Well I’ve just got back from what was meant to be a one week trip to Broadcast Asia, that turned into a 2 week trip that included a visit to the Movie Production for Digital Migration event in Manila. This was an inspiring event, led by a group of like minded individuals keen to see the Filipino movie industry take a giant leap forwards by embracing the latest digital production methods combined with digital distribution and presentation. I think that for smaller economies with limited budgets, digital movie production could be a real enabler. But, with so few people with real world experience and technical skills in these areas, education will be crucial to making it work. I wish them luck and hope to get back soon to see how they are getting on.
One surprise in my inbox was a rumour that Sony are about to launch a new smart phone that has a built in 20MP camera that can shoot 4K video! At first I though this had to be a joke, how would you store the files? But then I discovered the phone can take what I assume must be Micro SD cards up to 64GB. I’m not convinced that this is really a practical use of 4K, but an interesting development none the less. Below is the rumoured specification:
Sony Xperia “One”
Specification :
*SCREEN = 5″ Triluminous LCD Display (Used in 2013 Bravia TVs with quantum dots over regular RGB) with X-Reality filter & White Magic technology (Use of white pixel with regular RGB) : Overall better saturation , contrast & viewing angles !
*HARDWARE = 2.3GHZ Qualcomm Snapdraggon 800 CPU chip , Adreno 330 GPU , 2GB Ram & 16/32GB Internal Memory with SD card upto 64GB expansion.
*BATTERY = 3000 Mah with Stamina Mode
*CAMERA = Camera 20 megapixel 1/1, 5 inch Exmor R (Same as Sony REX II), 4K Video Recording , Bionz Image Processor Mobile , Integrated Lens G lens , F2.0 aperture , SteadyShot Image Stabilization , ISO 50-12800 , Cybershot UI with Multiple features.
*SOUND = Separate audio processor chip , such as Walkman S-Master MX , 5.1 Support , Stereo speakers magnet technology Bravia liquid (Still in rumour stage , to be confirmed).
*BUILD = Waterproof , Dustproof with IP58 certification , 9mm thickness , uses Aluminium , Glass & Iron frame!
SOFTWARE = All new interface , new set of features , updated Sony Media apps & new Augmented reality.
The workshops I ran at Broadcast Asia went down very well with all of them ending up as standing room only. There was a lot of interest in Sony’s new PMW-300 camcorder and the FS700 was seen working with the R5 raw recorder and Convergent Design Odyssey. The FS700 raw is almost indistinguishable from the PMW-F55’s raw. There was lots of discussion with various people about running some large scale digital film making and documentary production workshops in Asia later in the year, possibly centred around Singapore.
If you are in Asia and you would like to attend a workshop do let me know. If there is enough demand and I can show that demand, then I can look for sponsors to bring the workshops to your country.