AXIOM (camera)
{{short description|Series of open-hardware cinema cameras}}
{{Infobox camera
| camera_name = AXIOM
| image = AXIOM-Alpha-prototype-metalab.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| image_alt =
| caption = AXIOM Alpha prototype at the Metalab Vienna
| maker =
| type = Digital cinema camera
| sensor = [http://www.cmosis.com/products/product_detail/cmv12000 CMV12000]
| sensor_type = Digital
| sensor_size = "APS-like"
| sensor_maker = ams Sensors Belgium
| filmformat =
| filmsize =
| recording_medium =
| res = 4096×3072 pixel
| lens_mount = E-mount as standard
| lens =
| focus_type = Manual
| exposure =
| flash = External
| flashcomp =
| fsynch =
| fadvance =
| frewind =
| frame_rate = 300 fps (10 bit)
132 fps (12 bit))
| shutter = Global shutter
| shutterRange =
| shutter_speeds =
| f-numbers =
| metering =
| emode =
| mmode =
| farea =
| fmode =
| cont =
| viewfinder =
| ovf =
| magnification =
| coverage =
| speedRange =
| DXcoding =
| flbkt =
| fcbkt =
| WB =
| wbbkt =
| brightness =
| imsize =
| throwdis =
| prores =
| rearLCD =
| storage = External
| battery =
| dimensions = 111.76x65.1x73.5mm
| weight = 319g (ABI:Dev Kit)
| price =
| date =
| obp =
| odb =
| omd =
| oacc =
| complens =
| compflash =
| interface_AVout =
| interface_Data =
| body_comp-feats =
| made_in =
| footnotes =
| exbkt =
| drbkt =
| drcomp =
| iproc =
| vidrecord =
}}
AXIOM is an open hardware and free software digital cinema camera family of devices being developed by a DIY community around the apertus° project.{{Citation | url=http://www.zeit.de/2014/26/open-source-patente-industrie/seite-2 | title=Open Source: Eine Revolution mit Lötkolben und Schraubenzieher (German) | newspaper=Die Zeit | publisher=zeit.de | year=2014 | accessdate=July 21, 2014 | last1=Gurk | first1=Christoph }}
The community’s second generation camera, AXIOM Beta Compact, is presently in development.
History
In 2006 Oscar Spierenburg, a Dutch film director,{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6814696/ | title=Oscar Spierenburg IMDB | publisher=imdb.com | year=2017 | access-date=October 7, 2017}} noticed a discussion taking place on DVInfo.net entitled “3 channel 36 bit 1280 X 720 low $ camera”,{{Cite web |url=http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/alternative-imaging-methods/25296-3-channel-36-bit-1280-x-720-low-camera-viper-21.html#post433657 |title=3 channel 36 bit 1280 X 720 low $ camera viper – The Digital Video Information Network |date=February 18, 2006 |access-date=April 18, 2017 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006212612/http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/alternative-imaging-methods/25296-3-channel-36-bit-1280-x-720-low-camera-viper-21.html#post433657 |archivedate=2017-10-06 }} inside which Elphel cameras, which are typically used in scientific applications, had been mentioned.
In the same year a discussion thread entitled "High Definition with Elphel model 333 camera"{{Cite web|url=http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=63677 |title=High Definition with Elphel model 333 camera – The Digital Video Information Network |date=2007-07-01 |access-date=2017-04-18 |url-status= |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701143201/http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=63677 |archivedate=2007-07-01 }} was posted on the DVInfo.net forum, whereupon the forum’s members discussed how best to adapt Elphel open hardware camera devices for use in film production. Sebastian Pichelhofer discovered this thread in 2008 and assisted with the project by developing an Elphel camera internal hard-disk recorder user interface.
By early 2009, and because over the course of three years upwards of 1000 posts had been submitted to this thread, the community realised that it was going to be difficult to maintain a full overview of the project in this way, and consequently a dedicated website was established.{{Citation | url=https://apertus.org/history | title=apertus° History | publisher=apertus.org | year=2014 | accessdate=July 21, 2014}} All of the decision making and naming/logo design was decided upon by the community.
After having done some contracting work with Elphel, Pichelhofer focused full-time on the project across 2011 and in July 2012 the plan to create an AXIOM camera hardware prototype from scratch, and thereby overcome some of the limitations that were found to be inherent with Elphel hardware at the time (mainly due to Elphel Inc. having shifted the company's core business focus towards development of a panoramic camera solution), was announced at the Libre Software Meeting in Geneva.{{Citation | url=http://schedule2012.rmll.info/Apertus-The-birth-of-a-completely-open-digital-cinema-camera?lang=en | title=Apertus – The birth of a completely open digital cinema camera | publisher=Libre Software Meeting | year=2012 | accessdate=July 21, 2014 | archive-date=February 28, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228080538/http://schedule2012.rmll.info/Apertus-The-birth-of-a-completely-open-digital-cinema-camera?lang=en | url-status=dead }} This prototype became known as AXIOM Alpha and was intended to gather feedback from typical shooting scenarios with a view to incorporating ideas into a future, more modular, kit version of the camera aimed at developers and early adopters (AXIOM Beta I Developer Kit).
Shortly after development on the AXIOM Alpha began, a nonprofit organization was established to provide legal shelter for the community, and an apertus° company was registered by Spierenburg in order to facilitate responsibilities that had been neglected up to this point, e.g. signing contracts with electronic part/service providers, paying for prototype manufacturing etc. Because of his drive and enthusiasm for the project Pichelhofer was elected apertus° Association chairman.
After reading a local hackerspace forum post in May 2013 Herbert Pötzl became aware of the community's efforts and met with Pichelhofer shortly thereafter. Pötzl had an extensive background in electronics engineering and software development and was appointed AXIOM Technical Lead. After Pötzl helped to develop critical aspects of hardware and software the AXIOM Alpha prototype was showcased at the Vienna Hackerlab in March 2014 whilst rough planning for a more modular and powerful camera was well underway.
In 2014, after crowdfunding the research and development through Indiegogo, work began on creating AXIOM Beta – a five printed circuit board stack, FOSS and open-source hardware, digital cinema camera incorporating the ams Sensors Belgium CMV12000 CMOS image sensor.
In recent times, and because existing manufacturers have proved reluctant to open their protocols up to the wider world, user groups have accepted responsibility and contributed to what became known as the ‘DSLR revolution’ first-hand e.g. the Magic Lantern (firmware) community. Magic Lantern is a free and open source software add-on that runs from a camera’s SD/CF card. It added a host of new features to Canon’s DSLRs that weren't included from the factory by Canon. Because the AXIOM Beta concept is essentially the hardware equivalent of the software they originally pioneered, Magic Lantern partnered with the apertus° Association in September 2014.{{Citation | url=https://www.apertus.org/axiom-team-talk-video-volume1-article | title= AXIOM Team Talk – Volume 1 | publisher=apertus.org | year=2015 | accessdate=January 1, 2015}} Since then the Magic Lantern community has been involved with various colour science experiments using the camera.
Research on an AXIOM Gamma started in March 2015 after the project was awarded funding from the EU's Horizon2020 programme.
= Timeline =
AXIOM Alpha
AXIOM Alpha was a digital cinema camera proof of concept prototype.{{Citation | url=http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Axiom-Alpha-Die-Open-Hardware-Kamera-2194752.html | title=Axiom Alpha: Die Open-Hardware-Kamera (German) | publisher=heise.de | year=2014 | accessdate=July 18, 2014 | archive-date=May 21, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521121258/http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/Axiom-Alpha-Die-Open-Hardware-Kamera-2194752.html | url-status=dead }} Only two units were built in 2013 and the second revision model was presented at the Metalab (a Vienna-based Hackerspace) in spring 2014.{{Citation | url=https://metalab.at/wiki/Metaday_65 | title=Metaday 65: Building an open source digital cinema camera – Functional Prototype Presentation | publisher=Metalab | year=2014 | accessdate=July 18, 2014}} The main components included a Zedboard using a Xilinx Zynq-7020{{cite web |url=http://forums.xilinx.com/t5/Xcell-Daily-Blog/Zynq-based-Axiom-Alpha-open-4K-cine-camera-proto-debuts-in/ba-p/430066 |title=Zynq-based Axiom Alpha open 4K cine camera proto debuts in Vienna hackerspace |date=2014-03-20 |access-date=2014-09-12 |archive-date=2014-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813105309/http://forums.xilinx.com/t5/Xcell-Daily-Blog/Zynq-based-Axiom-Alpha-open-4K-cine-camera-proto-debuts-in/ba-p/430066 |url-status=dead }} System on a chip (SoC) and a 4K Super35mm image sensor designed by the Belgian company CMOSIS (later renamed to ams Sensors Belgium after being acquired by ams {{Citation | url=http://www.cmosis.com/news/press_releases/ams_acquires_cmosis_a_leading_supplier_of_high-end_area_scan_and_miniature | title=ams acquires CMOSIS, a leading supplier of high-end area scan and miniature medical image sensors | publisher=ams | year=2015 | accessdate=October 6, 2017}}).{{Citation | url=http://forums.xilinx.com/t5/Xcell-Daily-Blog/Zynq-based-ZedBoard-CMOSIS-Super35-Image-Sensor-Apertus/ba-p/398425 | title=Zynq-based ZedBoard + CMOSIS Super35 Image Sensor + Apertus Engineering = Axiom Open 4K Cinema Camera | publisher=Xilinx | year=2014 | accessdate=July 19, 2014 | archive-date=March 6, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306031142/http://forums.xilinx.com/t5/Xcell-Daily-Blog/Zynq-based-ZedBoard-CMOSIS-Super35-Image-Sensor-Apertus/ba-p/398425 | url-status=dead }}
= Technical specifications =
The ams Sensors Belgium CMV12000 Super35/APS-C image sensor has a resolution of 4096×3072 pixels, a color depth of 12 bits/pixel and is able to capture at a maximal frame rate of 300 frames/sec in 10-bit mode.{{cite web |url= http://www.cmosis.com/products/product_detail/cmv12000 |title=Cmosis CMV12000 product page |date=2016-01-19}} It is connected to the ZedBoard over FMC.
The Xilinx Zynq Z-7020 combines a Cortex-A9 dual-core with an FPGA.
The ZedBoard contains the Zynq Z-7020 and all the necessary interfaces.{{cite web |url=http://www.zedboard.org/product/zedboard |title=ZedBoard}}
= Software =
The operating system is Linux kernel-based (Arch Linux) and composed entirely of free and open-source software.{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.apertus.org/index.php?title=AXIOM_Beta_Software|title=AXIOM Beta/AXIOM Beta Software – apertus° wiki|website=wiki.apertus.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-18}}
AXIOM Beta
Successor of the AXIOM Alpha{{Citation | url=http://nofilmschool.com/2014/04/introducing-apertus-axiom-beta-most-affordable-4k-cinema-camera-yet/ | title=Introducing the apertus° Axiom Beta: the Most Affordable 4K Cinema Camera Yet | publisher=NoFilmschool | year=2014 | accessdate=July 18, 2014}} and the first 4K open hardware camera – the development of which was financed through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that exceeded its funding goal.{{Citation | url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/axiom-beta-the-first-open-digital-cinema-camera#/ | title=AXIOM Beta: The first open digital cinema camera | publisher=Indiegogo | year=2014 | accessdate=January 18, 2016}}
AXIOM Beta utilizes the same 4K Super35 image sensor as its predecessor the AXIOM Alpha. The lens mount is a passive e-mount with Canon EF or Nikon F mount adapter.{{Citation | url=https://opensource.com/life/15/9/axiom-open-source-camera-system | title=A closer look at the world's first open digital cinema camera | publisher=opensource.com | year=2015 | accessdate=January 18, 2016}} The first prototype of the AXIOM Beta was presented at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.{{Citation | url=http://www.nabshow.com/ | title=The National Association of Broadcasters Show | publisher=The National Association of Broadcasters | year=2015 | accessdate=January 18, 2016}}
Presently there are three enclosure versions for the camera expected:
AXIOM Beta Developer Kit (DK) – apertus° offers AXIOM Beta Developer Kit without an enclosure either in kit form or readily assembled. The AXIOM Beta DK provides easy access to the camera’s printed circuit boards and is aimed at those who want to work on software related development. With this in mind all associated design files, BOMs, and STL files (for CAD or 3D printing components such as a lightweight enclosure), software source code repositories, etc. are made freely available. First AXIOM Beta DK's began shipping in October 2016.
AXIOM Beta Compact (CP) – A more user-friendly version of the camera suited to photo and video production environments is intended to ship with a CNC-milled aluminium enclosure and a web-based GUI (graphical user interface) for controlling camera functions through a Wi-Fi connection. AXIOM Beta CP is in development.
AXIOM Beta Extended (EX) – A Shoulder mounted rig incorporating AXIOM Beta, larger cooling fans, data storage facilities and an on-board PC. At time of writing (November 2017) AXIOM Beta EX is presently in concept phase.
AXIOM Gamma
File:AXIOM_Gamma_Prototype.jpeg
Research into developing the AXIOM Gamma started in March 2015 after the project was awarded Horizon 2020 funding from the European Union.{{Cite web|url=http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/194334_en.html|title=European Commission : CORDIS : Projects & Results Service : Apertus° eXtendable Integrated Open Modular Cinema Camera|website=cordis.europa.eu|access-date=2017-04-18}} The project was coordinated by the University of Applied Arts Vienna and involved a consortium of European partners including apertus°, af inventions, Antmicro and DENZ.{{Cite web|url=https://eu.axiom-camera.com/partners/|title=Partners|website=eu.axiom-camera.com|access-date=2017-04-18}} The AXIOM Gamma utilizes a modular hardware concept that allows the camera to be a fully extendible and repairable camera system. Research into the feasibility of AXIOM Gamma ceased in 2015 and many of its features were incorporated into the AXIOM Beta.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|www.apertus.org}}
- [https://lab.apertus.org/ Official discussion forum]
- [https://wiki.apertus.org/index.php/Useful_Links AXIOM project Wiki]
- [https://eu.axiom-camera.com/ AXIOM Gamma website for the EU project]
Category:Digital movie cameras
Category:Free and open-source software
Category:Open hardware electronic devices