Skip to main content

Filmmakers rejoice, Panavision goes 8K with Millennium DXL cinema camera

panavision 8k dxl cineam camera cropped
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Hollywood studios will soon have another powerful weapon to add to their arsenal: Panavision’s Millennium DXL cinema camera. Announced June 1, the camera records digital 8K footage on a large-format 40.96 x 21.6mm sensor .

The DXL is being marketed as a new breed of camera, promising a tightly integrated system combining optics, camera, and color that aims to make production more efficient. At its heart is a 35.5-megapixel sensor, made by Red, that can record 8K video at up to 60 frames-per-second, with an impressive 15 stops of dynamic range. That large resolution also allows the DXL to shoot true 4K anamorphic video, the first camera to make this claim.

Introducing the 8K DXL Camera by Panavision

Footage can be recorded simultaneously in 8K Raw, and 4K Apple ProRes or Avid DNX straight to an SSD. This provides the highest quality footage alongside a ready-to-edit version. To further speed-up workflow, Panavision partnered with color and post-production specialist, Light Iron, to provide color science directly in the camera that normally would be done in post on a computer.

Recommended Videos

Of course, that kind of sensor and processing power generates a lot of heat. To keep the camera running cool, Panavision has two large intake and exhaust fans on the top plate. It’s an important part of the new camera’s design, which is smaller than most production cameras without sacrificing functionality. The body includes six SDI outputs, built-in Wi-Fi, a side menu for assistant operators, and various ways to customize its ergonomics.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Unless you’re in the filmmaking biz, it’s highly unlikely you’ve shot video on a Panavision camera (not to be confused with Panasonic; Panavision doesn’t sell its products either, and only rents them out), but you probably have watched a movie shot on one. One of the most fabled names on the tech side of Hollywood, Panavision has been used by filmmakers to shoot their movies in large format, since the 1950s. The Millennium DXL looks to continue the legacy, giving the company’s existing lenses a next-generation camera to attach to.

Daven Mathies
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Daven is a contributing writer to the photography section. He has been with Digital Trends since 2016 and has been writing…
LG rolls out 2020 lineup of 8K and 4K NanoCell TVs
LG NanoCell 8K TV

The good news is that LG just revealed pricing and availability for its 2020 lineup of NanoCell TVs, and you can pick up the biggest model right now. The bad news is it won’t be cheap.

LG announced details on 12 new models, including an 86-inch class Nano90 4K TV (a CES 2020 Innovation Award winner) and a Nano99 8K series that features both 75-inch and 65-inch models. The 86-inch display is available immediately, with the 8K screens set for May and June of this year.

Read more
All Samsung TVs at CES 2020: Bezel-free 8K TV and auto-rotating 4K
Samsung q950

CES 2020 has arrived, and some of the biggest and best TVs are being shown off on the showroom floor. We're looking at a total of four new Samsung TVs: The much-anticipated, bezel-free Q950TS 8K TV, a motorized, rotating 4K TV called The Sero, an updated version of its minimalist Frame TV, and advancements with its modular The Wall 8K TV.

Though TVs are always huge at CES, we've also found some of the very best soundbars to accompany these glorious screens.
Q950TS 8K TV
Meet the Samsung Q950TS 8K TV. Samsung

Read more
LG brings new 4K TVs, 8K TVs, and a Samsung Frame TV look-alike to CES 2020
lg oled 4k 8k tv gx gallery series ces 2020 gallery02

LG did most of its announcing before CES 2020 even kicked off, revealing eight new 8K TVs -- branded the first 'real' 8K TVs to hit the market -- and a roll-down OLED 4K TV. But that's not to say it didn't save something for the trade show: LG introduced the art-inspired GX Gallery Series 4K TV (think: Samsung's Frame TV) and a never-seen-before 48-inch OLED 4K TV.

Seeing as we covered the 8K TVs and roll-down OLED 4K TV when LG first announced them ahead of CES 2020 last week, we won't run through them again. (If you missed them, you can find links to them scattered throughout this article.) Instead, we'll focus on the hardware we didn't know was in the works, starting with the familiar-looking GX Gallery Series 4K TVs.

Read more