Waiting for an 8k ambarella based camera.

While we're waiting for real cameras, ones based on ambarella chipsets are handy to have on hand as personal cameras. They are the ones that make a lot of technology for consumer, broadcast infrastructure and pro video camera, announced there 8k camera chip the beginning of last year, but I am yet to see one product with it (not that they aren't out there). However, the H2 chip already dues up to 4kp120, which was a the same rate as 8kp30 and could be used. I think they can run those at over 200mb/s, which is great for home video.

If only somebody would release a really descent camera based on something like that. I wonder if it could be made do ProRes at lower resolutions. It would be great to have a little camera head that could do that with a 1 inch or smaller sensor controllable and streamable remotely. Spike Lee did a film years ago, where he got a lot of Mini DV cameras, and rig them up around scenes fur different perspectives. Which raises the question, a head like this with a compact pan and tilt with remote liquid lens control. Which also makes it suitable for an action and drone camera. Add some tracking and focus targets.

I thought that it would be nice to buy some mini 4K camera, I looked at sample footage and was dissatisfied but thought that source to youtube conversion could spoil the video. So I asked the company for some samples from the camera and got them. And I was dissatisfied again. I tried to understand why and I have found that Ambarella chipset and corresponding sensor it uses is positioned for security cameras, not for consumer ones.

Maybe the Ambarella chipset could implement some satisfactory codecs, I mean PRORES, Redcode or something similar, but I am not sure that it could push the resulting much higher bitstream into storage device, and I am not sure about quality of corresponding sensors.

8K security camera could easily exist and I could buy it for use as a security camera since a single 8K security camera replaces a lot of HD security cameras. But I don't think that I should use a security camera as a professional or even consumer digital cinema camera.

Depends on the chip. Even the pro(sumer) cameras use the technologies, they are actually pretty good and a giant leap above previous cameras. But if you are compressing down to 3.51mb/s h264, you get what you get. Better to think in terms of what prosumer cameras that license ambarella tech dors, and the rest compare it to 36mb/s phone footage.

If you want to check out footage, then there was some sample footage from the Yi 4k+ using a camera cage to put a lens on and over 200mb/s, which is prosumer territory. It uses an older small higher range Sony sensor. I'm retiring for the night so might not find the samples.

However, if one iimplements a pro spec version, it is bound to be better.

Not many good cameras, I know of, use security camera sensors, but some security cameras might use consumer cameras sensors.

I've found some I'm bookmarks. The one I'm talking about using the lens cage is supposed to be the Savin Rock beach one down the bottom.

http://4krumors.com/2017/08/26/more-yi-4k-footage/



I really should have talked about levels here, as we really are talking about them being able to be made into C/D grade footage products. We might talk about raw cinema cameras with low compression being A, pro cameras with higher compression being B, and prosumer with higher being C grade. As it is, out of the box, we are often talking about E or F grade on good ones, and less the previous cameras years back.