Geoff Boyle, a UK based cinematographer, summarized it in saying: “I think the overwhelming impression that I came away with was that film would be used for most high end work and that far from it's market declining it will probably going to start rising! The most important innovation currently is the Digital Intermediate, and the best medium to shoot for the DI process is film”. He said that 16 mm film is a better starting point for DI than HD. He then showed tests between film, HDCAM and Viper. Geoff said that “The tests show that film has a vastly superior ability to cope with widely different color balance conditions and exposure latitude. If, for example, you shoot in daylight with tungsten balance, it was very easy to correct it back on film, whereas images shot on DHDCAM could not be corrected and got very ugly. The Viper has greater color depth than HDCAM, which allows for better correction. However, if you take into account the exposure latitude as well, then film is significantly better. “

Steven Poster, ASC was another panelist. He first congratulated ARRI for showing the D20 project so early in the development process, and for being so honest about what it can and cannot do. He praised ARRI’s efforts to involve working cinematographers in the development process of its products. Footage from “Stuart Little 2” illustrated how the DI process can be used to speed up shooting on the set. Geoff chimed in saying that “the real savings [of DI] are in the amount of time you save having a cast and crew hanging around. Instead of huge flags to bring down a wall just use power windows in post, instead of nets outside a window to bring a shirt in range, power window it in post.“