As digital workflow continues to integrate into the movie-making business, many manufacturers are introducing exceptional products that will help to create content in a file-based workflow.

Sony has made exceptional advancements on its HDCAM-SR production system, which was presented at its December session for cinematographers to introduce the next generation of SR technology. This special preview event unveiled Sony's newest digital technology, including the CineAlta SRW-9000 camera, and gave insight into the overall camera direction Sony is taking and their offering of advanced, file-based post workflows.

Sony invited several industry experts to share their experiences in using Sony products. "[The industry is] moving toward a file-based digital workflow, "says Curtis Clark, ASC, chair of the ASC Technology Committee. "I'm very impressed the way the F35 and its S-Log-configuration extended range is able to create a film look that’s extraordinarily close to the actual film reference we're shooting in the camera assessment series."Clark emphasized that the future will be in solid-state disk recording, and that the S-Log has a true 12-stop dynamic range, [which] will insure that the image will be available in its master form. "[This is] data maintained in its native capture format that can be converted in an unambiguous way into some kind of format that can be used without compromise," Clark explains. "If you have a vision, you want to be sure your vision is realizable by the power of these tools."

Cinematographer Sam Nicholson, ASC from Stargate Studios believes this new technology saves time and money. "The technology that [Sony is] giving us is actually allowing us to work faster, achieve better quality and increase the vision of filmmakers," he says. And Paul Chapman, senior VP of technology for Fotokem, says working in SR is easy to do. "[It has become an] enabling technology for DI and mastering," he says. "It has definitely opened up a new tier to the market by enabling us who may not have had the budget to shoot on film."

Yasuhiko Mikami, senior manager of product planning at Sony’s B2B Business Group, discussed the future of SR file-based operations and recapped some of Sony's current offerings, which includes a reduced price on Sony's SR tape by 25 percent, starting with the small cassettes.