Current revision (unreviewed)

This Module is part of the Movie Making Manual

What specs would make your perfect camera? A camera so good you'd willingly pimp your own mother to buy one.

This page serves two purposes:

It's fun to fantasize
We'll tell the equipment manufacturers about this page once it matures. Most likely, they'll ignore it. But if they do start taking note of this page then everyone will benefit: the equipment manufacturers will have their research done for free and the users will have a forum to post their "wish lists".

[edit] Mid range HD camera

£2000 - £10,000

<= 1920x1080p resolution
True 4:9, 16:9, 2.35:1, 2.4:1 with swicthable under and over scan options
Variable frame rate (e.g. from 1 frame per hour to 120 fps)
4:4:4 colour representation
12 bit log or 16 bit linear per channel colour representation
>12 stops latitude
User settable black level, gamma and RGB gains
memory card for memory of different settings
User has direct, mechanical control over the focus and zoom (like on a 'real' film camera) - NOT via an electronic servo
Markings on the lense controls (distance etc)
no x16 markings but a actual milimeter distance on the zoom lens
Gear teeth for a follow focus on the lens that comes with the camera
Zeiss or other high quality glass in the lens, not the typical low quality video lens
long 15mm Bars for add ons (follow focus, matte box, shoulder supports)
High signal to noise ratio at high gain
record video metadata (date, time, shot number, take number)
eye tracking to control where to focus and exposure
automated "follow focus scripting". During rehearsals you input a series of "sharps" and then you can easily step through this list while shooting. You can also control the speed and timecourse of the script.
Laser / ultra sound focus system

Record directly to a hard disk (when plugged into a computer, the camera's HDD should mount as an external disk without the need for any proprietry drivers on mac and pc)
Record uncompressd 4:4:4 image Data and have the option to record as MPEG4, with user settable datarate
use the whole amount of the ccd units recording power, no compression or colour cilpping.

Firewire and USB ports for adding external hard disks and for transfering data to a computer
HD DVI in/out
bnc connector for PAL monitoring
RCA connectors, for connection to non pro av equipment, in the field.
Balanced XLR connectors, with switchable in an out, for sound recording and editing.

High res view finder
- B&W to get the resolution swicthable to full colour (see discussion page)
- MUST be high enough res to focus propperly!
- MUST underscan!
- MUST show image in the correct aspect ratio (i.e. DON'T show the full-height anamorphic image)
- Should show the post-compression image
- Should be possible to detach the fiewfinder, keeping it linked to the camera by a wire (or wireless) with a hat-like apparatus to keep the viewfinder in front of the eye. This will improve the use of the camera when hand-held - freeing it from the shoulder.
LCD screen with a built-in scope and waveform meters (make the screen detachable)

Remote control over focus, zoom, iris, stop start etc (wired or WiFi, not IR) - useful when the camera is on a jib
WiFi for streaming AV live to the director's laptop live on set (wireless monitoring, basically)
Power-out connector for powering lights etc
Battery-in for use with battery belts
ALL connectors should be locakable (i.e. XLR for audio, BNC for composite video)
Firmware should be user-upgradable
Several power-out connectors for powering anything imaginable and an amp meter to show their draw.
As many parameters as possible controlled via direct physical controls rather than menus.

[edit] High-end digital film camera