Cinematography : There is the camera and then there is delivery by Simon © Simon

In shooting, always know what the deliverables are and where it will be primarily displayed. The biggest constraints are in latitude and colour. This information and knowing the workflow are quite important considerations in shooting. If you do not know the deliverables in advance, assume the highest quality and then add a step of re-doing colour correction for the parameters of each deliverable. Many of the post path issues the article speaks of are being negated as the ACES system is adopted. ACES or Academy Colour Encoding System, was developed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. There is an emphasis on high dynamic range, wide colour gamut and accurate consistent workflows. It is worth reading about, been around for quite a few years so there is lots of info out there. Definitely where we are going for Theatrical and Network Television release and a pleasure to work in once you are past the learning curve. Usually, the best you can hope for is that somebody knows how to set up the monitors or projectors and actually does it.

Yeah I think that is the challenge. Making a movie for what could be... R.Rodriguez got lucky shooting Once Upon a Time in Mexico with 35mm as when Columbia wanted to buy it it was printable. I am coming from the angle of digital. Cost, and for Festival stuff. Like the page was written about. I saw your suggestion of the Sony Unpopular cam for 18k. How the next years model is out, so that is not so popular. Hence my title. But the real deal is the mix down, in my understanding. As stated full frame, etc all things being equal "The shots are in the folder" no more can... Shot with a cam that shoots 1920x1080 with 10bit, even 8bit. It seems as you stated using ACES (which I will read) having a good monitor calibrated, a clap board with a true color to mark the shot, etc. What is the difference with shooting a file with a red cam, full frame dslr, or a 3mos video camera. Other then spending as we agree, that rolling shutter is not there, on a big ticket camera, yet there is software that can hide most of it, and is really not that noticeable to the average. Maybe to a trained eye like yours. But how many you's are in the audience? If you edit, you know you can triple a layer and use a 2% Gaussian blur to fill the 1080 lines and enrich the other layers with filmic glow and bright & Contrast. Of course color correct after import. I am seriously asking, as a guy who has never submitted (yet) his work to a film festivals. From what I understand can is submitted as a DCP or Bluray and it is encourages to use Bluray as Ford Copella had a melt down this year in N.Y because his file would not play on the DCP On that thought how much of that 20k camera is retained on a Bluray mix? I saw the 4k tvs the other day and did see a huge diff. But the screens at the theater are no where near 4k.

We make pictures for ourselves. Showing them merely allow others peek. Bringing a DCP file only to be told there was no DCP projection could get anyone upset. The screening would then probably be in REC709 which is very different than the XYZ colorspace used in the DCP file that was brought. For the festival circuit, it is probably best to create releases in both standards and send the festival the picture in the standard they are displaying. Assuming they know, and don't change at the last minute. If they don't know what standard they will display, consider that information before entering. Make sure to encode the files at the highest quality. It is more work, but isn't your picture worth it? There is a difference in the look of images created using top end cameras & lenses. Actual recorded image resolution, colour, latitude and lens characteristics all show up on the screen. The one variable in that mix is the skill of the DP. A good DP can make a so-so camera look excellent. Skill & knowledge are an unfair advantage.

That is what I am getting at. Knowing how to use the settings of a camera that records with good bit depth, can get you a good enough shot to never be criticized at the showing. Along with edit, color correct, etc. I am sure that shooting with a 18k camera is great, but if you do not have a budget like that.... Is there a difference when exporting a 4k camera down to Bluray Vs that ENG camera with 3mos sensor in it. All things being equal. When that Bluray is blown up to 40 feet will the Red, shine better then that ENG. IF so why? Is it the 4000 pix opposed to the 1080? IF that is the case then a 1080 Dlsr competing against am ENG would come out = ? All thing being equal other then the camera....Not withstanding the mix down anyways.... Right?

The higher the quality of the original material, the higher the quality of the finished picture on a given display. We've all seen that when watching television at home and you switch from a "reality" show to a studio feature. Larger displays usually reveal larger differences. As you know, a basic understanding of how displays and imaging works helps. Numbers are great unless they are misleading. Displays that are 1920 x 1080 are an array of pixels with 1920 across and 1080 high, as you know. Each of those pixels displays a full RGB. In cameras that is not necessarily the case. With a very few rare exceptions. each photosite on a cameras sensor only sees one colour. Continuing with 1920 x 1080, a 3 chip (they are either CCD or CMOS) camera will have 1920 x 1080 photosites in each colour in RGB. A single sensor with a 1920 x 1080 photosite array is, with a couple of well-known exemptions. most often a "Bayer Pattern Sensor". Bayer Pattern sensors use a Colour Filter Array (CFA), which is individual colour filters over each photosite on the sensor, to make the photosites sensitive to either Red, Green or Blue. This results in a camera with a 1920 x 1080 Bayer Pattern sensor seeing less that that in each colour. The number of green photosites is 960 x 540, (half the sensor resolution) and both red and blue are 480 x 270, or one quarter the sensor resolution for each colour. The Bayer pattern image is then interpolated to a full 1920 x 1080 RGB with an algorithm. Bayer pattern cameras test at significantly less resolution that the total number of pixels in the array. So 1920 x 1080 "resolution", or any other camera "resolution" is not always what it seems, fan-boys be damned. The less interpolation the better the image quality seems to be. Thus the cameras are not all what you think. Add the lens quality, the quality of post path. and the skills of the artists creating the image to the mix and you can end up with spectacular images. Or not. All 3 sensor cameras are not the same. some make great images. There are some things you can do to 3 sensor cameras to maximize image quality for your picture. Correctly expose the images first and foremost. Know and use the camera adjustments to maximize the image you want. Carefully choose your lenses, if you are unsure of lenses, use the Zeiss Digi-primes most of which are amazingly good lenses. If you use a zoom you have a lot of testing ahead, since you will need to test a series of focal lengths at various f-stops to find the optimum settings, and the real stinkers. Light properly. Artistry in lighting while providing a scene that the camera system can capture is the aim. DSLRs are very nice still cameras with high numbers of photosites in still mode. When shooting motion most DSLRs drop columns and rows of photosites to lessen the amount of information flowing to the image processors. You do not get the full still frame number of photosites the cameras compete over, but whatever number is applicable for the motion standard the camera is set to usually in a Bayer Pattern. The actual image resolution is far from what many assume based on the specifications. To compare cameras you need to know what they actually do. Use the same test procedure and you build a knowledge base for yourself that you can trust. Since everything you do will be based on your testing, do not trust anyone else's tests. If you want to know what they will look like when projected, arrange to have your images projected and watch them with cold objectivity. Sorry, but there are no reliable shortcuts here.

Andrew thanks for well written response. Great info in there. Yes, the sensor is a closely guarded secret. I do understand the interpolation. On that note. (Since I do not have a big screen to preview tests) Maybe you know... As in a 422 Cmos situation, all colors are compromised, along with quality. While in editing, couldn't one clean it up via saturate some of the color that may be lost due to the interpolation of color? Or will it be evident when blown up on a 40 foot screen. Like blowing up a 480i on a 60 inch? Albeit the 480 is much more dramatic example of pixelation. For instance, a camera like this cleaned up in editing. Would this show up as a pixelated mess on a 40ft screen? I know that I could get the shot and get it clean. In editing I use Cs6, I know I can speed grade the color, no prob. With a calibrated monitor of course. Curious your thoughts on this one, for a ultra budget. Considering how they shot Crank with Jason Stathem http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/HC-X920K

Unfortunately, no. Increasing saturation will not make up for loss of information in 4:2:2. The missing information is lowered chroma resolution not lowered overall chroma levels. Increasing the chroma level does not provide the missing information. If you had a 4 letter word written in a colour and two of the letters were missing, increasing the font size would show more colour on the page, but it would not fill in the missing letters. Good outside of the box idea though.

Thanks for your insight Andrew, it really helped. I spent hours today reading. I found this guys blog, really good stuff. He has an article called camera conundrum Here is his link if you would like to check him out sometime. http://philipbloom.net/2012/03/13/digitalbolex/ If that Digitalbolex could shoot and not need 250gb ssd for 30 minutes of vid... That link is for his website, see his article over there called camera conundrum. Good stuff. Do you know by any chance, the minimum mpg file, a studio wants in order for them to buy the master from someone via the festivals, for say distribution? Anyone? IE: I was reading, and found the academy awards only accepts min 2k jpg2000 24fps with a min of 3 audio LR and center for dialogue. Not that any of my shorts I'm planning on shooting this next year, are headed to the awards, but I think it would be a good idea to have a file sell able if the opportunity were to arise. Unless you know of a resource to find that out? Thanks again SF

I wanted to add this link that explains chroma recording "if you will". 444,422,420, etc. This is a great way to get an understanding of the processing of a camera's sample rate.. Albeit a FCP manual it applies to all. i added this, for a deeper explanation and quite frankly the decision to be made if really a 444 camera is going to be noticed. To the human eye. At this point with the projectors and screens the bulk of us have. 4k excluded, until they are 499. at the box stores. http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/usermanual/index.html#chap...