Over 100,500 were in attendance at this year’s NAB, which took place from April 11-17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The annual extravaganza features content creation, management distribution and delivery solutions for radio, television, cinema, Internet, mobile devices and all other media platforms. The show’s floor is quite a sight to behold with over 1.7 million square feet of exhibition space packed with some of the heavy hitters in media, including Sony, Panasonic, Microsoft, Motorola and over 1500 others. Actor/director/activist Tim Robbins delivered the keynote speech in which he addressed how new distribution and content creation opportunities will impact the entertainment industry as a whole.
Before the exhibitors’ floor opened, NAB hosted numerous conferences and workshops on topics such as D-Cinema, mobile platforms, new media, HD radio, etc. At the Director of Photography Workshop, ICG sponsored a digital cinematography panel in which DP and ICG President Steven Poster, ASC, DP David Stump, ASC, DIT Alan Gitlin, DP/Operator Charles Papert, and first assistant Stephen Wong discussed the various roles and functions of the camera crew working on digital productions, as well as on-set collaboration between crewmembers, the latest production gear and digital workflow. There was also an in-depth discussion on the benefits of being an ICG member.

Although the transition to Digital TV was a hot topic for cinematographers, HD 3-D was on every cinematographer’s agenda. Hollywood’s push for 3-D content left many companies scrambling to deliver digital 3-D equipment and technology to the masses. At the show, 3ality Digital hosted a live 3-D demonstration with Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel. The demo was led by 3ality Digital’s Steve Schklair, John

Modell and Howard Postley, and was broadcast out of 3ality’s Burbank facility, where Mandel unveiled a sneak peek of a new game show he is developing with NBC. The event was a live 3-D feed to NAB’s “Content Theater,” a state-of-the-art digital screening room put together by Real D, a company that is dedicated to delivering digital 3-D to cinemas, public spaces and business environments.
Vince Pace’s company PACE is one of the leaders of 3-D technology and has perhaps the largest inventory of 3-D cameras. The cinematographer was at the show demonstrating his PACE HD Fusion 3D camera system that he developed with director James Cameron. The tireless Pace has been shooting non-stop and had just finished work on Cameron’s Avatar and also executive produced the 3-D Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour, which was recently number one at the box office. In a makeshift screening room with attendees wearing 3-D glasses, PACE showed a demo reel of live action NBA and NASCAR footage shot with his cameras.

Here are some of the key products and technology announced at the show. Look for more in-depth coverage on these products and more in upcoming issues.

CAMERA
LENSES AND FILTERS
CAPTURE
TRIPODS AND HEADS
LIGHTING
POST
     

SONY F35

ARRIFLEX D-21

PANASONIC VARICAM 3700

P+S TECHNIK 3D MIRROR RIG

ICONIX STUDIO2K

With a booth nearly the size of a football field, SONY (www.sony.com) had numerous product announcements at the show designed for cinematographers and filmmakers. As expected, Sony released their new F35 digital cinematography camera system, which offers a new Super 35mm-sized CCD sensor and PL lens mount, and allows flexible use of 35mm cinema lenses. The camera is designed with the same platform as the F23 and like the F23, offers over- and under-crank capture (1-50 fps) and can dock with Sony’s SRW-1 deck to capture full-band-width RGB 4:4:4 HD data. Exactly one year after the debut of their popular EX1 camcorder. Sony debuted the PMW-EX3. Like the EX1, the EX3 offers three half-inch CCDs, full 1920x1080 resolution, native 24p support and records to dual SxS cards. Unlike the EX1, the EX3 offers interchangeable lenses, which obviously will be a big hit with shooters. The camcorder, which has a suggested retail price of $13,000, also features gen-lock and timecode in/out for multi-camera operation.

ARRI (www.arri.com) had a new and improved looking booth that displayed their impressive new slate of products that was announced a few days before the show in Los Angeles. The biggest announcement was an upgrade to their film style digital camera, the ARRIFLEX D-20. The ARRIFLEX D-21 has new improvement to the image processing engine, improved image quality, simpler operation and new accessories. Perhaps most notable were new output options that include a 2K raw data output mode (ARRIRAW T-LINK) and the use of anamorphic lenses. ARRI also introduced the ARRIFLEX 416 PLUS HIGH SPEED, which offers higher frame rates for slow-motion shots. ARRI has helped spearhead the rise in Super 16 filmmaking for indies and this offering only demonstrates their commitment to the format.

Like previous years, the RED (www.red.com) tent continued to generate the most buzz and longest lines at the show. [Instead of waiting in a two-hour line, I settled for their vague brochure.] The most anticipated RED release was their new pocket sized version of the RED ONE camera. The specs of the miniature camera, called the SCARLET, were very impressive, offering 3K, a new 2/3” Mysterium X Sensor, 1-120 fps, raw and RGB recording to dual Compact Flash cards, Wi-Fi control and more. Their other big announcement was the EPIC, which is a 5K camera that has a full frame Super 35 Mysterium X sensor. The camera weighs only 6 lbs and is compatible with most of their RED ONE accessories.

PANASONIC (www.panasonic.com) unveiled a new flagship model for their popular HD VariCam line. The VARICAM 3700 records full native 1920x1080 acquisition and independent frame recording with 10-bit/4:2:2 sampling. It also offers a 4:4:4 RGB dual-link live output. On a smaller scale, but just as impressive, Panasonic added a new camcorder to their AVCCAM line, the AG-HMC150. The camera, which looks similar to their DVX100B mini-DV camera, can capture 1080 and 720 HD of mpeg-4 AVC/H.264, which is a codec that many consumer cameras have adopted. The advantage of AVCHD is that it can provide much more bandwidth efficiency than the HDV mpeg-2 compression. In addition, P2 users will be excited to know that FUJIFILM announced that they are introducing P2 format memory cards in 16 and 32 gb capacities with a 64 gb version to follow later this year.

Also, there were a few new 3-D camera systems that made their debut. P+S TECHNIK (www.pstechnik.de) introduced their 3D MIRROR RIG, which offers the possibility to create stereoscopic films without the limit of a side-by-side system. The system was developed with an international team of 3-D specialists.

ICONIX VIDEO (www.iconixvideo.com) is also getting into the 3-D business and recently completed a 3-D film for Reebok with the use of their HD-RH1F camera system. They also introduced their STUDIO2K camera that will be used for motion picture exhibition, film-out and 3-D applications. The Studio2K is ideal for shooting scenarios that require very small, lightweight cameras without compromising professional image quality.

Next: Lenses and Filters