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RE: Eclair Cameras: The Future!

The Panasonic AG DVX-100 24p camera mentioned earlier in this thread truly is remarkable, even more so when you consider that it is also a sync audio recording device (with XLR inputs) and that it runs silently (duh - it's video) out of the box. But remember that you are stuck with the lens provided and are shooting on a tiny two-thirds inch receptor, so you have depth of field issues that you won't have with fast, long lenses and film cameras. The kind of soft backgrounds and selective focus that I associate with film is hard to achieve on Mini-DV (there are even diffusing screens available that you can place behind your actors to achieve the illusion of shallow depth of field). The Panasonic also has a fixed 4:3 (standard TV) aspect ratio - if you want to shoot widescreen without sacrificing pixels you have to use an anamorphic adapter and then "desqueeze" in post. A s always, the solution to one problem gives rise to another, and new "work arounds" have to be invented
Yes, I think that digital will ultimately supplant film, but for now we have to make your choices based on what's on the market today. Wouldn't it be nice if someone would create a 24 fps progressive scan receptor/recorder module that would attach to the back of our ACLs and NPRs in place of the mags? We'd just lock the shutters in the open position and shoot as before, using the same lenses and achieving the same depth of field characteristics. Still cameras like Hasselblads and Mamiyas can fit digital backs - why shouldn't we? 


Michael Welle wrote:
Mark: Hi Michael --- Absolutely agreed that everything will eventually be digital ... but I'll bet that nothing will cost less because of it.
But doesn't it serve to reason that the new Panasonic camcorder which records 24P is only 3 or 4 grand, and twenty years ago an Eclair ACL cost 16 grand and inflation was less. I know that 24P probably doesn't look quite as good as the film shot with a 16mm camera (yet). But if that Panasonic camera is any indication, I would hypothesize that the cost of video equipment which can equal the quality of film will eventually drop to extremely affordable levels. It's only a matter of years, I think before film cameras will be gathering mothballs because video will be able to reproduce the quality instantaneously. However, a lot of that depends on the economy, the 2004 election, and the butterfly 
flapping its wings halfway across the world;)

Michael Welle




- Ian Marks

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