Is there any 4K broadcast ready camera out (except F65)?

[Steffen Sailer]

Hi folks,

I'm wondering if there is any true "4K ready" camera out there other than the Sony F65?
If I'm right, then 4K broadcast means:

- REC2020 colour Gammut (F55, F65 are very close)
- Real 4K resolution (> 2x2880=5760 horizontal pixel count for single 35mm sensor after debayering, 3840px. for 3-Chip) (RED Dragon, F65).
- 120 fps in "real 4K" (F65, RED Dragon (100fps in 6K))
So many 4K cameras are out there, but only one is within specs for future 4K REC 2020 broadcast .

Is a RED sensor able to "see" the whole REC 2020 colour Gammut?
If this is true, then the RED with RED Dragon sensor would be the second real 4K camera.

I was thinking of upgrading my 3CCD HD Broadcast gear to 4K.
But it seems that I still have to wait...

Or is my thinking wrong?

What do you think?

[Tom Roper]

I think your numbers are a little off. To account for bayer resolution loss, you don't need 30% more pixels horizontally and 30% more pixels vertically, you just need more like 30% more pixels total. The PMW-F55 S35 sized sensor has a crop factor of 1.5 and 11.6 mp which is about 24% more than the 8.9 mp needed, so I think it's fair to say it's within the subjective range of the Kell factor for "true 4k," without doubt.

5760 horizontal would be more like true 5k.

I think broadcast specs are still being worked on, but the notion of a broadcast ready spec for cameras may be an outdated one, as acquisition formats will likely outpace transmission formats, for as you noted Red and F65 have higher than 4k resolutions at limited frame rates. As far as the gamut, I covered that in the other topic.

[Steffen Sailer]

Tom,

thank you very much for your post.

I calculated this by using the horizontal pixel count of the Alexa *2.

Others seemed to do this as well :o)

Look at this:

DPP Delivery Standards - Digital Production Partnership

Open the "Technical Standards for Delivery to UK Broadcasters v4.0 Generic" PDF.
You will see under 2.13 UHD cameras:

UHD-1 Tier 1: have a sensor that can give full UHD resolution and have a pixel count of 3840 x
2160 in each of R and G and B or, a minimum pixel count of 5760 x 3240 where Bayer filtering
is used.

Otherwise you might get into Tier 2 and that might lead to discussions...
Ad this is for BBC and other british broadcasters...

[Tom Roper]

Hi Steffen,

I doubt that any of the Tier 2 cameras you listed are going to present much difficulty for BBC approval at this time.

[Steffen Sailer]

Yeah Tom,

you have probably right.
There is no future proved 4K camera. I mean a camera that might last the next 8-10 years.
Otherwise you have to pay twice the price.
So at the end of the day, you will pay the same within the next 8-10 years. Roughly 80-100.000 Dollars only for the main camera.

And my main camera is starting to brake down...
At the wrong moment...