617 sensor with 261 MP from Red

[Stephen Best]

Hi Bob, is that the Seitz scanpack?

Anagramm:

http://www.anagramm.com/

Tethered use only.

[AutumnJazz]

Funny, I've heard nothing but good things about the RED ONE.

[Nathan Potter]

Anyone know if the 617 sensor is a single monolithic chip or multiple chips arrayed together?

And what is the advantage of such a large sensor when what we get now at the movie theatre is HD size projected formats?

Nate Potter, Boston MA.

[Bruce Watson]

In five years, we'll all own one of these. Probably around $5K.

No we won't. Certainly not all of us. There's a number of photographers who have zero interest in video. There's a number of photographers who use a view camera for camera movements. I don't think I'm alone in having zero interest in this chunk of vapor ware.

[Michael Chmilar]

From the photos in the Red literature, the 6x17 sensor looks like one single piece.

If someone starts shooting movies with the 6x17 sensor, I would assume that it would be for projection in a custom-built "special venue", similar to IMAX theatres, but with a digital projector.

Normal theatrical digital projection will probably standardize on 4k projectors (ie. 4096x2160 pixels, or 4x the resolution of HD), so the Red 6x17 is overkill.

I can't imagine what kind of storage device you would need to shoot motion with the 6x17 at 24fps and capture Raw data....

[Gordon Moat]

Storage of files and processing are definitely issues to consider. While RED are working with Adobe on this, and they produce a software processing codec, the requirements are only getting tougher, which will slow down processing.

The manufacturer making those chips can do them in one part. So this is not a scanning camera, like the Seitz or Linhof/Anagramm solutions. I have to wonder what they are doing to minimize heat and noise buildup on such a large sensor; that would be much more of an accomplishment than the large chip size. Previous largest single chip I once viewed was a 5" square chip from Dalsa.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

[Tyler Boley]

did someone say "a mere $45K"?

that's forty-five thousand dollars written out in actual English, right? $45,000.00? For a camera back?

Tyler

[C. D. Keth]

Agreed. After all the hype, most of what I hear is problems.

Yeah, basically. I just finished a feature and a commercial with a RED. They're kind of a pain in the ass. They can make beautiful pictures when they're tamed, though. 35mm film makes beautiful pictures easier and the cameras already have the bugs worked out.

[JimL]

From the photos in the Red literature, the 6x17 sensor looks like one single piece.

Those image are all renderings from 3D CAD software, so they can make look like anything they want...

[AutumnJazz]

Yeah, basically. I just finished a feature and a commercial with a RED. They're kind of a pain in the ass. They can make beautiful pictures when they're tamed, though. 35mm film makes beautiful pictures easier and the cameras already have the bugs worked out.

Care to expand? As I said earlier, I've heard nothing but good things...Eg. someone renting one for a commercial and falling in love with it so they got their company to buy one.