Cameras in Your Future

Peeking Over the Horizon

Sony's XDCAM camcorders can capture four tracks of 16-bit, 48KHzaudio, including one track from the on-board mic and one from awireless receiver.

While Nostradamus doesn't hold a candle to Moore in our industry, amagic crystal ball might prove helpful in predicting some of thechanges in function, design, and storage that lie ahead for cameras andcamcorders in the next decade. If Moore's Law alone held, then denserchips every 18 months would render all cameras cheaper or, for the sameprice, more powerful. There is some reality to this, but of coursedigital cameras are far more than chips and ICs. Advances in lensdesign and recording media, manufacturers' product cycles, the worldeconomy — these follow their own distinct rhythms.

What we can safely predict, pre-NAB, are the growing effects of araft of developments and design trends unleashed in the Big Bang of NAB‘03. Competing manufacturers will embrace or express thesedifferently. Bring your own scorecard to Vegas in April.

With purchases by American consumers finally taking off and cheaperHD-capable TVs hitting the market, and with the advent of under-$2000,10-bit HD-SDI capture cards from the likes of Blackmagic Design,affordable digital HD has finally arrived.

Over the years, Schneider Optics has gained areputation as a leading designer and manufacturer of top qualitylenses, filters, and other optical devices for film, video, and stillphotography. But will that reputation be enough to convince you toreplace Sony's internal filter wheels in the HDW-F900 and F950 CineAltacameras? While the changes offered in this dual set of eight filtersseem minimal, the German company insists that these are surprisinglyimportant. The consistent thickness from filter to filter on eachwheel, says the company, ensures that backfocus settings will remainconstant when those internal filters are changed, especially when usingwide-angle lenses. www.centuryoptics.com

An early shot over the bow was JVC's introduction at NAB '03 of theJY-HD10U camcorder. Small, handheld, and the size and cost (under $4K)of a Sony PD150, it uses MPEG-2 compression to capture 720/30p onstandard MiniDV tape and provides realtime up/down conversion among1080i, 720p, 480/60p, and 480/60i. In July of 2003, JVC, Canon, Sharp,and Sony announced their new “HDV” standard, basically thesame as JVC's: 8 bit, 4:2:0, 19Mbps for 720p, 25Mbps for 1080i, and allrecorded on MiniDV tapes.

Now, JVC's JY-HD10U is no stranger to noticeable MPEG-2 artifactsand its color rendition is somewhat flat, given a single, prism-less,Bayer color-filtered 1.18 megapixel CCD. But should we not expect tosee, in short order, HDV versions of Canon's and Sony's best-known,pace-setting MiniDV prosumer camcorders?

At NAB '03, Canadian newcomer Dalsa unveiled its Origin DigitalCinema Camera: a large, lumbering beast containing a single 35mm-sized,progressive-scan, 8-megapixel frame-transfer CCD in a 4K × 2Karray four times the resolution of HD. Featuring a spinning-mirroroptical viewfinder and PL mount for conventional 35mm motion picturelenses, the Origin's aspirations were not hard to figure out.

With its second-generation DNS-201W Editcam II, Ikegamiproves its pioneering concept — pairing a compact camera withdual hard drive storage — works in tough situations. NFL teamsincluding the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens use it for trainingand scouting as part of Pinnacle Systems' Team Sports package. Thenewly designed FieldPak FP-S4 disk drives include features likeRetroloop and Timelapse recording. www.ikegami.com

In the recent November issue of Millimeter, camera inventorJeff Kreines announced the upcoming NAB debut of his version of thesame thing, the Kinetta, not much larger than a Sony PD150 andconsiderably cheaper than Dalsa's Origin. (Smaller sensor, no spinningmirror.)

What both of these lack is video encoding, at least in signalcapture. Instead of luminance and chrominance components, both outputRGB, much like digital still cameras. Joining them in this areThomson's Viper FilmStream, introduced at NAB '02, and Sony's enhancedCineAlta HDC-F950, introduced at NAB '03. Sony took things a stepfurther, also introducing the HDCAM SR format for tape capture of 4:4:4RGB signals to newly announced studio and field decks.

All of these cameras are distinguished by what they lack. Inaddition to conventional video encoding, they lack settings for: gamma,highlight clipping, black levels, white balance, aperture correction(AKA enhancement or detail), dynamic contrast control … you nameit. Basically you point, frame, focus, set the lens aperture andshutter angle, and add optical filters as desired. Just like a filmcamera. Gain, gamma (contrast) correction, white balance, highlightcompression, and the like can be adjusted after the fact. Just like inPhotoshop.

It's worth noting that, with the exception of the Viper FilmStream,all of these digital cinema cameras feature variable frame rates from1fps to 24fps and beyond. While the tape-based CineAlta HDC-F950camera/recorder relies on clever manipulation of pulldown, the Dalsaand Kinetta output to inherently nonlinear disk capture devices.

While Lucasfilmtook the first of Fujinon's HAe5x6-Fs for work on the latestStar Wars feature, the 6-30mm, T 1.8 zooms now turn up in moredown-to-earth productions. For example, in The Blobheads, aCanada/UK co-production produced by DECODE and Wark Clements. Used asthe primary lens on a Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta, the production uses it toreplace primes, according to director of photography George Hosek, whopraises the lens' sharpness, minimal breathing, and ramping, notingthat “We shoot at 2.8 aperture most of the time, but even withaperture 1.8, the images are flawless.” www.fujinon.com

Another development that is rapidly becoming mainstream in thelatest video camcorders is the incorporation of a memory cache forcapturing several seconds of video (let's say seven). This permits adelay before committing to tape, which in turn enables several newtechniques. “Retro-loop” permits the constant reading-in,or replenishing, of images into the cache, so that when the cameraoperator presses the record button, the duration of the“loop” — seven seconds — is captured to tapealong with whatever follows. Basically it's reaching back andretrieving seven seconds of the past. This might prove particularlyuseful in trimming the overshooting now rampant in documentary and“reality” programming.

An internal memory cache also permits intervalometer-like time-lapserecording in the camera, which can be reviewed instantly — animpossibility with film. Memory cache was introduced as an optionalboard (with separate price tag) in Sony's MSW-900 MPEG IMX at NAB '02,but now appears as a standard feature in Sony's “XDCAM”PDW-530 (same IMX camera, new optical disc back). You'll also find itnewly incorporated into the feature set of Panasonic's upgradedAG-DVX100A MiniDV camcorder.

It used to be a three-CCD world. But diversity will be the watchwordin years to come. Large CMOS sensors have made inroads in the area ofdigital still cameras (Canon, Kodak, and others), and at NAB '03, twosmall HD box cameras from Ikegami and JVC introduced 2.2-megapixel,2/3-in. CMOS “system-on-a-chip” sensors from RockwellScientific. Why? Unlike CCDs, individual CMOS pixels possess their owntransistors and are assignable. They can be assigned to capture“native” 1080i, 1080p/30, and 720p or switch between 4:3and 16:9 directly on the chip. Rockwell also claims that its ProCamHDCMOS sensors consume 20 percent of the power of comparable CCDs, yetdeliver better response across the color spectrum.

Single-chip CCD designs are cropping up everywhere too: Dalsa'sOrigin, JVC's JY-HD10U, Arriflex's (yes, that Arri) experimentalD-20 project (actually, a 35mm-sized CMOS) unveiled at IBC inSeptember, even Jeff Kreines' Kinetta. Like inexpensive consumersingle-chip camcorders, they rely on a “Bayer filter”technique. Instead of three CCDs rigidly aligned to one another on acomplex beam-splitting prism, one CCD or CMOS sensor is used.Individual pixels are covered with red, green, or blue filters (orsometimes the complementary magenta, cyan, or yellow), usually formingclusters of GRGB, where two green pixels exist for every red/greenpairing. (his doubles apparent resolution because the human visualsystem more readily registers green as detail. The eye, of course,fails to resolve individual pixel clusters, instead seeing an amalgamof white.

The simplicity of this sensor design speaks for itself. One sensoris always cheaper than three, and minus the optical distortions of abeam-splitter, conventional still and motion picture lenses can bere-purposed.

16:9 rules in HD and the latest standard-def digital video cameras.But both the Viper and Dalsa Origin CCD designs also provide for nativeCinemascope-style 2.35:1 widescreen capture — without the use ofanamorphic lenses or adapters. Precepts of “digital cinema”have just begun to exert their influence on camera and camcorder design— stay tuned.

More than just a standard, accepted technique of feature filmand commercial production, shifting focus to control attention iscrucial to a director's vision. But until 16×9 Incintroduced the DV Studio Rig from Alfred Chrosziel, thatcouldn't be done with DV camcorders. The German company's long film andvideo pedigree shows in the smooth, well-machined feel of the rig,which features a patent-pending direct drive design to eliminate thebacklash of standard belt drive mechanisms. www.16x9inc.com

Nonlinear Camcorder Recording

Editing embraced nonlinear recording in the ‘90s and neverlooked back. Now it's the camcorder's turn. Ikegami, in tandem withAvid, has been developing hard-drive based Camcutter and Editcamsystems for years. But at NAB '03, three major manufacturers —Sony, Panasonic, and JVC — took tapeless camcorder design downthree (naturally) radically novel paths.

Sony has meshed a proprietary, high-density, re-writable blue-laser(405 nm) “Professional Optical Disc” technology with itsrecent MSW-900 MPEG IMX camcorder to create two new XDCAM camcorders,the PDW-510 DVCAM and PDW-530 MPEG IMX/DVCAM. In the process, it haseliminated so many fragile parts — tape guides, spinning drums,magnetic heads — that it intends to offer (borrowing from theauto industry) an unprecedented seven-year “power train”warranty on XDCAM products. And note that versatile disc recordingpermits the introduction of the first camcorder that can switch codecs— between MPEG and DV — something fixed tape formats couldnever dream of.

Kodak's Vision2 family of film stocks debuted in 2002with Vision2 500T color negative. It garnered great approval for itsfine image structure and color handling combined with useful speed. InDecember the next film in the family, Vision2 Expression 500T colornegative, came to market, offering DPs more choices. Kodak describesthe new emulsion as a 500-speed film designed to render images with asofter look, such as smoother skin tones and “a more subduedrange of contrast and color saturation.” The film is also said tofeature noticeable reduction in apparent grain and broader latitude forunder- and overexposure. www.kodak.com

At NAB 2003, Panasonic displayed a mock-up of a DV-based camcorderthat would record to PCMCIA memory cards, reducing moving parts tozero, not to mention camcorder noise. (I can hear a big cheer out therefrom audio recordists.) Panasonic also claims a weight reduction of upto 40 percent. The company's idea is to pack four 1GB chips into asingle PCMCIA card, for up to 18 minutes of 25Mbps recording time. Aworking product at NAB i2004 is eagerly anticipated. So is word ofmemory card pricing.

JVC elected for a simpler, less costly solution, offering adockable, 40GB hard disk drive system called the DR-DV5000. The devicesmartly mounts to and integrates with its popular DV-based GY-DV5000Ucamcorder, which displays hard-disk status and playback information inthe viewfinder. Its recording functions are controlled by the camera;it can record simultaneous back-ups of what is being recorded to tape.Its nonlinear recording capabilities include time-lapse and retro-looprecording. In fact, the DR-DV5000 is basically an enclosure that cancontain any suitable FireWire drive, which an owner can hot-swap atwill.

Third parties are entering the tapeless recording fray too. BaytechCinema has introduced its CineRAM Digital Cinematography Recorder,which sandwiches between the body and battery of an SD or HD camcorderand captures uncompressed images directly to RAM. Another company,S.two, has introduced an outboard nonlinear solution for RGB 4:4:4 and2K image acquisition cameras. Its D.MAG family of portable digital diskrecorders is designed for instant changeover in the field and supportstimecode as well as six channels of audio recording.

Whichever approach succeeds best, one thing is certain: head clogswill become a thing of the past.

At NAB '03, Sony introduced a surprisingly clear, sharp HDVF-C30Whigh-res color LCD viewfinder measuring 2.7in. diagonally. Cool newfeatures included a viewfinder zoom mode for fine focusing, excellentpeaking control, and an internal grayscale display to aid exposure andlighting decisions.

The vaunted Cooke lens manufacturer, brought back fromthe brink of bankruptcy by Les Zellan, ZGC Inc., creates its first“video lens for the 21st century,” the S4 HD zoom. TheEnglish company, which began making lenses in the 19th century,translated its award-winning S4 film lens design to video. The designincludes clear calibrated focus scales positioned relative to the focalplane with viewing windows; two opposing focus, zoom, and iris scales;non-pumping internal focus and zoom movements; and a unique cammechanism for back focus adjustment, said to ensure optical andmechanical alignment remains true.

Another company, AccuScene, showed a 1280 × 1024 pixel color HDviewfinder based on ferro-electric liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS)technology — equally clear, colorful, and lifelike. There's oneproblem, though. Both viewfinder systems are priced over $10K. That dogdon't hunt. But the writing's on the wall. The last trace of theblack-and-white TV era in professional camcorders is poised to depart.The small color LCD screens sprouting on the side of the latestprofessional camcorders from Sony and others are a bridge toward thatgoal. And while we're at it, why not add a waveform display capabilityto that LCD? What could be handier or more useful?

Sony's MPEG-based IMX and XDCAM camcorders can capture four tracksof 16-bit, 48 KHz audio, including one track from the on-board mic andone from an optional built-in wireless receiver. The dual XLR inputsare easily switched to +48V for analog mics requiring power, or toAES-EBU input for digital line feeds. There are two mini phonoheadphone jacks, front and back, for convenience. Yes, things aregetting better in the neglected land of camcorder audio capture. One ofthe highlights of Sony's new PD170 (successor to the PD150) is a 6dBS/N improvement in the manual recording mode. Those of you who survivedthe preamp problems of the early PD150 know what I'm talking about.