Pathé, Tuschinski, Friday morning, 25th February (Photo: Jesse van Broekhoven)

On Friday morning, at 9:00 the cinema was full:
Cameramen, directors, producers, people from Fuji, Kodak, Cineco, and several post houses had made time to see together an extensive formats-test, set up by the BSC.

In addition to the analog stocks there is a whole range of digital formats (beginning) to emerge. The test panel of the BSC made a selection of the 18 most popular formats, divided in three groups: big, medium and small formats, (35mm format, 16mm format, the rest). A workflow was set up with the objective to make “unbiased” visible the character of each system. Sue Gibson, BSC:  "The choice of film stocks and the menu settings was left in the hands of the manufacturers and suppliers to ensure a completely unbiased test. Those digital cameras able to record to both Tape and Data were invited to do so. The final material was assessed after grading and the best quality format went forward to editing."

For the presentation, all formats were put together, and the results (based on resolution, sharpness, color, etc.) compared with each other. Sue Gibson: "All the material was graded to provide a level playing field for its assessment; using the grey scale and Macbeth Color Chart. This was lit to exactly 3200k or 5600k depending on the scene photographed and exposed using the ASA rating provided by the manufacturer/supplier, which was confirmed using a waveform monitor for the digital formats. There was no other grading of individual shots."
Tested formats and cameras:
ARRI 435 Full frame 35mm. 4perf 1:1.85, with 4 different Kodak and Fuji film stocks
Genesis
D-21
Sony F35
Red One
ARRI 416 super 16mm, with 4 different Kodak en Fuji film stocks
S I 2k
Panasonic 3700
Sony F900R
Thomson Viper
Sony EX 3
Panasonic HVX 201
Canon EOS 5D MK 2

The BSC test gives a “scientific” view of the available formats. The set-up, organization and implementation of the test has been a huge job, Sue Gibson compares it with the showing of a film, in the Tuschinsky. The workflow that followed (see the technical data; Macbeth color cards), had the objective to make visible the “naked” properties of the formats/stocks; (through) not grading the differences against each other, but comparing them raw. The outcome is a pleasant review. Therefore it was striking that m.n., the RED in this test presented itself badly (according to the RED specialists, this was due to the workflow that was followed. The RAW material is than arranged again by RED itself.).
A comparison between the big formats (the quality of) the 35mm film and the D2, shows they are close to each other. The 35mm film has a bigger contrast range, and helps one forget the “film feeling”. The D21 comes with its own “clean” look.
In the middle are the lesser differences. What was string is that in the 16mm material, despite the finishing with Arri degrading software, the grain was still visible. In the small formats the EX3 is still a surprising camera, and there is a new generation of photo cameras with which you can film (they are not actually a small format), like the tried and tested Canon 5D mk. 2.
Information about the test is on the BSC website here:

For BSC members, two Blue Ray discs of the test are available. Information through the board.