The Digital Survival Guide: Part 2 of 2

In part two of our Digital Survival Guide, we continue our look at some of the latest digital motion picture cameras. If you missed part 1, check it out here.
In 2006, the independent movie making world was rocked by the introduction of the RED One digital camera. This camera was surprising for two primary reasons: its ability to shoot at 4K resolution(more than double that of competing HD cameras) and its base price of only $17,500. The net effect of RED’s introduction onto the scene has been the democratization of the tools of filmmaking.
Armed with a RED, a nice set of 35mm lenses and of course a modicum of talent in front of and behind the camera a user can create imagery equal or superior to anything a 35mm film camera can achieve. Shooting to solid-state flash memory cards, RED’s workflow can be complex and daunting but it’s ultimately intended for compatibility with relatively inexpensive editing software such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere.
With RED, the glass ceiling has broken and with even more cameras on the way at lower prices, RED clearly has its sights set on getting film quality digital motion picture imaging into the hands of anyone who wants it. Hollywood is just getting accustomed to the idea of RED as several big-budget motion pictures have gone or are going into production with the camera, including Steven Soderbergh’s Che and Knowing, which stars Nicolas Cage.
Silicon Imaging also offers a digital camera with relatively low pricing and high-end specs to provide another alternative to film capture. With its 2/3” 16:9 CMOS sensor, the SI-2K can shoot standard definition, HD in 720 and 1080 and up to 2K using PL mount and C-mount HD and 16mm cinema lenses. A variety of over and under-cranking options are also available, where the maximum frame rate depends on the capture resolution.
At SD the camera goes up to 150 fps, while at 720p the maximum frame rate is 85 fps. The SI-2K camera offers cinema style lens mounts and 2K image capture to the Cineform RAW codec for around $29,000. Movies shot with the SI-2K include The Dark Country starring Thomas Jane (Boogie Nights, The Punisher) and Slumdog Millionaire from director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later.)
The Phantom HD is yet another digital alternative to film whose speciality is very high-speed image capture. Phantom is capable of shooting up to 1,000 frames per second at 2K resolution, fully uncompressed using an array of ultra-fast onboard flash memory and PL-mount cinema lenses. To put that in perspective, an event that takes only 7 seconds to occur in real-time takes more than 7 minutes to playback when photographed at 1,000 frame per second.
Highly suitable to action movies, commercials and music videos, the Phantom slows time down to an art form and provides an unparalleled look into motion at unprecedented slow speeds. Phantom comes primarily as a rental camera complete with a utility to convert the camera’s native Cine file format into QuickTime and Video for Windows compatible files ready for editing in the NLE of choice.
The high-speed alternative on the film side is much more expensive because unfortunately film is charged by the foot and shooting high speed burns through film at an alarmingly expensive rate. Furthermore, with Phantom’s digital nature, complex actions can be reviewed immediately to see if everything went as planned. With high-speed film shoots, the production must wait until the next day’s dailies to see if a shot actually worked, when expensive sets and actors may be already unavailable.
Film no longer has the playing field all to itself, with viable, production-ready digital cameras here today and more on the way the choice has never been wider. Producers can now pick the camera that suits not only their creative vision but also meets their budget requirements. Never before in the history of filmmaking has so much opportunity been available to movie makers with a desire to make their mark. And as with all technological things, development constantly continues to make digital movie making less expensive with higher quality. The digital future is now.

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