The Weisscam Company is a German company that develops digital high-speed cameras. The cameras are mainly used in commercials, image films and shootings of athletic activities. The Weisscam Company was founded by Director of Photography (DoP) Stefan Weiss.

History

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In 2005, WEISSCAM began developing the first prototype of the HS-1 camera for international commercials. After high-speed shoots with the prototype, WEISSCAM collaborated with P+S Technik to launch a redesigned camera in 2006–2007. Subsequently, from 2007 to 2008, WEISSCAM expanded their product line by developing the HS-2 Camera, DM-2 Digimag, DBB Debayerbox, and HU-2 Handunit to develop a camera compatible with both HD and RAW formats.

 
WEISSCAM HS1

WEISSCAM HS-1

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The equipment of the digital high-speed camera WEISSCAM HS-1 includes the camera HS-1, the Hand Unit and the Controlunit.

Camera

The Weisscam HS-1 camera body is designed as a combination of the 2/3" video camera with a film camera body. P+S Technic’s interchangeable mount is integrated to make available the maximum range of lenses designed for 35mm format—motion or still photography. One can choose any frame size. The frame rate is up to 1,000 frames per second. The maximum resolution of the HS-1 model is 1280 × 1024 pixels.

Hand Unit

The Hand Unit can remote control the start and stop recording, frame rate adjustment, frame rate ramp settings, and frame rate jumps.

Control Unit

The WEISSCAM HS-1 Control Unit is a portable power PC with dual-core processor technology. The unit comes with a removable S-ATA hard disk drive for data exchange, an integrated monitor and a waterproof keyboard. The software offers multiple features for image control, color correction, frame size adjustments and shutter control.

WEISSCAM HS-2

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The equipment of the digital high-speed camera WEISSCAM HS-2 manufactured by P+S Technik includes the camera HS-2, the WEISSCAM Digimag DM-2, the WEISSCAM Debayberbox DBB and the WEISSCAM Hand Unit HU-2.

Camera

The WEISSCAM HS-2 is a landscape-designed camera. The HS-2 has a full-format Super35 CMOS sensor with a global shutter. The camera can be attached to some lenses on the camera by using the Interchangeable Mount System (IMS). The output of the WEISSCAM HS-2 offers two streams at the same time and uses the HD SDI interface for both signals. The WEISSCAM "RAW IN HD SDI" mapping allows the transport of RAW files via the HD SDI single and dual link interfaces. The HD stream offers YCbCr in 4:2:2. Linear standard curves like ITU-R 709 or log curves are available. The RAW stream is a 12-bit uncompressed WEISSCAM RAW file and can demosaic in post production. One can record up to 4,000 frame/s with the WEISSCAM HS-2.

Frame rates
Up to 1,500 frame/s in 2K
Up to 2,000 frame/s in 1080p
Up to 4,000 frame/s in 720p
Digimag DM-2

The WEISSCAM DIGIMAG DM-2 supports recording in an uncompressed format. The RAW data is stored using the WEISSCAM "RAW in HD SDI" mapping. It is possible to use other camera signals, like ARRIFLEX D20/21, Phantom HD and Standard HDTV.

For downloading, using IT interfaces like FireWire is an option. With the external WEISSCAM DEBAYERBOX DBB, real-time debayering of the stored RAW data on the DIGIMAG DM-2 is possible.

Debayerbox DBB

The WEISSCAM DEBAYERBOX is a real-time hardware debayer with FPGA technology. All WEISSCAM RAW formats can be converted into HD SDI YCbCr 4:2:2 single or dual link by connecting the RAW Input with the HD SDI output. The debayering has options between 16 different curves.

Hand Unit HU-2

The WEISSCAM HANDUNIT HU-2 fully controls the camera and image processing of the WEISSCAM HS-2. It can either be connected directly by cable or wirelessly remote controlled.

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