Why Aren't We Talking More About THIS Camera? Ikonoskop A-cam dII

David G. Smith

David G. Smith

Steak Knife Member
Seriously, why the heck aren't we talking more about this camera. It has some amazing specs, price, and seems to make some outstanding images. Sure it has a 16mm sensor, but SO WHAT?! It has a 16mm CCD sensor capturing 1920X1080, 12 bit color as " Individual files in RAW sequences. CinemaDNG format", dual 16 bit 48 Khz audio via XLR, SDI out, takes "PL, Leica M, IMS and C-MOUNT" lenses, can shoot with Sony Sony NP-F770 batteries, and costs, for body, 7700.00 Euros ($10,330.97).... Holy cow!!!

http://www.ikonoskop.com/dii/


 
Yeah, I don't understand why there isn't more talk on this camera. It's pretty unique in both design and spec, the images that I've seen so far look great ( especially the cemetery footage ) and it's form factor seems to make it suitable for rigging in a variety of ways. Different than a DSLR, but I would imagine it could still be taken out and used in a low profile way, much like one.
 
I chime in on every a-cam thread. I love this thing, shows design. CCD sold me, as did 16mm, still saving up dollar after dollar.
 
This camera is amazing, almost perfect, I would have bought it if it didn,t had some problems for me:
The 'compression' (no there is none).
Offloading images takes forever, the dng sequences are overkill for most of my projects. Rather had cineform raw, also for the workflow. One project will cost me 1/2 to 1 lacie terra if it isn't more.
I have 2-5 project a month.The image is nicer than red because of this imho. I don't care for 35mm style, 16mm is beautifull.
Viewfinder
A minor thing is that my left eye is my good eye. So i rather be able to look to the viewfinder the other side, but the is with almost al shoulder-cam's.

I do want to make a film on this if I have the chance.
 
I remember being interested in this camera about 5 years ago. You think Red is bad with deliverables? These guys have it pretty rough with getting this project out the door. They are a very small company and it's been a uphill battle. I really like the design and concept. I just don't feel customers have the confidence in their ability to support the product.
 
Interesting.

Had a look at the site and a bit of a Google... but can't find any detailed specs.

Anyone know more?
 
bgundu said:
I remember being interested in this camera about 5 years ago. You think Red is bad with deliverables? These guys have it pretty rough with getting this project out the door. They are a very small company and it's been a uphill battle. I really like the design and concept. I just don't feel customers have the confidence in their ability to support the product.
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From some of the stuff I have been reading up on, I think that the DII was announced about the same time as the Red Scarlett was announced, and one of their reps at IBC this year said that they had delivered about 80 cameras at that time. Not earth shaking, but it does look like they did beat the Scarlett to end users, for what ever that is worth. They are a small outfit and support would be a concern, that is for sure.

AdrianF said:
The guy who shot some of these sample clips that David posted, has a blog on his trials with the camera. Some interesting reading for anyone who's interested. http://a-camdii.tumblr.com/
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I read that... Yeah this is not a camera for the faint of heart, or those light on computing power. That amount of data is daunting. I haven't been able to find out anything about recording to external recorders, which would solve a lot of that issue. Those C-mount machine vision lenses are very interesting though. I couldn't find any info on pricing though. I have a Bolex that I kind of want to shoot some more on and all I have is is 13-95 zoom for it. One of those machine vision lenses is a 9mm f1.8.... that would be very nice on the Bolex (and the DII also I am sure).

MadMonkFish said:
Interesting.

Had a look at the site and a bit of a Google... but can't find any detailed specs.

Anyone know more?
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I have only seen the specs that are on the Ikonoskop website.
 
I haven't been able to find out anything about recording to external recorders, which would solve a lot of that issue
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.
It looks as though the card reader is also a playback unit with HD-SDI. As far as the camera outputs, I don't know whether these are really intended for monitoring or could be used for capture to Pro Res or similar. The workflows seem to be a real work in progress and it's still early days, so it's definitely not a camera you'd want to use on a high speed turn around.
 
Yes - the images really do look great.

Wonder how graded they are, it would be interesting to see 'raw' footage and compare with the finals.

But, I really like the look of the footage show so far.
 
Images looks great but the workflow seems to be a disaster...
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Lol, it does a bit. But I wonder if we're not going to see better images from this camera. If handling the data becomes less of a headache, then that should in theory, leave more time to concentrate on pulling the absolute best from the RAW files.
 
Some answers:

As mentioned in my post you can find target prices for the MeVis Qioptiq lenses in the Ikonoskop Forum http://www.ikonoskop.com/forum/?&categoryID=15&id=&action=listPosts&forumID=8&parentID=304&page=2

Via the HD-SDI out, it's possible to record 10 bit 4:2:2 on for instance a Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle. For doing that the camera has 2 white balance settings: daylight & tungsten.

Regarding the RAW - Graded question: you can find examples of frames to download on my site. But the DNG's always need debayering and grading. So the software doing this task is as important as the quality of for instance a lens.

Regarding workflow: I don't consider the Cineform workflow I describe to be a headache. It's rather fast and light in handling. But depends on what you're comparing to.

Regarding data management: Well, we always knew that handling that kind of RAW quality would consider some careful planning at the current technological possibilities. But it'll only get better. At the mean time, ay caramba!

Cheers,
Joachim
http://a-camdii.tumblr.com
 
bgundu said:
I remember being interested in this camera about 5 years ago. You think Red is bad with deliverables? These guys have it pretty rough with getting this project out the door. They are a very small company and it's been a uphill battle. I really like the design and concept. I just don't feel customers have the confidence in their ability to support the product.
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I nearly put down the $1200 or so deposit when they first announced this camera, and I'm kinda glad that I didn't. I'm happy enough with my FS-100, and the Acam would be overkill for most of the jobs I would have used it on anyway. But its just what I want in a camera, essentially a sensor box with a lens! Love the design, and beautiful images...I only hope the workflow gets a bit better.
 
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