CineAlta

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Sony's CineAlta 24P HD (high definition video) Cameras are a series of professional digital video cameras that offer many of the same features of a 35mm motion picture film camera.

1 Format
2 History and Use in Motion Pictures
3 List of CineAlta Cameras
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Format

CineAlta cameras record onto HDCAM tapes or XDCAM Professional Discs. They have the ability to shoot at various frame rates including 24fps and have a resolution of up to 1920 by 1080 pixels.

[edit] History and Use in Motion Pictures

In 2000 George Lucas announced that Episode II of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy would be the first major motion picture to be shot 100% digitally. Sony and Panavision had teamed up to develop the High Definition 24P camera that Lucas would use to accomplish this and thus the first CineAlta camera was born: the Sony HDW-F900 (also called the Panavision HD-900F after being "panavised").

For Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith the more advanced Sony HDC-950 was used, with higher resolution and better color reproduction than its predecessor. The film was cropped to a 2.35:1 aspect ratio from its native 16:9 frame. As a result only 817 of the 1080 vertical pixels were actually used; but there is an anamorphic adaptor lens from Canon, which allows shooting in 2.35:1 without losing any pixels. Manuel Huerga's Salvador is the first movie shot with this adaptor.

Russian Ark was recorded in uncompressed high definition video using a Sony HDW-F900. The information was recorded uncompressed onto a hard disk which could hold 100 minutes, thus allowing the entire film to be shot in a single 90 minute take, a historical cinematic achievement. Four attempts were made to complete the shot; the first three had to be interrupted due to technical faults, but the fourth attempt was completed successfully. Extra material on the DVD release includes a documentary on the technology used.

Other notable movies that were shot with CineAlta cameras include: