Canon UHD DIGISUPER 86 Brochura
Lens Strategies for the Era of 4K UHD Digital Motion Imaging
Abstract
4K digital origination is today firmly entrenched in the world of theatrical motion picture production. The
Super 35mm image format size had reigned for the many decades of motion picture film production and it
became the pivotal format during the transition from film to digital – although it is not the only image
format size in use in the new digital motion imaging era.
Separately, digital 4K has been internationally standardized for television production under the banner of
UHD or 4K UHD – a consequence of the slightly different digital sampling format to that of cine 4K – and
it is already being used for some high end television production. Meanwhile, the Super 35mm image
format has become quite popular for many program genres in broadcast HDTV production that favor the
accompanying cinematic look.
It was probably inevitable that broadcasters would begin to explore the possibilities of 4K UHD for the
globally popular world of outside broadcast sports coverage; and indeed, recent years have seen a great
deal of related experimental projects. The 4K UHD lens issue soon surfaced as the limitations of
presently available Super 35mm zoom lenses quickly became apparent.
A year ago the first 2/3-inch digital camera appeared – retaining the long-established B4 lens-camera
mount and delivering a digital 4K UHD output. By NAB 2015 no less than four major camera
manufacturers were showing 4K UHD camera systems based upon the 2/3-inch image format. This paper
will review Canon’s involvement in both digital cinema lenses and in this relatively recent 2/3-inch 4K
UHD movement.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE IN DIGITAL MOTION IMAGING
The New World of Digital Cinema
Separate to the television world, large-format single-sensor digital motion imaging – generally centered
on the Super 35mm image format size – started within the Digital Cinema world and offered a digital
alternative to motion picture film origination. The original concept was to use the existing extensive
inventory of Super 35mm lenses on the newly emerging large-format single-sensor digital cameras. Most
of these early cameras had digital sampling structures of 2K (2048 x 1080) or HD (1920 x 1080). This
movement has since seen an unprecedented expansion in associated digital cameras, camcorders, and
lenses. In recent years increasingly higher digital sampling structures have become more attractive to
those producing theatrical motion pictures – with 4K currently very popular – and this has spurred a broad
and rapid development in 4K lenses and cameras for cinematography.
The New Multi-format Television Environment
Over the past decade the broadcast television world has been slowly migrating to a true multi-format
production environment. On the imaging level this encompasses program origination using different
image format sizes for camera image sensors; on the digital level it entails different digital sampling
formats. Multiple image format sizes in lens-camera systems offer a broad diversity in television camera
sizes, configurations, and shooting expediencies as well as important choices in the creative look of a
broad range of television program genres. And separately, while HDTV delivery services are largely
based upon two separate standardized digital sampling structures – 1920 x 1080@59.94i and 1280 x
720@59.94P – the origination of these are now sometimes at higher level digital sampling structures.
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