{"id":210,"date":"2011-05-15T17:17:46","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T00:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billzarchy.com\/blog\/blog\/?p=210"},"modified":"2024-04-08T19:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T02:46:55","slug":"nab-report-v-innovision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billzarchy.com\/blog\/nab-report-v-innovision\/","title":{"rendered":"NAB 2011: Innovision"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Innovision’s Probes: long barrels and small lens sizes (despite the wide angle perspective on this photo, the barrel diameter of the Probes is only 1.7 inches)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a climactic moment in a rock video, the camera moves in on the guitar strings, bringing us closer and closer to the fingers of the player, then impossibly close, then we slip past the strings and enter the hole in the guitar. In a TV series about Las Vegas, the camera looks up from deep in the well of a craps table as the dice come tumbling by us, very close, and very large. In a gangster movie, the camera sits on the velvet surface of a pool table and we look up at the rack of balls, just as the cue ball comes crashing in.<\/p>\n

In a road chase, we speed along, the camera crazily close to the ground, then pass unscathed under<\/em> three vehicles. In another scene in a bowling alley, we are<\/em> the bowling ball, hurtling down the lane toward our inevitable collision with the pins.<\/p>\n

For the upcoming season of Austin City Limits,<\/em> during a spirited performance, one of the cameras pointed at the stage rolls 115 feet along the wall of the balcony, without disturbing the audience’s sight lines, and with no hanging cables.<\/p>\n

All these amazing shots have been made possible by devices pioneered or marketed by Innovision Optics<\/a> in Santa Monica, California.<\/p>\n

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Mark Centkowski<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Founder Mark Centkowski built his first innovative imaging device when a client requested a specialized shot on a film he was producing.<\/p>\n

“It was an endoscope, similar to what a proctologist would use,” he says. “But theirs were more waterproof, and mine had to fit a 16mm camera.”<\/p>\n

That led to the founding of Innovision in 1989, and the eventual development of their signature products, the Probe lenses<\/a>. These clever optics combine small size and long barrels with interchangeable Direct View, 45-degree, and 90-degree attachments, so the lenses can provide unique angles of view in many places where a conventional camera body would not fit.<\/p>\n

Centkowski’s original Model 6000 endoscope series fit film cameras and had a T-stop of T28 (not<\/em> 2.8) in 16mm and T45 in 35mm. Over the years since then, Innovision has improved the quality and light transmission of their products, through the Probe I, Probe II, and Probe II+ series. The current HD Probes have an effective aperture of T3.3 and lenses of 5mm, 8mm, 12mm, 17mm, and 23mm, and adapt to fit on any camera. Centkowski is working on a new set with 5K resolution.<\/p>\n

At NAB last month, besides the Probes, Innovision was showing these new products, available for sale or rental:<\/p>\n

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Rolly wall dolly<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Rolly wall dolly<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n