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The viewing system is perhaps the most personal link between any camera and its operator. The experience of viewing an image through the viewfinder — taking into account the brightness, clarity, coloring, and ease of adjusting the eye to the optics — is often the sole contributing element in a user formulating an impression of the entire camera system. With that in mind, Panavision's optics design team — headed by executive vice president of R&D and Optics, Iain Neil, with mechanical components designed by mechanical engineer Rick Gelbard — set out to devise a viewing system for the Millennium of unparalleled quality, durability and versatility.
"The overall concept for the Millennium camera was for it to be modular," Murdock submits. "We wanted to be able convert the camera quickly for use in Steadicam, handheld or studio configurations. The design goal for the viewing system was therefore to make it completely removable, in the field and without any tools, in a few seconds. Iain approached the viewing-system optics the same way he approaches designing a Primo lens."
The Millennium system offers two entirely new eyepieces: a short, orientable one for shooting handheld, and a telescoping extension version for studio-style work. "Instead of having separate medium and long extension eyepieces," relates Murdock, "the Millennium has the telescoping extension eyepiece, which, in its compressed position, is slightly shorter than a medium eyepiece. Fully extended, it's about the same length as the existing extension eyepiece, and the image size and focus remains the same over its entire telescoping range of about four inches. For the handheld eyepiece, we worked very hard to compress its length so the operator wouldn't have to tilt his head way back. Also, with a rhomboid prism, we can accommodate right-eye, left-eye and center positions. Additionally, both eyepieces have built-in Panaclear heaters, and we increased the diopter range substantially via internal focusing optics."
Perhaps one of the most significant advancements made to the optical train is the creation of a dual image-plane system for ground-glass focusing. This design allows the camera to be configured, if desired, with a clear-plate "format screen" in place of the standard, first image-plane ground glass. The ground glass can then be relocated to a second collimated image-plane located inside the viewfinding optics. "There are basically four sub-modules in the optical assembly," notes Murdock. "There's the video tube, which always remains attached to the camera and routes the image to a CCD via a beamsplitter; the focus tube, which relays the first image to a second image located just before the eyepiece; and the two different eyepieces. Additionally, there are still the two ND contrast filters, the 2x magnifier, the Panaglow and the anamorphic /spherical selector.
"In the Millennium, we use a full-size, spinning mirror for the reflex function of the camera," he elaborates, "but unlike other cameras, we don't use the mirror as the actual shutter — we have a true focal-plane shutter for that. So, after reflecting off the mirror, the light focuses at the first image plane — where a ground glass is normally placed — which is in the same exact location as it is in all other Panaflexes. However, in the Millennium, that first image plane can either be a true ground glass, or a clear plate with format lines, which we call a format screen. After that first image plane, the light is then relayed to a second image plane in the focus tube. Because of the high image-quality produced at both the first and second image planes, the ground glass and format screen are interchangeable [between these two planes].
In a conventional mode of operation, a ground glass sits at the first image plane, while a dummy glass plate sits near the second image plane (to keep the optical path-length constant). "In a 'video-priority' mode," Murdock explains, "the format screen sits at the first image plane, while the ground glass is placed at the second image plane. Having the clear-format screen at the first image plane delivers a very clear video image. Taking a video image through a ground glass actually limits the video's resolution to anywhere between 250 to 300 lines, depending on the grind or type of the ground glass. And of course, the more you stop down, the grainier it gets. Even if you had an HD video tap on your camera, you would still never see any more than 250-300 lines of resolution. But by having the option of using a clear first image-plane, you can get all of the resolution that the video tap makes available to you." It should be noted, however, that this secondary video-configuration option cannot be set up in the field.
"Video assist is becoming an increasingly utilized production tool," relates Murdock. "Whether you're using it simply as a viewing and playback device, or if you're doing pre-cutting or rough effects compositing on the set, we wanted to design a video optical path — as well as an electronic processor — that would give the best performance possible. By putting the video-path first in the viewfinder optics, we could additionally shrink the video-relay optic's path-length, which, in turn, increases the light level of the video."
The short, orientable "handheld" eyepiece.
The extension eyepiece can telescope approximately four inches and may be locked in any intermediate position.
Controls for the video-tap iris — as well as the two contrast-viewing filters integrated into the focus tube — are located on the faceplate.
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| The video tap can deliver full–resolution imaging through a special 9–pin component–output connector and features a frameline generator and frame store. |
In addition to the improvements made to the video tap's optical path, progress was also made with the Millennium's specially-designed video electronics, an area spearheaded by Wynn Bowers, senior electronic designer at the PanaLab, Panavision's research facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is headed by Moe Shore. "There were several issues we wanted to address in the video processing," Murdock reveals. "One of the more difficult challenges was producing flicker-free video. We also wanted to address the picture artifacting normally associated with a frame store, so we employ a methodology known as interpolation to smooth the transitions between two video fields. Additionally, we drive the video camera at the same frame-rate as the film camera, which is slightly unusual. If the camera is running at 40 fps, we actually drive the video camera at 40. Even at a high frame-rate, we capture a full field, whereas most other video taps halve the film camera's speed. So if you're running at 40 frames, they halve that speed and run the video camera at 20 frames. Again, that contributes to a jerky, strobing motion."
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| The camera's integrated FTZSAC uses three additional Lemos on the front faceplate, allowing focus, T-stop and zoom motors to be plugged directly into the body. |
He expands, "Since video assist is becoming increasingly important — maybe even for checking critical focus or doing on-set compositing, as well as playback - we also provide an RGB-component output. On the side of the video tap, there is a 9-pin D-connector that goes out to five BNCs. By using a component output, you get a very clean video signal and can pull on-set mattes without a lot of color fringing. With the first-image clear-format screen and component output, the video picture is substantially better than composite with or without the ground glass."
The Millennium's video tap also features a built-in frame-line generator, controls for color, character sizing and placement (used with the internal camera-status output or relayed Panatape information), as well as mask-size and gain controls. Furthermore, the tap can electornically unsqueeze an anamorphic image and incorporates a freeze/compare function that overlays a live video picture with a stored image. The Millennium's video tap is also available in both PAL and NTSC standards.
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| Providing a third digital display, the rear panel is also used for the setting of speed and shutter values. The panel also has buttons for phasing, a port for the LAC, and an RS232 port for advanced digital interfacing. |
Brian Dang, the director of Panavision's electronics R&D, oversaw the design of the Millennium's electronics architecture. Still based on a 24-volt power supply, the system utilizes multiple microprocessors and microcontrollers to enable its "smart" backwards-compatibility.
"We wanted the electronics to be as integrated and robust as possible," says Murdock, "so we chose components that were proven in other industries — devices that have had an excellent track record under fairly adverse conditions. For instance, the microprocessor we are using came from the automotive industry. We also use a DSP [digital signal processing] chip for the motor-control work, so there are very sophisticated electronics in the camera. In fact, we have a couple of patents pending for the waveform scheme that we use to drive the motors, as well as several others pending for the video/viewfinder optics. Brian Dang came up with a waveform concept which he calls a 'butt wave' — as opposed to a sine or square wave — that applies voltage to the motor in a more effecient and smooth fashion.
"Electronically, the inside of the camera is very clean because we use surface–mount technology and there's a lot of exact-length, flex-line cabling between circuit boards. Inside, there are only two main boards and some very small motor-driver amplifiers. Each display on the camera also has its own microcontroller and handles its own work. If one of the displays were to quit working, you would still have two other displays that would be operating independently. As long as the main CPU is up and we have serial communication inside the camera, the smaller CPUs can go down individually and not impact the basic function of the camera."
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| The main panel features accessory, 24–volt power and heater ports, as well as BNC and RS232 connections to use with FTZSACs and new Digital-Link controllers. |
The Millennium's electronics architecture is divided into two distinct sections. For all of the camera's internal communication and control between its various components and sub–controllers, the system utilizes a "Local Area Network" (LAN) bus, a term borrowed from the computer industry. For any peripheral devices attached to the camera, such as a FTZSAC, Smart Shutter, or the new Digital Link controller, the system utilizes its Wide Area Network, which monitors for the presence of these various accessory units. This complex networking protocol requires the camera to monitor and regulate a number of variables. Murdock explains, "It does this because we had to build in the backwards–compatibility. The unit has to know whether it has a Millennium, Panaflex, or Panastar magazine on it, whether or not it has a new or old FTZSAC or a Smart Shutter plugged in. Therefore, when you first apply power to the camera and then roll, it will run at 4 fps for about two seconds. During that time, the camera is looking at all of the things it has attached to it. Once it finds all of these components, it will immediately roll at any given set speed from then on."
The Millennium features many of the same connectors familiar to Panaflex users — such as the 24-volt power-in (which accepts between 19 to 28 volts while still maintaining speed), and accessory and heater ports — as well as a few notable additions. The new system has two RS232 connections utilized for advanced digital electronics communications. There are three Lemo connectors on the front faceplate of the camera, which connect the focus, T–stop, and zoom-control motors to the camera's new, internalized FTZSAC. There is also a BNC connector on the main motor-side connector panel for interfacing with older FTZSACs and Smart Shutters. The new wireless FTZSAC receiver utilizes a separate serial connector located on the rear of the video-tap housing.
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| As on the Platinum, the status-indicator alerts the user to low-film, roll-out or jam, loss of sync, and low-battery voltage, and has a two-line digital display. |
"There are three digital displays on the camera: a front, butterfly, double–sided display; one on the bottom corner of the operator's side; and another on the back, rear panel," Murdock notes. "Each has two lines, and can show different pieces of information. The top line will always show the camera's speed indication. By pushing a little 'M' [mode] button, each can show the shutter angle, footage, battery voltage, or the `display brightness' control on the second line. You can also set one display to show shutter angle, another to show footage and another to show battery voltage. These are the only instances where we incorporated any kind of scrolling menu functions on the camera."
In addition to the display of internal status information, the back panel features controls for the camera's speed and fully electronic shutter, phasing buttons, a connection for the Local Area Controller (a handheld speed, shutter and ramping remote control), and an RS232 port, which is used to status the camera by computer and upload new operating profiles and display information. "We use mechanical thumb-wheel switches for the speed and shutter controls so that you don't have to power–on the camera to see what the settings are," Murdock says. "The switches have a cover over them so you can't accidentally hit them and change a setting during a shot."
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| The LAC programs electronically-controlled, shutter-compensated speed ramps. |
A remote unit that duplicates all of the features of the Millennium's rear panel and display, the LAC is also the camera's speed/shutter ramping controller. "The LAC comes standard in the kit and plugs directly into a port on the back panel," Murdock submits. "The LAC works on the internal LAN bus, which is why it can't be used wireless and can't have a cable any longer than 8 or 10 feet. When you plug the LAC in, it takes control of the back panel. In fact, it will black out the rear panel display. Conversely, the second you unplug the controller, the camera will revert to the switch settings on the rear panel."
Programming a ramped–speed, shutter–compensated shot can be achieved with ease on the LAC. Explains Murdock, "For a typical speed ramp, you'd put the controller into ramp mode and then set the minimum and maximum speeds and shutter angles, as well as the time, which can be up to 99 seconds. If you wanted to do a two–stop ramp — from 6 fps to 24 fps — you would then enter a 45– to 180–degree shutter–angle change and then enter the time you want the ramp to take. If you try to set a time interval that is shorter than what the camera can do, the camera will limit itself. However, the shutter takes slightly less than two seconds to execute a 3 fps to 50 fps ramp with an 11.2-degree to 180-degree shutter compensation.
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| Utilizing lubrication-impregnated materials and significantly lightened components, the movement is essentially the same as that of the Platinum, although there are some notable differences. |
"The LAC also has some built–in smarts. A two–stop ramp is pretty easy to figure out, but if you wanted to do a ramp that was a little non-standard — say from 9 fps to 24 fps, ending up with a 180-degree shutter — you would first have to calculate the proper shutter angle for 9 fps. We know it's not 45 degrees, because that's two stops, which would be 6 fps. However, if you input a zero on the LAC for the beginning minimum shutter angle, it will figure out what the proper shutter angle for 9 fps should be — which is 67.5 degrees. If you know three of the four settings, the LAC will calculate the missing piece."
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| The Millennium's new mags retain the same profile and loading configurations as the previous Panaflex designs, but offer a quieter, more precise operation. |
The design of the Millennium's body and magazines was handled by Panavision's senior vice president of R&D, Al Mayer, Sr., who worked in conjunction with the ergonomics experts at RKS. Advanced materials were utilized to reduce weight and improve sound–damping performance — including magnesium alloy (which is approximately 1/3 lighter than aluminum) for the body and 1,000' magazine, and carbon fiber for the 500' magazine. "We used magnesium alloy for most of the body," Murdock confirms. "Once the bodies are machined, the magnesium components go out for a coating process, which not only protects against weather and corrosion, but also provides a conductive surface for ground–wiring and a very effective EMI [electro–magnetic interference] shield. In fact, the camera has specific surfaces that aren't painted, so when you mate them together, the two magnesium surfaces with this conductive coating become a ground path, or shield against EMI."
The Millennium's movement design was supervised by vice president of engineering Al Saiki and is manufactured from special lubrication–impregnated aluminum. It retains the same tried–and–tested Panavision movement characteristics, but can now achieve 50 fps operation. "The inside of the Millennium is essentially the same as a Platinum," relates Murdock, "but we took a lot of the weight out of it. The gate, aperture plate and pressure pad all come out the same way, and there is still a single sprocket, though the Millennium's is slightly larger than the Platinum's; we wanted to better accommodate 3-perf and 4-perf usage [by having the total number of sprocket teeth divisible by both three and four.] We built a computer model of the movement to look at the links and stresses, and ended up lightening all of the pull–down arms, registration pins, and so forth. Also, by changing some materials and using some advanced coatings to reduce the coefficient of friction, we were able to reduce the lubrication requirements to every couple of weeks, or every 100,000' of film."
Through the use of these new materials, and the lighting of the movement's mass, the engineers were able to significantly reduce the camera's silent operation. "Of course, the camera's overall sound levels were very important," relates Murdock. "In the Millennium, we now utilize bearings developed for other industries which depend on high-speed, extremely stable devices. We also eliminated as many gears [throughout the camera] as possible and replaced them with other drive mechanisms.
"Since we're a rental house," he continues, "we're also constantly converting cameras back and forth from Super 35, 3-perf, 4-perf, and so on. We designed the Millennium so that the conversion for Super 35, for example, is now only a 10–minute procedure. You simply pull the movement out, put in a Super 35 spacer, remount the movement, recollimate the camera, change the ground glass and you're done. Optically, the camera lives in Super 35 centering, so we simply move the film to accommodate the optics, instead of moving the optics to accommodate the film."
"We use brushless motors in both the camera and the magazines," Murdock details. "They're more efficient, quieter and require less maintenance because there are no brushes to wear out. With the addition of sealed bearings, we essentially have a maintenance–free motor assembly. Also, there are dual motors in the [1,000'] magazine, and there is constant communication between the camera and the magazine. The magazine feeds the film into the camera slightly ahead of when the camera really needs it, so the sprocket doesn't have to work nearly as hard. On a Platinum, the feed side is actually a brake, but on the Millennium, the only thing the sprocket does is help guide the film, instead of pulling or pushing it. The camera sends the magazine information about speed, but its motors are controlled by two more CPUs located behind the footage counter on the magazine. That way, the camera knows how much film is in the magazine — because it can calculate the RPMs — while it looks at and adjusts the torque on both of the magazine motors to maintain constant tension."
The Millennium's electronically–controlled shutter has a range of 11.2 to 180 degrees, covering four stops. Not coincidentally, this matches the camera's four–stop speed range of 3 to 50 fps. "Most Panaflexes have a 200-degree shutter," admits Murdock, "but we were getting a lot of requests for custom narrow shutters [for use on other cameras], so we decided this should be a standard feature."
The shutter can also be manually overridden. Murdock explains, "If you wanted to set the angle yourself, you could enter four zeros on the rear control panel and then manually dial–in a shutter angle. We dynamically measure the shutter [for readout on the digital displays], so that while one is running the camera, you can dial a knurled knob — located inside the film compartment — to manually open and close the shutter. You can also pull out the gate and look at the engraved markings on the back of the shutter, which include the most standard shutter openings, such as 180, 172.8, 144, 90 and 45 degrees."
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| The integrated lens light/witness-camera allows for focus, T-stop and zoom marks to be seen on the provided witness monitor. |
Panavision has made a firm commitment to presenting the Millennium as an all–inclusive camera system. "We wanted the camera to be fully featured and packaged," relates Murdock, "so all of the video [features] and accessories are included in the price. Additionally, we wanted to include an on–board monitor that would allow the first AC, operator, or director to be able to see the video picture, so we chose to work with Transvideo in creating a 5" [diagonal] LCD that is very bright and robust. It has power in/out and video in/out, and you can mount it upside–down if you want to. The on–board monitor also comes with a support that attaches it to the top of the iris rod bracket, as well as a sunshade."
The Millennium also comes equipped with an integrated witness camera and wit–cam monitor. Murdock elaborates, "We found this little black–and–white camera about the size of a postage stamp, and thought, 'This is too cute not to use!' At some point, someone suggested building it into the lens light, so you'll always have a witness camera. We wanted to be able to accommodate for remote or difficult focus locations, so the witness camera monitor mounts to the on–board monitor's bracket and can display zoom, focus or T-stops marks. The AC will now be able to see those marks while he or she is away from the camera. This entire system comes standard in the Millennium's kit."
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| The lens light utilizes a postage-sized black-and-white camera and provides a BNC to the on-board witness monitor. |
Given that new digital products and accessories will certainly be introduced into Panavision's inventory, the Millennium design team has built additional communication links into the camera's software and hardware. Together with companion film camera systems and new optical products — as well as some advanced digital imaging products — now being designed and developed, Panavision is poised to enter the new millennium with a greatly expanded range of products and services.
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© 1999 ASC