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Panavision's "Demystifying Digital Camera Specifications"
Videos - Now Online
May 9, 2008
Source: Panavision
“Demystifying
Digital Camera Specifications,” a seven-part series focusing
on the complex science of image resolution and digital cinema
cameras is now available on the Panavision website. Click
here:
The in-depth symposium is presented by two
icons of digital cinema technology: John Galt, Panavision
Senior Vice President, Advanced Digital Imaging; and Larry
Thorpe, National Marketing Manager, Canon Broadcast &
Communication Division.
A master class for motion picture professionals
and students, the series is also in the minds of its creators
a precursor to a broader, crucial industry-wide discussion:
the need for a scientifically valid, objective method of assessing
the quality of digital and film images.
Recorded in high-definition video, the symposium
was held April 3 before an audience of invited guests in the
Panavision Theater, located in the company’s world headquarters
in Woodland Hills, Calif.
Imaging resolution science: a closer
look
Throughout the series, Galt and Thorpe challenge
the simplistic and inaccurate assumption that digital camera
resolution is “all about the camera output pixels.”
Instead, they help serious motion picture creators to understand
the difference between optical sampling from camera imagers
(where resolution is totally determined) and the camera digital
sampling.
They explore in depth what is meant by Modulation
Transfer Function (MTF) and the compounding effect of lens
MTF, camera MTF, and the MTF of subsequent production system
elements.
Their discussion emphasizes that the relationship
between the lens-camera MTF profile and associated residual
aliasing – in both the horizontal and vertical domains
– constitutes the only rational metric on imaging resolution.
These two criteria apply to all 2/3-inch three-imager and
to 35mm single-imager digital cameras. Nyquist theory, optical
prefiltering and imager sampling lattice are explained in
the context of camera design criteria that seek a pragmatic
compromise between high MTF and minimum aliasing.
While camera manufacturers generally do
not publish camera-specific information regarding lens-camera
MTF and aliasing, various test charts are available to enable
an objective assessment of both criteria. With these charts,
fully demonstrated in the series, content developers can directly
compare the performance between any two digital cameras regardless
of image format size, number of imagers, or their optical
sampling lattice.
Using the MTF metric, Galt and Thorpe conclude,
digital movie makers now have better tools to help them gauge
precisely what effect each step has on the production of the
final image.
In addition to appearing on the Panavision
website, the “Demystifying Digital Camera Specifications”
series is being made available through various professional,
trade and media Internet sites. For film schools, students
and instructors, it is being showcased through the University
Film and Video Association: http://www.ufva.org,
in the news section. The UFVA is an international organization
of almost 800 professionals and institutions involved in the
production and study of film, video, and other media arts.
Transcripts of the seminars, with embedded
slides, will soon be available to accompany the video presentation
to facilitate class use or individual study.
“With programs like ‘Demystifying
Digital Camera Specifications,’” said Bob Beitcher,
President and CEO, “Panavision is trying both to educate
our customers as well as raise the level of industry discussion
about emerging technologies to focus on the science of what
we do. I think that most everyone stands to benefit from a
good look-and-listen at this stimulating presentation from
two true experts.”
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