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Aaton Penelope-D (Digital)


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Just read that in the Film and Digital Times:

 

"Aaton Penelope-D (Digital)

 

The eagerly awaited Aaton Penelope-D Digital Magazine will have her world premiere at this year’s NAB. She snaps onto the Aaton 35mm Penelope, which will become the first hybrid 35mm camera–numérique et argentique (digital and silver).

 

At last week’s AFC Micro Salon, Jean-Pierre Beauviala told me that Penelope-D’s 95% Pixel-Fill Ratio CCD chip is 3-Perf size (perhaps a new sensor from Dalsa), and might reach a dynamic range of 13 stops.

 

More details coming soon…"

 

 

And next we will see Digital Bolex's and Eymo's...

 

 

http://www.aaton.com/products/film/penelope/

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No doubt, with my luck, I'll be on a job soon having to do muddy running shots on a DigitalMag Panaflex Platinum with the entire sliding baseplate because Panavision forgot to include those blasted little screws again.

 

 

stating the obvious here...you should carry those. Every panavision camera uses them for the lw steadicam dovetail.

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Hi,

 

There is an interview of Aaton cameras' creator and designer talking about the upcoming Digital Mag with 5K Sensor for the Penelope viewable here : Jean-Pierre Beauviala Interview

 

There are english subs in the video and a complete re-transcription in english available in the next message.

 

K.

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stating the obvious here...you should carry those. Every panavision camera uses them for the lw steadicam dovetail.

 

I know Ron, I do; but the ones on Saturday that I do carry would only fit the Low-Mode Bracket ?! Panavision reckon I might have had a random bad LW plate as they insist it is always the same screws. To be honest I remember using those screws on the bottom plate before so I too am miffed. We don't use Panavision Cameras a quarter as much here in the UK as you do in the states I don't think. They should include the screws that work.

 

As we know P+S Techniks have come out with a version for the sr3 or sr2. I'm just not sure at all if it makes sense committing that kind of wear and tear on registration pins etc. But there is also an Optical view finder which is nice. I wonder how long those little batteries will last digitally.

 

I do like Aaton cameras though. Images from this camera at NAB.

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stating the obvious here...you should carry those. Every panavision camera uses them for the lw steadicam dovetail.

 

I know Ron, I do; but the ones on Saturday that I do carry would only fit the Low-Mode Bracket ?! Panavision reckon I might have had a random bad LW plate as they insist it is always the same screws. To be honest I remember using those screws on the bottom plate before so I too am miffed. We don't use Panavision Cameras a quarter as much here in the UK as you do in the states I don't think. They should include the screws that work.

 

As we know P+S Techniks have come out with a version for the sr3 or sr2. I'm just not sure at all if it makes sense committing that kind of wear and tear on registration pins etc. But there is also an Optical view finder which is nice. I wonder how long those little batteries will last digitally.

 

I do like Aaton cameras though. Images from this camera at NAB.

 

you know what...now that you mention it I did run into a camera once once with miss-matched top/bottom plates. I think the screws on the bottom were 10/32 and the top were a 10/28 (?). They've nearly always included the screws in 15 yrs I've been flying them, but I still carry an assortment out of paranoia. Maybe it's me being an old fart -- back when I was still walking uphill both ways to crafty we had to really jump through some hoops to make some cameras work and get video out of them (I still carry a soldering iron -- but forgot how to use it!). Flying the platinum is a real bummer, with the plate is a no-no (at least that's what my back tells me).

 

How big/how much does this snap on digi-chingadero weigh?

 

rb

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  • 1 month later...

Hey guys,

In case you all were wondering about the Aaton Penelope, its a very enjoyable camera to fly. Very nice viewfinder and video out, felt more like a HD feed then SD, probably due to the conversion to HD. Supposedly they have gotten the 720 and 1080 tap working, when I flew it, it wasn't working, but technically you can use the 720 in 35mm. Very light weight, but felt nice with the added on board batteries. simple when it came down to mounting or handheld, the top screw holes were 3/8 and I had no problem rigging my plate right onto the handle, and still felt like I had a very sturdy mount while doing fast shots in low mode. The camera was easily set with rod mounts available both on top and bottom of the camera. The one major downfall I found was that you could really feel the footage moving through the mag, even with a 2perf 200'mag it made me really desire a remote for trimming, I needed to adjust for-and-aft after almost every take, and of course during the long ones had to expect it. Though as far as its overall form and function, its way nicer then the older 35-3, a very easy to deal with 35mm camera, but the mag got a little tiring. Bout to do job 2 with it, will update on any changes made. Hope to try it in 5k soon. If there is any questions about it let me know. Oh yeah, the battery's held unbelievably long, so maybe that is to help later on with the Digimags.

Ari Robbins

post-913-1271718396836_thumb.jpg

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You have to compare the Penelope with the Alexa OV and not with the EV. The $70K does not buy you an optical viewfinder...

And the OV estimated price is 150K Euro... so very much on par with the Penelope. It's also nice to see the Dalsa chip (the only thing nice about that monster) not bite the dust. As long as the Genocide, F23/35 and F-900, RED crap, etc go belly up (I know won't happen, but one can dream, can't they) I am all in...

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You have to compare the Penelope with the Alexa OV and not with the EV. The $70K does not buy you an optical viewfinder...

And the OV estimated price is 150K Euro... so very much on par with the Penelope. It's also nice to see the Dalsa chip (the only thing nice about that monster) not bite the dust. As long as the Genocide, F23/35 and F-900, RED crap, etc go belly up (I know won't happen, but one can dream, can't they) I am all in...

 

 

120k euro for the OV.......

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a bit disappointed not to see the actual working mags. They had a two mockups, one with a live sensor which of course looked phenomenal (saw the Dalsa beast in '06) and then second mag that showed how the two solid state drives can load from the rear of the camera... wait a minute... the rear of the camera which is just over the shoulder of the operator in hand held. Could it be a hot swappable situation to let you continue to roll without missing a beat?!?

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