We often featured the Canon ME20F-SH specialized camera, and wrote about the impressing low light capabilities. New footage adds to the set.
The Canon ME20F-SH does ISO 4,500,000, and that definitely opens some possibilities. The ME20F-SH was used for the Awavena documentary by Emmy awarding-winning artist and director Lynette Wallworth.
For the Amazonian Yawanawá, “medicine” has the power to transport you in a vision to a place you have never been. Hushuhu, the first woman shaman of the Yawanawá, uses VR as medicine to open a portal to another way of knowing. Awavena is a collaboration between a community and an artist, melding cutting edge technology and transcendent experience so that a vision can be shared, and a story can be told of a people ascending from the edge of extinction.
Awavena contains some night scenes with fluorescent luminance of plants and insects in the Amazon.
The challenge of shooting documentary footage at night in the jungle is that any lighting you may use will disrupt the activity of the creatures you’re trying to capture. In the award-winning documentary Awavena, Director of Photography Greg Downing used Canon’s ME20F-SH camera to showcase the remarkable fluorescent luminance of plants and insects in the Amazon. The project, which chronicles the Yawanawa tribe and its first ever female shaman, utilizes mixed reality to give viewers the experience of a vision quest. In this video, Downing describes how the incredible 4,500,000 ISO of the ME20 helped to create the stunning visuals to simulate a vision quest.
The Canon ME20F-SH does a pretty well job, as explained and shown in the video below. All our Canon ME20F-SH coverage is listed here.
Canon’s ultra high sensitivity Canon ME20F-SH camera was honored with a Technology & Engineering Emmy award.
We covered the Canon ME20F-SH many times. The impressive low light sensitivity of the Canon ME20F-SH make it the “camera that sees in the dark” and it seems it is doing it very well. . This is a camera for specialised applications
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Honors Canon’s Impressive Ultra-High Sensitivity Full-HD Camera
MELVILLE, NY, January 21, 2020 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced that its parent company Canon Inc. will be recognized at the 71st Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards for the ME20F-SH Ultra-High Sensitivity Full-HD Camera. Presented by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), the Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards honor development and innovation in broadcast technology and recognize companies, organizations and individuals for breakthroughs in technology that have a significant effect on television engineering. The Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards will be presented on April 19th, 2020, during NAB 2020 in Las Vegas.
“We are grateful to receive this esteemed recognition for our revolutionary ME20F-SH camera,” said Kazuto Ogawa, president and COO, Canon U.S.A. “This marks Canon’s fifth Emmy, an accomplishment we are immensely proud of. This award is a testament to the company’s commitment and vision for developing imaging tools that help creative professionals see what was previously considered impossible.”
Canon’s remarkable ME20F-SH is a multi-purpose camera that can achieve ISO sensitivity of over 4,000,000 and employs an enhanced version of a 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor for Full HD video. Its compact, modular body design allows easy custom configurations for diverse usage scenarios. Since its introduction in July of 2015, this unique camera has been used by visionary cinematographers and productions such as National Geographic’s groundbreaking Earth Live broadcast in 2017. The program aired live video from remote wilderness sites around the world, utilizing the ME20F-SH for the nighttime locations to capture images of nocturnal creatures that would have otherwise gone unseen. While capturing video in extreme low-light conditions often requires the use of infrared illumination (a technique that only yields video in monochrome), the ME20F-SH camera achieves impressive high-sensitivity performance enabling the capture of color Full HD video with reduced noise in low-light conditions without the need for infrared illumination.
The ME20F-SH employs an EF mount, allowing users to make use of the Company’s extensive lineup of interchangeable EF lenses. By letting users select the ideal lens based on their shooting or application requirements, taking into consideration such factors as angle of view and level of brightness, this multi-purpose camera facilitates a wide spectrum of imaging possibilities.
For more information about Canon ME20F-SH Ultra-High Sensitivity Full-HD Camera, please visit, usa.canon.com.
Canon posted a rather theatrical (at least at the beginning) video to underline the low light features of the company’s CMOS sensors.
A moonbow is a natural phenomenon that can only be seen when the appropriate lunar brightness, angle of elevation and levels of moisture in the air align. They are so rare that in Hawaii it is said they bring happiness to those who see them. Recently, Canon succeeded in capturing video of a moonbow, which would prove difficult to see with the naked eye, using an ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor. Additionally, using a 250 million pixel ultra-high-pixel-count CMOS sensor, Canon succeeded in capturing* video in which the lettering on the side of a plane flying approximately 18 km away could be clearly read. “Exciting Prospects for CMOS Sensors,” a video introducing these technologies, is now available to view on the Canon Video Square.
This is about the pioneering technology featured in the Canon ME20F-SH (images below), a commercially available multi-purpose camera that goes up to ISO 4M; it’s yours if you have $20,000 to spend.
The Canon ME20F-SHThe Canon ME20F-SH can “see in the dark”
This is not the first Aurora Borealis video shot with the Canon ME20F-SH and posted by Aurora Skycam, though I think this one is more impressing.
The ME20F-SH was used, a special full-frame Canon camera that goes up to ISO 4M (yes ISO, 4,000,000). The camera was hand-held during a flight with Norwegian Airlines at 36000 ft and while cruising at 800 km/h. The video was shot at ISO 102.000, 50fps, 1/50 sec. There is some beautiful footage in the video below, and the best thing is: there is more to come soon (according to the makers).
The Canon ME20F-SH is a speciality camera, with a special price: it’s yours for a mere $20,000.
New Canon ME20F-SH Cinema Kit Offers Versatility For Filmmaking And Television Production
ME20F-SH Cinema Kit Includes 10 Accessories to Ready the Camera for Cinematic Applications
MELVILLE, N.Y., April 13, 2016 – Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today introduced the ME20F-SH Cinema Kit, which bundles the ME20F-SH Camera with 10 accessories to enhance the user operation and provide significant savings compared to purchasing the accessories separately. The ME20F-SH camera’s CMOS sensor has pixels measuring 19 μm square1, which is more than 5.5 times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensor featured in select top-of-the-line interchangeable lens cameras2. Its large pixel size enables the ME20F-SH to deliver magnificent imagery in normal lighting conditions, while also possessing the high sensitivity to capture Full HD video in less than 0.0005 lux3 (at maximum 75 dB gain setting, equivalent to an ISO sensitivity of more than 4,000,000). Along with its modular body and compact size, the image quality delivered by the ME20F-SH camera allows users to capture clear images in even the most demanding of applications including cinematic production, reality television, and nature/wildlife documentaries.
The Canon ME20F-SH can “see in the dark”
“We’ve been using the ME20F-SH camera to simulate military-grade night vision goggles and no other camera can simulate night vision goggles like this – it’s the only machine that could do what we needed,” said David Klein, ASC, cinematographer of The History Channel’s upcoming drama series SIX. “The camera takes sensitivity to a new level; its high end is not just noteworthy, it’s mind blowing. When we shoot with the ME20F-SH camera, nearly every light is turned off or knocked down to nothing, and the camera does the rest,” added Dominik Mainl, SIX’s First AC. “I know this camera is capable of over four million ISO, but we found a remarkable singular image around 600,000 ISO, where signal to noise ratio was suddenly irrelevant.”
Similar to Canon’s Cinema EOS System of professional digital cinematography cameras, the ME20F-SH camera includes Canon Log and Wide DR, which make possible a wide dynamic range, delivering high-image-quality video results across a range of illumination environments, from low- to brightly lit conditions. The ME20F-SH employs the same EF mount (Cinema Lock type) as Canon’s SLR cameras and Cinema EOS series of professional digital cameras, allowing users to make use of the Company’s extensive lineup of interchangeable EF lenses from fisheye to super-telephoto.
The ME20F-SH kit accessory list includes the Atomos Shogun Flame external recorder, Zacuto mini baseplate, a SanDisk SSD pack, Noga Arm, HDMI cable, additional battery, battery and cheese plate, D-Tap/D-Tap cable, XLR cable and a battery charger that can also be used as a power adapter. All of these accessories make the ME20F-SH Cinema Kit ready for film and TV production as well as documentary work across a number of genres.
“Since its introduction in 2015, the ME20F-SH camera has been an incredible tool for cinematic production,” noted Tim Smith, senior advisor, Film & TV Production, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “It produces phenomenal light sensitivity that enables incredibly clean images in standard lighting conditions, and remarkable color imagery up to ISO 4,000,000 even in extremely low light. This new Cinema Kit empowers filmmakers to have a turnkey solution to shoot with minimal lighting equipment or additional gear.”
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