Just as it does every year, Cine Gear 2017 provided production professionals with an amazing venue to connect with one another, learn from the experts and check out some new pieces of technology.
Spread out across the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, exhibitors took up residence in various soundstages and throughout the lot. The highlight had to be the RED booth though, which featured an especially unique display for attendees who were looking to frame up a shot with the various RED cameras on display. The president of the company provided his old Porsche as a glorified prop, as the team from West Coast Customs spent the event cutting and grinding the car to give attendees something to check out. RED’s continued focus on creating and enabling a complete ecosystem that deals with production and post logistics was a focus at their booth.
On the education front, a few of the highlights included members of the International Cinematographers Guild discussing how they worked with off-the-shelf and custom built sources to finesse traditional looks and to explore new visual territory. Steven Matzinger and Cinematographer Rob McLachlan from Westworld illustrated their creative process behind crafting the visuals for the HBO hit. While Director Nicholas Schrunk and key members of Red Bull Media House’s production team discussed the making of the feature documentary Blood Road.
As far as news goes, there were several significant announcements and updates from major companies. Canon showcased the EOS C200 and the EOS C200B, which retain the same core technologies, but are designed to fit different needs. The Canon EOS C200 is a production-ready solution that can be used right out of the box, accompanied by an LCD monitor, LCD attachment, camera grip and handle unit.
“Building upon the success of our Cinema EOS system and taking into account feedback from users in the field, the new Canon EOS C200 and EOS C200B Digital Cinema Cameras provide powerful and versatile solutions for production users eager to expand their creativity and explore the possibilities of HDR cinematography,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO of Canon U.S.A., Inc. “With innovative new file formats available, alongside improved operability that professionals need, the new generation of Cinema EOS cameras are poised to become the camera of choice for many in the filmmaker community.”
Optimized to meet the demands for lightweight accessories on today’s film sets, the Matte Box LMB 4×5 from ARRI was just one of the products displayed at ARRI’s booth at Cine Gear Expo 2017. We’ve taken a closer look at their SkyPanel product in the past, and of course their cameras were the main draw at the booth.
Panasonic announced the AU-EVA1, which is tailor-made for handheld shooting, but also well suited for documentaries, commercials and music videos.
“For cinema-style acquisition, we realized there was a space between the GH5 and the VariCam LT,” said Panasonic Cinema Product Manager Mitch Gross. “With its compact size and new 5.7K sensor, the EVA1 fills that gap for a variety of filmmaking applications.”
Over at the G-Tech booth, the G-DRIVE and G-RAID were front and center for attendees, where the Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C were highlighted. The G-DRIVE features an enterprise-class 7200RPM hard drive while the G-RAID has transfer rates up to 500MB/s, both allowing daisy-chaining for up to 5 additional devices.
Sony announced plans for their next-generation CineAlta camera. The next-generation CineAlta, from Sony, will be a 36x24mm full frame camera, aspect ratio-agnostic, designed in collaboration with industry professionals.
Technology highlights and key benefits:
- Full Frame 36x24mm sensor exclusively designed for this Digital Motion Picture Camera
- Aspect ratio-agnostic – including Full Frame, Super35 4K 4-perf 4:3 Anamorphic and 4K spherical 3-perf 17:9
- New image sensor enabling exceptional picture quality
- Maintains the workflow established with Sony’s 16bit RAW/X-OCN and XAVC
- Compatible with current and upcoming hardware accessories for CineAlta cameras (DVF-EL200 Full HD OLED Viewfinder, AXS-R7 recorder, AXS-CR1 and AR1 card reader, AXS and SxS memory cards).
On the heels of our 12big Thunderbolt 3 RAID Review from Gary Adock, we made sure to stop by the Lacie booth to see their 2big Dock Thunderbolt. It is designed to simplify and centralize a users’ desktop by connecting their laptop to all of their peripherals via a single cable, and features up to 20TB of capacity along with Thunderbolt 3 transfer speeds of up to 440MB/s.
Complete Cine Gear 2017 coverage.
As always, there was a lot to see and experience at the event. Check out the pictures below to get a better sense of the technology that was showcased throughout the event.
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