What is IMAX?

What is special about the IMAX camera?

• What sort of a camera is it? How does it differ from conventional ones? When do you choose to shoot with an IMAX camera rather than the normal 35 mm ones?

• Answer:

  First of all, there is no point in shooting with an IMAX camera unless it will be shown on an IMAX projector and screen. In fact, the added costs make this a fool's errand. First of all, the film for IMAX is much, much larger than 35mm. This allows a higher quality image, especially when projected on a large screen. What might appear to be a tiny person in an outdoor scene if projected on a standard screen will become a life-size person on IMAX screens, standing in a world-sized vista. Larger film is heavier. And takes up more space. This limits how long you can shoot a continuous shoot before you have to reload the film. And if you are shooting 3D IMAX, you have to go through twice as much film. A loaded IMAX 3D camera weighs over 250lbs. However, nowadays people are looking at shooting IMAX format in digital. This camera is not really in full production yet, although the 4K 3D IMAX prototype was used in a documentary recently. Standard 2D can be shot on a 4K sensor, but there is controversy over the projection (many theaters use dual 2K projectors, and that's not really the same thing). Ultimately, you should consider IMAX the "HD" version of movie filming and projection.