A-cam dII prototyp 2.1 testas nu

Nu har version 2.1 av Ikonoskops digitala 2/3” kamera blivit klar för en fälttest, bl.a. av den Australienske filmfotografen Nick Paton, ACS, som var en av de första som lade en förbeställning på denna kamera. A-cam har en 2/3” CCD-sensor från Kodak, 1920×1080 pixels, som i storlek motsvarar en 16 mm filmruta. Kameran spelar in bildsignalen okomprimerad som en RAW-signal i formatet DNG, utvecklat av Adobe. Ett till kameran specialutvecklat minneskort på 80 GB rymmer 12 minuters inspelning.

På Ikonoskops web-sida finns det mer infomartion. Läs vad Nick Paton tycker och se hans bilder här
Om Adobes DNG råkonverterare kan du läsa här
Här kan du läsa mer om ”the workflo” med material inspelat med A-cam dII

Jag sände ett mail till Nick Paton och ställde några frågor och han svarade omgående och sände en bild.

Hallo Nick,

I’m interested to know your first impression of the A-cam dII.

Q. What lens mount do you use?

They currently only have a c mount prototype…I used the 9mm natively and the 11-165 via a c mount adapter to its bayonet mount (I usually
use it with a PL mount adapter – its a bayo mount lens so that I can use an arri bayonet zeiss mutar)

Q. Is the viewfinder good? Is it orintable ??

Vertically yes..and a diopter setting as well…not plasticky like Sony vf assemblies…film precision assembly.

Q. Was it easy to work with the RAW files in post?

Not yet…loads of computer processing but probably more because I use
Final Cut Pro and not Adobe Premier. I am looking to shoot and convert
to Cineform for post and am talking with them currently about their
process converting DNG to Cineform for direct FCP ingest.

Q. Are you satisfied with your Canon Zoom Lens 11-165 mm ??

Yes, most of the footage is from the 11-165. No wide stuff from it
though as there is something wrong with the C-mount adapter and my
collimation is completely out…I can’t focus on the wide end. The
wides are with the 9mm Kinoptik in C-mount. I found the width of the
11 to 165 mm be quite good but it certainly hasn’t got the landscape look of an 8-64.. Very good for general coverage.

Q. 11 mm on 2/3” sensor is not very wide, or? Have you tried any other lenses?

Just the two.

Q. How is the ergonomic ?

I have a list of improvements…I have been playing around with “proof
of concept rigs” at a rental house. Picture attached. Quick release
for getting back to a minicam style.

Q. I can see on the picture that you are using a shoulder mount.

We were playing around here…that was version one of the proof of
concept rigs.

It would be remiss of me to acknowledge that the camera still has
issues but these are the first shots outside the control of the boys
at Ikonoskop. Recording errors, some weird aberrations across several
lenses (so therefore an issue in the imaging area) as well as a
shopping list of suggestions come out of exercises like this. I must
say the camera feels good and solid in the hand, the battery lasts
well with 1 1/2 hours “on” time out of 7.2v 440mah, the pictures are
very nice but probably tend towards a CCD look (well it is one
really), there is vertical smear present as well. I think the
benchmarks have been shifted, but for my money once ikonoskop address
my concerns, and I think they have done the hard and important stuff
so far, this camera must approach cameras that once drained the
bravest bank accounts. On a side note, the operation couldn’t be
simpler…exposure, colour balance and record. On a side note I have a
V1 version of cineform’s encoder to try a non frames based workflow
that doesn’t requires much processing! Yeah!

I think the difficulty for the company comes unexpectedly in a week
where footage from “finished” mass market cameras hits the internet. I
acknowledge that the DII probably comes in at a very clean 500ASA or
thereabouts and from what I can see seems equally clean in daylight
and tungsten. The economics fall well and truly in the range of
traditional S16 owner operators and promise clean uncompressed
images…I think there is something to be said for this approach but
the competition for this market is fierce and the marketing has people
rushing for the buzz words..

Please consider that I am a cinematographer and the post path has me
convert DNG to tiff in lightroom (making sure images are in range),
rendering tiff sequences into prores HQ and then using colorista in
FCP for grading. The fun really begins as I exported MP4 for vimeo
and then they process it again.

Nick Paton ACS
Cinematographer
Brisbane Australia
npaton@npdop.com
www.npdop.com
twitter: npdop
+61 (0)411 596 581