Camera types...

pianoman66 said:

Ok, so we had a guest presenter today for our screen production lecture today at Uni and he started talking about the levels of cameras and their uses. A lot of it went over my head as I'm only a first year and it was mainly directed at graduates in the lecture. He pretty much listed something like this from high end to low end from a professional perspective (its missing a lot, I'm trying to remember off the top of my head)

FILM/CINEMA/ADS:

SONY .... F (something)

ARR ALEXA

RED .... something about SCARLET

SONY F3 - can be connect to a (samurai i think) to record in ProRes? What is ProRes?

DSLR


TV/BROADCAST/DAY TO DAY:


... something similar to the sony f3 but with a larger depth of field


SONY VP1

.. then the consumer stuff I think (like HDV etc.)


Can something fill in the gaps? I guess I would just like an overview of whats available, most of the stuff he talked about was to do with the size of the chip and the range of depth of field between cameras for tv/broadcast and stuff for the cinema/film. Where do things like 1080i fit in? he talked about 1080p a lot, and then the cameras going up to 2K and 4K, would something like a consumer CANON HV30 1080i even register on the scale?

He also kept mentioning the numbers 444 and 442 i think - what are these?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

Woa. Hitting on quite a few things here.

From the top. Here are some cameras.

Professional HD cameras (really expensive, but really good):
-ARRI Alexa
-RED Scarlett
-RED Epic
-Sony F3
-Panasonic AF-100

Those are generally wayyy out of peoples price range ($5,000-80,000)

HD-DSLRs (Great image quality to price ratio):
-Canon 5D mk ii & iii
-Canon 7D
-Panasonic GH1 & 2
-Canon 60D (or 550D)

Those usually are within the budgets of our level. ($600-3,500)

Prosumer Camcorders:
-HDV
-Canon XA10
-Panasonic HPX-170

ProRes is a high quality video codec. All cameras record in a certain video codec (AVCHD, H.264, etc.) There are some that are easier to edit with because NLE (non-linear editing) systems communicate with them better.

1080i, 1080p, 2k, and 4k are all resolution sizes. Here is a list of HD resolutions from lowest to highest quality:
-720i
-720p
-1080i
-1080p
-2k
-4k

The "i" in 1080i stands for interlaced where as the "p" in 1080p stands for progressive. You can google the difference.

As far as 4:4:4 and 4:4:2 look here

Basically what you want to look for in a camera depends on what you want to film. If it's high quality films then a HD DSLR might be for you. If it's filming live events/etc. then a prosumer camera may be a better choice. Either way, here are some basic things you want from a camera:

-24 fps (frames per second) frame rate (how many image frames are captured a second)
-720p (minimum resolution)
-The bigger the image sensor, the better the quality
-Interchangable lenses (well, I find this handy)
-REMEMBER THAT SOUND IS 2/3 OF YOUR FILM/VIDEO. Keep that in mind when buying equipment. (if you get a DSLR you might want to look into a field recorder).

Hope I helped a little!

pianoman66 -

Friend, you seriously need to make an investment in your film future by buying and using one of these to record your lectures, review later, take real notes (synergistic learning: hear it, write it, see it), while developing comfortable practical experience with the tools of the trade.



Michael Rogers -

D@mn fine reply post.




Also...
Regarding 1080i/p
That's discussing the camera's imaging sensor, typically a CMOS sensor in most consumer and prosumer cameras and camcorder/video cameras.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_resolutions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080p


Different sensor sizes will give you better... all sorts of things.
Mainly, a larger sensor provides for a narrower Depth of Field (DOF) options, good for focusing the audience's attention.
A larger sensor also provides a better range of colors within a fixed display area, basically like the difference between a 24-bit BitMap image vs. a 256 color BitMap image: same size image, different number of colors available.

Michael Rogers said:

Professional HD cameras (really expensive, but really good):
-ARRI Alexa
-RED Scarlett
-RED Epic
-Sony F3
-Panasonic AF-100

Click to expand...

Great explanation there I think you could break the high-end gear down even further though…

Right at the top - ARRI Alexa, RED Epic, Sony F65 ($50,000 plus)
More mid-range - Sony F3, RED Scarlet, Canon C300 ($10,000 plus)
Low-end professional - Panasonic AF-100, Sony FS100 (sub $10,000)

This board is such a great resource for university students.

Clearly the university isn't answering the students questions.
What the hell are you students paying for? Just come to indietalk
and save your money. Be sure to buy the Premiere membership.

directorik said:

This board is such a great resource for university students.

Clearly the university isn't answering the students questions.
What the hell are you students paying for? Just come to indietalk
and save your money. Be sure to buy the Premiere membership.

Click to expand...

Does the premiere membership come with a Bachelors Degree?

Michael Rogers said:

Does the premiere membership come with a Bachelors Degree?

Click to expand...

Better.

Thanks to people like you, people actually learn something they
can take to the workplace.

A bachelors degree in film.. thats funny.. who gets a job with a degree like that? Get a degree in biz and do a film biz... this from a highschool drop out.. so dont listen to me!