DSLR Video News

Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x
Brian Troy gets a Zacuto Z-Finer DSLR viewfinder, and writes a review:
Overall, the Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x is comfortable, reliable, magnifies your LCD screen, is easy enough to put on and take off, and it’s lightweight. It gives me confidence that my subject is in focus and the pros outweigh the cons by far. Will I be purchasing one? Absolutely! It is everything that I can imagine wanting or needing in a viewfinder? Yes.
BrianTroy: Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x Review



USB Follow Focus
Earlier in the week, the 5D Mark II Team blog team posted about a USB Follow Focus that works with Canon DSLR's, and would be "available soon." Soon is now, as Okii Systems LLC. has released today the Okii USB Follow Focus Controller.
5DMarkII: USB Follow Focus Controller Released



Blu Brothers at L.A. SMUG Meeting, Feb. 10
Vu and Lan Bui adopted DSLR video shooting as soon as it came out (with the Nikon D90) and, with Smashface Productions, shot the first US television commercial on the Canon 5D mark II. They'll be talking about "Embracing Fusion," when a photographer or videographer uses both photographs and video to make a video
Meetup: L.A. SMUG FEB 2011 Meeting - Embracing Fusion - with the Bui Bros



Black Swan used Canon DSLR's for some scenes
American Cinematographer interviewed Matthew Libatique, ASC about his work on Black Swan:
We used a Canon 7D or 1D Mark IV for all the subway scenes; I could just carry a 7D and shoot on the subway all day with a very small crew. I did some tests with my wife beforehand to figure out my ASA, my stop, and how I was going to deal with the focus. I didn’t use any rigs with it because I wasn’t trying to shoot in the traditional way. I tested a bunch of different exposures and then brought the footage to Charlie Hertzfeld at Technicolor, who put it in the system so I could look at the highlights, the moiré and the resolution. Then I went back to the drawing board to do more tests. The 7D has more depth of field than the 5D, but I needed that because I didn’t have a follow-focus unit and needed to work really fast. I shot everything documentary-style. I did all the focus pulls by hand, and we’d just look at it on the camera’s monitor. I ended up shooting on a Canon 24mm lens at 1,600 ASA to get as much depth of field as possible at a stop of T81⁄2.
MomentumBlog: Black Swan - Matthew Libatique, ASC



A 5D and a Fast 50
Mick Jones writes about the advantages of using a minimal camera crew and kit.
He also notes that when shooting models, they looked more natural when not posing for still pictures; which probably isn't that surprising!
The footage that I rolled while the stills were being shot simply looked like moving magazine covers. Working solo with such a small camera gave me a lot of freedom to be creative and also get the shots in a very short amount of time.
Zacuto: A 5D and a Fast 50 Small Footprint Field Production



DSLR News Gathering in Egypt
Following on from Mick Jones article, Dan Chung writes about Sky News using a 5DmkII to film remarkable footage of the unfolding violence in Egypt.
DSLRNewsShooter: Political Unrest In Egypt - Sky News HD Uses Canon 5DMKII Again

Just a few hours later, CNN reported that Cairo police werre stripping cameras from tourists as well as journalists...

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