NAB Preview

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NAB Preview

LAS VEGAS, March 23, 2007, Carolyn Giardina --- Technology developers are busy making preparation for the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, which this year will be held April 14-19 in Las Vegas.

And it looks like one of the most anticipated areas will be cameras, as well as related film and digital workflows that involve tools for on-set color correction, metadata and tapeless storage.
Film remains the dominant medium for commercial cinematography, yet the production community is awaiting the unveiling of some new digital cameras.

Among those is the debut of Sony's F23, the high-end addition to the CineAlta line of digital 24p systems. Sony reported that the F23 would offer 1920x1080 4:4:4 RGB imaging, as well as some new features. It uses three 2.2 megapixel 2/3-inch type progressive CCD imagers and a 14-bit A/D converter. The system will support 1080/23.98P, 24P, 25P, 29.97P, 50P, 59.94P, 50i and 59.94i formats.The SRW-1 digital 4:4:4 recorder will dock directly to the top or to the tail of the new system.
When more mobility is required, the recorder can also be tethered using a dual-link cable connection so that the camera is as small and light as possible.

Meanwhile, Sony said the camera body is designed to be compatible with a variety of film camera accessories, including bridge plates, matte boxes and follow focus units. These can be attached to the unit without modification. For increased durability and reliability and to withstand the numerous lens changes that often happen on location, the F23 system will use a new, harder material for its B4 lens mount.

Sony camera products at NAB will also include entry-level HDV camcorders and the mid-priced XDCAM optical production gear.
Another company that will be carefully watched is Oakley founder Jim Jannard's startup Red, which is promising the first showing of the developing Red One camera. Many view the news of the developing technology—that for a base price of $17,500 would produce 4k imagery—as an important one that could help the democratization of filmmaking by bringing advanced capabilities to the masses. Still, the company continues to have harsh critics who question the company's ability to meet its lofty stated goals.

According to Red, the company has already taken roughly 1,500 "reservations" for the camera (which requires a $1,000 refundable deposit). SHOOT recently spoke with Red's Ted Schilowitz, who goes by the title "leader of the rebellion." He reported that development was on track and the plan was to show at NAB a working prototype of the Red camera, although he was not sure at what stage of development. He related that there would be "no major changes" to the previously announced spec, which includes the Red-developed Mysterium Super 35 mm sized sensor. The camera body is said to weigh roughly 8lbs. and offer a 35mm PL lens mount.The company is loosely targeting early to mid 2007 to ship the camera, along with the Red Cine software and 300mm Prime lens in a similar timeframe.

Panasonic is planning to arrive at NAB with news on its P2 technology. It will introduce a 16GB P2 card for its line of P2-based solid-state camcorders with deliveries scheduled to begin in May. In addition, Panasonic also announced that it's developing a 32GB P2 card that will be available by the end of the year.

"P2 offers ultra reliability, flexible IT infrastructure compatibility and a dramatic increase in recording capacity at a progressively lower cost," said Robert Harris, VP of marketing at Panasonic Broadcast. " One of the promises of P2 solid state is basically over time the capability will increase and costs will go down."
He added that other advantages is that it is solid state, meaning that there are no moving parts; and that it works with a computer "so you can edit right on the card, you don't have to digitize or transfer it."
Panasonic's currently slated announcements also include the introduction of the AG HPX5000, a new 'workhorse" camera in the P2 line designed for independent producers and targeted for a May release; and "P2 Gear," the AG-HPG10 portable viewer/player/field recorder that is expected to be available in July. Harris also reported that Panasonic plans to show an inventive technology for post facilities. "We created a processor unit that attaches to the HD D5 deck and allows one to record and process 2K digital cinema images," he said. "This allows you to capture the images in their full format resolution on a D5 machine. So for postproduction facilities, you have a capability they didn't have before and that can leverage the D5 machine."The new unit, the AJ-HDP2000, is expected to ship in August for $35,000.

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