VariCam Used To Film New 'Tatort' Episode

Tatort, the well-known German crime drama, has selected Panasonic's VariCam 35 for the latest episode, which is due to air in spring 2016.

The new Tatort 'Himmelfahrt' commissioned by NDR, and starring Wotan Wilke Möhring and Franziska Weisz, will be directed by Özgür Yildirim and produced by Wüste Medien GmbH.

'Tatort' was first broadcast in 1970 and airs on Sunday evenings around 30 times a year. In total, 950 episodes have been produced with up to 12 million viewers per transmission in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

"The general impression of the VariCam 35 is very promising," said Matthias Bolliger, Director of Photography of Tatort 'Himmelfahrt'. "The picture appears cinematic, no coloured clipping in highlights and a good b&w [black and white] contrast in shadows. The dual native ISO functionality at 800 and 5000 ISO is very useful and allowed us to work in new ways and create different looks for this drama. From a post-production point of view, the simultaneous recording functionality of several streams is groundbreaking and will almost certainly become the industry standard in years to come."

The VariCam 35 launched in September 2014 and incorporates a newly-developed super35mm MOS image sensor. Images can be handled in variable frame rates up to 120 frames per second (fps). The camera delivers a variety of recording formats, including 4K and UHD in AVC-ULTRA, and 2K and 1080p HD in AVC-Intra 100.

www.panasonic.net

(JP)