JamieG Analysis

Today I want to post some results from a test we did recently. This test shows that, if you know what your doing, you can get AMAZING images for little money. In this test we used.

1. Canon HV20 HDV video camera with HDMI out.

2. Letus 35mm adaptor.

3. Some 35mm prime lenses.

4. A computer with a black magic HDMI card and a fast enough drive array to record 8bit 4:2:2 uncompressed.

NOTE: I also have some footage form a Music Video doing the same technology with hi-end kit. See below. Look at for reference in quality compared to price.

The magic here is that we are using cinema quality lenses to focus the image on a vibrating ground glass (Vibrates so you cannot see the grain in the ground glass) then using the HV20’s “1/2.7 inch Canon progressive HD CMOS sensor” at full 1920×1080 resolution to focus on the image plane the ground glass is producing. You do loose a little light.

At the end of the day, however, you have extremely sharp images with a completely authentic cinema feel and look.

This technique works with many domestic cameras, see the Letus site or its (many) competitors for a list of cameras the device can connect to.

We do tests like this to evaluate its feasibility for low budget films. The cost savings can be huge, however, the technology does not lend itself well to the “On Set” environment. Still, if set personnel are trained well and you have good backup problem checking in your work flow, these techniques can turn out amazing results. I have seen this work very well.

Finally I need to mention credits here. This test was done by a group of people.

Bart Borghesi an very talented Director (especially in the Music Video area). See his website. You can always tell a good director as they are always pushing the technology envelope as to get better quality, better results and more for your monies worth.

Brendan Hay, a camera person on top of all this tech. He owns the Letus, tripod and camera rails.

Michael, the Lenses. (??)

My brother Martin and myself (www.planetxstudios.com.au) who built the HDMI uncompressed recorder and a grade 1 HD monitor to look at the results.

On the Grade 1 monitor. The real issue here, and why we always go into a grading suite when we do these types of tests is because. If doing any real production, at the end of the day, it is the grading that makes of breaks it. Sure, many domestic cameras can get nice share pictures. However, they use compression, and compression, to put it simply, drops out areas of the picture you cannot see. Grading is all about USING this information. As such, using any form of compression destroyers your grading capabilities. This is why all professional systems use UNCOMPRESSED, and usually 10bit (Over 8bit, but 8 bits not bad….)

NOTE ON RESULTS:  The files are  44meg and 60meg in size.  So click play, and WAIT for them to download.  Once done so, go full screen and hit play.  They are H.264 at 30mbit.  Also be aware, they live on my business server down a ADSL link, so be considerate.  Free large file size hosting for these files would be appreciated.)

Results: (Consider this is under 10K of kit)

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LINK to BMP image from above test. (Ie no compression, see the grading potential.)

Comparison footage.

This footage was made with a Sony 900 using a HI-END version of the letus (It was a rotating ground glass from memory) (Different manufacture, cannot remember the name right now) I also think that it used some HD prime lenses. ($200k + of kit)

But really, have a look to compare to the HV20.

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LINK to BMP image from above test. (Ie no compression, see the grading potential.)