New cinema camera coming very soon: SPARTA

I too would encourage you to use larger sensors. There's a reason why many DP's put Pro35 35mm adapters on their 2/3" cameras. Shooting wide open at F1.4 will translate into a more shallow depth of field, but it's not good to be forced to shoot wide open or close to it for that reason.

Tom has a point - by the time you have your camera to market, Scarlet should be on the market and Canon (if rumors are true) should have an APS size chip camera on the market.
RED doesn't make their own chips - they're getting S35mm and FF35mm chips from somewhere, would it not be possible for you to source it from the same vendor(s) such as Dalsa?
 
As far as I know, RED does have their own sensors custom made. I've asked sensor developers what would be the costs to develop a s35mm/APS-C CMOS with a fast rolling shutter and a decent dynamic range and we're talking about 1-2 million$.

So... You have to be a billionaire to develop your own sensors. Otherwise you have to stick with those already developed. After a long research, we're pretty sure we have one of the best sensors out there in terms of quality, performance and price.
 
Red only outsources the manufacturing. They design their own chips. Jim hires the best of the best. One of the advantages of being a billionaire at the start of the exercise. Not only did Red also rake in over 150 million on the initial Red One offering but Jim recently sold his stake in Oakley for even more billions so he could concentrate on Red full time.

Just remember, Red is still a small player in the electronics world. However, its only natural that the emergence of Red would inspire others to realize, they can do it too. The more the merrier!
 
thank you Ooze3d for the clarification on the dymamic range, it sounds like you will have a great camera for that price.
 
well i scratched my head when i read that a 32gig disk holds only 4 minutes of uncompressed data.
This make 8gig per minute or 133Mbytes/sec.
i do not know which media you are thinking to when you say SSD or SATA hardisk, because very few are able to sustain such a rate. Today's SSD are called super fast when reaching 120 Mb/sec !
likely a raid 0 of 2 expensive fast SLC SSD will fit, but the cost is huge...
 
DNG files in the Sparta are fully uncompressed raw data, so that's why we're using such data rates. The answer to your question would be "no", the camera's not based on any kind of RAID setup but it's been already tested and it can run at very high speeds (FullHD 60fps and even more) without any problem.
 
I must agree with Otis: Pixel Size is the word! 4.40 µm by 4.40 µm is nothing to go crazy about. There is a reason people still use 35 mm film....
 
Pixel size is important (5.5um for Kodak, similar to new DSLRs and Red One), but it is quantum sensitivity which tells us how effective the pixel is in using light, and noise specs that give us a noise floor (vs exposure and temperature). Those vary from sensor to sensor. There are too many parameters that affect the low light and dynamic range. Specs are fine but testing side by side provides the truth.

How large is the Sparta pixel? I imagine it's different from the Kodak size since you are not using Kodak.
 
Otis,
Since the Sparta group seems to be where you occupy your time lately, I try posting a humble message here. As a documentary filmmaker/photographer I am following the these days' development with great interest. The Ikonoskop, the Drama and the Sparta alike may change the conditions of filmmakers around the world, as they promise to be affordable yet delivering substantial image quality in a somewhat compact enclosure. These are interesting times indeed. However, I cannot help to be slightly annoyed by the fact that both the Ikonoskop and now the Sparta threads are being turned upside down by your eager to impose knowledge onto others. Now, please don't take this as an insult; knowledge is a good thing. However, lately your posts seem to become somewhat offensive. The Ikonoskop thread, as for dealing with thoughts around the Ikonoskop Dll is long since dead to me as it solely deals with thoughts that concern the Drama. I now see the same happening to the Sparta thread.
Would it be an idea for you to air your thoughts in the Drama thread? Or perhaps even to slow down slightly on your offensiveness? I think this should serve the Drama project well.
Other than that, I enjoy reading your posts a great deal, and also I learn a lot from them.

Kindly, pat
 
Hi Patsharp and, since this is your first post in the forum, welcome to DVXUser! (As a member, since you seem to have been a lurker for a long time).

Thanks for your support and your interest in this new wave of digital cinema cameras.
 
Thanks,
Keep up the good work! And I'll keep lurking. As for sensor size I think 2/3" may be a fine choice, not in the least for docu work. It may easily be tricked into looking 35mm as for depth of field, yet is reasonably easy to work with focuswise when this is needed. I recently finished a documentary with the Red camera shot in 1-2.35, and being alone it was a lot of work to keep things sharp.
It shall be interesting to see how your sound options evolve.

Kindly, pat
 
patsharp said:
Otis...

...Kindly, pat
Click to expand...

Thanks Pat. great to see a first post with judgements and attacks.

When the competition misinforms, I have to mention it. Ooze3d mentioned 64dB dynamic range (which is Kodak KAI-02150 specs) but then went to invented claims of a sensor with 13stops of dynamic range (which is 13*6=78dB and not 64dB). No CCD manufacturer claims two different dynamic range specs on the same chip. This is false advertising. The camera claims a sensor exclusivity over the other two projects which is simply not there.

The camera will eventually come out and the methods used in its marketing will be proven.

Since DVXUser does not care about misinformation in the news section, keeping us from obvious false (and contradictive) advertising, and supporting healthy competition, this is my last post on DVXUser.
 
this is my last post on DVXUser.
Click to expand...
Otis, I'm sorry to hear that.

If a competitor is misleading, then when their camera comes out it will be easier --- and more persuasive --- to do tests and comparisons. Besides, readers will always suspect that you are biased, because you are a competitor. It's best to concentrate on building your camera.
 
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I remember reading about SPARTA awhile ago...

I'd really like to see some screenshots as well as hardware shots in the coming months/ year :)


But i've got one question... Would it shoot an image comparable to the RED one? Or comparable to other -K range cameras like the silicon imaging SI-2K?

Cheers,

--Hunter
 
Hi Studio595,

You can still take a look at the first screenshots here: http://www.bluecam.es/docs/Bluecam_001.zip Those were taken during the first steps of development and colors were not correctly callibrated yet. We're now working in RAW DNG format and we'll soon release the first prototypes to make a few tests with different spanish filmmakers and DPs who are currently helping us with the project.

About the other question, we're not the ones to make direct comparisons with other cameras. That'll be a job for unbiased testers. For now we can say our sensor gives an image quality at the level of many current DSLRs.
 
Hi Mcgee,

As I said in another post, the camera will record audio from the beginning, but just as reference for later sync. Pro audio quality will be added in a second phase of development.
 
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