The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has announced that ARRI Sensor Architect Michael Cieslinski will be honored with the Camera Origination and Imaging Medal Award in 2022.
This prize, established in 2012, recognizes significant technical achievements related to inventions or advances in imaging technology.
Jay Ballard, Chair of the SMPTE 2022 Camera Origination and Imaging Medal Award Committee stated that Michael Cieslinski receives this prestigious award in recognition of his pioneering work in image and camera design which led to the development of a family of high dynamic range electronic cinematography cameras that have the ability to create images with the look of 35 mm film.
This award and others will be distributed on October 27, 2022, in Hollywood, California, at the SMPTE Annual Awards Gala ceremony which is part of the SMPTE Media Technology Summit. This year’s Summit will be the Society’s first in-person conference since 2019.
Michael Cieslinski started his professional career in 1985 at a small company where he created one of the first digital CCD cameras. After joining ARRI in 2000, he was initially tasked with the concept development for the ARRISCAN while working on ARRI’s first image sensor, the ALEV2, which was used in the D20/D21 cameras. He went on to lead the ARRISCAN project until 2005 before starting work on the architecture of the ALEV3 sensor, which first came to the market in the ALEXA in 2010. For the ARRISCAN, Michael Cieslinski received a Scientific and Engineering Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2010. Currently, he works as a technical lead at ARRI on various topics like new sensor architecture, sensor package, image compression algorithm, calibration lamp, and pixel design.
