Genesis (camera) - Background

Background

Unlike the 2/3" 3-CCD imaging system used in Sony's HDW-F900 camera (used in Attack of the Clones), the Genesis uses a single 12.4 megapixel CCD chip with the same width as a Super 35 mm film frame. The "Panavized" CineAltas did not use Panavision's existing range of 35 mm film lenses and have different depth-of-field characteristics.

Most photographic lenses designed for film cameras cannot be adapted to work on 3-chip video cameras. In many cases, the prism block simply leaves no room for the rear element of the lens. In cases where the lens does fit, the resulting optical aberrations created by the prism (primarily spherical) would destroy image quality. Apart from this, the sensors on a "2/3 inch" video camera are closer in size to a 16 mm film frame and so would produce a similar depth of field.

Panavision originally tried to overcome this problem with optical adaptors that fit between the cine lens and the video camera, but these have all produced an unacceptable drop in image quality. Most productions using the Sony HDCAM cameras therefore used lenses from Zeiss, Angenieux, Canon or Fujinon.

Apart from this, there were a number of operational problems with both the lenses and cameras used for Attack of the Clones, and so for Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas severed his long-standing relationship with Panavision in 2003, obtaining newer-model Sony HDC-F950 cameras and lenses from Plus8Digital instead.

In an attempt to address these and other problems, Panavision followed this up in 2004 with the Genesis, a full bandwidth (4:4:4) camera with improved colorimetry and sensitometry-related specs and, probably most importantly, a Super 35 mm film-sized recording area, thus making it focally compatible with regular Cine Primo lenses and giving a true 35 mm depth of field.