To meet the needs of studios and production facilities that need to shoot high-quality HD television on a tight budget, Grass Valley has introduced the LDK 3000 camera series. This is its first LDK-family system camera application to use the in-house developed Xensium CMOS imagers — the same imagers first seen in the Infinity Digital Media Camcorder (DMC 1000).
While the Grass Valley LDK 8000 camera series remains the best choice for top-end HD production, the functionality of the new LDK 3000 camera (built on the same physical platform and to the same uncompromised standards) has been tailored to allow the price to be significantly lower.
The LDK 3000 camera uses three 2.4 million pixel CMOS imagers that allow the camera to switch between shooting 1080i and 720p. A low-cost commercial option will add the ability to shoot film-style in 25p and 29.94p later. The LDK 3000 is also using the high-performing HD triax transmission system to allow cable runs up to 1200m.
As the LDK 3000 is physically compatible to the other Grass Valley HD cameras, it can use all existing accessories, such as the SuperXpander. The camera can be controlled from a standard Grass Valley OCP 400 by using Grass Valley Ethernet-based C2IP control network.
