BURBANK, Calif., and GENEVA, Switzerland—New details have emerged about the Big Sky camera system used at the Sphere in Las Vegas to capture images that immerse audiences in a visual environment up, over and around them with a 160,000-square-foot 16K x 16K display.
Designed by the Sphere Studios team, which develops original content for the Sphere, the camera system relies on a first-of-its-kind 18K sensor manufactured by STMicroelectronics (ST) to capture video at the scale and fidelity needed for the Sphere’s display.
The sensor—said to be the world’s largest cinema camera sensor in commercial use—works with the sharpest cinematic lenses to capture detailed, large-format images, Sphere Studios said.
“Big Sky significantly advances cinematic camera technology with each element representing a leap in design and manufacturing innovation,” said Deanan DaSilva, lead architect of Big Sky at Sphere Studios. “The sensor on any camera is critical to image quality, but given the size and resolution of Sphere’s display, Big Sky’s sensor had to go beyond any existing capability. ST, working closely with Sphere Studios, leveraged their extensive expertise to manufacture a groundbreaking sensor that not only expands the possibilities for immersive content at Sphere, but also across the entertainment industry.”
Big Sky’s 316-megapixel sensor is almost 7X larger and 40X higher resolution than the full-frame sensors found in high-end commercial cameras. The die, which measures 9.92cm x 8.31cm (82.4 cm2), is twice as large as a wallet-sized photograph, and only four full die fit on a 300mm wafer. The system is also capable of capturing images at 120 fps and transferring data at 60 gigabytes per second, Sphere Studios said.
“ST has been on the cutting edge of imaging technology, IP and tools to create unique solutions with advanced features and performance for almost 25 years,” said Alexandre Balmefrezol, executive vice president and Imaging Sub-Group general manager at STMicroelectronics. “Building a custom sensor of this size, resolution and speed with low noise, high dynamic range and seemingly impossible yield requirements, presented a truly novel challenge for ST – one that we successfully met from the very first wafer out of our 12-inch (300mm) wafer fab in Crolles, France.”
Big Sky also allows filmmakers to capture large-format images from a single camera without having to stitch content together from multiple cameras, avoiding issues such as near distance limitations and seams between images. Sphere Studios has filed for 10 patents in association with Big Sky’s technology, it said.
Darren Aronofsky’s “Postcard from Earth,” currently showing at Sphere as part of The Sphere Experience, is the first cinematic production to use Big Sky.
More information is available on the entertainment venue’s website.
