Yes, please keep us posted on the SI-2K, definitely of interest to many here.

So Bob [ Farss ] -

What is the REAL bottom line of your new (juicy) system?

Camera - lenses - batteries - filter size and cost (forget the usual grip and lighting stuff unless there's something peculiar and necessary)
plus
the inevitable "back-end";
new editing gear, extra hard-drives, special interface or video boards?

oh yeah - I did say forget the lights, but actually how much light do you really need? how's the low end? and what ISO can you push to w/o extreme loss?
For those of you bred and weaned on DV - you need a heck of a lot more life to shoot at f5.6 than you do at f2.0 - and you need that smaller f stop to keep things in focus (the 35mm look) when you're using lenses above 80mm. ISO counts... or trucks of lights and staff and time and money.

oh yeah - and tape stock?? what does it use, and how much does it cost per hour?

It's fun to be in the "big time" but it's an expensive hobby, fer sure.

plus - what did I forget??

v

Camera is rated at ISO 380, 11.3 Stops latitude.
We have it with a PL mount adaptor but there's many options. C, B4, etc all made by P+S.
Backend records to a laptop via GigE using Cineform'sProspect2K as 4:4:4 RAW 10bit Log. 160GB USB disk will hold 3.5 hours of footage. The DVR recording software included Iridas OnSet Look management. That's really brilliant stuff. You also get false color metering, focus enhancement, save still as DPX and JPEG and TIFF.
Recorded file includes 1/2 res proxy that'll playout in WMP.
Processing is either through PPro or better AE. Best grading option seems to be Iridas Speedgrade.

With a Cooke lens on the front, pretty awesome images, once you understand what you're looking at. If you don't and compare it to a Z1 you can be misled. Certainly in my brief tests, no problemo getting a shallower DOF than I'm comfortable with, you'd probably like it though :)

Cost, complete package minus laptop and lens $14K, that includes OnSet, PPro, DVR software and one basic lens mount. The 35mm adaptor will add a bit more if you want to use 35mm glass and keep the same FOV.

Anyway, why am I typing all this, checkout the Silicon Imaging website, heaps of production shots and RAW footage you can download. You can install the fully functional Prospect2K trial licence and PPro and Speedgrade and AE etc and have a play around with footage from the CML demo or other shoots as well.

Basically you get a camera aguably better than a F950 at a fraction of the price and footage that's way easier and cheaper to deal with in post. And quite a few labs can go straight from Prospect2K to 35mm.

Bob.

No problem!

Bob can afford it, because he made all his lights himself using Vic Milt's new DIY DVD, "The Price Is Right."

:O)