Cine Gear 2019

This is probably the first time I can remember wishing a trade show actually lasted longer. Cine Gear 2019 was bigger and more packed with people than ever. It was impossible to see all the exhibits and stay on schedule with all the meetings in two days.

New announcements:

Angenieux goes Prime at Cine Gear

Optimo Primes were introduced at the Cannes Film Festival. Two prototypes were hand-carried from CDG to LAX and presented at Cine Gear. They were on display at the Angenieux and Band Pro booths. Angenieux has partnered with Band Pro and Jebsen in the development of 12 Optimo Full Frame Primes: 18mm, 21mm, 24mm, 28mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 60mm, 75mm, 100mm, 135mm, 200mm. They all have an image circle of 46.5mm and are T1.8 (except the extreme wide and tight focal lengths.)

Unique features of the Optimo Primes: light, small, match Optimo Zooms, interchangeable “look” filter inside the lens, rear filter holder, LDS and /i. They are made in France and Germany. Angenieux distributes in Europe, Band Pro in the Americas and Jebsen in Asia.

Panasonic Lumix DC-S1H

The Panasonic Lumix DC-S1H launched at Cine Gear. The S1H is a full-frame, 36mm x 24mm sensor, 24p, 6K video camera “hiding” in the body of a DSLM. The shape makes it great as a grab camera, handheld, on rigs, gimbals, drones, or fully outfitted with a studio rig. The S1H is color-matched to the rest of the Panasonic VariCam line. It has a dynamic range of more than 14 stops. Best of all, there’s a full-frame, 3:2 (1.5:1) aspect ratio sensor. Panasonic, Sigma and Leica are partners in the L-Mount Alliance. That means there are many L-mount lenses ready now. And because the L-Mount has a flange focal depth of 20mm and an inside diameter of 51.6 mm, you can attach PL, LPL, PV and other lenses by using mechanical adapters.

Sony VENICE v4.0 and 5.0

Sony VENICE Firmware Version 4.0 is now available as a hardware upgrade. It takes VENICE up to:

120 fps in 4K Super35 2.39:1 (4096 x 1713).
60 fps in 6K Full Frame 3:2 (6048 x 4032).
72 fps in 4K Super35 4:3 for full 18mm height anamorphic (4096 x 3024).
110 fps in 4K Super35 17:9 (4096 x 2160).

In a special launch and open house at the new Sony DMPC in Glendale, Sony announced VENICE v5.0. Among other new features, Version 5.0 takes:

90fps in 6K 2.39:1
72fps at 6K 17:9
Record Apple ProRes 4444 in HD direct to the SxS PRO+ without the AXS-R7.
Easier user settings for framelines.

Bright Tangerine Prodigy

Andy Subratie has done it again. A prodigious producer of innovative cine equipment, probably a child prodigy and definitely an adult prodigy, his Bright Tangerine Prodigy is a really effective and practical spray, snow, bug and rain remover. You’ve probably blasted the front filter with Dust-Off to little avail or used centrifugal rain deflectors. The prodigy is much more. A battery powered compressor blows air evenly across the entire front mattebox filter at 300 mph. The compressor has a filter that removes tiny particles. (Otherwise, imagine a grain of sand hitting your filter with enough force to break or scratch it.)

The compressor itself is quite quiet, and certainly makes less noise than the howling wind or raging seas where you’d use something like this: in a bouncing boat, on the beach with crashing waves, or in the Amazon (or New York) in a heavy downpour.

Panavision LCND

Panavision introduced their new LCND. It’s a liquid crystal variable ND filter with 6 stops of control from ND0.3 to ND1.8. The internal battery lasts about 24 hours. You control the LCND with buttons or wirelessly with a Preston Hand Unit. It’s 4 x 5.650″ Panavision size and slides into a Panavision mattebox.

There were many more launches, some that we covered in FDTimes June 2019 edition and others in the slideshow below, and apologies to those we missed.

Atomos Neon Cinema Monitor-Recorders

Atomos introduced 4 HDR Studio and Location Monitors that have built-in ProRes RAW Recorders in the following screen sizes: 17”, 24”, 31” and 55”. They are intended for Focus Pullers, DITs, DPs, Directors and anyone else with a desire to view camera images in Dolby Vision HDR and/or record up to 4K 60p in ProRes RAW, ProRes, Avid DNx or Cinema DNG.

Neon monitors come with a Master Control Unit, that can record 4K capture and is upgradable to 8K (or more in the future.) It also has SDI and NDI (Network Device Interface) connections in addition to the standard HDMI that comes with the monitors. Monitors are controlled by an Atomos iOS app.

Monitor Screen Resolutions: