First Images From Sony Prototype 4K Camera Screened at DCS

The Arrival, a short lensed with a prototype of Sony’s new digital cinematography camera that is capable of recording 16-bit 4K and higher, got a lot of interest when it was screened during the second day of the DCS.

The short was lensed outdoors and in the Bradbury building in downtown Los Angeles. "The resolution and detail is just remarkable," Clark said of the camera's capability. "The details draws you into the image. You can comfortably let your images lead the narrative."

During a session on “Advances in Image and Sound: More Pixels,” ASC Technology Committee chair Curtis Clark, who wrote, directed and shot the short, spoke not just about the camera, but the workflow.

“It is critically important to extract the best possible images from these new 4K pipelines,” Clark said. “If we do something to degrade the image, then what you think is 4K may not be 4K. … It needs to be 4K end to end, and that needs to include color management that is consistent and reliable.”

ASC president Michael Goi shared some concern about today’s generation of 2K archival material. “Some consider 2K as their master archival element,” he explained. “Going forward, I think less that 5 years, those 2K masters are going to look very soft.”

He concluded: “We want the best presentation and the best tools. Aesthetically, we need to approach these technologies in a way that give us that toolbox. That is something the ASC is concerned with.”