Digital medium format movie-making

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I'm sure many of you have heard Jim Jannard's recent boast (which might come true) of the Red Dragon upgrade beating 65mm film here: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?90520-RED-Dragon-vs-65mm-film

Other than the exceptional claim of 16 stops of DR and a 6K sensor (close to the D800 almost), the one obvious problem is the DOF characteristics - both 65mm and IMAX have larger film sizes. IMAX is 70x48.5 while the Epic Dragon is larger than Super 35 but smaller than full frame: 30.7 × 15.8 mm

If the sensor technology permits 30+ Megapixels in Super 35, then why not 4K 24p on a medium format sensor?

[Brian Hirschfeld]

LOL I can't imagine the price of this camera, but I may have to pick it up, if its the ultimate, I would be set for years! never have to think about video.... I mean though there is a huge difference between the sizes of 53.7 x 40.4 ccd size of something like an IQ180.... which is as close to full frame as you can get and these sensors are 40k, imagine the tolerances (in terms of production) on a CCD sensor that is this size.....

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

The dragon upgrade is only about $6k as an upgrade to Red Epic owners. The new sensor is slightly larger, but still not 35mm.

[Brian Hirschfeld]

Interesting, Especially if he says it is beating 65mm

[FredBGG]

Beating 65mm is an interesting claim, but what do they mean by beating.
There are many characteristics to be considered.

Certainly the Epic is more agile but there is more to it than that.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

The sensor is nowhere near 65mm, on the other hand if it does 18 stops...

In practical terms, though, many high-end PL lenses can't cover the dragon sensor image circle. The dragon has a 34.5mm diagonal, while many arri and cooke primes only cover 31mm. This makes the Zeiss CP.2 full frame an excellent value proposition.