Tag Archives: 16K

Major Transformers 4 sequences will shoot with new 8K+ 3D IMAX cameras

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michael-bay-directing-transformers-4-as-reboot-to-franchis-01Collider has a video interview with Michael Bay (at CinemaCon) where he reveals that Transformers 4 will be the first movie to make use of IMAX’s new 3D digital cameras. Major sequences will be shot with these cameras, which Bay says have a resolution topping 8K:

Collider: What kind of resolution can the IMAX 3D cameras achieve? Is it 4K, 8K?

Bay: It’s like…I think it’s higher than that. It’s actually going to break the….you know, my finishing company said it takes, it’s some zigabyte, whatever the hell it is- it’s some name that I don’t even know what that name is. They just go, “we are screwed with the amount of computing power we’re going to need here.”

Collider: Are you going to use that camera for the whole shoot, or for specific scenes?

Bay: We’re going to do several big showcase scenes. [The screen aspect ratio] is going to open up. Because it’s too expensive to finish IMAX quality FX.

Bay also tells Collider that one of these new IMAX cameras costs more than the entire budget of his most recent film, Pain and Gain.

Here’s all that IMAX’s site currently has to say about their new digital cameras:

Even better for filmmakers, IMAX is expanding its repertoire of capturing tools by perfecting a next-generation 2D and 3D Digital camera. It will be small and nimble enough to go anywhere. It will also be hand-held, take longer shots. Directors will be able to work without interruptions, because there’s no film to change, yet still deliver quality that’s a match for the beauty of film. And as the technology develops, we expect it will ultimately go far beyond what film can do.

16K+ resolution would be amazing.  I suspect that their statement that they expect their digital tech to “ultimately go far beyond what film can do” is a hint regarding the potential of ultra-high resolutions and/or computational photography.  Hopefully we’ll get some more details from IMAX soon.

320 gigapixel image of London shows potential of ultra high resolutions

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panoramalondonThis 320 gigapixel “photo” of London is billed as the world’s largest panorama:

http://btlondon2012.co.uk/pano.html

from http://btlondon2012.co.uk:

The 320 gigapixel image – taken by expert photography firm 360Cities – comprises 48,640 individual frames which have been collated into a single panorama by a supercomputer.

If printed at normal photographic resolution, it would be almost as tall and as wide as Buckingham Palace.

Playing with the zoom makes me feel like I have Superman’s telescopic vision. Although it’s not a perfect image (there are some seams in the stitching and people/objects are sometimes duplicated) it nonetheless give an idea of the power and versatility that super high resolutions offer.  Future filmmakers will be able to capture 16K+ video of an entire set or scene without worrying about framing since they would be able to view the footage in post production, zoom in, and extract whatever particular piece of the scene they want.

If you then combine this ultra high resolution with computational photography technology such as that found in the Lytro camera, all sorts of possibilities open up, including the ability to adjust focus after the fact and mimick camera moves without actually moving the camera.

Although it is far below the gigapixel resolution level and doesn’t incorporate computational photography, RED has been working on a 28K camera. Hopefully we’ll get an update on this camera soon, as RED hasn’t said much about it since announcing it in 2008.