Sumix 2/3" 1920x1080 CMOS

[Régine Weinberg]

this one has no fan, no noise
http://ipc-tek.de/product_info.php?products_id=247
i do know the cappucino
Garcia is using it it's cheap

http://ipc-tek.de/product_info.php?c...roducts_id=176
only 15,5x25,5x5 cm full blown system
fanless CPU Merom T 7600 no noise
it is good to have no fan for recording audio

and I would opt for a staedicam like rig.
Moves quite easy, all can be balanced
best for real world.
http://www.avant-gardefilms.com/stabilizer_page.htm
voila

[Farhad Towfiq]

Originally Posted by Kyle Presley

I highlighted the dead pixel in this clip: http://www.vimeo.com/845208

You have to download the original file to see it.

Kyle, Jose had not enabled the bad pixels (dead and hot) pixel correction. Every sensor has bad pixels. The key is that the percentage must be small and no two bad pixels be next to each other. Altasens particularly produces high quality sensors with respect to bad pixels statistics.

[Kyle Presley]

Is there a fix in the software that comes with the camera?

[Jose A. Garcia]

Wow! Too many posts since I last visited.

Ronald, I don't think a simple Core Duo can handle this camera. Even Daniel isn't sure about his setup and it's a Core2Duo 2Ghz. I know fanless computers look good for our purposes, but in the end they're bigger and slower than miniPCs which have a fan but they're not noisy at all. If you think about it, when you're shooting you have your mic away from the cam, pointing to the actor. I don't think a small fan is going to ruin your take.

Kyle, as Farhad says, I didn't enable the pixel correction filter, so dead pixels were visible. You just have to enable it and all bad pixels disappear.

I'll post another test soon. This time using Cineform, so the quality will be much better.

[Paul Curtis]

Jose,

Thank you for the first real frames i've seen, most appreciated.

Do you have a digital SLR camera too? Next time it would be great if you could take a photo of the scene you're shooting with the SLR because the SLR will have all sorts of calibration and corrections and we'd get a good idea of how it compares.

Your example frame seems terribly desaturated but that's difficult to tell without understanding more about the scene.

Even on this low contrast scene the lens shows abberations i think - the edge of the white cushion for example has a blue glow. What aperture was the lens on?

I would love to see some DOF examples, say at f1.4 at 16mm.

And some outside stuff which should look great!

I look forward to seeing more examples. Many thanks again.

cheers
paul

[Jose A. Garcia]

Hi Paul,

The next clip will be posted along with a SLR photo. No post corrections on either of them.

Yes, the frame looks desaturated but that's because of auto white balance and me not knowing how to deal with LUT controls. Sumix is releasing a new software soon and it'll have better white balance and saturation control (as well as many other very interesting features).

Yes, I've seen some subtle aberrations too. The computar zoom is quite sharp and has a very good quality for a $300 12-75 megapixel zoom lens but don't forget it's a machine vision lens. It has to have its faults compared to a high quality cine or photo lens. I can't wait to have the Angenieux zoom here. The clip was recorded at f1.2.

[Régine Weinberg]

the hick is nobody tells us was this streampix has to use

http://www.cappuccinopc.com/slimpro-sp635b.asp
this one mentioned here
has as fastest a T7400 with 1.16 GHZ
on their page it is all very the laptop they mention
is not very high tech
What you guys want to to?
to do film or realize a technical overkill
Mine a fanless box
can have a T7600 2.33 GHZ

I do think still as small and no fan no noise
and low power will do the trick
a PS direct 12V to power this brick
will be smaller as any standard PSU

I do not think that streampix as only application will use
a quad core, the application makes no use of it
3 cores are on idle all the time

what is going on.
Streampix is an application for the industry and not for Indie Film making
and in industry every cent is a lot of money
I do guess the silicon is not using a fan and a quad core.

Windows XP ist fine for streampix even Vista is taking to much power.

Is here anybody film making in here
or is all that money to do some test shots and talking pixels

[Jose A. Garcia]

Ronald,

We're all trying to build our own setup according to what we think it's best for this cam. We're talking so much about pixels and speed because we don't want to spend time and money in something that doesn't work or hangs everytime you try to record a long shot. If you think we're talking too much, you should take a look at some of the first threads about possible homemade HD cams. Those were pure maths compared to this!

There're two rules concerning the computer for this cam: the faster, the less problems you'll have shooting and storing your clips and the less power required, the better. Now we just need to find something balanced between both rules.

Yes, StreamPix needs a slower computer to work just fine but we're also looking for other options, because we know StreamPix was not made specifically for filmmaking. Sumix is working on a better software and there're a couple of open software projects already running. Those may require a faster computer if you want to shoot using a more film-oriented user interface. What are you going to do then? Buy another computer? Why not be sure from the start that your computer can handle everything you throw at it?

Maybe Farhad can tell us what specs are they using to record without problems.

[Jose A. Garcia]

By the way Ronald, we're all filmmakers here and as for me, I'm waiting for the whole setup to be ready to start shooting a pilot episode and a feature film.

What I don't want is to be worried about the cam when I'm shooting.

[Daniel Lipats]

I will receive the computer in the mail sometime tomorrow and will be able to test if it is able to handle recording. Tonight I will work on a temporary mount system for a set of support rods with Velcro or some kind of straps to hold the computer.

Meanwhile, I made a phone call to a battery supplier and came up with some numbers.

Camera power requirements [PC 12v DC ~50w] + [8w LCD] + [~3w camera]
~5Ah needed to operate the camera

[Li-Ion expensive but light weight]
(will need a regulator to step down to 12V for the computer)

10Ah - ~2 hours battery life (1.5 lb) = $259.55
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=4051

21Ah - ~4 hours battery life (3.7lb) = $369.99
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=4273

The best option for me may be the 2 hours battery life, since its lighter weight. Ni-MH are about twice cheaper, don't need a regulator, but also twice as heavy. I need the camera to be < 17 lbs.

The numbers I provided are only estimates, and calculated based on the components used in my build. Its possible battery life will be considerably higher. Looks like the computer idles at about 38w, and it is unclear how much load it will be under when recording. Battery life will always depend on situation and usage.

[Daniel Lipats]

Originally Posted by Paul Curtis

Jose,
Your example frame seems terribly desaturated but that's difficult to tell without understanding more about the scene.
paul

Really all of the original unmodified video that comes from this sensor is desaturated to an extent. If you go to the Silicon Imaging website and download the videos from the gallery you will see for yourself. I would imagine the same thing is true of any CMOS camera including the RED One.

Because of the relatively low signal noise level I believe saturation can be safely adjusted. Based on videos shot with SI-2K this camera should have a lot of potential.

The images below are not mine, they are snapshots from the videos on the Silicon Imaging website. I did a quick CC on one (just brought up the saturation a bit) the other is original. Keep in mind they are 70% compressed JPG.

[Kyle Presley]

So what are these "new and interesting features" you speak of???? Frame-rate control? Curves?

[Jose A. Garcia]

Basically frame rate control, saturation, start/stop button (for now you have to set a number of frames to record before actually recording), better white balance...

[Jose A. Garcia]

Well, I've got two new clips. Semi outdoors because they're recorded from my window.

The look very similar, but one is shot at 20mm and the other is about 35mm. Both have an aperture of f2. I'm also attaching a photo taken with my Canon EOS 400D at 55mm full auto (the sensor on the 400D is not a full 35mm frame).

http://www.sinproblema.net/semioutdoor20mmf2.avi

http://www.sinproblema.net/semioutdoor35mmf2.avi

Of course the photo shows more detail (larger sensor and larger image downsized to 1920x1080), more overall light while not burning highlights and more saturated colors. I'm waiting for StreamPix or a new version of the Sumix software to see if the cam can give more light without burning highlights. I've seen SI2K tests and I think that's possible... or maybe the tests I've seen are Cineform RAW files corrected in post.

[Kyle Presley]

These are great, thanks!