Monday 10 September 2007

D-20 Debuts at New York Cine Equipment Show


D-20 Debuts at New York Cine Equipment Show
The inaugural New York Cine Equipment Show (NYCES) which took place Sept. 20-21 at New York’s Hilton Hotel offered attendees informative seminars on filmmaking and an exhibition floor full of new and established technologies. It was a fitting place for the East Coast debut of the highly anticipated ARRIFLEX D-20 camera. The ARRIFLEX D-20 is a camera that combines the handling, functionality and creative options of film cameras with the immediacy of digital technology. ARRIFLEX 435 Xtreme and ARRIFLEX 235 cameras were also featured at the ARRI booth. Visitors were given “hands-on” time to test the focus and depth of field on the D-20 camera, while the images were displayed on a large, high definition screen. The D-20 has the same cinematic depth of field, film-style accessories and optical viewfinder as ARRI's popular line of film cameras and can use all 35 mm format cine lenses.
ARRI Media’s Bill Lovell shows an NYCES attendee the D-20
The D-20 outputs various progressive HD signal formats at 1920 x 1080 resolution, including 4:4:4 RGB and 4:2:2 YCbCr. Several D-20 prototype models are currently in use for pilot productions.
Directors of photography Dejan Georgevich (The Education of Max Bickford) and Tom Houghton, (Fire Down Below) panel members on the NYCES seminar “Show and Tell,” both had the chance to check out the new camera.
Notes Georgevich, “What initially impressed me on ‘first looks’ was the ergonomic design of the camera, much like a film camera. Of course, having a sensor (6 Megapixel CMOS) the same size as a Super 35mm film aperture is a big plus offering a significant boost in dynamic range (particularly in the highlights). As a result, the picture reproduction was quite impressive, especially with the D-20's ability to accommodate 35 mm film lenses allowing for better selective focus options.”
Houghton shoots the critically acclaimed FX-show Rescue Me on Sony HDW-F900s. The show stars Denis Leary and follows the lives of a group of New York City firefighters. Houghton knows the rigors of shooting HD well, with Rescue Me shooting on a mix of sets and on location. Says Houghton on the D-20, “The new camera looked great, I think it is a further advance, particularly because we can use our very familiar 35mm lenses on the camera and the viewfinder is optical rather than electronic.”
The first D-20 model arrived at New York rental house ARRI Camera Service in November.
An Tran