science

CineAlta

CineAlta is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand CineAlta rather than just read about it. In short: CineAlta cameras are a series of professional digital movie cameras produced by Sony that replicate many of the same features of 35mm film motion picture cameras. Concept CineAlta is a brand name used by Sony to describe various products involved in content creation, production and exhibition process within digital cinema workflow.

Key takeaways

CineAlta belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect CineAlta to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of CineAlta from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

CineAlta cameras are a series of professional digital movie cameras produced by Sony that replicate many of the same features of 35mm film motion picture cameras.

Concept

CineAlta is a brand name used by Sony to describe various products involved in content creation, production and exhibition process within digital cinema workflow. The first Cinealta camera is Sony HDW-900, and the first camera HD 24p. Now Sony's products branded as CineAlta include camera, camcorder, recorder, cinema server, and projector. "CineAlta" is a portmanteau of Cine, from cinematography, and Alta, an Italian word for "high".

Logo

The first CineAlta logo was designed by Hiroki Oka, Chief Art Director of Sony CreativeWorks Corporation, based at the Sony Atsugi Technology Center. The twinned ribbons represent the marriage of film and videotape, arranged in a way to deliberately evoke the infinity symbol, to symbolize the infinite possibilities. The CineAlta logo was updated by Tetsuro Sano and applied for the first time to the F65.

Format CineAlta cameras record onto HDCAM tapes, XDCAM Professional Discs, SRMemory, or SxS flash memory cards. They have the ability to shoot at various frame rates including 24fps and a resolution of up to 8K. The camera can be used with a Miranda DVC 802 converter. This allows the camera to output SDI, DV, and multiple HD outputs.

History and use in motion pictures In June 1999, George Lucas announced that Episode II of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy would be the first major motion picture to be shot 100% digitally. Sony and Panavision collaborated to develop the High Definition 24p camera that Lucas would use to accomplish this, and thus the first CineAlta camera was born: the Sony HDW-F900 (also called the Panavision HD-900F after being "panavised"). However, the science-fiction film Vidocq was actually the first released feature that was shot entirely with digital cinematography. Lucas held a private screening of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones for the Atsugi Technology Center staff, and inserted a credit to specifically thank the Sony engineers at Atsugi for the use of the HDW-F900. For Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith the more advanced Sony HDC-F950 was used, with higher resolution and better color reproduction than its predecessor. The film was cropped to a 2.40:1 aspect ratio from its native 16:9 frame. As a result, only 818 of the 1080 vertical pixels were actually used. An anamorphic adapter lens is available from Canon to allow shooting in 2.39:1 without losing any pixels. Manuel Huerga's Salvador is the first movie shot with this adapter. 2002's Russian Ark was recorded in uncompressed high definition video using a Sony HDW-F900. The information was recorded uncompressed onto a hard disk which could hold 100 minutes, thus allowing the entire film to be shot in a single 86 minute take. This was very complicated, as in 2001 there wasn't widely available technology for high capacity hard disk recording, and even less for doing this portably, on battery power, indoors and out from −23 °C (−9 °F) to 23 °C (73 °F). Four attempts were made to complete the shot, which had to be completed in one day due to the Hermitage Museum being closed for the shoot. The first three had to be interrupted due to technical faults, but the fourth attempt was completed successfully. Extra material on the DVD release includes a documentary on the technology used.

Other notable movies that were shot with CineAlta cameras include:

List of CineAlta cameras All cameras are made by Sony except where noted:

Notes

See also Sony camcorders Digital cinematography Panavision HD-900F PMW-EX1 Varicam AXIOM (camera)

References

External links Official CineAlta page Sony Professional Sony's first global news release of F35 Sony US's announcement with information of CineAlta 4K

Illustrations

Old CineAlta logo

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with CineAlta

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what CineAlta claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to CineAlta before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about CineAlta ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of CineAlta

In research: CineAlta appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses CineAlta in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: CineAlta is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 introductions, Audiovisual introductions in 1999, Digital movie cameras, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for CineAlta outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study CineAlta in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what CineAlta means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain CineAlta out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is CineAlta in simple terms?

CineAlta cameras are a series of professional digital movie cameras produced by Sony that replicate many of the same features of 35mm film motion picture cameras. Concept CineAlta is a brand name used by Sony to describe various products involved in content creation, production and exhibition proce…

Why does CineAlta matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study CineAlta?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on CineAlta.