Nikon SLRs for Digital 35mm cinema

filmscheduling

filmscheduling

To make my next short, instead of shooting with a pricey >$20k HDCAM, I can buy a $1700 Nikon D2H.

It will be shot in 8FPS and then sped up in post to 24FPS. No location sound - the camera is going to be loud. Of course, the actors will have to move 3x more slowly - or not – but I’m interested in exploring that space. In post I could also do some interpolation and use stylized color grading or filters to achieve a unique look for the film.

Shooting in 2240x1448 or even 1504x1000 is easily better resolution than DVCPRO HD (1280x720 at 24FPS.) Blast the frames into Final Cut Pro HD and that is that. If I shoot in raw mode (3008x2000), and a postproduction house is nice to me then I could even finish on 2K at 2048x1556 and generate a nice 35mm filmout!

The D2H specs say that there's a 40 frame buffer, making for 5 seconds of shooting at 8FPS. This doesn't bother me as I've made films with windup Bolexes that have a max of 10secs per shot. However, I came across this interesting piece of information. (The writer is talking about the D70 but I'm sure it also applies to the D2H)

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d70.htm

"Nikon pulls some clever tricks with file writing so at JPG NORMAL and with a fast enough card you can shoot continuously till the card fills up since it writes as fast as it shoots... the camera-indicated buffer says one thing while the very clever writing schemes are working in the background with the correct cards. The dynamic buffering schemes are smarter than our ability to try to measure them the way we used to with all the previous static-buffer cameras, so just enjoy."

Pretty cool! Also - my shoot I'm not lugging around a huge, expensive camera. I'd normally prefer a gaffer to provide decent lighting. But if it's just me and a few actors, I could make my film practically anywhere - "tourists" don't normally require shooting permits.

For a 7-9min short I’m pretty excited about this approach. My last short was done in a traditional S16mm->HD->35mm filmout approach, so I’m interested in trying a less expensive method.

Thoughts?? Someone tell me why I’m nuts.. :cool:
 
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Is it Combustion that does inter-frame interpolation to create intermediate frames for slow motion? It would be interesting to try generating intermediate frames in software to get 16fps from 8fps, then speed that up to 24fps, which would only be a 50% increase in speed.

I've written some motion tracking software myself. If the motion is clean and the backgrounds aren't noisy (like grass and leaves blowing in the wind), you may be able to get some pretty decent intermediate frames.

What you are talking about is exactly why I have never understood why a camera like Red (http://www.red.com/) hasn't come to market already. With large, CMOS sensors, fast image processing electronics, and large storage arrays, Red seems like such an obvious solution. I don't want a 3 [tiny] CCD camera that records low resolution and compresses every frame to near death. Especially one that costs me more than an SLR with a 35mm format CMOS sensor and capture times nearly fast enough to match 24p.
 
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oakstreetphotovideo said:
What you are talking about is exactly why I have never understood why a camera like Red (http://www.red.com/) hasn't come to market already. With large, CMOS sensors, fast image processing electronics, and large storage arrays, Red seems like such an obvious solution. I don't want a 3 [tiny] CCD camera that records low resolution and compresses every frame to near death. Especially one that costs me more than an SLR with a 35mm format CMOS sensor and capture times nearly fast enough to match 24p.
Click to expand...

The problem isn't the sensor, it's a speed and storage problem. Either you write to tape or to a memory card. Tape means lots of moving parts. Memory cards are catching up (such as the P2) but they don't have as much storage capacity. Camera owners are already annoyed at the lack of storage capacity with the P2.. A 1080p HD frame is about 8meg.. that adds up to a lot of gigs on a 60min HDCAM tape..
 
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We've had RAID arrays capable of storing terabytes of data at 80MB/second and higher transfer rates for years. Of course, the cost of storage is going down, and we had to get to the point where magnetic or solid state storage was cost effective, but given the cost of the film to digital process, it seems like a $20K, reusable RAID array for recording would be a bargain. The Red will use a RAID array for storing high quality formats at high frame rates, or fast SATA drives for intermediate storage requirements. The time is ripe for a revolution in digital video at the $50K and under range. The benefits of a full frame, 35mm sensor are enormous, in my opinion. As I said before, I'm surprised that nobody has already offered such a camera. The wizards at Canon, Sony, or Panasonic could have done this.

(edit; changed GB to MB ... 80MB/s RAID is common, 80GB/s doesn't exist, to the best of my knowledge ... kind of a bad typo)
 
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