Notes On Video

This weekend there's a special deal on Core Melts Lock & Load X. Lock & Load is a stabilization filter which is supposed to be faster than Final Cuts SmoothCam. But what's really interesting about Lock & Load X is that it claims to remove rolling shutter from clips. Unfortunately I haven't tried it, and haven't found any reviews. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm trying as hard as I can to get my future sports show looking as professional as possible right off the bat. […] I heard of something called a BeachTek audio adapter that can be attached to a videocamera. I wanted to know how crisp the audio is when this technology is used. -CB A lot of consumer cameras have only a mini-plug input for connecting external mics (if they have anything at all.) They also often have no manual gain control. The BeachTek adapter plugs into the mini-plug mic input of a videocamera and gives you XLR jacks for attaching professional mics. They can also allow you to adjust the volume of the separate audio channels, and the one for DSLR's even disables the Auto Gain Circuitry many of these cameras have. There's three or four different models, with different features. I have an earlier model that I used to use with a video camera. It has a screw on the top that can be attached to the tripod mount at the bottom of the camera, and has it's own ...

Hand-on with the Panasonic consumer 3D camera Camcorderinfo got their hands on Panasonic's upcoming consumer 3D video camera, and put it through it's paces. While the 3D lens is detachable, it will only work with this camcorder, and you have to go through some calibration when you attach it: Calibrating the conversion lens is a tricky 3-step process, but the camcorder's menu gives a good amount of detail each step of the way. Even if you have a lot of experience with video, however, calibrating the 3D conversion lens is going to be a unique experience. You'll definitely need to do it a few times before you can really get the hang of it and figure out the best calibration for capturing 3D content. Also, in 3D mode, you have to shoot in full automatic mode - you have no control over zoom or focus - and you need a lot of light (the minimum illumination is listed at 28 lux, and that might be optimistic.) Finally, anything further away than 4m won't have any 3D effe...

WHO : A Canon rep WHERE : Rodney Charters talk at the Boston SuperMeet WHAT : In answer to a question about why firmware wasn't updated more frequently There’s only so many guys in Japan that actually write our firmware. So it’s not like there’s a team of 200 people and we just send them a request and they say “Oh, no problem, we’ll have that to you tomorrow.” When we send a request they say “Okay, well do you want the 1D Mark IV or do you want the firmware update for this?” and we said “mmm wow. Really? That’s what it’s gonna be like that?” So there are times like that where they have to prioritize what they are doing, and sometimes the product cycle interferes with firmware updates. The other part is, the more feedback you give us, the more they say “well we need to do this,” so you just keep screaming about it. See also : NotesOnVideo : Rodney Charters at the SuperMeet [ UPDATE : It seems that Canon isn't the only company with this problem: AppleInsider : Appl...

Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t...