Dalsa Origin
Encyclopedia
The Dalsa Origin was the first camera designed and built by Dalsa Corporation
to be used specifically for digital cinematography
.
The camera was originally shown at NAB '03 in Las Vegas, where Dalsa received four industry awards for innovation. The camera initially became available for testing in 2006, and was available for rental for $3000 per day, including storage, from the company's camera rental facility in Woodland Hills, which was established in mid-2005. In November 2006, the company hired digital cinema pioneer, Rob Hummel, as President of the Dalsa Digital Cinema.
The camera was well-suited for visual effects
photography employing digital compositing
and travelling matte photography on larger budget productions. The system was the brainchild of a collective group, including cinematographer, and founder of Cinema Products Ed DiGiulio. During the development of the DALSA Origin camera it was tested by members of the filmmaking world including Daryn Okada
, ASC, Allen Daviau
, ASC and various members of the commercial and VFX industries.
In 2007 the Origin camera was upgraded to the production version of the camera, and re-branded Origin II. The Origin II upgrade featured improved image quality from DALSA's latest generation frame transfer CCD sensor, and a simplified touch screen interface.
equivalent to more than 13 stops. The images created by the Origin II camera were widely regarded as having more visible resolution and more dynamic range http://www.cinematography.net/digital-latitude.htm than any other digital cinema camera.
The final configuration of the camera could run 1-30 frames per second. The Origin II camera featured an optical reflex viewing system with rotating mirror similar to 35 mm film cameras and uses standard PL mount 35 mm film gate
lenses. The camera was approximately the same size and weight as an average 35 mm film cameras with a 400' magazine.
The camera output raw data to an off board storage unit at a rate of approximately 400 megabytes per second. The Origin II connected to the storage unit by an extremely rugged, thin and flexible mil-spec fiber optic cable. This fiber cable can be run for over a mile without any signal degradation or repeating. The storage unit that has been used most often was the Codex Digital
recorder, which could hold about two hours of uncompressed 4K camera RAW footage. In January 2008 S.Two began shipping the DFR4K recorder, which can also capture images from the Origin II camera and similar 2K and 4K models. S.Two also manufacturer a system of 4K workflow products that were compatible with the Origin II camera's 4K images.
commercial, directed by Jesse Dylan and shot by Rolf Kestermann; a beer commercial by Curtis Clark, ASC; a Greenpeace
commercial, shot by Florian Stadler; a Motorola
commercial, shot by Byron Werner; a short entitled "The Trident", directed by Anurag Mehta and shot by David Stump, ASC; "She Called Up", a music video for the band Crowded House
shot by Damian Acevedo; a promo for ABC 7 Eyewitness News, shot by Mark Zavad; "Reach for Me" a feature film directed by LeVar Burton
and shot by Kris Kosskove; and most recently a British short, "Drop", directed by Gavin Toomey and shot by Tom Debenham, starring Russell Tovey
.
Also, the new James Bond
film, Quantum of Solace, featured a complex visual effects shot captured with eight DALSA 4K Origin cameras, though was largely shot in conventional 35mm anamorphic negative. The company revealed that the technically-ambitious visual effects shot featured Daniel Craig
and actress Olga Kurylenko
, and involved simultaneously shooting with eight shutter-synchronized DALSA Origin 4K cameras.
could be used with the Origin II proxy images, in the relatively short life of camera system Final Cut Pro
has been the most popular. Just like performing a digital intermediate
with 35mm film, any on-line editing system that can access DPX
, TIFF or Cineon
file types can be used to on-line the 4K images captured with the Origin II.
.
Dalsa
Teledyne DALSA is a Canadian company specializing in the design and manufacture of specialized electronic cameras.The company was founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1980 by imaging pioneer Dr. Savvas Chamberlain, a former Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo...
to be used specifically for digital cinematography
Digital cinematography
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
.
Overview
The Dalsa Origin was the first commercially available digital cinema camera to capture at 4K resolution, the emerging quality standard for feature film content.The camera was originally shown at NAB '03 in Las Vegas, where Dalsa received four industry awards for innovation. The camera initially became available for testing in 2006, and was available for rental for $3000 per day, including storage, from the company's camera rental facility in Woodland Hills, which was established in mid-2005. In November 2006, the company hired digital cinema pioneer, Rob Hummel, as President of the Dalsa Digital Cinema.
The camera was well-suited for visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
photography employing digital compositing
Digital compositing
Digital compositing is the process of digitally assembling multiple images to make a final image, typically for print, motion pictures or screen display...
and travelling matte photography on larger budget productions. The system was the brainchild of a collective group, including cinematographer, and founder of Cinema Products Ed DiGiulio. During the development of the DALSA Origin camera it was tested by members of the filmmaking world including Daryn Okada
Daryn Okada
Daryn Okada, A.S.C. is a cinematographer and the current president of the American Society of Cinematographers.-External links:...
, ASC, Allen Daviau
Allen Daviau
Allen Daviau, A.S.C. is an American cinematographer.-Selected filmography:*Amblin *Close Encounters of the Third Kind *E.T...
, ASC and various members of the commercial and VFX industries.
In 2007 the Origin camera was upgraded to the production version of the camera, and re-branded Origin II. The Origin II upgrade featured improved image quality from DALSA's latest generation frame transfer CCD sensor, and a simplified touch screen interface.
Technical details
The camera had a resolution of approximately 4K (4096x2048). Beyond resolution, the camera was unique in its ability to capture at a very high bit depth. The camera output an uncompressed, RAW Bayer pattern 16-bit image, which was considerably higher than other cameras which are limited to 8, 10 or 12 bits. This resulted in a linear exposure latitudeDynamic range
Dynamic range, abbreviated DR or DNR, is the ratio between the largest and smallest possible values of a changeable quantity, such as in sound and light. It is measured as a ratio, or as a base-10 or base-2 logarithmic value.-Dynamic range and human perception:The human senses of sight and...
equivalent to more than 13 stops. The images created by the Origin II camera were widely regarded as having more visible resolution and more dynamic range http://www.cinematography.net/digital-latitude.htm than any other digital cinema camera.
The final configuration of the camera could run 1-30 frames per second. The Origin II camera featured an optical reflex viewing system with rotating mirror similar to 35 mm film cameras and uses standard PL mount 35 mm film gate
Film gate
The film gate is the rectangular opening in the front of a motion picture camera where the film is exposed to light. The film gate can be seen by removing the lens and rotating the shutter out of the way...
lenses. The camera was approximately the same size and weight as an average 35 mm film cameras with a 400' magazine.
The camera output raw data to an off board storage unit at a rate of approximately 400 megabytes per second. The Origin II connected to the storage unit by an extremely rugged, thin and flexible mil-spec fiber optic cable. This fiber cable can be run for over a mile without any signal degradation or repeating. The storage unit that has been used most often was the Codex Digital
Codex Digital
Codex Digital are the leader in recording and file-based workflow technology for digital cinematography. The Codex Recorders are a range of high-resolution media recording systems, designed to capture pictures and sound from digital cinematography cameras, such as the ARRI Alexa, the Sony F23, the...
recorder, which could hold about two hours of uncompressed 4K camera RAW footage. In January 2008 S.Two began shipping the DFR4K recorder, which can also capture images from the Origin II camera and similar 2K and 4K models. S.Two also manufacturer a system of 4K workflow products that were compatible with the Origin II camera's 4K images.
Filmography and commercial projects
The camera was successfully used in a number of projects including "Postcards from the Future", directed by Alan Chan and shot by Eric Adkins; a SnickersSnickers
Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It consists of peanut nougat topped with roasted peanuts and caramel, enrobed in milk chocolate. Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion....
commercial, directed by Jesse Dylan and shot by Rolf Kestermann; a beer commercial by Curtis Clark, ASC; a Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
commercial, shot by Florian Stadler; a Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
commercial, shot by Byron Werner; a short entitled "The Trident", directed by Anurag Mehta and shot by David Stump, ASC; "She Called Up", a music video for the band Crowded House
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is the primary songwriter and creative director of the band, having led it through several incarnations, drawing members from New Zealand , Australia and the United States...
shot by Damian Acevedo; a promo for ABC 7 Eyewitness News, shot by Mark Zavad; "Reach for Me" a feature film directed by LeVar Burton
LeVar Burton
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr. , professionally known as LeVar Burton, is an American actor, director, producer and author who first came to prominence portraying Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley...
and shot by Kris Kosskove; and most recently a British short, "Drop", directed by Gavin Toomey and shot by Tom Debenham, starring Russell Tovey
Russell Tovey
Russell George Tovey is an English actor with numerous television, film and stage credits. Tovey is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human which started in 2008...
.
Also, the new James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film, Quantum of Solace, featured a complex visual effects shot captured with eight DALSA 4K Origin cameras, though was largely shot in conventional 35mm anamorphic negative. The company revealed that the technically-ambitious visual effects shot featured Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
and actress Olga Kurylenko
Olga Kurylenko
Olha Kostyantynivna Kurylenko , better known as Olga Kurylenko, is a French actress and model. She is perhaps best known as the Bond girl, Camille Montes, in the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. She also portrayed Nika Boronina in the movie adaptation of the video game Hitman...
, and involved simultaneously shooting with eight shutter-synchronized DALSA Origin 4K cameras.
Workflow overview
While any professional off-line NLENLE
NLE is an acronym. It may stand for:* Non-linear editing system* National Latin Examination* North Luzon Expressway* N.L.E. Tractors, a codename for Cultivator No. 6...
could be used with the Origin II proxy images, in the relatively short life of camera system Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
has been the most popular. Just like performing a digital intermediate
Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
with 35mm film, any on-line editing system that can access DPX
DPX
Digital Picture Exchange is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard...
, TIFF or Cineon
Cineon
Cineon System was a computer based system, integrating a film scanner and recorder hardware, digital software for compositing and effects, image restoration, color management and the development of a proprietary file format designed by Kodak. These components were created to support the work flow...
file types can be used to on-line the 4K images captured with the Origin II.
Availability
The Dalsa Origin II is no longer available. Dalsa discontinued the Digital Cinema division in 2008. The Origin II was available via a rental-only model similar to PanavisionPanavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
.
See also
- Arriflex D-20Arriflex D-20The Arriflex D-20 is a film-style digital motion picture camera made by Arri first introduced in November 2005. The camera's attributes are its optical viewfinder, modularity, and 35mm-width CMOS sensor. The camera was discontinued in 2008 and the Arriflex D-21 was introduced.- Overview :The D-20...
- Genesis (Panavision)Genesis (Panavision)The Genesis is Panavision's high-end digital movie camera, which uses a proprietary, full frame 35mm-width, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 12.4-megapixel, RGB filtered CCD. It was first used by a feature crew to shoot Bryan Singer's Superman Returns and was shortly followed up thereafter by the World War I...
- RED Digital Cinema
- Codex DigitalCodex DigitalCodex Digital are the leader in recording and file-based workflow technology for digital cinematography. The Codex Recorders are a range of high-resolution media recording systems, designed to capture pictures and sound from digital cinematography cameras, such as the ARRI Alexa, the Sony F23, the...