Tech Column
Freefly Drone Cam Takes Fr
W
eighing in a just 716 grams (25 oz.), the Wave camera from drone and gimbal maker Freefly Systems is a remarkable piece of hardware in and of itself, but the part that gets your attention is the 9,256 frame-per-second speed. No, that’s not a typo. Designed as a purposebuilt drone cam, it offers 4K on a 35s sensor shooting 4:3 aspect with a E mount and up to 90 minutes of internal battery time on standby. It’ll shoot up to 60
minutes depending on frame rate before needing a 90-minute recharge. Given the light payload to start with and the emergence of lighter, compact lenses such as the Zeiss Supreme line, it adds up to more flight time with better optics. Drones are of course getting more sophisticated, and Freefly’s own Alta Pro is no slouch in the payload department, able to hoist a hefty 20 pounds, and with the lighter Wave able to fly longer times. For now the E mount is the only option, but according to an emailed response, “The E-Mount is universally adaptable as a base mount (based on flange depth and commercial available adapter options) and is what we are sticking with for launch.” 30 • Canadian Cinematographer - March 2021
The specs are as follows: pixels clock in at 5.5 µm by 5.5 µm and a native resolution of 4096 by 3072 with a global electronic shutter and base 250 ISO. Capture is to an internal SSD at 1Tb or 2Tb in compressed RGB at 10 bits and a 5:1 to 6:1 compression ratio. The outputs are HDMI A, USB C and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. It’s about 150 mm by 97 mm and 47 mm, basically six inches by 3.8 by 1.8, which is pretty compact. Then there’s that other headline on its launch – 9,259 frames per second. It’s an eye-catching number, and some are questioning the practicality of just how it would fit into a project or script. First, let’s look at what works out of the box. At 4K and 422 fps, it’s a nice tool to have in the lineup for those who shoot a lot of drone work and want to have that high-frame option with a lightweight camera and a diverse range of glass options. Push the capture to 1,461 fps and you can get 2K. If you want to bring that eye-popping 9,259 fps into play, however, you’ll be shooting at 16:1 at 2K while maxing out 4K at 3,276. At US$9,995 for the 1TB model and US$10,995 for the 2TB version, it’s not cheap so rental may be a better option for what is a specialty rig, but the floor is open for discussion on how and why that kind of frame rate is called for. “It would have to be in the script,” says veteran DP John Holosko csc, figuratively scratching his head to think of an application where the top frame rate at that 16:9 resolution would be practical. Shooting at 2K or 4K at the other frame rates, 1,461 fps or 422 fps is more likely, and it elevates a drone cam to a more useful position. “You’ve paid a million or more for the big star and so you want to maximize their screen time where possible,” he says. “Slow motion gives you three or four seconds of that face time.”
