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Approved Cameras

• Sunspark 5y ago
  Too bad their streaming video platform uses low bitrates. So disgusting seeing big square macroblocks, esp.on dark scenes. Cancelled it months ago.
• anotheryou 5y ago
  how much is the cheapest on that list? the Canon EOS C70 looks most consumer still.
  • ptrkrlsrd 5y ago
    I would guess the Panasonic S1H or the BGH1 is cheapest. The Blackmagic cameras on the list aren’t that pricey either.
• Grakel 5y ago
  Now do "sound must be remastered for stereo speakers."
  • ugjka 5y ago
    What's the problem?
    • Grakel 5y ago
      Wild volume swings, insane punches for explosions but silent dialogue.
      • jagged-chisel 5y ago
        It’s SOP for Hollywood. Sad we’re not getting Real Innovation around this problem.
        • Grakel 5y ago
          Yeah, I have no interest in surround sound, I just want to hear the words. I specifically don't want to be rumbled by gunshots and explosions.
        • pvarangot 5y ago
          Blueray supports downmix metadata that I think lets you mix volumes with the full 6x2 matrix, and I don't remember if there's EQ but there may be. Also a 5.1 AV is like 500 bucks if you have the space. I don't think what other innovations you need. The technology to stream different audio streams and let the user choose is there. Thing is most studios now do only one mix for theaters and also most streaming providers don't give many fucks about audio. It's not an innovation problem it's a product problem.
    • KaiserPro 5y ago
      When the sound design is targeted for 5.1, most of the dialogue comes from the center speaker. This is great if you have one. However if its downmixed on the fly (ie done on the client side) the center channel is often just played out of both speakers. This means that sound can be muffled, because its drowned out by the incidental noise that comes from the left/right channel.
      • chrisseaton 5y ago
        > the center channel is often just played out of both speakers Well what other option do you have when there are only two speakers? Only play it out of one?
        • mulmen 5y ago
          The next sentence explains why this is a problem. > This means that sound can be muffled, because its drowned out by the incidental noise that comes from the left/right channel.
          • deleted 5y ago
            [deleted]
          • chrisseaton 5y ago
            Yeah I read the same comment you did, but if you're taking a signal with 6 channels, and only have two channels out, you don't really have any option but send the middle channel to both outputs, else it'll sound far too intense in a single ear.
        • wmf 5y ago
          A separate stereo audio mix.
          • chrisseaton 5y ago
            How else would you mix the dialogue except to come out of both speakers though?
  • sen 5y ago
    This is the most ridiculous thing about Netflix. So many great brains there yet none of them can perceive a world where not everyone has a high end home cinema.
    • nixgeek 5y ago
      I guess they’re optimizing for customers who do, and then transcoding to lower qualities for all the people who do not?
      • waffle_maniac 5y ago
        Seems prudent.
      • dylan604 5y ago
        Or allowing the home hardware to do the mix for them. This is when it sounds the worst in my not so humble opinion.
    • Raidion 5y ago
      I mean, this isn't for movies that are bought by Netflix from an existing rights holder, it's movies and series that are commissioned by Netflix. It seems reasonable that they'd want to capture as high quality as possible for as much content as possible, as you can always lose quality in post (or distribution). I don't suppose this would preclude directors using cameras that wouldn't work otherwise when needed (like clip from a cell phone camera). I also have a hard time believing Netflix would be ok putting up money to capture a picture/series all in 16mm film (or that anyone would suggest the commercial success or artistic vision demanded it). So it doesn't stifle creativity, it future proofs Netfix for the lucrative high end market, AND Netflix is paying (at least indirectly) for that level of quality. I don't see the problem here.
      • hug 5y ago
        You may have mixed up where you're responding to: This particular comment thread is not really about the cameras that are in use, but instead about the sound. (Sound recorded by the camera itself -- if it can even record sound -- is essentially never used.) The problem is that the camera requirements are defined, presumably to try to have some lower bound on the quality of the visuals, there is no requirement for audio such that it sounds good on stereo speakers, which is probably what the majority of consumers are using. The idea that Netflix have such a strict definition on camera quality is also a bit of a farce, given how woeful the image looks after it goes through their incredibly overenthusiastic level of compression, but that's neither here nor there.
  • totetsu 5y ago
    https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000897167-Production-Sound-Best-Practices https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360...
  • dylan604 5y ago
    This pretty much ended around Blu-ray/HD-DVD switch from DVD. It was pretty standard to have a dedicated 2.0 Lt/Rt (sometimes a Lo/Ro) mix that was typically included as the first (default friendly) audio track on the DVD. This was convenient for people that did not have a surround system. Ideally, these were separate mixes vs automated downmix. They typically sounded good in stereo only. With the HD formats, it became the norm to no longer include the stereo source on the disc. Now, the expense of this specific mix could be avoided. Who in the world only has 2 speakers? /s
    • nitrogen 5y ago
      Still, Bluray discs with the downmix metadata set correctly should still sound better in stereo than a streaming source that was downmixed without dynamic range and mix preference metadata. The technology is old enough to be long out of patent either way.
      • dylan604 5y ago
        Dolby's DialNorm setting was their true bit of gold. Incorrectly setting that value on surround encodings had a huge impact. Correctly getting that DialNorm value required Dolby gear. Many people could not afford that gear, so a -27 value was set across the board whether it was correct or not. Metadata only isn't a panacea
  • jon-wood 5y ago
    Sadly the requirements for sound mastering state that having only a 5.1 mix is fine, and if you’re doing a stereo mix it’s alright to just slap the centre/surround channels into left/right after dropping the volume a bit. https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001794307-Netflix-Sound-Mix-Specifications-Best-Practices-v1-4 https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360... That last point means that dialogue is likely to be quieter than sound effects and music, since dialogue is usually on the centre channel.
• Laminary 5y ago
  Wonder why they approve the Canon C70 but not Canon C200
  • Matsta 5y ago
    The C70 has the same sensor as the C300 MKIII so that could be why. But then you question why isn't the A7s III or FX3 approved when the FX6 is approved and they all share the same sensor.
    • rch 5y ago
      That's what I'm curious about as well, as I'm looking at the FX3.
    • eropple 5y ago
      My guess is that it's what they've been asked to approve and upon which they've done their due diligence. For Netflix Originals, I would assume most productions are done on rental gear. The difference between renting an FX3 and an FX6 isn't going to be significant at production-budget scales. (And if you had a real burning reason to use something off-list I would bet they can write you an exception.)
  • dylan604 5y ago
    If it were up to me, if the camera doesn't have Global Shutter, it should not be allowed. Nothing more annoying to me than when flash/strobes appear on partial multiple frames. <shudder> Then again, if it were up to me, it would not be allowed to be called cinema unless it used global shutter.
    • ryandamm 5y ago
      I agree with you about how ugly the split screen effect is, but that's not strictly a camera issue -- you can sync strobes to your genlock signal. That reflects a production choice not a camera choice. The quality of global shutter cameras is simply nowhere near the quality of rolling shutter cameras, though there are more acceptable options showing up these days, they still typically have lower dynamic range and generally worse specs.
• jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago
  >netflix requires approval if you want to film a crash with a slightly lower spec camera centralized platforms strike again!
• OliverJones 5y ago
  This means Netflix operates as a production and post studio for their many and talented film-makers. The stuff with the red N on the poster -- some of it is REALLY good -- uses Netflix-operated handling. Any video production goes through a lot of steps from raw studio footage to edited, finished product. This web site says that Netflix processes and people handle a lot of that. Also it looks like 4K is their minimum standard now. I bet the higher resolution makes it easier, with big*ss GPUs to clean up the raw footage. (Footage? WTF? Video measured by distance? Maybe we should say "frameage" or "pix.")
  • colechristensen 5y ago
    When you used actual film it was long lengths of the stuff, hence footage. Lots of words have weird no longer relevant sources. Like “logs”.
    • lekevicius 5y ago
      Not what I expected at all: log (n.2) "record of observations, readings, etc.," 1842, sailor's shortening of log-book "daily record of a ship's speed, progress, etc." (1670s), from log (n.1). The book so called because a wooden float at the end of a line was cast out to measure a ship's speed. General sense by 1913.* So it does have a relationship to the wooden log - it was originally a series of measurements from a floating bit of wood. https://www.etymonline.com/word/log https://www.etymonline.com/word/log
      • i_am_proteus 5y ago
        See also the unit of speed for ships and aircraft, knots, after the knots tied in the line attached to the log.
      • mwattsun 5y ago
        "mark twain" means 12 ft. Samuel Clemens adopted it as a pen name. https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Portals/52/docs/regional_flood_risk_management/our_mississippi/EdGuide/U4/U4%20p246-247.pdf https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Portals/52/docs/regional_floo...
• garyfirestorm 5y ago
  Nothing from NIKON?
  • erikstarck 5y ago
    Nikon does video cameras?
    • colechristensen 5y ago
      Not much separates high end still cameras from video cameras besides taxes and a bit of firmware (some other stuff too, but all minor issues). The big reason all high end cameras aren’t video cameras are mostly taxes in some regions and lazy product differentiation.
      • dylan604 5y ago
        Unless you're the camera operator. Shooting motion on a stills camera in a cinema environment is absolutely attrocious. While the small form factors are attractive for various reasons, they are notoriously hated to actually operate. Tiny tiny buttons. The most actively used button start/stop tends to be in a difficult location to access when not being used as point-n-shoot style camera. Mounted on gear, it becomes difficult to access. Accessing other settings is also tucked away on the smaller camera as well that have discreet/dedicated knobs/buttons on a cinema camera. Some times, small can be too small to be friendly. Some of these can now be accessed via app to help, but it's still a pain. If you're a youtube creator, these cameras can make you look "pro" for a small budget. The price points to entry because of this type of gear brings the creation market to a much wider market, which can be a good thing. Bringing this gear to a full camera crew with DP, AC, etc makes integration harder. Good times!
        • colechristensen 5y ago
          Yeah I guess I should have narrowed my statement to the “capturing frames” aspect, surely the interface is better adapted to specific use case like you say. Though you definitely hear about productions using them anyway.
• baxtr 5y ago
  Top of the list is Munich based ARRI. A fascinating story by itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arri
  • dylan604 5y ago
    Industry holds Arri color science above all others. Even when Red and others were shooting higher than 2k images, people preferred to shoot Arri for the color. Arri was quite proud of their RAW format. I was told that on top of the price of the camera body, it was $20k to license the RAW format for the camera. Their RAW format was a sequence of frames that used the frame number derived from timecode appended to the filename. Had a strange situation with a client's Arri RAW footage. Typically, the camera's timecode is set to time of day. However, this particular day the camera op failed to do this. During one of the shots, the timecode rolled over "midnight" so the 23:59:59:23 timecode had a frame number of 2073599, but the very next frame 00:00:00:00 has a frame number of 0000000. Importing the footage broke this shot into 2 pieces. The last half of the shot showed up as the very first file in the imports, and the first half showed up as the last. RAW formats that are saved into a container format avoids this. TR;DR camera peeps love Arri, post peeps have other opinions
    • Mizza 5y ago
      All that color science just for some lazy editor to drop a blue LUT over it and make everything nice and drab and samey.
      • dylan604 5y ago
        At the directors approval
      • threeseed 5y ago
        Definitely not unique to video. People are happy to take a Leica camera and then apply the same Kodak Portra colour filter that every influencer seems to use.
      • eropple 5y ago
• zucker42 5y ago
  What is the purpose of this document, i.e. who does it apply to? Does it mean that a movie like Tangerine[1] (filmed on an iPhone) would never come to Netflix? [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_(film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangerine_(film)
  • dylan604 5y ago
    You'd be amazed at the number of people involved in creating content that know nothing about the technical aspect of content creation. In most situations, they hire people to do things for them, and they will typically as for what kind of specs they are looking to deliver. Any company that produces something will have similar type of "specs".
  • chrisseaton 5y ago
    Look at the domain name. It's Netflix Studios, not Netflix the consumer service. If you aren't doing business with Netflix Studios then ignore it. I'm sure you already know that there are many films and TV programmes on Netflix that were made before any of these cameras existed that they're perfectly happy to accept for Netflix?
  • bredren 5y ago
    I suspect any film that was good enough could bypass many, many of the guidelines they have for partners, including use of a camera that is not on that list. The collection of documents seems to be guidelines and templates to begin from if seeking to partner with Netflix. It doesn't seem like requirements for the film from being considered for inclusion in the catalogue, but at least offers a relative standard that can be deviated from as necessary. For example, the general safety and guidelines document they provide for the US includes guidelines on weapons handling and stunts.[1] Having documents like this to start from might remove some of the administrative overhead to creating art in film. To offer a comparison, YC has the SAFE investment template, an enterprise sales agreement template and recommendations for organization of startups. Using these might make a new company an easier fold into the portfolio but if the startup is successful enough, many things likely can be seen past. Regarding iPhone specifically, the device has been able to record in 4k since the 6S and 6S Plus, which was one generation later than Tangerine which used the 5S. That said, I don't know the details of video capture to say if anything up through the 13 Pro compares with these other cameras. [1] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gs6n32bMC_2zLGp2jI4U3JA7k7q4KQLU/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gs6n32bMC_2zLGp2jI4U3JA7k7q...
• chirau 5y ago
  I once thought about a high-end camera rental side business. Never really completed the research, but I am curious again... Do studios and creators own these cameras or they usually rent? Is there an aggregated marketplace where I could be able to put my camera for rent if I do eventually get one?
  • colechristensen 5y ago
    I’ve seen people try to make “uber for camera rental”, I’m not sure if any of them succeeded. Most photography specialized retailers rent equipment. I think there’s a good mix between rent and own as there’s a lot of diversity in creators.
    • wmf 5y ago
      It went horribly wrong when people realized that theft is easy and it wasn't covered by insurance. https://www.documentary.org/column/peer-peer-rental-cautionary-tale-plus-using-nonfiction-work-inspiration https://www.documentary.org/column/peer-peer-rental-cautiona...
  • nerdbaggy 5y ago
    PRG is one of the biggest in the US for camera rentals, its rather unexciting. They have all the cameras, but for whatever reason most of them you have to specifically ask for. https://prggear.com/product-category/camera/camera-camera/camera-large-sensor/ https://prggear.com/product-category/camera/camera-camera/ca...
  • pvarangot 5y ago
    It's not a bad gig but you need contacts and one of your primary competitors is a camera manufacturer, I think it was Panavision that has a big rental branch (and they rent Arri or Red too I think).
  • idhqbfojqbx 5y ago
    Renting out cameras might give you influencers or youtubers as customers, but for producing a feature film or a TV show the rentals include everything from lights,lenses to generator trucks, with the camera only being the very tip of the ice berg. Production companies will continue to go to the rental companies where they can get everything at once. For reference a look at the perhaps biggest rental company might give some perspective: https://www.arrirental.com/en https://www.arrirental.com/en
• antoineMoPa 5y ago
  I know we can't do this here, but can we talk about the scroll-locked header which takes almost a third of my screen?
  • AbraKdabra 5y ago
    Came to say exactly this, the designer of this web doesn't know a thing about web design.
    • dylan604 5y ago
      It looks better if you view it on their Roku app ;-)
  • xattt 5y ago
    Don’t forget the squashed pictures of the actual cameras.
• mikotodomo 5y ago
  This is really high end stuff. Makes me realize how much I'm getting for just 10 bucks.
  • dylan604 5y ago
    You times how many millions of other users?
    • daggerdrone 5y ago
      How does that matter? They are just stating how much value they are getting out of $10.
      • dylan604 5y ago
        it just goes to show how these large budgets are possible. nothing nefarious to see here.
• antisthenes 5y ago
  It's too bad they don't screen their actual content with the same rigor as they do their technical side. I don't doubt their technical side is excellent. Most of Netflix is utterly mindless garbage content for background consumption. I struggle to name even 5 of their originals over the years that you could call good "TV" or Cinema. Black Mirror is the only one that really comes to mind.
  • mupuff1234 5y ago
    Black mirror was originally a channel 4 production (uk). It moved to Netflix on the 3rd season, so I wouldn't quite call it a Netflix original.
  • JimTheMan 5y ago
    If you can name some things you like, I'll try to name some Netflix originals that might match? I think you could be pleasantly surprised
  • erklik 5y ago
    Stranger Things The Crown Bojack Horseman Lupin Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Russian Doll Glow Narcos Sex Education House Of Cards (although, this is less fun to watch now considering Kevin Spacey's real life actions but the show itself was and is quite good) Dark The Witcher Daredevil The Haunting of Hill House (similarly Midnight Mass and Haunting of Bly Manor) All of these are award winning as well as just being incredibly good shows. I think Netflix just pumps out so much content. There's plenty of bad stuff, but there's also plenty of very very good stuff.
  • TulliusCicero 5y ago
    > I struggle to name even 5 of their originals over the years that you could call good "TV" or Cinema. Netflix puts out plenty of good stuff, some people just can't distinguish "I don't like it" from "it's bad." Comments like this are usually just an invitation for someone to put forth what shows they think are decent so you have a chance to dunk on their taste.
    • 5y ago
• idhqbfojqbx 5y ago
  Since there we're questions of what this list is for, this list doesn't determine with which cameras a TV show or film has to be shot with to be included in Netflix. Its rather one of several technical specifications (there are others for post-prod flow for example) for production companies who produce the so-called Netflix Originals for Netflix.
• Tomdarkness 5y ago
  The technical quality of Netflix originals is really high. One thing that annoys me though is for some reason despite having rigorous standards for the camera it seems a common trend through numerous Netflix Originals to use the Vantage Hawk V-Lite Vintage '74 line of anamorphic lenses. I guess it's a stylistic choice but it results is some (for me at least) annoying image distortion that can really distract from the show. They are literally described at claiming the flaws are a feature: "The Vintage’74 version has certain gentle aberrations and other characteristics that might be considered flaws by others but are welcomed storytelling tools for cinematographers" You can see this is some example footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhbRkoeNb9U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhbRkoeNb9U Note the distortion and blurred top and bottom of the image.
  • chrisseaton 5y ago
    Cinematographers almost always want part of the image blurred - an entire image in sharp focus would make it difficult to perceive depth and would take away the ability to direct the gaze of the audience.
    • galago 5y ago
      In this case the OOF points of light are actually vertically oriented ovals. The idea being its reminiscent of "1974" style anamorphic lenses. Its an affectation not unlike digital retro photo filters, except that its the physical lens. Its not unlike musicians who use vintage equipment because they want to reproduce something as it was done in the past. Its gets a bit dissonant if the movie is set in the present though.
      • xuhu 5y ago
        I just imagined sitting for a photography course test and the first question is "why do anamorphic lenses not produce round out-of-focus points of light, since the in-focus parts are not stretched". Naturally the course material didn't cover any of this.
        • 5y ago
• tuankiet65 5y ago
  On their anime production requirements (https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000593927-Anime-Production-Minimum-Requirements https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360...): > The working resolution must be 1920x1080 or higher throughout the production, including drawing, scanning, background, CG and VFX. At least a few years ago, there was a belief that most anime were produced at under 1080p, then upscaled if necessary. Therefore 1080p anime didn't offer and advantages compared to 720p releases. I wonder if this is still true to this day.
  • quartesixte 5y ago
    IIRC, the quality concerns in anime has never really been resolution — in all the circles I used to dabble in, the real concern was color bit-depth, with 1080p just being a given. Last time I checked in, 10-bit rips of bluray releases were the holy grail and anyone “serious” about their anime quality made sure to have all the proper media players and codecs to handle it.
    • tuankiet65 5y ago
      You're not wrong, 10-bit depth is essential to avoid color banding. However, I believe that all anime blu-rays are encoded in 8-bit AVC, so the issue is not the bit depth in the source material. Rather, fansub groups re-encode blu-ray releases to achieve smaller bitrate, and 8-bit => 10-bit conversion allows higher compression rate while still avoiding banding.
  • nullify88 5y ago
    Did Arcane fall under those requirements? Its been a long time since I saw something animated and styled so beautifully. Before that, I was usually impressed by Ufotables quality (Garden of sinners, Fate Stay / Night stuff).
    • urthor 5y ago
      Arcane is 3D animation (vectors and polygons) over painted backgrounds for 100% of it I believe. Anime is computer edited 2D cells drawn on tablets for foreground and background and layered. The 3D work is limited to certain scenes. 3D animation can be scaled up and down, but it's not hand drawn and converted to raster images like the 2D cells necessarily. I imagine with anime they just agree on a resolution for all the rasters and plug away at it, because they're under insane time/budget pressure. The painted backgrounds who knows.
• snissn 5y ago
  curious - does anyone know the least expensive camera on their approved list? It's a lot for me to look up price for each one
  • trevortheblack 5y ago
    Buying second-hand prices will always be variable, But the cheapest brand new are probably Panasonic BGH1 - $2k Panasonic S1H - $3.7k Canon C70 - $5.5k Blackmagic Ursa - $6k
    • YPPH 5y ago
      Thanks for that! Not as bad as I would have thought.
    • SergeAx 5y ago
      Thank you! NB: BGH1 is literally just a body with sensor and couple of sockets and that's it.
    • mvgoogler 5y ago
      Those prices are likely body-only. By the time you add lenses and other accessories you're probably looking at 2-4x the price of the body.
  • artdigital 5y ago
    From a quick look I’d say Panasonic S1H It’s the only one that’s just a mirrorless camera built with video in mind, while the others are full blown cinema cameras
  • YPPH 5y ago
    I was going to ask the same thing if no one else had.
• jrockway 5y ago
  > Limited use of non-approved cameras is allowable in certain circumstances (e.g. crash, POV, drone, underwater, Pan-Tilt-Zoom/Robocam etc). In all cases, such cameras must be explicitly approved by Netflix for a specific project. The implications here are amazing. Say someone wants to like film a mountain bike scene on a GoPro. Someone has to realize how this is going to work in advance. Then they have to tell someone to write Netflix an email to ask for permission. Someone writes that email. Someone at Netflix receives the email, and asks their team whether or not to approve the exception. A meeting is scheduled and it's discussed. They decide yes! They make a note of the approval in their project planning system. Or rather, try to... the system doesn't support that. They file a bug report. The engineering team's product manager takes a look and decides it's important, so they have a short call with the team's manager to get it prioritized. It gets prioritized. The product manager tells the Video Camera Approvals department that it will be looked at in the next couple weeks. Meanwhile an engineer picks up the ticket, decides it makes sense, and adds a new column to the ongoing_production table 'boolean unapproved_camera_exeception_granteed default false'. Some glue is put together to make this a checkbox, and in just a week, the feature is launched! The camera exceptions department is informed. They say they actually wanted it to be a list of camera models that were approved, the date that that camera model was approved, and the user who approved it. Also can you add a button to client-facing UI so that production companies can make a request there? The project manager says this is a great idea and prioritizes it. The engineer that added the checkbox is on vacation, so the more complicated version of this feature is given to the new-hire as their starter project. The new-hire puts together a small document with an overview of what they plan to do; a database migration to add a new table to store approved cameras, the UI work, a messaging system to tell the video cameras approvals team that there is a request to review, etc. A design review is scheduled for next Thursday. Don't work on it until then, we'll do the rest next sprint. Meanwhile over in the video camera exceptions approval department, the production company writes in "hey, we're running out of time, should we just use a GoPro?" The exceptions manager writes "This is approved. We're having some trouble adding a note to the CRM, but that should be fixed in the next couple months. For now, if anyone asks, this email is the record of your approval." Unfortunately, right before they press send, a cat picture is posted to Slack. Slack makes a loud sound to notify everyone of this, and the email window is closed as everyone goes over to check out the cat picture. As it turns out, this email just lives in the Drafts folder for the rest of eternity. It was the Exception Manager's last day; turns out Hulu is paying Video Camera Exceptions Managers twice as much, and in theory have better software. Meanwhile, over at the video production company, they are frustrated that they can't get ahold of anyone at Netflix to approve the camera, so they decide to just strap a Sony F65 to the rider's handlebars. There is no off-the-shelf-mount for this, so they shop around the idea to local machine shops. One offers to design and build it over the weekend so they can start using it on monday. $20,000 for the design and first prototype; $10,000 for the rush job. Approved. On Monday morning, they attach the F65 to a bicycle in the studio and pedal it around. A little wobbly, but nothing our stunt rider can't handle. They book her for a shoot tomorrow. She inspects the bike and says "whoa, this is weird" but gets used to it after a while. They head out to location and begin the technical descent. So far so good, even with the very wobbly cockpit. She hits a huge jump and get higher up in the air. The bike unexpectedly pitches downwards. The landing is not good! CRUNCH! She's off the bike. The camera flies into a ravine. The chase crew stops and throws their bikes away as quickly as possible to check on the stunt rider. She's conscious. They quickly call 911 to get a medical team out here to assist. Broken neck? Broken back? They don't know what to do. Unfortunately, there is no cell reception. Someone volunteers to hike to the summit to call. 20 minutes later, they're talking to 911. They can't get an ambulance out there, so they're sending a helicopter. Do you have the GPS coordinates? They don't, but offer to signal to the helicopter when they hear it. Someone probably has a mirror that they can signal with, right? 20 minutes pass, and the helicopter is overhead. The rest of the team doesn't know that one is coming, but someone has the bright idea of using one of their cheaper lenses as a mirror. They attract the helicopter pilot's attention. A paramedic descends through the trees, attaches a back brace to the stunt rider, and they're off to the hospital. The rest of the crew descends the slope on their bikes, reaching the production van and telling them the news. They're weeks behind schedule at this point, they might have to just cut this technical scene. Some time passes. The stunt rider makes a full recovery. It looked worse than it was, and she's back in the saddle within a week. The scene is cut from the film, and it's delivered in time. The film gets amazing reviews. Subscriptions are at an all time high. The CRM software is modified to support the video camera approval workflow, and it works great. The junior engineer is promoted. A quarterly business review shows that the processes are working great, and that the scrappy Netflix is out-innovating all of the competition. High fives all around. Their share price increases and all the employees are richer. This is the American economy in a nutshell, and I'll be honest -- I don't fucking get it.
• TedShiller 5y ago
  This is totally arbitrary. Many Nikon cameras match those requirements but are randomly not listed. You could use an “unapproved” camera and just overwrite the metadata. Nobody would know (unless you’re using an iPhone or something).
  • anarayanan31 5y ago
    It’s not just the number of photosites, or even the bit depth - Netflix approved cameras need timecode support, among other features that distinguish a “production ready” camera from a consumer one.
  • throwanem 5y ago
    Canon and Sony make cine cameras. Nikon makes still cameras that happen to shoot video, but not all that well - I shoot Nikon myself, but I shoot Nikon because I want the best still cameras I can get. If I cared about video at all, I'd probably have gone with Canon instead, not least because their cine and still bodies can share EF-mount lenses.
• livinginfear 5y ago
  I'd like to see their guidelines for the social content of their productions. Every Netflix production I've seen seems to feature commonly themed social commentary, in some cases more subtle than others.
  • JimTheMan 5y ago
    Why would you like to see it? (Assuming any such thing exists, which I can't imagine)
    • vpilcx 5y ago
      To confirm their own assumptions as to how the media operates.
  • xuhu 5y ago
    It would be like asking to see Facebook's algorithm for the news feed.
  • KerrAvon 5y ago
    Looking for blueprints for Jewish space lasers, are we?
• supperburg 5y ago
  I saw something getting shot today in downtown SF where a ton of extras were all walking down the street wearing VR headsets. Anyone know what that was?
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• docflabby 5y ago
  They probably do better to put more work into writing a guide for approved writers. So many (many) shows with great actors completely let down by terrible scripts....
  • usui 5y ago
    I agree so much. The recent Cowboy Bebop TV show had decent casting and high production value but the worst writing I've seen in a very long time. It was like watching The Room for TV shows. It's no surprise it got canceled. I really wish their writers could be better.
  • WalterBright 5y ago
    Let's just add some explosions! That'll fix a terrible script. The king of witless, trite scripts has got to be the recent "La Brea" series. There's such a lack of creativity that the characters recycle each others lines.
    • laurent92 5y ago
      Let me bet, they stare at each other to express feelings, very very often as a way of stretching the duration of scenes?
      • WalterBright 5y ago
        They'd say things like "I promise I'll come back for you", and "I can't leave XXX" ad infinitum. They'd also do the usual plot device of splitting up and wandering around alone, for the sole purpose of getting into a fix so everyone else can rescue them. Although sabre tooth tigers and dire wolves regularly eat the red shirts, the rest never think of arming themselves. I watched the show out of incredulousness. And because I enjoy snarking on bad shows :-)
  • bagacrap 5y ago
    yes but this has worked to create uniformly beautiful "netflix original" documentaries
• fleddr 5y ago
  Netflix is like an in-flight entertainment system. There's really nothing there you genuinely want to watch, but here you are, you might as well watch something. Every once in a while, they do have a good show. And even that sucks, because you know they will now ruin it by adding 3 seasons where absolutely nothing happens. And there's the woke thing spreading its wings. Even in the Witcher, where it's perfectly fine to behead people and burn down villages, but one most not engage in acts of "toxic masculinity", by making dismissive remarks at women. This requires a lengthy dialogue to correct. Yes, I should cancel.
  • GhettoComputers 5y ago
    Agreed. I’ve been at a friends with all the streaming subscriptions. The most used is HBO (been watching Silicon Valley and they got tons of movies), Amazon is second (terrible ads at the beginning, sells movies as well), then Disney+.
• divbzero 5y ago
  This Netflix site lists the preferred capture formats (RAW, REDCODE RAW, X-OCN, etc.) for recording the video. What file format would be used to submit the final video (edited with audio and captions) to Netflix?
  • maxmcd 5y ago
    I believe that info might be in here: https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/214806618-Netflix-Branded-Delivery-Specifications-v4-1 https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/214... and here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_bwbUs4NaF7Y-07_NHwQqsL5L6zPVMPN/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_bwbUs4NaF7Y-07_NHwQqsL5L6z...
• djrogers 5y ago
  What’s with the Java vulnerability warning that takes up 1/3 of my phone screen? I know about the log4j vulnerability, and this still made me think this was a pwned website trying to serve up malware…
• SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  Are the 4.5K cameras intended for 4K output? If so, why 4.5K?
• 1-6 5y ago
  No Apple iPhone?
• GhettoComputers 5y ago
  For anyone into photography, an unrelated topic is that Amazon prime offers unlimited photo storage, you can upload all your RAWs as long as you keep your subscription. The next generation of cameras should move away from SD cards. I can’t wait until you can stick NVMe on one, it’s a shame they don’t even make any emmc SD cards. Even the iPhone has had that for half a decade now. Digital cameras really suck, they’re all horrible proprietary hardware devices, basically expensive locked down computers with large sensors that attach to lens through proprietary mounts.
• sjtgraham 5y ago
  A couple of months ago I had a Zoom meeting with the CEO of another startup. I remarked his camera must be good because the capture was of incredible quality. His "webcam" was actually one of the Canon ones on the list. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1633519-REG/canon_3794c002_eos_c500_mark_ii.html https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1633519-REG/canon_379...
  • devindotcom 5y ago
    Having a C for webcams is really over the top! The qualities of a digital cinema camera are wasted on such a compressed stream. A mirrorless and basic prime will give you the same effect for 1/10 the price. That said it's entirely possible he needs to record serious footage on it for marketing and stuff and they sent him this because it shoots to their standards. Still, it's funny.
    • floatingatoll 5y ago
      Maybe it's a pre-production prototype, repurposed to fit a need :)
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  • Kerrick 5y ago
    I’m a hobbyist videographer and I’m not above setting up my lighting (3-point with octobox, strip box, and hair snoot) and camera (a7s iii with G lens) as a webcam to impress. I’ve recorded a few instructional videos at work with it, set it up for the first couple weeks after acquisition to meet the team, and I’d use it for job interviews if I was looking. It’s not why I have the gear but… “smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.”
  • thenickdude 5y ago
    Canon released an app to allow most of their cameras to run as a fairly low-res webcam (it's a streaming capture from the liveview system rather than 720p). This was really great for me with Zoom because I could get a sharp colourful image even in the low lights I had available, where a standard webcam would have dissolved into a grey mush of noise reduction.
• schappim 5y ago
  I wonder when Netflix will have their own video editing software...
• edub 5y ago
  I've had the opportunity to work on two short productions for ESPN in the last two years. My role is writing the code for the screen overlays and real time scoring system. I have very little knowledge in cameras but did have to review all the production guidelines. Netflix doesn't mention image sensor size (CCD) but ESPN requires 2/3" or more. I'm guessing every camera they list as approved would meet that spec even though they don't specify it. At the time I was surprised to learn that ESPN wants you to deliver all content in 720p. Wikipedia says that their Digital Center is equipped for 2160p, but they still broadcast in 720p. The archivist in me would want to receive the material greater than 720p even knowing it is to be broadcast in 720p, but I can understand the additional complexity that such a small thing can add, especially when dealing with hundreds of production companies. I speculate that Netflix wants you to turn in higher quality video because they are factoring in that over time encoding and streaming algorithms and increased bandwidth will allow them to push higher quality feeds to end users, and they want the highest possible raw capture so they can improve the stream as technology improves, whereas ABC is content with airing footage in the future that looks as it did when it aired originally.
  • DoctorOW 5y ago
    On a similar note, working at a TV station I've noticed that if you look carefully, about a third to half of a person's channel lineup is still in SD. Not only is there a wealth of 1080 content, but it's also difficult to even buy equipment that only produces standard definition. Still, it's cheaper to downconvert high resolution content than it is to upgrade the amount of bandwidth one has available. To this day internet streaming is considered inadequate for a network and transmission is being done over satellites and antennas which are pretty costly to upgrade.
• dharma1 5y ago
  It’s a bit random Blackmagic Ursa 4.6k is approved but Ursa 12k or Pocket Cinema Camera 6k are not
• supernova87a 5y ago
  Maybe this is a little off topic, but I was curious to know why, when the Blackmagic pocket camera came out like 3 years ago, it was such a revolution/attention-grabbing camera? As in, people were like, this upends the dominance of ARRI, etc etc.? Was it just the resolution available for the price point at the time? How did the company achieve it, and why weren't any of the major camera manufacturers able to do that up until that time?
  • ancientworldnow 5y ago
    I work professionally as a colorist and the blackmagic cameras aren't professional cameras. They just don't look nearly as good (especially in difficult scenarios) and the footage is far less flexible than arri, red, or the high end sony venice line. The only projects that use them in my experience are low budget music videos (I'm talking very low budget - typically sub $10k) and documentaries. Occasionally you'll see them as a C cam for higher end jobs.
    • supernova87a 5y ago
      Oh interesting, thanks for the reply! Is it that they don't record the same bit depth (?) What aspects of the output or format of a camera make it suitable for pro use?
• imiric 5y ago
  I would like to see the film industry focus on not only increasing resolution, but frame rate as well. 24fps has remained a standard for too long mostly because of legacy and stylistic reasons, but with the switch to digital productions and projections, and internet bandwidth increases across the board, there's no reason why shows and movies couldn't be produced and delivered at 60fps and beyond. The main argument against this is that consumers would find the "soap opera effect" jarring, or that it would add even more strain on traffic for ISPs. These are minor complaints that would go away as more high FPS content is produced, and bandwidth is increased. With the advent of cloud gaming, the infrastructure should already be prepared for these high bitrates anyway. And consumers could always be given the choice to stream at different frame rates if it bothers them stylistically. I for one would appreciate more detail in fast moving scenes that otherwise become a blurry mess at 24fps.
  • matt-attack 5y ago
    James Cameron’s latest installment of Avatar will be in high frame rate. In fact he’s been advocating for high frame rate for many years now in the industry. Went so far as to shoot a mini movie demonstrating various formats and their pros/cons. Was shown at CinemaCon years ago and is available within the industry.
  • Mandelmus 5y ago
    When I watched The Hobbit in high frame rate (HFR) it was jarring for the first 10 minutes, but after that I really enjoyed the look, and wished it would become the new standard. Unfortunately the list of HFR movies remains rather short, with each grand new attempt at popularising HFR having failed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_with_high_frame_rates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_with_high_frame_...
  • Thorrez 5y ago
    >stream at different frame rates if it bothers them stylistically. I think that would be less than ideal. I think usually with 24fps, the shutter is open for 1/48th of a second. So you get a certain amount of motion blur, and movie viewers are used to that amount of motion blur. If you shoot at 60fps, the shutter will likely be open for 1/120th of a second. If you then play it at 30fps by cutting out half the frames, the motion blur will still be 1/120th, which is probably not what the viewer wants.
• SergeAx 5y ago
  So long with "shoot your next movie on iPhone". I was hoping for Canon EOS, but it is $5.5k "cinema" one. Gotta re-read Rodriguez' "Rebel without a crew" (and try to forget his way subpar episode of the next Disney Star Wars humiliation).
• rixrax 5y ago
  For reference: BBC[0] 'technical specification for the delivery of television programmes'. 35 pages, with links to additional specs for cameras etc. [0] http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/scotland/commissioning/TechnicalDeliveryStandardsBBCFile.pdf http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/scotland/commissioning/TechnicalD...
• ahmed_ds 5y ago
  For some odd reason, I expected an affiliate purchasing link on that camera list. Even though it is a multi billion dollar company, I have been pavloved by webpage's with list of products.
  • quartesixte 5y ago
    As the comments below explain, production companies don’t buy any equipment anyways for most things. It’s all rented. You can’t even buy some of the stuff here even if you wanted to either. Studio-grade camera equipment is like trying to buy a Ferrari.
• hnarn 5y ago
  Am I the only one who feel continually let down by the script writing in Netflix Originals? Not all of them, but many of them seem to have a budget that allows for “decent” special effects and scenery, but when it comes to actual writing, which in my mind is what carries or collapses a series to begin with, it sometimes feels like they just grabbed interns or whoever was available for the lowest cost. The latest example of a promising series torpedoed by shoddy writing is in my opinion “The Defeated”. I mean, it’s about killing nazis in post war Berlin, how do you mess this up? And yet the characters are boring, cliché and the story is predictable to the point that it feels like a chore to watch. Maybe I’m not the majority in this opinion but I really feel like Netflix could probably make better series if they spent less on production and more on writing, but now that I’m saying it out loud I guess I am the minority after all. Most people probably prefer a well produced series with a bad script over a well produced, pretentious indie movie or bottle episode.
  • bshimmin 5y ago
    You're definitely not alone. I was trying to watch Netflix's newest Harlan Coben adaptation, "Stay Close", and it all looked very nice (especially the title sequence) but the script was abominable, the acting was bad, and it was just... dull. Apparently they're slated to make 14 adaptations of this guy's books, which really sums up the problem: quantity over quality.
  • ricc 5y ago
    My perspective on this is that this happens because they are in the position to afford doing what basically is a "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach, which can lead to some really great stories/writing but will also produce subpar results. I personally like this because I feel like they are able to give chance to a lot more diverse ideas which won't fit traditional "Hollywood".
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  • jpm48 5y ago
    I've watched several that i've thought have been written by AI / GPT.
• ccbccccbbcccbb 5y ago
  Talking about brushes instead of paintings. An overwhelming part of society has lost the essence in everything and went full-on meta, some 10 years ago one could find wonderful album reviews on Discogs, as example, but not anymore - the vinyl press quality is the topic 99% of comments over there now. The only feeling music seems to be inducing in those people is that of annoyance at clicks, pops and scratches. 6-21-3-11-ing metaworld.
• bufferoverflow 5y ago
  Canon R5 and R6 aren't approved. A good example of white listing fail.