6 minute read
Tech Column
Weighing 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.” 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.”
The novelty of a star character hurtling through space in a car crash or rollover scene can captivate attention, he adds, but warns it’s obviously prone to being overdone at which point the novelty wears off and it become a gimmick audiences quickly tire from. Still, the format and capabilities have cinematographers thinking, though when this column was written there were no units in Canada. Cinematographer and drone cam operator Mike Reid, who relocated to Santa Barbara from Toronto last year for love and work, however, was lucky enough to get his hands on a Freefly. “I’d worked with Tabb Firchau [president of Freefly] in 2011 on Watermark [produced by Nick de Pencier csc] and kept in touch,” he says. “This was long before Freefly.” He’s done some drone work himself and was excited to try the camera, though he says he’s still dialling it in and getting used to its properties. “It doesn’t have a lot of dynamic range and seems to work best at 4K,” he says. “But I think I’d have it in my bag on every job.” While it is designed for a drone, he says it’s small and light enough for many other situations and is mulling using it for underwater work, having worked on Shark Week projects. He has a waterproof case that he’s rigged but requires two-handed operation, so he is considering having one made especially. It would have been cool on some segments for Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, the third in the documentary series with De Pencier where he was also the drone cam operator. “There was a segment in Nigeria where all these houses are built out on the water and there’s a sawmill and the logs are floating in,” Reid says. “That scene never made it into the movie, but that would have been cool.” It’s a viable alternative for high frame rate capture, Reid says, and a great alternative to renting something like a Phantom for a couple of days. With Freefly struggling to meet demand, it may be some time before it shows up in Canada, but there’s already curiosity. “I thought about picking it up,” producer-editor-shooter Jeff Ridout says. “I shoot a lot of stock and short form doc content. I’d totally use this camera for action and remote shooting where a Phantom would be impossible to operate.” Brad Rushing csc says you can’t help but be impressed by the max frame rate, though he suspects it will be of more practical use in science and industrial cinematography. “And 2K is a perfectly fine resolution,” he adds. “I think back to when the RED One came out and how some people called it vapourware. Look at them now.” There will be some adjustments and learning, he says, even when the camera is rigged to shoot at, say, 422 fps or 1,461 fps, but he can also see it used as a highly portable camera to be carried in a backpack for setup shooting nature documentaries or other tight spots without having to pack Pelican cases and hump them up mountain trails. It’s a far cry from shooting high-speed frames on film, which burned through footage just getting up to speed, he says. What’s exciting is coming up with the sequence where it would be best utilized. “Flying over a volcano, a car crash from different angles, capturing birds in flight from the air, swooping in on a car crash, ramping,” he says. “I’d like to see a removable drive, for example, and some other option, but I’m sure those will come as it evolves. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to see how people use it.”
Ian Harvey is a journalist who has been writing about digital disruption for 21 years. He welcomes feedback and eagerly solicits subject matter ideas at ian@pitbullmedia.ca.
