A Rare Tour of IMAX Cameras.

[Iannis Holwech]

Thought this might be of interest for some.

Mark Wilson
There are 26 IMAX film cameras in the world today. At IMAX HQ, I got to play with 4 of them (and take plenty of photographs for you).

http://gizmodo.com/5271638/a-rare-tour-of-imax-cameras

I have seen the IMAX resolution numbers thrown around at 18K. But other places, and in this blog it seems more like in the 8 - 9K ballpark.

With an Epic 645, and the coming JVC 8K or E&S 8K laserprojectors (if they give enough lumens) should it not be possible for IMAX to go all digital without compromise too much on image quality?



ps; something I found looking for something else; Delivering 8K VFX Shots for The Dark Knight.

[Eren Ozkural]

That was a great article jus based on seeing how massive and hulking these cameras are. I cant, for the life of me, imagine why people would continue to use these cameras once the 645 and the 617 come out due to cost, weight and noise.
Do Imax have their own production arm? There are obviously lots of films made specifically for Imax theatres but does the company actually fund/co-produce them?

[Tom Lowe]

The Epic 9K camera is more than enough resolution for IMAX screens! For Batman, they did 8K scans of 15-perf IMAX for the IMAX FX shots. All this talk of 18K is nonsense, IMO. That's like the guys at c.com who claim S35 film = 8K.

[Eren Ozkural]

But debate will continue with Imax and people with the same viewpoint as the more...reactionary members on c.com proliferating this whole 18K, grain is not pixels, emulsion, debayer resolution-this etc. etc. etc. talk. 28K gives enough headroom on all fronts to shut them up.

[Tom Lowe]

I think the ideal situation would be 8K IMAX display acquired on a 10K camera. But 9K will probably do.

I always wonder whether Jim has been in talks with IMAX about producing a Red IMAX cam. But then again, the current management at IMAX is so out-to-lunch they would probably blow Jim off.

[Eren Ozkural]

I can see how they would profit from thousands of Imax capable cameras shooting around the world than the current 24...

[Tom Lowe]

I think I asked Jim once, early on, whether he had been talking to IMAX and he said no. I'd be curious to learn if that has changed? Obviously the IMAX folks by now are well aware of what Big Jim is cookin'.

[Andrew Walker]

The Epic 9K camera is more than enough resolution for IMAX screens! For Batman, they did 8K scans of 15-perf IMAX for the IMAX FX shots. All this talk of 18K is nonsense, IMO. That's like the guys at c.com who claim S35 film = 8K.

Those c.com guys like to spin all kinds of fairy tales.

[Eren Ozkural]

How much reluctance can we expect from the Imax top brass?

[Tom Lowe]

How much reluctance can we expect from the Imax top brass?

I don't know. They don't seem like the brightest bunch. They are currently engaged in degrading and debasing their own good name with these phony "IMAX Lite" theaters. I think they got a big infusion of investment cash about a year ago ($200 million?) and are trying to make themselves look like they are actually doing something.

They would be much better off, IMHO, investing that cash in building kickass 10K cameras and 8K projectors, and shooting more films that people want to see on real IMAX screens.