backtop

Print 6 comment(s) - last by Penti.. on Sep 16 at 6:52 PM
Fuji to end production of motion picture films

Fujifilm has been a major provider of negative film for shooting motion pictures and positive film for projection of movies in its motion picture film business operation. The company says that recently the motion picture industry has been rapidly transitioning to digital shooting, producing, projecting, and archiving processes. To support this rapid transition, Fujifilm has announced that it will be shifting its business operations. 
 
The shift will see Fujifilm changing to provide products and services designed for digital workflow of motion picture production and projection. Fujifilm says that digital cinema camera filming is gaining momentum and digital editing relying heavily on the use of computer graphics composition and VFX processing is becoming more and more common in motion picture production. That combined with the fact that many theaters are converting to digital projection thanks to rapid adoption of 3-D motion pictures is changing the motion picture landscape.
 
Fujifilm says that it has been working to reduce the cost of the production process for the existing negative films and positive films and worked to continue to supply those products. However, with increasing migration to digital services, Fujifilm has decided to discontinue the sale of negative films, positive films, and some other products related to motion pictures as of March 2013.
 
Fujifilm says that it will continue to provide long-term archiving, high-performance lenses for motion pictures, and other products and services for digital workflow during motion picture production and exhibition. Fujifilm says that both professional and amateur photographic still film will continue to be manufactured.
 
Fujifilm will focus on lenses for digital motion picture cameras and projectors. The company will also to focus on color management systems for on set use and more.

Source: Fujifilm


Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
another one bites the dust...
By chromal on 9/14/2012 11:38:19 AM , Rating: 2
After being around for more than a century, it's amazing to have watched the once-mighty photographic film industry decline so rapidly these past ten or twelve years. It's strange to watch a medium so integral to the 20th century and how we experience its history disappear. Kinda like watching the decline of the street-side payphone.




RE: another one bites the dust...
By Samus on 9/14/2012 2:04:46 PM , Rating: 2
The thing is, a "public phone" still has its uses.

Physical film doesn't. Manufacturing costs, reliability (for those unfortunate enough to watch a reel burn up before your eyes on screen) and distribution are all huge downsides of physical media.


By TakinYourPoints on 9/14/2012 8:22:51 PM , Rating: 2
I work in the motion picture business and it is crazy how suddenly the switch happened. There were other solutions for years (Sony F900, Genesis, Viper, RED, etc etc), but the tipping point was the Arri Alexa. That camera addressed numerous issues with exposure latitude, image quality, and usability (both on set and in post-production) that other cameras had.

Once that camera hit in 2010 it was an avalanche of productions changing over. Directors and cinematographers who were on the fence before quickly embraced it. What used to be one or two digital jobs for me has completely reversed and now I'm shooting one or two film jobs a year. Again, crazy.


so what happens with digital films when ......
By mackx on 9/14/2012 2:07:11 PM , Rating: 2
we go above 1080p? 4k, 8k whatever. film at least could be cleaned up and look good at HD and should look good at 4k with a decent transfer right?

won't digi HD movies essentially just be upconverts when 4k blu ray comes out? like upping a dvd to HD?

disclaimer - i am assuming digital movie cameras are shooting at 1080p and not higher :o




RE: so what happens with digital films when ......
By Solandri on 9/14/2012 4:32:23 PM , Rating: 2
4k is about the resolution limit for 35mm film. But film grain is the bigger problem. Yes grain size will give you about 4k of resolution, but small differences in grain sensitivity means two grains right next to each other recording the same light will have slightly different colors. It leads to the mottled appearance of film when magnified.

So yeah you can scan movie film at 4k or 8k. But beyond about 1k-2k the increase in noise ramps up much more quickly than the increase in resolution, and the image starts to become more grainy rather than clearer.

And 4k is useful for information displays, but you don't really gain much from it for entertainment. Given the eye's resolving power, to fully appreciate a 4k image, it has to occupy at least 68 degrees of your field of view. That's roughly a 11 foot wide screen viewed from 10 feet away. Outside of Imax theaters, I think most people would consider that overwhelming for entertainment.


By Penti on 9/16/2012 6:52:26 PM , Rating: 2
Digital cinema cameras are shooting up to 4k/5k. Some record at 1080p, all in the latest generation has sensors larger then 1920x1080, but it is still much much higher quality then a consumer TV can display, at a higher bitrate then any broadcast or physical medium can deliver to the home and captures more details and color then consumer products can show.

In terms of production you can shoot 70/65mm film i.e. mostly IMAX, though "3D Digital IMAX camera" is a dual 4k camera. Although 8k UDHDTV/SHV has been speced out by a Japanese group there isn't a really true 8k panel projectors around to show the format. It's a useless question, we have lived with 35mm film for 80 years. You have no reason to upconvert to 4k if it's not captured at a res that does it justice, it's not like 4k will replace broadcasts, blu-ray or consumer-level high-end TV's. It is not mainstream stuff. A movie captured in mostly 4k will of course have a chance to be shown on 4k displays, for other films just let the TV/Blu-ray player do the conversion.

RED captures in 4k or 5k. Vision Research's Phantom 65 camera also captures in 4k. Sony CineAlta F65 captures in 4k too and so does the yet available Canon EOS C500, JVC GY-HMQ10 also records in 3840x2160. Dalsa Origin the first commercially available 4k camera was also discontinued so it's no longer available. Other cameras capture in the native sensors resolution or at 1080p/2k.

70 and 65 mm film can still be scanned at 11k - 12k. But you won't exactly screen 70 mm film at IMAX projectors any more. IMAX Digital actually projects at 4k (today even at 2k), or at least with 4k panel/projector.

Many of the new digital movie cameras has been used in TV production too. As those where major 35mm users up to just seriously a couple of years ago. You won't suddenly transit in to 4k or 8k so what's the problem? Those kind of stuffs wasn't captured to 4k DI any way (digital intermediate). TV's even 4k ones won't even be able to make 1920x1080 HDCAM SR 4:4:4 10-bit justice. You just can't transmit signals over the air or on blu-ray that captures the full quality.

Stuff shot at 1080p, 2k and somewhere between 2k and 4k all is shown on cinema screens of up to 4k today so I don't see it as an issue today. Digital cinema projectors today is either 2k or 4k, or 2x2k or 2x4k if it's some of the high-end 3D variants. It won't look worse at your 3840x2160 TV or projector when it comes to resolution alone, it's rather that you won't receive a delivery that is anywhere close to the 2k or 4k cinema video format. It's somewhat also about production at other frame rates then 24, now with new digital cinematography cameras and 3D/3D-conversions. Don't expect the first gen 4k home cinema stuff to be up to par with cinemas. So there is still plenty of improvements to be had. It's not about raising resolution. Digital movie cameras just wasn't as good as 35 mm camera until recently. You know, light, colors and the rest. Post production is also changed so it's much easier to handle them. 2k is roughly equivalent to 16 mm production, 4k roughly equivalent to 35 mm or in some cases as replacements for 65 mm if your gonna listen to the camera manufactures. They are simply replacements for the analog, they aren't there to spur on resolution wars.


"You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling." -- Peter Moore, 24 hours before his Microsoft resignation









botimage
Copyright 2013 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki