A digital movie camera for digital cinematography is a motion picture camera that captures footage digitally rather than physical film, known as film stock . Different digital movie cameras output a variety of different acquisition formats . Cameras designed for domestic use have also been used for low-budget independent productions.
23-536: The Thomson Viper FilmStream Camera is a digital movie camera produced by Thomson Multimedia (now Vantiva ). Introduced in the early 2000s as makers of feature films were turning to digital cinematography , the Viper influenced subsequent HD , UHD, and HDR cameras. The Viper FilmStream was announced in 2002 by Thomson after being developed by its Grass Valley subsidiary which it had purchased earlier that year. It followed early Sony CineAlta cameras and preceded
46-531: A PC monitor or an LCD or plasma-based television set, with the interlaced images displayed using the same mode as the progressive images. Progressive scan is used for scanning and storing film-based material on DVDs , for example, as 480p 24 or 576p 25 formats. Progressive scan was included in the Grand Alliance 's technical standard for HDTV in the early 1990s. It was agreed that all film transmission by HDTV would be broadcast with progressive scan in
69-629: A Scientific and Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its Viper. Digital movie camera Since the 2000s, digital movie cameras have become the dominant type of camera in the motion picture industry, replacing movie cameras that shoot on film. There are a number of movie cameras on the market designed specifically for high-end digital cinematography use. These cameras typically offer relatively large sensors, selectable frame rates, recording options with low compression ratios or, in some cases, no compression, and
92-653: A file size limit of 4 GB. Movie makers are pressing this camera into service as a low-cost way to shoot motion footage. The Canon EOS 7D is an APS-C HDSLR that was used to shoot the independent horror film Marianne and Sound of My Voice . Both cameras have been used together to shoot point-of-view (POV) action scenes in The Avengers due to the cameras being relatively cheap and small and, therefore, easily used to shoot different angles in tight locations. Progressive scan Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning )
115-429: Is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video used in traditional analog television systems where only the odd lines, then the even lines of each frame (each image called a video field ) are drawn alternately, so that only half the number of actual image frames are used to produce video. The system
138-445: Is that it requires higher bandwidth than interlaced video that has the same frame size and vertical refresh rate . Because of this 1080p is not used for broadcast. For explanations of why interlacing was originally used, see interlaced video . For an in-depth explanation of the fundamentals and advantages/disadvantages of converting interlaced video to a progressive format, see deinterlacing . The main advantage with progressive scan
161-418: Is that motion appears smoother and more realistic. There is an absence of visual artifacts associated with interlaced video of the same line rate, such as interline twitter. Frames have no interlace artifacts and can be captured for use as still photos. With progressive scan there is no need to introduce intentional blurring (sometimes referred to as anti-aliasing) to reduce interline twitter and eye strain. In
184-610: The AG-DVX100 , which was the first affordable camcorder to support progressive scan at 24 frames per second on its 60Hz version, duplicating the motion characteristics of film and allowing for easier transfers to film. Sony , JVC and Canon brought high-definition video acquisition to the consumer and prosumer markets with the HDV format. HDV cameras sold with a wide range of capabilities. Many support progressive shooting modes, and some have sensors with full 1920x1080 resolution (though
207-534: The Panavision Genesis by less than a year. The Viper could replay takes immediately after they were shot, something early Genesis versions and other cameras of the era could not. Films shot on the Viper include Michael Mann 's Collateral , Miami Vice , and Public Enemies and David Fincher 's Zodiac and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . Cinematographer Dion Beebe described
230-426: The interline twitter effect associated with interlacing. On the left there are two progressive scan images. In the middle there are two interlaced images and on the right there are two images with line doublers . The original resolutions are above and the ones with spatial anti-aliasing are below. The interlaced images use half the bandwidth of the progressive ones. The images in the center column precisely duplicate
253-498: The HDV format itself can only record 1440x1080 in non-square pixels, and DVCPRO HD only records at 1280x1080 or 960x720). In addition, some Canon and JVC HDV camcorders have the ability to use high-quality interchangeable lenses, rather than the fixed lenses that are included with most prosumer cameras. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a " full-frame " format HDSLR camera capable of recording 1080p video at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, with
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#1732791372730276-488: The United States. Even if a signal is sent interlaced, an HDTV will convert it to progressive scan. Progressive scan is used for most cathode-ray tube (CRT) computer monitors , all LCD computer monitors, and most HDTVs as the display resolutions are progressive by nature. Other CRT-type displays, such as SDTVs , needed to use interlace to achieve full vertical resolution, but could display progressive video at
299-427: The Viper as the "primary camera" on Collateral ; on both Zodiac and Collateral 35mm film was used only for overcranking . Zodiac was the first digital feature film made by a major studio without using videotape or compression in its capture or editing. Fincher became interested in using the camera on a feature film after shooting commercials for Nike and Xelibri with it. In 2017, Grass Valley received
322-436: The ability to use high-quality optics. Some of the cameras are expensive, and some are only available to rent. Some of the most used professional digital movie cameras include: Independent movie-makers have also pressed low-cost consumer and hybrid prosumer cameras into service for digital cinematography. Though image quality is typically much lower than what can be produced with professional digital cinematography cameras,
345-414: The case of most media, such as DVD movies and video games, the video is blurred during the authoring process itself to subdue interline twitter when played back on interlaced displays. As a consequence, recovering the sharpness of the original video is impossible when the video is viewed progressively. A user-intuitive solution to this is when display hardware and video games come equipped with options to blur
368-480: The cost of halving the vertical resolution. Before HDTV became common, some televisions and video projectors were produced with one or more full-resolution progressive-scan inputs, allowing these displays to take advantage of formats like PALPlus , progressive scan DVD players , and certain video game consoles. HDTVs support the progressively-scanned resolutions of 480p and 720p. 1080p displays are usually more expensive than comparable lower resolution HDTV models. At
391-450: The debut of UHD , TVs had emerged on the consumer market in the 2010s, also using progressive resolutions, but usually sold with prohibitive prices ( 4k HDTVs ) or were still in prototype stage ( 8k HDTVs ). Prices for consumer-grade 4k HDTVs have since lowered and become more affordable, which has increased their prevalence amongst consumers. Computer monitors can use even greater display resolutions . The disadvantage of progressive scan
414-621: The early 2000s. Steven Soderbergh used the Canon XL-1s MiniDV camera while shooting Full Frontal . The Danny Boyle directed British horror film, 28 Days Later was also shot on MiniDV using the Canon XL-1 , albeit with traditional Panavision 35mm film lenses. One of the first MiniDV cameras used on a feature film was the Sony VX-1000, which was used to shoot Spike Lee 's Bamboozled . In 2002, Panasonic released
437-422: The pixels of the ones on the left, but interlacing causes details to twitter. Real interlaced video blurs such details to prevent twittering, but as seen in the pictures of the lower row, such softening (or anti-aliasing) comes at the cost of image clarity. A line doubler shown in the bottom right picture cannot restore the previously interlaced image in the center to the full quality of the progressive image shown in
460-425: The technology has steadily improved, most significantly in the last several years with the arrival of high-definition cameras in this market. These inexpensive cameras are limited by their relatively high compression ratios, their small sensors, and the quality of their optics. Many also have integrated lenses which cannot be changed. MiniDV was the predominant standard definition consumer video acquisition format in
483-412: The top left. Note: Because the refresh rate has been slowed by a factor of three, and the resolution is less than half a resolution of a typical interlaced video, the flicker in the simulated interlaced portions and also the visibility of the black lines in these examples are exaggerated. Also, the images above are based on what it would look like on a monitor that does not support interlaced scan, such as
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#1732791372730506-490: The video at will, or to keep it at its original sharpness. This allows the viewer to achieve the desired image sharpness with both interlaced and progressive displays. Progressive scan also offers clearer and faster results for scaling to higher resolutions than its equivalent interlaced video, such as upconverting 480p to display on a 1080p HDTV. HDTVs not based on CRT technology cannot natively display interlaced video, therefore interlaced video must be deinterlaced before it
529-542: Was originally known as "sequential scanning" when it was used in the Baird 240 line television transmissions from Alexandra Palace , United Kingdom in 1936. It was also used in Baird's experimental transmissions using 30 lines in the 1920s. Progressive scanning became universally used in computer screens beginning in the early 21st century. This rough animation compares progressive scan with interlace scan, also demonstrating
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