[opendtv] DSLRs Push HD Video Envelope

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:54:37 -0500

Harkens back to some ancient discussions about why HDTV cameras should 
necessarily be considered a big cost item.

Bert

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http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/105770

DSLRs Push HD Video Envelope
by Craig Norris, 08.30.2010

HONG KONG
Independent filmmakers never had it so good. And now low-budget television 
producers are in high-definition heaven too. The reason: 1080p high-quality 
video recording with impressive low light sensitivity and diverse lens options 
in terms of focal lengths and large apertures-seemingly for less than the price 
of a professional DV camcorder.

The enabler is the latest wave of digital still cameras that incorporate HD 
video recording. Although not the first to offer the feature of HD video 
recording, the Canon 5D Mark II can be given credit for being the first digital 
SLR camera to be taken seriously in the TV production community, and for 
chalking up some impressive credits, like the entire season finale of the 
popular medical drama "House."

"Saturday Night Live" has also used the 5D Mark II for some sketches and show 
openers. It's not so much that they are short of money and looking for a budget 
solution; it's more that they had many ideas for sketches and clips but had to 
put a lot of the ideas on the back-burner because the production manager 
calculations proved the cost and effort to be unjustifiable.

The outcome of the calculations changed completely when the 5D Mark II was 
plugged into the equation in place of traditional broadcast equipment (see 
sidebar).

Besides the Canon 5D Mark II there are at least 14 other digital still cameras 
that can be used in a similar way to the 5D Mark II. Most of them are limited 
to 720p or 1080i rather than 1080p.

NOT A PERFECT SOLUTION, YET

Understandably, there's a lot of excitement around the industry because the 
price performance ratio is extremely good for these cameras as video recording 
tools. But in all cases, there are several shortcomings that take the edge off 
the enthusiasm for some users, once the full story about the product design and 
camera performance is understood.

It's somewhat like being told that a new car is readily available that can do 
zero to 60 in three seconds and a top speed of 300 for a price of only $5,000. 
But on closer inspection you find that this car has no brakes, and there's no 
steering wheel, and the windscreen is really difficult to see through, and you 
can only drive it for a maximum of 10 minutes at a time and then you have to 
wait for it to cool down. In other words, there's a reason it's so cheap; 
several reasons, in fact.

It's quite obvious when you place any of these digital cameras side by side 
with a professional camcorder that the digital still cameras are almost nothing 
like a camcorder.

Thirty years of evolution of all the design philosophies that give a real 
camcorder the features and form factor that we enjoy today seems totally absent 
from digital still cameras. Below is a basic list of broadcast camcorder design 
assumptions that you won't find on most of today's DSLRs.

These are all things that we've come to expect of a broadcast camcorder but 
can't be found in most of the digital still cameras under discussion. And this 
is not the complete list.

But cheap is cheap, and where there's a will there's a way, and so it is that 
many innovative companies are doing their best to make up for the deficiencies 
of DSLRs in order to make the still camera viable for use in professional video 
production. Companies like Redrock Micro, Zacuto, DVTEC, and others are selling 
rigs that help one hold and use a digital SLR like it was a camcorder. And the 
existing product lines that helped DV become more usable are also helpful to 
the DSLR user. Products like the well-known Manfrotto Fig Rig are enjoying an 
extended life beyond the DV camcorder, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of 
the digital SLR cameras.

CAMERA RIGS

It seems like a ridiculous thing to say, but the most basic problem with 
digital still cameras is that one can't hold them in the way that a motion 
picture camera needs to be held. Using a tripod is one simple answer that helps 
in some situations, but there's a lot more to shooting video than just a 
camera. Also requiring attachment to the tripod or handheld rig are an external 
viewfinder/monitor, a matte box, a follow focus knob, a wireless mic receiver, 
cable harness, and so on.

The concept isn't new. "Build-up kits" have been made available since long ago 
so that smaller cameras and camcorders ordinarily used for field production 
could also be used in a studio setting. Even HDCAM camcorders need rigs to make 
them work like a film movie camera. But with digital still cameras, a build-up 
kit is needed to make the camera practical for any kind of video shooting, 
whether handheld or on a tripod. Plan for spending a figure in the order of 
$5,000 on the rigging and accessories that you may need to make a digital still 
camera seem like a good video production tool.

The suggested $5,000 is just so the camera can be held, moved and monitored 
like a video camera normally needs to be. But what about the audio? Most of the 
cameras can only record mono sound, or perhaps a 44.1 kHz 16 bit PCM audio 
stereo pair, and even then, only through a 3.5mm mini plug at best. At least 
one camera only records mono sound through a 2.5mm very mini plug. Many of the 
cameras have no facility to manually set the audio record level.

Given the DSLR's shortcomings when it comes to audio, the best solution is to 
record the sound separately, and there are now a lot of nice solid-state 
portable audio recording and mixing devices from Roland, Sony, Zoom, BeachTek 
and others for that purpose. The sound recorder and mixer may also need 
attachment to the DSLR rigging, and what we now see is almost a complex 
"scaffolding" arrangement that holds various devices in support of the digital 
SLR to make the whole collective become equivalent to what a normal broadcast 
camcorder has always been. To some, it starts to look like a bit of a 
Frankenstein, but that's actually a part of its appeal to other users. It may 
be an ugly baby, but from the point of view of the DOP on a tight budget, it's 
my baby, and is therefore beautiful to me.

SQUEEZING THE MIDDLE GROUND

In the overall scheme of things, these HD video capable digital still cameras 
are now accepted in the low end of the market as a primary acquisition device, 
and are also now largely accepted in the high end of the market as a secondary 
or supplementary camera.

In the case of the season finale of the medical drama "House" aired in May, the 
Canon 5D Mark II was the primary camera for the whole episode for two key 
reasons. Firstly, director Greg Yaitanes wanted to convey extreme emotional 
states through the use of very shallow depth of field. The large 36mm x 24mm 
sensor in the 5D Mark II requires much longer lenses compared with the usual 
35mm movie film or HDCAM CineAlta cameras, and can thereby provide a very 
shallow depth of field when needed. Secondly, a large part of the episode was 
shot in very tight spaces, requiring a smaller and more agile camera rig. In 
other words, it's horses for courses, as always. If you need extreme deep depth 
of field, such as was deliberately chosen for the classic film "Citizen Kane," 
the 5D Mark II may not the best choice.

What we're seeing is a squeezing of the middle ground. The HD video image 
quality from consumer level still cameras is remarkable enough to make indy 
film producers jump ship from their trusty DV and HDV camcorder world. And the 
ever-reducing prices of HD broadcast equipment like the HDCAM-EX are attacking 
the DV and HDV market from above.

But there's no free lunch. The shortcomings hinted at in this article are now 
the subject of a lot of product development at Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony, 
Pentax and their other competitors. We can expect plenty of improvements at 
this low end of the market in the coming years. But just to add a little extra 
confusion where none was needed, this year's NAB unveiled new prosumer 
camcorder lines from Sony and Panasonic. The key feature mentioned for each is 
the use of the same large image sensors as in their digital still cameras. Look 
out for the new Panasonic camcorders based on their Four Thirds format sensor. 
And look out for Sony's new NEX-VG series camcorders using the same APS-C 
format sensor as the NEX and Alpha series still cameras.

The era of the low-priced large sensor camcorder with interchangeable lenses is 
coming, if not already here. One can't dismiss the desirability of these 
cameras. Even a conservative and highly credible company like Zeiss has 
acknowledged the validity of these tools and is already making a new series of 
high-quality prime cine lenses for the Canon EOS mount. Ironically, the company 
most worried about this new trend is probably RED. I say ironic because it was 
RED who pioneered the use of a single large Bayer array sensor for professional 
HD video capture. And now the marketing power and financial might of the 
world's biggest electronics manufacturers is behind the push to create whole 
new lines of products in a whole new low price category where even RED cannot 
compete. These are interesting times.
 
 
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