Notes On Video

21 things You Should Know About the Sony Handycam NEX-VG10 Interchangeable Lens Camcorder A list of interesting things about the NEX-VG10 at Cameratown.com. Two things that were a surprise: 8. LCD Pivots, but not toward front : The 3.0" LCD screen is both bright and sharp but it only pivots up or down - and not forward. This prevents you from flipping the screen to the front so that it's visibile when you're in front of the camera [...] 9. Lens lacks AF/Manual Switch : Yes, you can still manually focus but you'll have to press a menu button on the side of the camera (under the LCD) to make the change. There is a zoom 'lock' on the lens to prevent the lens from extending during travel. Cameratown.com : 21 things You Should Know... Sony NEX-VG10 Test Run H. Paul Moon posted another text video from the NEX-VG10 . This was shot hand-held because evidently it's illegal to use a camera with a tripod without a permit in Washington D.C. Sony's Act...

How many of us quit all other applications while we're editing video (or doing some other processor intensive task?) it probably makes sense, but I just don't do it... Macworld takes a peek at App Tamer , an application that halts any application when it's switched to the background (I wish it would do that for individual Safari Windows!) Reviewer Jeff Porten says he's spent about an hour with it, and so far it seems to do what it claims; and it only costs $15. Could be worth a look. Macworld : App Tamer halts your apps to speed up your Mac

Sony's Filmlike camera The problem with reading reports about un-released cameras is that you can get conflicting information. Often from the same source. On the first day of IBC, Philip Johnston at HDWarrior reported somewhat negatively about Sony's Filmlike camera , and said that it would have a price of around $20,000. But since then, the post has been rewritten a couple of times; Alister Chapman told me about the footage and he was very exited about the lack of noise, I must say after further investigation he is 100% correct…fantastic pictures. and in a "Time for Reflection" piece yesterday he says that maybe it will be priced about £6,000. I asked Bill for a price and he told me that announcement was for early next year. Bill knows Panasonic have a head start in the FilmLike field and that their camcorder is £4000 so we can only wait for that important announcement, my bet is about £6000. Will it be an HDSLR killer? Probably not; I think it's more likel...

After seeing a sample clip from the NEX-VG10 , I couldn't help thinking " that's disappointing ." The low-light performance was only so-so, and the bokeh wasn't that impressive; making me wonder why bother with this large chip camera? But then I was thinking that perhaps the lens was the real problem; add on something that was f/2.8 or less - rather than the f/3.8 it comes with - and that might make a big difference. And just after that, I happened across an article at SonyAlphaRumors about using third party lenses with the NEX-5 (which uses the same E-mount found on the NEX-VG10 .) One of the lenses they high-lighted was the Zeiss Planar ZM T* 50mm f/2 which is just $781. Of course, then you need an adapter to attach the ZM-mount to the E-Mount, but those are available at Amazon ... Wait a minute! I've already been buying lenses for the Canon 7D ; am I now going to go down that route for another camera?! Worse, it's not even worth getting an NEX...

ikan  announces the HDSLR Revolution Short Film Competition Deadline: November 29th Create a film using your HDSLR camera that utilizes the ikan name, logo or an ikan product in a creative, positive manner. Your film must adhere to the simple, one-word theme of ‘revolution'. To Enter the Competition: Join the “HDSLR Revolution” vimeo group. Create your entry of no more than 3 ½ minutes. Upload your video to the “HDSLR Revolution” vimeo group. Send us your completed entry form. Kick back until the winners are announced December 15. Judging Criteria: Adherence to the theme (yes, we know it's broad… but we know you're creative!) Mastery of the HDSLR medium: winning videos will push the limits of the HDSLR in new and innovative ways. Originality in the usage of the ikan name, logo or an ikan product of your choice. Overall creativity of the entry, the story and the method of storytelling. Make sure to keep it clean. Nudity, foul language from small children and...

It's listed back in stock at Amazon , has been sighted in a camera store in Cologne , and has more than one Facebook community: Sony Handycam NEX-VG1, and Sony NEX-VG10 User Group . More people seem to be receiving them; or expect arrival in the next couple of days.

There's a lot to like about the Zoom H4n . For $300 you get a small, compact recorder than can record four tracks simultaneously (using the two onboard mics, and two XLR inputs) and it has good sound quality. BUT, lately it seems that all I hear are professionals putting it down; not for it's recording quality, or even that you can't adjust gain for the channels independently. It's that the device has a habit of corrupting tracks - i.e. they are unreadable - if it runs out of batteries or otherwise stops recording "unexpectedly." The latest is a post by Anthony Quintano at Quintano Media who got some corrupted files and says they weren't caused by low batteries; though a respondent suggested that he might be using the wrong SD cards with the device ( something owners of the H4n might want to check http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/SDlist.html .) Philip Bloom doesn't like the H4n, and at a recent workshop recommended the Tascam DR100 ; be...

I first saw the movie 2001:A Space Odyssey shortly after seeing Star Wars . I think that was a mistake because I was expecting Star Wars II and was rather surprised that I got something very different instead. It was slow, confusing, and what was that whole sequence of visuals towards the end? Did it have to be that long? I'd read an article that explained most of the elements of the movie before seeing it (the bone changing to the orbiting nuclear weapon represents the transition from mans first to ultimate weapon) but that only made me a little less confused, it didn't make me enjoy it more. And yet, it's still an important, evocative movie. Perhaps it's the whole computer to personality thing that intrigues me most. Now, here comes Douglas Trumbull , who was the special effects genius behind 2001 , with a plan to make a documentary about the movie. And Warner Home Video was interested; BUT then they pulled out. Everyone write to Warner Home Video and tell...

Apple has released an update to Final Cut Studio . This update includes Log and Transfer compatibility with Sony NXCAM SD. Pro Applications Update 2010-02 adds compatibility for new camera formats, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues. This update is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, and Logic Studio. Issues addressed in this update include the following: Final Cut Pro Real-time compatibility with Sony XDCAM HD422 720p24/p25/p30. Log and Transfer compatibility with Sony NXCAM SD. Control-G not closing the correct gap in the Timeline under the playhead. Closed captioning data is now preserved when outputting to AJA Io HD with Print to Tape/Video. Performance issue when importing AVCHD with LPCM audio. AVCHD thumbnail images in SD are now the correct 4:3 aspect ratio. XML export now retains the carriage return when working with text and third-party applications. Several memory fragmentation issues have bee...

H. Paul Moon has posted a video comparing the NEX-VG10 to a Sony EX1 professional video camera - a very different camera - though he also throws in some footage from the Canon 7D and a Canon HF S200 (camcorder). Compared to the EX1, sensitivity is definitely a lot lower, and it's lower than the HF S200 too BUT the EX1 is brighter with the same aperture and gain setting (see the street at night portion of the video [1:53].) Also, the HF S200 will go down to f/1.8, which may be the reason it appears to perform better (see the vase and chair clip at the end of the sequence [2:35]). In looking at the video, I can't help thinking that the f/3.5 minimum lens might be the biggest mistake...the aperture is just not wide enough. A lot of what attracts people to the HDSLR images they see in demo videos is the incredibly shallow depth of field you can get with a big aperture. But in the examples here you can see that f/3.5 certainly gives you a little blur; but not the big dramatic ...

If you have been following the world of HDDSLR film making, then you no doubt know that most serious users are using "flat" settings for their picture settings. Reducing sharpness and contrast all the way down, and saturation a little, produces an image that doesn't look as good out-of-the-camera , but is easier to color correct and fine tune in post. But how flat is too flat? And should you go "super-flat," as some users do? Director, author, and producer of Colorista II tutorials , Stu Maschwitz, posted some interesting Tweets about color settings for HDSLR's yesterday: Had an Interesting conversation with a colorist about difficulties he had with 5D footage shot with one of those flatter-than-flat settings. He confirmed my experience, that the in-camera flat settings like the ones I use are good. Anything "flatter" adds nothing, causes issues. ...he was just having to work hard to achieve natural skin tones. The superflat setting had rende...

I don't normally cover Avid because I don't know much about them [ when does that stop you from writing about other things? - Ed ] and they tend to be used more in the film and big Pro field, but reader and VFX Supervisor Dermot Shane is quoted in the press release for Avid DS 10.5, so that's enough of a connection to justify reporting on the announcement of Avid DS 10.5. Avid DS 10.5 was announced at IBC, and is Avid's high end finishing system, aimed at 2K, 4K, DI & GFX / VFX heavy HD. “Software-only DS means I can say ‘yes’ to clients and projects that were previously off limits,” said Dermot Shane , owner of mZungu Post Production . “As a smaller shop, we can now scale our finishing operations at a fraction of the cost and fill in any holes we may have previously had in the post workflow, like adding in a seat to handle effects and digital make-up process between conform, color grading and mastering. DS 10.5 offers a one-stop shop for finishing projects, wra...

It's been expected for a while, and now it's official; Nikon has announced the D7000 . For those not up on Nikon's offerings, think of this as a competitor to the Canon 60D . It has a 16.2 Megapixel sensor and will be priced about $1,200. More importantly, it adds support for 1080p/24 video (and also supports 720p/24/30.) No 1080p/30 though (which the 60D does support.) Nikon.com : D7000 Product Page Nikon.com : Video settings and sample movie Crunchgear : Comparison between Nikon D7000 and 60D You can see some sample videos shot by Chase Jarvis at Cinema5D : Nikon D7000 16MP And 1080p 24fps HD Video. Chase Jarvis You can preorder at Amazon: Nikon D7000 16.2MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 3.0 Inch LCD (Body Only)

The wonderfully named SNOB Film Festival has a Filmmaker's Challenge: come up with a quick, 30-second film on the courtesy of silencing your cell phones before the feature film starts. There's no prize, but it's a free way to get a (short) film shown at a film festival! Submit your film to: "Filmmaker's Challenge", c/o SNOB Film Festival. PO 956, Concord, NH 03302-0956 SNOB Film Festival: Submit Your Film

Some interesting articles that have appeared recently: Salon: How to write a TV show, sort of With two seasons of HBO's " Bored to Death " under his belt, Jonathan Ames offers an explanation of how they go about writing and producing the show in a list of ten steps. They include: 4. Once the general stories have been determined, a new discussion is begun -- breaking the stories down into specific outlines, scene by scene (our episodes will generally have about 15 to 18 scenes). This probably takes two to three weeks. American Society of Cinematographers: The Cinematographer Today: Evolution or Devolution? — Part One John Bailey runs through the history of cinematography, and then considers the impact of digital on the film making process. Some interesting quotes: It was also common, even mandatory, in silent days for the cinematographer to own his own camera. Over a famous liquor-fueled weekend, Gregg Toland is said to have instructed the tyro film director Orso...

I have to do at least one update on the NEX-VG10 ...because, well I'm clearly fixated. DigitalVersus.com has a review up of the camera. They like the look of it, and most of the features - they aren't evaluating it for professional use - and generally like the image quality: Colours are reproduced quite accurately, although some shades are sometimes a little dull. The level of detail is excellent, and the VG10 easily beat the CX550 with our test card. We were a little disappointed by sensitivity, and found a lot of noise in low light levels for a CMOS sensor using Exmor R This is the second article to note that the low-light sensitivity isn't as good as was expected, which I really think is more due to the somewhat slow f/3.8 lens, than to the processor. I'm hoping someone will put the 16mm f/2.8 E-mount lens on the camera and see how that performs. DigitalVersus.com : Sony NEX-VG10 UPDATE The manual is now available at NEXVG10.info in English! Operatin...

New Still Cameras With Video Support A bunch of new cameras have appeared that add HD video - unfortunately, it's 720p video, but that's not necessarily bad. Olympus jumps in with the E-5 DSLR , Samsung has the "mirrorless" NX100 and Canon has the G12 . I'm not sure I'd buy any of them just to do video, or even to upgrade an existing camera if you have a previous version. Canon also announced the SX30IS, but previous versions of that camera already supported video. Sony NEX-VG10 It may or may not be shipping today, but you can look at an online copy of the manual for the NEX-VG10 - In Croatian: nexg10.info: User Manual UPDATE The manual is now available at NEXVG10.info in English! Operating GUide [PD] Handbook [PDF] Zoom H1 vs Tascam DR-08 Thinking of buying the cheap (about $99) Zoom H1? Ot maybe a Tascam DR-08? There's a comparison over at CheesyCam: Tascam DR-08 vs. Zoom H1 continued.. Vimeo Festival +Awards The Vimeo Festiva...

Reader Paul Moon reports that his order through Sony Style just changed to "Ready for Shipment" with a shipping date of 9/14. Lets hope it's accurate! He's reporting at NEXVG10.info [ UPDATE: and right now it's listed as IN STOCK at SonyStyle.com, with a shipping date of 9/14 too!! ]

I love the internet. You can nearly alway find an answer to your problems, as long as you keep trying different search terms in Google until it returns what you want. Over the weekend I was building a simple DVD in iDVD . There was ONE video clip - and admittedly it was a PAL project, and the video was originally in NTSC DV format - but there was no reason why it shouldn't work. But I selected a 4:3 project, added the clip, and when the clip played in Preview, it was displayed as though it was a widescreen clip (with text even warning that it was in Widescreen Preview at the bottom of the preview screen.) I tried exporting the clip in PAL format from Final Cut , and that had the same problem. Tried creating a new project and that didn't help either... I even burned the disc to confirm that, yes, the disc played back "wrong." The first couple of searches "iDVD widescreen problem" and "iDVD 4:3 widescreen problem" didn't bring anything u...

Screenwriter Neil Landua, author of 101 Things I Learned in Film School will be giving a book reading at Harvard Bookstore on Monday, October 18th. He will be joined by creator of the 101 Things I Learned series, Matthew Frederick. How does one effectively set a scene? What is the best camera angle for a particular mood? How does new technology interact with scenes? And how does one even get the financing to make a movie? These basic questions and much more are covered in this book on the film industry and making movies as a profession. With insights for someone who wants to make movies as a full-time career, or just someone who is interested in film, 101 Things I Learned in Film School offers an inside view of the art and craft of filmmaking. DATE: Monday, October 18th TIME: 7:00 PM LOCATION: Harvard Book Store 1256 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge TICKETS: This event is free; no tickets are required Neil Landau is a screenwriter whose television and film credits include Do...

News from Panasonic; the release date and price for their new large-sensor camera, the AG-AF100. It will be available in Japan for 837,900 yen ($9,967). Interestingly, Engadget says it will be "around" $6,000 in the U.S. Engadget: Panasonic announces AF105 Micro Four Thirds camcorder, interchangeable lenses not included

The Technology Talks website quotes an eBay seller as saying the shipping date for the NEX-VG10 is now September 17th. Maybe . I'm not sure I'd put much stock in a quote from an eBay seller... [UPDATE BELOW] Meanwhile, a guy on Vimeo claims this is his first NEX-VG10 clip. NEX VG-10 FIRST CLIP TEST VIDEO AUDIO from Mattia Santino Merli on Vimeo . [ UPDATED Sep 13 - Amazon's product page now gives an "In Stock" date of September 30th.]

Some new products from IBC that look interesting... Sony HXR-MC2000 Sony have rolled out a tapeless version of the HVR-HD1000 , and called it the HXR-MC2000 . It has a single 1/4" CMOS sensor ( ehhh ), and manual lens ring ( sweet ), but the audio input is just a mini-plug; no XLRs . Oh Sony! That was the primary reason I bought the Panasonic AG-HMC70U over the HD1000 a couple of years back. I don't understand Sony's reasoning; anyone buying a large shoulder camera these days is probably going to want to do more with audio than your typical "consumer" camera buyer. The camera has 64GB of internal flash memory, and accepts Memory Stick and SD cards (it's unclear, but I think it just has a single slot....if true, I'd rather they ditch the internal memory and had two card slots.) Reportedly, the camera will sell for about the same as the HD1000 (somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000.) Sony.co.uk : HXR-MC2000E Sony's "Affordable" 35...

Today is the third annual Amsterdam Final Cut Pro User Group SUPERMEET. If you can't make it there, you can watch it streamed at 13:00 EST today ( that's 1PM EST, right? ) FCProUserGoup: SuperMeet Live