FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY: THE ARRIFLEX D-20
At IBC 2003, ARRI presented the D-20 concept, which has received enthusiastic
praise from cinematographers and rental houses alike. Starting in the Fall of
2004, ARRI will place D-20 pre-production units into the field for trial
productions to further fine tune the D-20 to the needs and desires of
cinematographers and producers. These cameras will be made available through
ARRI rental houses to selected productions that are interested in experimenting
with innovative workflows and are eager to make use of a modern film style high
definition camera.
FILM STYLE CREATIVE OPTIONS BY DESIGN
Since the single 6 Megapixel CMOS sensor at the heart of the D-20 has the
same size as a Super 35 mm film aperture, the D-20 uses the same lenses as 35 mm
film cameras. This makes the vast range and excellent optical quality of 35 mm
lenses available to directors and cinematographers when shooting HD, greatly
expanding their creative options.
The resulting images have the same depth of field as 35 mm film, giving film
makers the ability to direct the viewer's attention to a specific part of the
image, a crucial tool in visual storytelling. Other issues essential to
cinematography are also addressed: the D-20 has the ability to capture images at
higher speeds, it runs speed ramps, has excellent color fidelity and a high
dynamic range. |
WHY CMOS?
Since the D-20 sensor is an ARRI specified design, its performance is custom
tailored to digital cinematography and gives ARRI tremendous freedom for future
developments. CMOS sensors inherently have superior power efficiency and a
natural blooming immunity, plus it is possible to read out any portion of the
sensor at any time. This has a wide range of advantages, including the ability
to read out high frame rates despite the high pixel count and the ability to run
speed ramps. It also means that the recording format can be freely chosen, so it
is possible to trade spatial resolution for frame rate. Because CMOS is
essentially a more flexible technology than CCDs, ARRI can experiment in the
future with new and sophisticated features like higher frame rates or a double
read-out of each frame to further increase dynamic range.
A MODULAR AND FUTURE PROOF APPROACH
To ensure that the D-20 is an economically viable
investment it is designed in a modular fashion; the sensor can be upgraded when
advances in technology offer better performance, and the signal output boards
can be exchanged to accommodate future file based interface and storage options.
The rest of the D-20, including the housing, the Optical Module (containing the
lens mount, mirror shutter, optical viewfinder and camera control electronics)
and the internal data bus have been designed to last through many upgrade cycles
with traditional ARRI robustness.
To further future proof the D-20, many components have been designed for
capabilities far greater than the currently available recording technologies can
accommodate. The sensor and the internal data bus, for example, are prepared for
frame rates up to 150 fps.
THE OPTICAL MODULE
Users of ARRI film cameras should feel right at home with the bright optical
viewfinder and the silent rotating mirror shutter borrowed from the ARRICAM. The
optical viewfinder provides not only the highest quality color image for
evaluating focus and composition but also allows the operator to see a larger
image area than the sensor is capturing. The optical video assist, which is
optional, consists of the IVS II optics and electronics from the ARRIFLEX 435
Xtreme. An optical video assist has many advantages in a digital camera, as it
provides a video image when the mirror shutter is stopped in the viewing
position, showing a larger area than the sensor is capturing and using little
power. The Optical Module can be expanded to provide interfaces for many of the
extensive range of cine accessories, including wireless lens and camera control
or speed ramps with the Remote Control Unit RCU-1. These accessories integrate
with the D-20 just like they do with any other ARRI camera. |
FLEXIBLE OUTPUT OPTIONS: VIDEO OR FILM MODE
Different productions have different needs, and the D-20 is a flexible tool
that can be used in two different output modes: Video or Film Mode.
In Video Mode, the data coming from the D-20 sensor is processed live in the
camera. Color reconstruction is performed simultaneously as the 2880 x 1620
pixel grid is converted to 1920 x 1080 resolution. A sophisticated on-board
color management system has been implemented to optimize the camera's
performance for different lighting situations including blue and green screen
work. In Video Mode, the D-20 can supply a variety of standard HD video signals
for different recording formats, including HDCAM SR, thus allowing the D-20 to
integrate seamlessly into existing HD infrastructures.
In Film Mode, the unprocessed data from the sensor is output directly to the
recorder. Similar to a film negative, this data must first be „developed“ in an
off-line process involving complex 3D Look Up Tables (LUTs) before it is usable
or even viewable. The advantage is that all the image information captured by
the sensor is retained, and being able to use more processing power in post
production results in higher image quality. The live HD output can still be used
for monitoring and as a guide for color grading. The grading parameters can be
stored as metadata with the unprocessed image data.
Courtesy of Arri |
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