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The Camera That's Also a Mac Mini, Or Vice Versa

Posted by timothy on from the trying-to-kill-me-with-gadget-lust dept.

Joe Marine of No Film School has a short interview with two of the creators of the Black Betty, a deceptively old-school looking digital cinema camera. The Black Betty gets around one issue with the massive data processing and storage needs inherent to high-capacity, high-resolution video cameras by attacking it head-on. Rather than use the camera "merely" as a collection device, the creators have jammed into the machined aluminum case the guts of a Mac Mini, which means the camera not only has a powerful processing brain, but a built-in SSD drive, and can (in a pinch, or even by preference in the field) be used to edit and transmit the footage collected with the actual imaging system, which is based around the SI-2K Mini sensor, which shoots 1080p video at up to 30fps.

12 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm... by wbr1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe he had some help from Ram Jam? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R044sleOW6I

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  2. What is the use case for this? by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I just struggle to see a situation that wouldn't be better served by a laptop in the field or a workstation back at the studio.

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
    1. Re:What is the use case for this? by djmurdoch · · Score: 4, Informative

      Competitive Apple fetishism. Duh.

      I guess you didn't RTFM, especially this line:

      She runs good old Windows and the Silicon Imaging SiliconDVR software off of an internal solid state drive.

    2. Re:What is the use case for this? by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      I just struggle to see a situation that wouldn't be better served by a laptop in the field or a workstation back at the studio.

      Really? Because it's kind of in the summary:

      The Black Betty gets around one issue with the massive data processing and storage needs inherent to high-capacity, high-resolution video cameras by attacking it head-on

      This covers the data storage, the camera, and in a pinch or out of necessity you can do the editing on the device itself.

      It's likely not going to be your primary place to do processing on the video, but it will cover your storage needs and give you some editing as well.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:What is the use case for this? by jythie · · Score: 2

      Only carrying one device?

      Generally digital cameras have to have some on-board processing capability, the only thing that is unusual here is they used an off the shelf compact desktop system rather then some embedded board or system on a chip type solution.

    4. Re:What is the use case for this? by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      They discuss this in the article and point out that.

      Their point is that more versatility in tools is a good thing. Perhaps a situation arises where you for some reason need to do something funky. Maybe you're reporting on a situation and want to send a still image back to your newspaper/website/network immediately when you get to a wifi spot.

      Maybe you have rented this camera for a one-time use and have a limited budget and someone else is using the computer.

      Their philosophy seems to be "We made it, you use the features of it that you need."

      I'll wager most of us, upon hearing about smartphones, thought "Why would I need all that in a phone when I have a computer?"

    5. Re:What is the use case for this? by dj245 · · Score: 2

      I just struggle to see a situation that wouldn't be better served by a laptop in the field or a workstation back at the studio.

      Really? Because it's kind of in the summary:

      The Black Betty gets around one issue with the massive data processing and storage needs inherent to high-capacity, high-resolution video cameras by attacking it head-on

      This covers the data storage, the camera, and in a pinch or out of necessity you can do the editing on the device itself.

      It's likely not going to be your primary place to do processing on the video, but it will cover your storage needs and give you some editing as well.

      Yes but why is this needed?? According to the website for the camera they are using,

      With it's low-noise, high-dynamic range sensor, over 10 f-stops of dynamic range are freely manipulatable with user generated Iridas look files, and IT-friendly connectivity through open PC platforms, battery-powered operation, and up to 4-hours of continuous shooting on a 160GB notebook hard drive round out an impressive array of digital cinema firsts in the industry.

      . This looks like a very serious camera, maybe on par or somewhat in the same segment as the Red cameras (I am not an expert on high-end videocameras however). Most cameras in this segment have some system of high-capacity SSD or spinning drive storage, usually with replaceable storage cartridges. I don't understand why they felt the need to build the camera in the article. In fact, the SI-2k (not mini) looks an awful lot like what they have built, and seems to use the same sensor as the SI-2K mini.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    6. Re:What is the use case for this? by tibit · · Score: 2

      I hope they were aware that you can get much better performing embedded PC boards for the same amount of money as a Mac Mini. There's really no reason to use a Mac Mini in a custom case if all you want is to run Windows on it.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    7. Re:What is the use case for this? by shikari666 · · Score: 2

      It's nowhere close to anything from RED in terms of image quality. The camera most like this in design is the Blackmagic Production Camera though the sensor puts it closer to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. None of this takes away from the sheer geeky cool of this project.

  3. Interesting DIY application of modular computing by jovius · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Components in general become more interchangeable in the future. Need your computer to be a camera? Attach a camera module to a CPU module - the handshaking happens and you have created a new device. How about a phone then? Add the phone module. The next wave of miniaturization is at hand.

  4. Re:It is really a mac mini at that point? by jasenj1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you read the original source, they did start with a different platform.
    "I started building a small Mini ITX PC and put it inside a metal frame. Using some parts from a low mode cage from an elderly Glidecam V20, I mounted the camera with odds and ends into a basic camera shape. It was magnificently sucky; The computer heat failed within a week!"
    The Mac mini can also run on "unregulated 12V power when the power supply was removed; this was a huge discovery! It removed the need to add any voltage regulation into the camera design." - Jasen.

  5. Re:It is really a mac mini at that point? by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Without a discrete GPU, a Mini is a pretty generic system that can be replicated by any number of mITX boards.

    True.

    However, there aren't many complete systems readily available, and that's key. You can build a small computer using a mini-ITX board, but you still have to add processor, cooling solution (this one is fairly big) and all the other stuff (WiFi, Bluetooth, ...), and THEN build the camera. Plus being completely self contained means if it fails, all one really does is take it out, go to an Apple store, buy a new Mac Mini and shove it in. It's a lot tougher to go and buy a mini-ITX system to shove in (or run around town finding a computer store with the requisite parts).

    In this case, the mini comes self contained and working out of the box - so they can concentrate on building a camera, and not on building a PC.

    For its size, a mini makes a nice self-contained fully functional PC you can carry around.

    Plus, as a bonus, it can run OS X, because there's still plenty who do use stuff like Final Cut Pro. And a lot of filmmakers are keen on Apple stuff - if you look, a lot of the film crew are lugging around MacBook Pros or increasingly these days, iPads.