With NAB coming up fast April 16-21 in Las Vegas, my mailbox has been filled with foolishness, speculation and a steady stream of pontification.
Yet, there is always something that floats to the top of the maelstrom of PR messaging that flows out of the Nevada desert this time of the year.
For one, Canon has announced it will show 8K solutions at the show. There even will be a 8K “ride simulation” to show off its new high pixel offerings. Canon previously showed a prototype 8K camera in NYC just prior to IBC 2015.
For another, Lytro, the company that brought out “light field” imaging, has collaborated with some of the best VFX designers in Hollywood to come up with the Lytro Cinema Camera.
Using proprietary light field technology, the Lytro Cinema camera captures a massive 755 megapixels of Raw data at up to 300 fps, with as much as 16 stops of latitude with an integrated active scanning system, to provide depth and spacial queues within the image recording format.
Designed as a complete system, this camera requires a massive server and storage array that allows production to re-define how an image is shot and constructed. Imagery now can be re-focused, or shifted, as part of the post process, with an amazing level of control over final focus, to the point of creating shots that could not be created with conventional camera and lensing.
And in one last bit of pre-NAB news: New York-based Offhollywood Digital, manufacturer of accessories that extend the RED ecosystem, will become an integral part of Vitec Group’s Creative Solutions division, joining SmallHD, Teradek and the Paralinx.
Offhollywood’s Brooklyn offices will house the new Creative Solutions showroom. CSNY will serve rental, education and offer product support for all Creative Solutions brands in the greater New York area out of that location.
Now it is time to head into the desert and see the show.
