The Panasonic 8K Prototype Camera was Used in Short Film Production

The 8K prototype camera was used together with the Panasonic VARICAM 35 and the AU-EVA to produce the short film “The Festival of Up Helly Aa” which has won the Excellence Award at Lumiere Japan Awards 2018. Read more below!

On November 14, 2018, Panasonic’s 4K HDR short film, “The Festival of Up Helly Aa,” won the Excellence Award in the UHD (Ultra High Definition) Category at the Lumiere Japan Awards 2018. Panasonic blog sheds some light about the cameras used: From the official Panasonic blog:” The technical brief was to film in 4K and 8K using the latest Panasonic’s professional VariCam 35 and EVA1 cameras, and the shoot would also test the new Panasonic 8K prototype camera, looking at how it coped in low and in high light, such as filming fire”.

The technical brief was to film in 4K and 8K using the latest Panasonic’s professional VariCam 35 and EVA1 cameras, and the shoot would also test the new Panasonic 8K prototype camera, looking at how it coped in low and in high light, such as filming fire”

Panasonic

As stated by Yoshihiro Sasaki, 8K Camera Development Engineer at Panasonic: “The 8K camera is still a prototype, but as we move toward commercialization, we want to keep the versatile dynamic range as we improve the camera and maintain the 8K resolution”.

The 8K camera is still a prototype, but as we move toward commercialization, we want to keep the versatile dynamic range as we improve the camera and maintain the 8K resolution

Yoshihiro Sasaki, 8K Camera Development Engineer at Panasonic

The rumored 8K – AK-SHB810 model

There is no doubt the Panasonic aims to 8K cinema imagery, and its new 8K cinema camera is on the way. It makes a lot of sense putting together the last rumors about the AK-SHB810 model, which according to Panasonic, will be the world’s first 8K cinema camera to pack an 8K organic sensor. Panasonic claims it will have a “wide dynamic range” compared to regular CMOS cameras, and packs a global shutter that records the entire image at once, to eliminate the rolling shutter artifacts. Furthermore, according to 43rumors.com, the camera uses the first ever organic sensor developed by Panasonic and Fuji. Panasonic already officially said they will release this camcorder in late 2019.

8K – AK-SHB810 highlights:

• Global Shutter.
• 8K at 60fps
• The sensor can be switched between “high-sensitivity” mode and “high-saturation” mode.

However, the model presented in the behind the scene video (watch below) is a bit different from that presented in the Japanese press release.

Final thoughts

To sum it up, it’s hard to tell if the prototype 8K used to shoot the short, is actually the model presented by Panasonic press release. However, it seems like Panasonic is already deep into the 8K world and going to announce a new 8K cinema camera very soon in 2019.