Friedrich --

A conversation in ICG between the cinematographers Bill Bennett, David Darby and Allen Daviau, here. (It's a site with frames, so once there you'll then have to click on the feature on the righthand side that says "evolution or revolution.") Their topic is film vs. hi-def video.

Sample passage:

Bennett: In Hi-Def demonstrations, the manufacturers carefully select scenes where video does look like film. And you can, shooting in very controlled situations, create scenes where the image looks very similar. But, in other situations and in broader use, a child could tell the difference...In the piece that was shot digitally, the green outside the window was a bright green mass. Whereas in the piece that was shot on film, you could see individual blades of grass. There's detail there. The ferns blowing in the breeze were discernable.

Darby: Video is great for documentaries. If you're all about gathering information, then shoot video. But if you're specifying the information and having control over it, for the time being, you absolutely have to shoot film.

Best,

Michael