News from Here & There

Making It Look Like Film
Videomaker has an overview of the many techniques used to make video look like film; from frame rate and shutter speed, to depth of field, filters and lighting.
Videomaker: Making It Look Like Film



James Mathers gives a DPs perspective on DSLRs
Cinematograhper and co-founder of the Digital Cinema Society James Mathers has written a piece on DSLRs for NewMediaWebinars.com. He opens with the quote "To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail," and then proceeds to describe the history, and list all of the shortcomings of using DSLR's for shooting films and video. But he hasn't come to bury Ceasar:
I’ve mentioned a number of shortcomings, but to be honest, these are mainly just the result of using the camera to make professional motion pictures, a use they were never really designed for. Yet with all these “deficiencies,” there must be a reason they are in such demand, and that is simple; they make awesome images.
Worth a read.
NewMediaWebinars.com: DSLRs For Filmmakers – One DPs Perspective



New Pansonic LUMIX G-Fisheye lens
Panasonic has announced the LUMIX G Fisheye 8mm/F3.5 lens, H-F008, with a 35mm camera equivalent 16mm lens, for the LUMIX G Series, DSL Micro (DSLM) cameras. The ED (Extra-low dispersion glass) lens minimizes chromatic aberration and distortion and has the ability to capture extreme close-ups due in part to its advanced inner focus system. The seven blade aperture creates a rounded shape that produces an smooth out-of-focus areas when shooting at larger aperture settings. The stepping motor allows for smooth and silent focusing in both photo and movie recording modes.
Price and availability is not yet known.
Panasonic: H-F008



Interview with Nino Leitner
Nino had the good fortune of interning with Philip Bloom on a recent shot in Prague, and EOSHD has an interview with him: EOSHD interviews filmmaker Nino Leitner (Philip Bloom's intern on Red Tails)



James Cameron at D8
CNET's Live blog of James Cameron at the recent D8 conference. Cameron talks about Avatar, Titanic in 3D and the BP oil spill...
Most of the work I do as a director doesn't have to do with 3D. The 3D should be viewed as value-added. Everyone said you had to see "Avatar" in the theaters, in 3D. But the DVDs have sold really well. If people have the choice, they use 3D. If they don't, 2D works fine.
CNET: James Cameron talks entertainment at D8



Chrome adds WebM video
Hardly a surprise as Google just announced the open video standard WebM, but Google has now released a new developer version of Chrome with official support for WebM.
ReadWriteWeb: Google Chrome Now Supports WebM Video Format

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