News From Here & There

Reviews
Musician and Filmmaker Sami Sänpäkkilä reviews the D|Focus, an affordable follow-focus unit.
I feel that for me the D|Focus does the job amazingly well, it should work with most cameras and lenses out there. Also you get fast responses and good info from David who makes them, which to me is the most important thing when buying equipment.
samisanpakkila: D|Focus V2 – A superb affordable follow focus


Daniel Freytag posts a review, with video, of the budget LCDVF viewfinder. It likes the magnification, magnetic frame and the budget price, and the only problem he has with it is that the viefinder sometimes gets fogged.
Freytag-film: LCDVF – a cheap and solid Viewfinder


For a bit more money, you could look at the Letus Hawk viewfinder, reviewed on planet5D:
But after getting the updated Hawk with their new quick release, I can say that this is now my preferred quick release over the sticky frames. The design of the Hawk quick release is simple and very effective. This is a great system!
planet5d: Letus Direct’s Hawk – a review of this HDSLR viewfinder



Behind "Beyond The Still"
Neil Matsumoto at HD Video Pro takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Story Beyond The Still competition, focusing mainly on the gear used by it's winners. Some interesting details emerge:
Canon was also surprised by the level of quality. “We started to see more working professionals start to enter, which was great,” says Canon’s Rob Altman. “It took the contest in a bit of a different direction but at the end of the day, it really showed us how pros are using the gear. ..."

Perhaps the most common tool for all of the filmmakers was the Zacuto Z-Finder. “I could have definitely not shot my project without the Z-Finder,” explains Leech.

The fact that an online video contest has a presence at the biggest independent film festival in the world is sort of ironic since this might be the model that can potentially do away with film festivals altogether.

HDVIdeoPro: The Story Beyond the Still Makes Its Debut At Sundance 2011



DualEyes for Mac
The Macintosh version of DualEyes (the standalone version of the audio/video sync plugin PluralEyes) has now officially been released. DualEyes for Mac is available for US$119 until February 22, 2011, when the price will go up to US$149. A 30-day trial version is available
Singular Software: DualEyes for Mac



Editing in Not Invisible
In a short video clip, Dr Karen Pearlman, Head of Screen Studies at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School talks about editing, and takes issue with the statement that "Good editing is invisible," arguing that if we keep advocating this, we're diminishing the role of the editor.
Screenculture.net: Editing is Not invisible (but it is magic)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sony GV-D200 review

Image
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
Read more

Response: Which iPhone to Get?

Image
In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some
Read more

Should you buy the Sony NEX-FS100 Kit Lens?

Image
The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera
Read more