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DSC Labs' Fairburn Chart Gives 3-D True Perspective

By Staff
posted Oct 23, 2010, 11:03

Tech Focus | 3D

DSC Labs' Fairburn Chart Gives 3-D True Perspective

As 3-D takes center stage, the Fairburn Chart becomes an invaluable aide for Filmmakers and Creatives in the quest for 3-D perfection

(Toronto, Canada) Corresponding with the growing popularity of 3-D productions, orders for DSC Labs’ recently released Fairburn 3-D Chart have been on the rise. Designed in collaboration with Emmy® award-winning Director of Photography Sean Fairburn, the DSC 3-D Chart provides videographers and filmmakers with a calibration tool that lets them properly balance and align cameras as well as check zoom, focus, rotation, keystoning, grayscale and colorimetry accuracy. Stephen Pizzo, co-founder of Element Technica, whose series of groundbreaking Technica 3-D Rigs are designed to precisely position a pair of cameras to achieve realistic stereoscopic digital video for broadcast and cinema, highly recommends the Fairburn 3-D Chart. “At Element, we are always using the DSC 3-D Chart for critical alignment here in the shop as part of our product testing regimen. Every one of our rigs, Neutron, Pulsar or Quasar, goes through a complete alignment test in each of the three configurations: Side x Side, Under/Thru Beamsplitter and Over/Thru Beamsplitter. The DSC 3-D Chart allows our technicians to check critical alignment using a few Allen keys rather than a complicated image analyzer.”

Designed for use with a 3-D beam splitter and side-by-side stereographic rigs, the DSC 3-D Chart includes 15 test elements for pinpointing even the most critical differences in aligning 3-D cameras. For matching colors, this 3-D Chart includes a hexagon-shaped version of DSC’s trademark ChromaDuMonde multi-hued pattern. Also included are 18% gray patches for users migrating from the film world.

Fairburn 3-D Chart Feature Highlights:

* Horizontal and vertical alignment (white cross through middle and small crosses)
* Focus fans in corners (maximum contrast for ease of viewing, even in low light)
* Zoom ring (to see zoom disparity between the camera’s focal length) line 5 pixels wide
* Keystone correction (colored balls and white rings in corners)
* Horizontal scale in centimeter and inches (to see exact IO offset at parallel)
* Mini gray scale at bottom steps 1, 6, 11 with DSC true black background
* 18% gray scale chips (at the top of chart on RT and LT)
* ChromaDuMonde color reference in hexagon shape, matches vector scope orientation
* RIGHT and LEFT words on white lines, used as orientation detectors
* Arrows up and right also used as orientation detectors
* Red R and Blue L to show color and eye reference (Red Right eye - Blue Left eye)
* Red R and Blue L show image flip or flop orientation
* RGB and CMY have been added at the highest printable value
* Focus fans at the center are for zoomed in focus aides
* Scale on far R and L to measure horizontal and rotational offset
* Center cross

�DSC charts are used by professionals worldwide to calibrate and match their cameras to obtain the same �look� throughout their entire production,� comments DSC Labs President, David Corley. �In addition, the Fairburn Chart allows them to calibrate their 3-D rigs so that both cameras see exactly the same image; discrepancies are readily identified and remedied.�

 

Resources:

http://www.dsclabs.com/

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