My SI-2K Pics
 

As promised...... I will post more pics when the remaining parts come in (EVF, FF, Mattebox).

-John

Lately I've been very interested in knowing more about this camera.

However I can't find any type of footage or test so I can judge its quality.

If you do some work with it please post some sample footage.

Pietro-

SI has video footage (RAW, WMV and QT) available online. Go to the SI website then > Digital Cinema> Gallery> Video Gallery. The biggest thing I’ve noticed so far with the test footage is that the new sensor *seems* to be much lower noise and overall higher image quality.

The camera feels very rugged and well made in your hands. IMO it has a better film look than RED (resolution isn’t everything!).

-John

I didn't realise that they'd changed the sensor.

I must admit that, from what I've seen to date on-line, the images from the RED seem rather bland compared to those I've seen from the SI 2K. However, I'll await the much awaited RED build 16 for any final thoughts on the matter.

It's a shame that they're suffering a bit because of the exchange rates at the moment.

I must have a talk to a local production company, who used a SI Mini on a commercial about their workflow.

Brian-

***I didn't realise that they'd changed the sensor***

We are coming from the pre NAB 07 camera head (different housing and connectors as well). If you dig around you should be able to find a thread that talks about 'the new sensor'.

***I must admit that, from what I've seen to date on-line, the images from the RED seem rather bland compared to those I've seen from the SI 2K. However, I'll await the much awaited RED build 16 for any final thoughts on the matter.***

Again this is just my *opinion*, but I personally think the SI camera looks less digital. The RED is still very capable of capturing beautiful images, but *IMO* looks more like a DSLR. Someone in the digital cinema market should download footage from both sites and judge for themselves.


-John

All my comments are. of course, subjective and the RED does capture good images, but perhaps they seem to lack a certain something that you need with some stories. You really need to decide on which camera best suits the production in hand and how you wish to visualise the story. Once the RED firmware and post software matures perhaps it will become less DSLR like.

I expect the sensor was mentioned in the past, there have been so many changes.

The camera also has some neat features that RED doesn't over. But what kills it for me is the lack of a 35mm sensor. Having been using 35mm adapters for the last year I'm not really thrilled with the P+S 35mm adapter option for the SI-2K. 35mm adapters are clumsy.
I also do not agree with SI pricing structure. Not in a post RED world.

Hey, Congrats John! I just got back from a feature shoot with the SI-2K and everything worked beautifully.

I have to chime in and say that I also think the SI is more film-like. I have a Red as well and we just shot a music video with it on Saturday. The image is nice on the Red, to be sure, and I wish I could articulate what it is that bothers me, but on my own stuff I use the SI, and if I had to shoot my own feature tomorrow, it would be with the SI.

I definitely think resolution isn't everything. Latitude and the amount and quality of the compression of the "RAW" image are more important, I think.

As far as DOF goes, whenever we wanted to blow out the background with the SI we simply threw on a 35mm. We had Zeiss primes and a Zeiss zoom, and we never had a problem obtaining a shallow DOF. On the Red shoot the other day, focus was more shallow, but practically speaking, it only made focus a chore. The super 16 DOF is just about perfect for me. Sometimes I think people are knee-jerking from their experience trying to get ANY shallow DOF on prosumer 1/3 inch cameras. --- my 2 cents.

The SI 2K does address a different market sector to the RED. 35mm DOF isn't a requirement for most productions - this week I'm working on a feature film that is being shot on Super 16, which has both TV and theatrical distribution and no one is pulling out their hair out over the DOF. Also, being a more compact design, SI 2K also makes a lot of sense for documentary makers, the Mini being a useful additional tool for a lot of shots.

The SI 2K has a recording media advantage, in that you can just hand over the hard drive as if it was a tape, because the costs are comparable to high end HD tape stock. This is an advantage in the broadcast market - I've heard of one cameraman having to handover his RED drives to the producers, so that they can transfer them. Also, currently the SI post workflow seems to be more mature and easier to handle than the RED.

The SI does suffer with exchange rates, but the costs of a shooting rig aren't hugely different.

IMO, feature filmmaking without DOF control (the shallower the more control) is a no-no. Even with 35mm DOF I find myself wanting less since my lenses are all T2 only.

Actually this is a recording media disadvantage. I would never trust recording things to a HDD. RED has compact flash, which is the way to go. I have heard way too many horror stories from people who were too cheap to buy RED flash and recorded to the drives instead.

Yeah, tell me about it. :)

That's a personal stylistic choice, there are many feature films - if not most - which are shot with the aperture stopped down from T2. Using a zoom, a T3/T4 split is pretty common on interiors and I know one DP who always used T5.6 with fast stock. Deep focus is also a stylistic choice.

Some DPs are using 2/3" HD cameras for greenscreen heavy films because of the greater DOF.

I belive SI does in fact offer an OPEN flash option, plus OPEN HDD in single and RAID1 config.

We have our SI-2K setup with the RAID 1 option. Two copies of the footage on two physical drives, doesn't get much more secure than that.

SI-2K Storage Options - SSD Flash Drives
 

The removable storage in the SI-2K is now a SATA RAID system which can use dual SATA drive magazine configured for either RAID-0 (Uncompressed - Speed) or RAID-1 (Redundancy). You can also use a single SATA in the magazine, for non RAID.

Any 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive (SSD) which can sustain up to 30MB/sec is suitable for CineformRAW recording. This higher data rate is the result of a new improved codec and quality setting with only 3.5:1 coding.

There are several drives to hit the market. Here is a 120GB Super Talent drive for only $640.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820609304


For uncompressed recording you can consider drives from M-Tron and MemoRight, which are claiming over 90MB/sec write speeds, as well as some soon to be released units from Intel and Samsung:

http://www.dailytech.com/Samsung+Set...ticle11883.htm

How is the Raid system working
 

Hi guys!
First off congrats John on your new SI-2K.
Bob & Ari: How is the Raid system working ?
Is it using two cf cards inside the cru cartridge ?
Or SSd or HDD ?

Pedro