it too :-) and also some "normal" glass not those $$$ lenses that everybody wants but only a few gets ;-)

cheers janosch
 
The straight into the sun shots don't seem to exhibit the 'Sensor -OLPF bounce red dot pattern effect', have they found a work around to eliminate this? Or have I been asleep and missed a trick?
 
Beginning Closeups: 85mm Nikkor T/4 60 fps (11:1 compression)

Old man at window: 24-70mm Canon T/4 40 fps (7:1 Compression)

Highlight T/16 incident
Shadow T/ 1.0 2/3 incident

Beach exterior sunset
Nikkor 105 macro T/22

Pier Night amusement park 24-70mm Canon zoom T/2.8

Lightbulb dimming up 85mm Nikkor
48 fps (9:1 Compression)
T/ 5.6 1/2

Sparkler Test
Incident 2.8 1/2
48fps
2.8 (9:1 compression)

Dog park
70-200 Canon Zoom

100 fps (17:1 Compression)
POLA
T/11

I've notice a lot of these test shots (this video and Mark's photos) have been at higher compressions. Is that because the SSD's arent fast enough, because for the web content it hardly makes a difference, or software doesn't allow a lower compression?
 
I've notice a lot of these test shots (this video and Mark's photos) have been at higher compressions. Is that because the SSD's arent fast enough, because for the web content it hardly makes a difference, or software doesn't allow a lower compression?

Kyle, here is my understanding in short:
Because the Dragon is so much cleaner than MX, you hardly take a hit visually using the higher compression ratios. 9:1 on Dragon MAY be the same as 5:1 on MX.
Plus, it is capturing 6K now, so I doubt even Peter wants to just burn through SSDs with a lower compression (5:1) if there isn't a great reason to do so.
BUT again, maybe these frame rates are dictating these compression ratios. The scary thing is how good it still looks.
Mostly, it seems like everyone will just need to recalibrate what their mind views as the default no compromise ratio.

And remember, these weren't shot for the web but for 4K display for a gathering of ASC members...
 
Unbelievable. It all looked great, but those portrait shots at the beginning were so simple and so beautiful. It makes you wonder - how much better can a sensor get!? (famous last words, I know).
 
The straight into the sun shots don't seem to exhibit the 'Sensor -OLPF bounce red dot pattern effect', have they found a work around to eliminate this? Or have I been asleep and missed a trick?

Those patterns mostly only showed up when aperture was very small. They usually weren't a problem if NDs were used to open up the iris.
 
Every time I look at the shot with the tree, I giggle with excitement. :-)
 
Matt, I really adhered to an ISO of 800. It is meta of course but I used a light meter in all cases.

I was most interested in the skin tones in this test and a bit about DR in the light bulb shot.

As far as the questions about high compression: I shot quite a bit at 48, 60 and 100 fps at 6K WS. So with that high a resolution the compression is high. 100fps results in a 17:1 compression. That is why much of Mark's test was at 17:1.

That scared me at first since on Spiderman we had compression issues when shooting high speed around 12:1.

Those issues seem to be gone.

In addition we will see further color science refinements according to Jim and Jarred.

Also, It seems that there are 8 circuit boards in the camera and many of them are still getting tweaked. 8 boards!!!!!!

Long ago I had a blown motherboard on my Red One and it cost $5000 to get it replaced. So the Dragon upgrade appears to be quite a deal......
 
This is some great footage, really enjoyed seeing the skin tone separation.
We've got some exciting stuff to look forward to!
Also excited to see some Canon still glass on the Dragon, thanks for the post Peter!

Best,
Chris
 
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