Movie Making Manual/Cinematography/Cameras and Formats/Technical Qualities of the Capture Medium

Technical qualities of the capture medium

Latitude / Dynamic Range

Comparison of different cameras

• Sony HDV FX1 = 5.5 stops
• Canon XL2 = 6 stops
• Panasonic DVX100a = 7 stops
• Sony F900 / Panasonic Varicam = 5 stops under, 2 stops over - better to underexpose HD
• Dalsa Origin 4k digital = 12 stops
• Negative film = 18 stops (!)

Chroma subsampling

• Excellent WikiPedia article on chroma subsampling

Comparison of different formats

• DV or MiniDV(NTSC) = 4:1:1
• DV or MiniDV(PAL) = 4:2:0
• HDV = 4:2:0
• DVCPRO = 4:1:1
• DVCPRO50 = 4:2:2
• DVCPRO100 = 4:2:2
• HDCAM = 3:1:1
• HDCAM SR = 4:4:4
• DVD video = 4:2:0

• JPEG = 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 or 4:2:0

Colour balance

• WikiPedia article on colour temperature