ZEISS Cine Technology Honored by Hollywood Professional Association

ZEISS awarded HPA Engineering Excellence Award for its ZEISS eXtended data, which uses metadata to significantly simplify image processing for film production

Oberkochen, Germany / White Plains, NY, USA | 20 October 2020 | ZEISS Consumer Products

ZEISS was awarded the HPA Award for Engineering Excellence 2020 by the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) for the development of ZEISS eXtended Data (XD) technology. The lens metadata technology was launched with the ZEISS CP.3 XD lenses in 2017. It is also included in subsequent lens series ZEISS Supreme Prime and ZEISS Supreme Prime Radiance and is integrated into Fujinon’s Premista Zooms.

HPA Engineering Excellence Award © The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA)
ZEISS was awarded the HPA Award for Engineering Excellence 2020 by the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA)

The ZEISS XD technology is built upon existing architecture, called Cooke /i1, which is enhanced with additional information for the postproduction pipeline. All lens metadata is recorded in real-time, such as focus distance, aperture value and depth of field. In addition, accurate information about the lens distortion and shading characteristics is tracked for every single frame as lens settings are changing. The metadata makes it easier to work with visual effects: it takes a few simple clicks to modify the image generated on the computer to fit the lens characteristics, and to then splice it together with the footage to create a realistic image. This streamlines workflows, particularly for VFX and can be adopted to work in real-time for virtual production.

Joachim Zell, Chairman of the HPA Awards Engineering Committee, is delighted that the independent jury has chosen ZEISS as award winner and explained: "I personally used the ZEISS Supreme Prime lenses and their seamless lens distortion metadata transfer to the camera RAW file on two projects already. One was "Stucco", a joint ZEISS / RED production, in spring of 2019 and the other, "Lost Lederhosen" at the end of 2019. Both times we were able to save time and labor, and improved efficiency in the production and postproduction process.” According to Zell, both projects did contain VFX elements for which normally lens grids and checker board charts would have been shot in order to undo and redo the lens distortion before and after the composition work. “Now that the camera captures the lens distortion metadata per frame and per lens setting, we are able to hand over the needed metadata to the Nuke-based compositor and automatically get to the desired result. Especially during this global pandemic and beyond where we have to be able to be more efficient, ZEISS provides procedures which allow us to adapt modern workflows for our film industry,” Zell continued.

To enable as many users as possible to take advantage of all the benefits, ZEISS has developed free plug-ins for industry leading compositing software. With partners in the film industry, ZEISS developed solutions that can be used to even greater effect with ZEISS eXtended Data in the entire image capture ecosystem. RED DSMC2 cameras as well as the Sony Venice can directly store ZEISS eXtended data in the camera through the interface on the PL mount. Cameras of other manufacturers are compatible through a range of universal external third-party tools via the on-barrel 4-pin connector of the lenses.

More details on ZEISS eXtended Data Technology can be found here: www.zeiss.com/cine/xd.

About the HPA Awards

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the HPA Awards, which were founded to recognize creative artistry and innovation in the professional media content industry. The Engineering Excellence Award rewards outstanding technical and creative ingenuity in media, content production, finishing, distribution, and archive.

The HPA Awards, including the HPA Award for Engineering Excellence, will be bestowed on November 19 in a virtual gala. For more information, please visit: www.hpaonline.com

 

Press Contact

Christina Mayer
ZEISS Consumer Products
Phone: +49 7364 20 62074
christina .mayer @zeiss .com

Tony Wisniewski
ZEISS Consumer Products USA
Phone: +1 914 681 7747
tony .wisniewski @zeiss .com

About ZEISS

ZEISS is an internationally leading technology enterprise operating in the fields of optics and optoelectronics. In the previous fiscal year, the ZEISS Group generated annual revenue totaling more than 6.4 billion euros in its four segments Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology, Industrial Quality & Research, Medical Technology and Consumer Markets (status: 30 September 2019).

For its customers, ZEISS develops, produces and distributes highly innovative solutions for industrial metrology and quality assurance, microscopy solutions for the life sciences and materials research, and medical technology solutions for diagnostics and treatment in ophthalmology and microsurgery. The name ZEISS is also synonymous with the world's leading lithography optics, which are used by the chip industry to manufacture semiconductor components. There is global demand for trendsetting ZEISS brand products such as eyeglass lenses, camera lenses and binoculars.

With a portfolio aligned with future growth areas like digitalization, healthcare and Smart Production and a strong brand, ZEISS is shaping the future of technology and constantly advancing the world of optics and related fields with its solutions. The company's significant, sustainable investments in research and development lay the foundation for the success and continued expansion of ZEISS' technology and market leadership.

With over 31,000 employees, ZEISS is active globally in almost 50 countries with around 60 sales and service companies, 30 production sites and 25 development sites. Founded in 1846 in Jena, the company is headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany. The Carl Zeiss Foundation, one of the largest foundations in Germany committed to the promotion of science, is the sole owner of the holding company, Carl Zeiss AG.

Further information at www.zeiss.com

ZEISS Consumer Products

ZEISS Consumer Products combines the company's business with camera and cine lenses, binoculars, spotting scopes and hunting optics. The unit is allocated to the Consumer Markets segment and is represented at sites in Oberkochen and Wetzlar.

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Press Contact

Christina Mayer
ZEISS Consumer Products
Phone: +49 7364 20 62074
christina .mayer @zeiss .com

Tony Wisniewski
ZEISS Consumer Products USA
Phone: +1 914 681 7747
tony .wisniewski @zeiss .com

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