Yeah that’s it. Mann uses the Thomson Viper Filmstream Camera. I know in his films it always seems to give off that cool gritty grain affect. I’m not sure if that’s his effect or if that’s just what recording looks like.
from wiki:
"The Viper, another three-sensor camera design, captures a 1920 × 1080 pixel image. In addition to uncompressed RGB output, the Viper is also capable of outputting RAW sensor data, which allows for more control in post-production.
The camera has a unique feature known as Dynamic Pixel Management, which allows the camera to change its aspect ratio by vertically ganging pixels. This allows the cinematographer to shoot at different aspect ratios without cropping the image (thus losing resolution) or using anamorphic lenses.
The Viper was first used on Rudolf B.'s short movie Indoor Fireworks, though the first feature shot entirely with the Viper was the British independent Production Silence Becomes You by director Stephanie Sinclaire.[1] The first Viper camera in the UK was acquired by Arri Media who loaned the camera for free to the National Film & Television School to test it on director Derek Boyes' award winning graduation short The Happiness Thief. The first major motion picture shot using the Viper was Michael Mann's Collateral, which was followed by Miami Vice (cinematographer for both: Dion Beebe), which was shot with the Viper to HDCAM. The first feature film to be shot entirely in the Viper's uncompressed digital data format is Zodiac.
One of the Viper's strengths is its ability to shoot with extremely low light levels, which allowed much of Collateral to be shot on the streets of Los Angeles, CA at night without the need for substantial supplemental lighting equipment.
While the Viper is designed to produce full resolution raw images in 4:4:4 log data, it can also produce 4:4:4 RGB video images; Michael Mann has used it this way. Tom Burstyn, CSC, using the Viper in the 4:2:2 HDStream mode, was nominated for an Emmy in Cinematography for the first season of the USA Network show The 4400. The camera lacks on-board recording. The signals from the Viper may be recorded to either a tape format or a disk array, depending on what mode the camera is used in.
The Viper is also used to tape popular children's show LazyTown and Flash Gordon."
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