HD & D-Cinema - Awesome intro

ikonoskop A-cam dII - Europe's answer to Red.

Possibly the most fascinating series of talks i have ever watched. A clear insight into the sad life i lead. This set of talks hosted by Panavison are mandatory viewing for anyone interested in imaging in the digital domain. Although the primary focus is on HD and D-Cinema imaging technology, all of the information is relative to still imaging. The explanation of MTF and it's use and context within imaging is the clearest i have ever seen or read. The talk beautifully dismantles some of the challenges involved in high resolution imaging whiles also debunking the ever flimsy metric of resolution as a measure of image quality. The 30Mhz SMPTE filter in the HD spec appears very similar to the filtering on early cd player Dacs. Basically a brick wall to filter all the aliasing noise higher up the spectrum. I doubt anyone will be raving about the non-oversampled sensor but in the face of the transfer function, at what point does it all become too much? Overtime I can see this debate and technology race drying up as CGI with virtual environments and characters become feasible and ultimately more controllable.
Ikonoskop vs Red
Europe's answer to Red. Seems like a dramatic statement but i feel it's accurate within the context of each cameras market. The Red is quite simply amazing. In the sense that it's slipped in from the leftfield and offers feature and workflow options that even the historical film technologies leaders failed to offer. And it does it at an amazing price point. If your an American indie shooting a short of a low budget feature this camera opens a whole world of options. But there in lays the rub. The American idea of low budget can often be measured in 100's of thousands. Over in Europe and especially the UK its measured in thousands! The ikonskop i feel will neatly fill the gap. Being greatly cheaper than Red but offering nearly all of the advantages of a raw HD workflow. I cannot wait to get my hand on some sample footage. But i can see this really empowering a new generation of film makers who want total control. And as someone with an eye on post, raw can only be a good thing.