The TRUTH about building a Digital IMAX camera

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Welcome to what may be one of the most controversial topics we've covered on the channel so far. Is a fully built out to scale Digital IMAX camera even possible to create or has it already been made?

Tell us what you think below!

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0:00 Is Digital IMAX possible?
0:45 The Early History of IMAX
1:10 Labyrinth Pavilion Multi-Screen Projector
1:59 IMAX gets its name!
2:26 What makes IMAX 15/70mm Format so special?
3:30 The GIGANTIC costs of filming in IMAX
4:40 Could a digital IMAX camera resolve these issues?
5:03 Problem 1: Recreating the look and feel of 15/70 Film
8:04 Even Projecting IMAX film is HARD
9:22 What cameras are IMAX movies shot with today?
10:01 ARRI Alexa 65
10:15 Problem 2: How much resolution is in IMAX film and how much do we need?
11:35 Pawel Achtel on projected IMAX film resolution
13:03 Various problems affecting the resolution in film and film grain
13:52 Pawel Acthel on the 18.7k IMAX like 4x7 camera he made
15:13 Problem 3: The digital sensor size is MASSIVE
15:55 Problem 4: LARGER lenses would be needed
16:16 Problem 5: Bandwidth and storage issues
16:51 OUR DREAM DIGITAL IMAX CAMERA BLUEPRINT
17:23 Would this conceived camera blow the 9x7 or other digital cameras out of the water?
18:36 Do we already have Digital IMAX cameras?

Disclosure - Some of the links you see in the description box are affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, if you use those links to purchase an item, I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support :)
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This video was sponsored by Film Convert

#IMAX #imaxexplained #FrameVoyager
Комментарии
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Would you use this Digital IMAX for your next wedding video shoot? 😅😅😅


FrameVoyager
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The irony that the camera quality experts interview was such a low frame rate was hilarious

bide
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Great explanation of why the IMAX format is so special! The first IMAX movie I saw was about the pyramids in Egypt, and I felt so real that I could have reached out and touch the stones.

My sister has a friend who came out of "retirement" to operate the IMAX projector when "Dunkirk" was released because he was the only person in town that knew how to operate the system. We were given a tour of the projector room, and to see it in real life is mind blowing. The scale of everything is so much bigger than what you imagine from looking at the pictures. We had to leave before he started the projector because he said it is as loud as a jet engine, and a fire extinguisher was kept nearby because if the the film stopped in the projector, the heat from the lamp would instantly melt the film with a potential of causing a fire!

Sadly, it was the last film movie to be shown at the theatre as it was replaced with a digital IMAX projector a few months later. I'm glad I got to see it off with such an amazing movie.

samuelchan
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The projection issue is honestly the biggest one. I love the idea of large formats, but basically no theatres around me can even get regular format 35mm to look *and* sound as good as my home theater lmao.

I’ve been to a local theatre that projected 15 perf 70mm. It looked incredible, but the whole experience was kind of tainted by the fact that the speakers were old and blown out.

TheLingo
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And that’s a 10/10 on how to incorporate a sponsor to a video. I’m aware it’s hard to get it to work with most brands or products but this one was a great execution 👏🏻

Really enjoyed the video, thanks.
Now I want a video of the Achtel 9x7 camera! I wasn’t aware of it

GFMstudios
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The fact there are very few film processing labs that can process that special IMAX film is why movies like _Oppenheimer_ could be very niche projects. Especially now that within a few years we could get extremely high quality digital IMAX cameras that meet the standard proposed by the video.

Sacto
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I think the problem will always be that digital sensors do not have the insane highlight rolloff abilities of film. Where digital sensor blow out the image, film is able to maintain information. Unless that part is solved ... having bigger sensors is kinda pointless cos you still won't get the true organic film feeling.

mysticmarble
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Honestly, I enjoy watching movies adapted to digital IMAX just fine. Theatres usually are way bigger than normal, the sound system its also better and to top it off its the amount of extra frame and detail that can be seen. I remember watching Endgame in normal theatre and enjoyed it. When I went to rewatch the movie a week later there was only IMAX available and I never had seen IMAX before so I went for it and oh boy, ever since I try to watch as much movies in IMAX as I can

SlapbackGOD
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Things the video didn’t get right:

Says 15/70 film, shows a strip of 5/70.

The last movie finished in 15/70 was Tenet. It only got about 13 prints world wide though because of the pandemic.

Filmconvert is an insufficient film emulation since it only uses grain overlay and doesn’t have halation. Or like half the stocks actually used in modern movie productions. Film emulation is more than color and grain and Filmconvert doesn’t really put any effort into doing any kind of scientific emulation, which is very much possible. You can emulate at least 35mm film, by mathematically analyzing it and making a film emulation as a visual effect. You can mathematically translate the colors, write an algorithm that creates RGB grain in response to the light, build a halation algorithm to respond to light, build a gate weave simulation. Even Filmconvert nitrate is a joke in the world of real film emulation.

Also emulating IMAX film with digital is much more complex than having a high enough resolution source. The Alexa 65 has about the same scanned resolution of 15/65 Kodak Vision3 500T (5219). The issue then is that the pixels are larger than some grain would be. Same for 8K. No 8K cameras has a low enough signal to noise ratio to be actually able to resolve the grain. Also no digital projection, even IMAX dual laser, can really resolve the fine detail a pice of 70mm film can. That’s also why Roma was released in 70mm.

Talks about 15/70 projecting and shows digital laser projectors.

Btw an 8K digital camera doesn’t have the same resolution as an 8K scan from a an IMAX frame would have. All digital movie cameras that record color now use a Bayer filter to achieve color. So the only real 6.5K Alexa 65 or 8K RED cameras are the black and white and only versions of these cameras because the don’t have a Bayer filter. If you want to know the actual resolution of a digital color recording camera, take the resolution and multiple it by 0.7. So a RED V-Raptor has an effective resolution of 5.6K at best. That is if you assume you won’t get any reduction in resolution from other factors in the cameras image pipeline like sensor noise or compression.

All the lenses he shows when talking about a digital 15/65 camera. The lenses used for 15/65 are already resolut enough. They’re excellent medium format Hasselblad lenses. Alternatively, Leica-S or Schneider Kreuznach digital medium format lenses should be able to be adapted for a digital 15/65 sensor.

Again, Filmconvert is not a high end film emulation tool, like at all!

The 9x7 guy is wrong about depth of field. 65mm IMAX is the shallowest motion picture format in existence. Resolution or micro contrast have nothing to do with blur circles and depth of field. The tolerance for the circle of confusion might be lower on a higher resolution camera, but that doesn’t change the physical depth of field. You’d need to shoot on a 19mm T0.75 to achieve the same maximum shallow depth of field as the 50mm T2 on IMAX 65mm has. That’s a 25mm T1 in full frame terms. You might be able to come close with longer lenses on full frame but not on APS-H. Look at the first time Batman appears in The Dark Knight Rises, you can see the lights in the tunnel being blurred even though the subjects 3-5m away from the camera at times. And all that on a 25mm equivalent. So maybe there’s a way with speciality lenses to achieve a shallower depth of field, but not with standard cinema lenses.



He’s absolutely right that resolution is not the most important factor. IMAX film both for capturing and projecting is important because it’s an absolutely unique experience. The colors and contrast on a photochemically finished print (like Nolan still does) are more beautiful than anything else and the level of detail that is being able to be perceived on an IMAX screen is so far unmatched by dual laser projection. It’s important because it’s the most premium format we have that when used right gives us something we don’t get from digital. IMAX film is not something to be pursued to be digitally recreated, but to be kept alive in the few places it still exists. I’m very grateful that Nolan still shoots and finishes he’s films in IMAX 15 perf and that he keeps pushing it. Next year with BW large format photography for the first time ever.

VariTimo
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First of all, fantastic video- so well researched and detailed

But for me the whole discussion is a bit nonsensical, the filmmakers that shoot on IMAX film today are smart enough to know that people won‘t see the movie as intended, they don‘t shoot on IMAX for the pixels, Tarantino doesn‘t shoot on film for the grain, they shoot on film and IMAX film because they want to and wouldn‘t shoot on the best digital camera in the world even if they had it

Part of the fun there is that you know that YOU are the one person shooting a movie on real IMAX that particular year, people love you for the effort you put in and the hard work and dedication

Nolan, Peele, Bird and Fukunaga aren‘t shooting on IMAX for the resolution but because no one else is shooting on IMAX, because the spectacle is rare and it‘s to difficult

imagine if everyone could shoot on a comparable format, then these movies couldn‘t fascinate us anymore

„When everyone is super, no one is“

alexanderleutloff
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I’ll probably never get to see a 15/70mm film… So I guess 8K will have to do 😊

KarlRock
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Pawel invents the best camera in the world, can't get his webcam to work

nidiot
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These videos are always done with such high quality editing. You could seriously put these videos on other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and others. I love the quality of your videos and the editing work. Amazing stuff. We are spoiled on YouTube. :)

CNC-Time-Lapse
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I have next to zero knowledge about photography, cinematography, etc., but this channel is still fascinating.

andrewdubose
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Even the ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) doesn't have resoultion in the top three most important image quality characteristics. (It ranks 4th.) Color volume, brightness, and contrast all matter more. It's why I'd probably rather see a movie in a Dolby Cinema. Better contrast makes a bright image feel brighter, and while the screen size isn't quite as big, all of the other qualites (Typically better sound, better seats, and better overall image quality) make it an on average better experience for me vs an IMAX presentation. The video is still a fun thought experiment though!

ryankramer
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I worked for IMAX as part of the PV (Playa Vista) crew. I've never worked with people who are actually passionate about their jobs as the Millennium office. Just wish we had more office screenings.

TimHunold
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I'm a dude who likes to shoot large format. ON a $1000 scanner I can easily get 200 megapixels from a 4x5 inch scan. An 8x10 inch scan is a monstrosity that exceeds 500 megapixels and I don't expect to see this level of detail from a digital camera in my lifetime.

MihneaIrimia
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Being an IMAX connoisseur, this video helped me internally organize a LOT of information I knew about the facts and even the possibility of an ideal digital IMAX camera. Superb stuff!

VarunGupta
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You wouldn't need custom lenses. You could also make a focal expander/extender that sacrifices a stop of light to fill the sensor frame.

FordFourD-aka-FordD
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The closest I’ll ever get to imax quality might be a short (expensive) time lapse shoot with my tlr medium format film camera.
Also Fantastic explanation on everything!

bradymillersk