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The gentle-for-film Aaton style magazine lacing is becoming the standard of the industry. The Xtera magazine keeps up the tradition, and with its totally open loop-making area it is easier to check and keep clean.
The half-moon mechanical counter remains visible at a distance, from behind operator's head. In addition, large numbers are clearly visible on assistant display.
Running on one or two 12V 3.8Ah NiMH batteries, the highly efficient Xterà motor powers twenty-four 400' magazines (eleven 800' magazines), i.e. four hours!
Xterà's color video-tap is the lowest power eater on the market: at 200mA, it can run for over a day on the twin batteries! This is a third of what other videotaps consume!
Lower and upper batteries feed camera motor, video-tap and accessories. They are paralleled and avoid power interruption during replacement. Single-battery operation is also an option.
A real chunk cut out for the shoulder: the Xterà respects the 'cat on the shoulder' rule Aaton is famous for. No other camera brings this comfort to the operator.
Coplanar film pull-down: so quiet it doesn't need elastic filters between the gate and the lens, so steady it extracts every last bit of the Super16 frame. Superior image crispness, one of Aaton's claims to fame.
High precision internal photometer for run-and-gun situations and peace-of-mind permanent exposure control.
Versatile viewfinder: you can change the tap ratios, i.e. the amount of light sent to the tap: 100%, 80%, 50%, 0%, or remove the optical viewfinder for 'low mode' with absolutely no effect on the video tap.
Top Rod holder (19, 15,8 and 15mm diam), mounted on the central chassis, means no lens motor torque backlash.
Rock solid link between lens and film makes for ultra crisp images: no noise hiding, blur-producing rubber mounted film gate.
Built-in 15mm front rod sockets for handgrip and lightweight mattebox (the lateral top rod looks after the lens motors). Lens-to-base distance is the standard 105mm: no need to carry a tripod intermediary.
Large assistant display showing frame rate, remaining footage, ISO, timecode, two battery levels... (data also visible on operator side).
Generous junction box dispatching power from the twin batteries to camera, video assist and accessories. Stop/test/start switch on assistant side.
Progressive-scan video assist provides full target resolution during film takes: a first in video taps. Aatoncode VITC insertion to auto-sync rushes with digital recorder files.
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