Re: [Openexr-devel] Query: Image Based Lighting and HDRI-enabled cameras

[James H. Cloos Jr.]

>>>>> "Zap" == 'Zap' Andersson <address@hidden> writes:

Zap> Anyway. The QUESTION is, is there... or can there be built, a
Zap> camera that works like e.g. the 24p cameras George Lucas used on
Zap> Episode II... but that shot in HDRI *directly*?

You don't want that.  You want raw data from the sensor.  Then you
can convert it to hdri at your leisure, w/o losing anything.

It would be similar to the various raw formats used by the high-end
digital still cameras.

That is not to say lossless(!) compression would be unwelcome, but it
would most likely require an asic or fpga/cpld to keep up.

The current crop of high-end digital still cameras are up to 8 fps
at around 2500 ppi (on the sensor).  At a 24mm by 18mm frame, that
would be on the order of 2560 by 1920.  I've read that 2500 pixels
is enough to prevent the average cinema patron from seeing any
pixelation on the average cinema screen, so speed is the only thing
preventing the use of such sensors.

(The same source said mp film could hit 5000 dpi.  So to truly
duplicate what film can do, in addition to getting the data off
the sensor and into storage faster, you need to quad the pixels
per area and improve the sensitivity to light by a factor of
somewhere between 2 and 8.)

-JimC