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Friday, January 28, 2011

News From Here & There

Panasonic AG-AF100 Focus Remote Control
The Manfrotto 521PFI Focus Remote Control [B & H: $269.95] is a focus/iris remote control designed to be used with Panasonic prosumer cameras. Features include focus and iris manual adjustment, focus min and max adjustment, as well as re-write position references for the iris and focus knobs.

Peter Lundström at the editman tried it out with the Panasonic AG-AF100 and found it works; as long as you have appropriate lenses like the Olympus 14-35mm and the Olympus 35-100mm lenses. He's happy with it, though he does note that using the internal lens motor to focus might make noise that's picked up in audio recording:
I have to say that having this little device mounted at an ergonomic spot makes focus pulls much easier. You can also do repeatable focus pulls even with the 35-100. I've tried to use my Shoot35 FF unit but you can't do this because of how this lens works, but the 521PFI can!
theeditman: Electronic focus and iris for the AF101

Peter has also posted an article at The Convergence website, wondering whether the new "DSLR Killers," - the AG-AF100 and the Sony PMW-F3 will really impact the use of DSLR's in video production. He suspects that they may not.
TheConvergenceThere’s a new kid in town but does he fit in the neighbourhood?



Using an Audio Splitter
The markertekblog has posted a short article about using an XLR splitter and a JuicedLink CX231 preamp to get better audio when recording using a DSLR.
markertekblog: Improving DSLR Audio with an XLR SPlitter Cable



Color Correction Tutorial - With Food!
Stu Maschwitz has posted a screen recording (with audio) of the color correction process for a food preparation video. Ostensibly, he's answering the question “Why doesn’t the video I shoot with my DSLR look as good as the stills?" and he is using After Effects CS5 and Colorista II, but he's also going through the color correction process step-by-step, and it's good to see/hear how a pro approaches and "thinks" about color correction.

It's well worth watching if you're just starting out in color correction.
Prolost: Color Correcting Food with Colorista II



Switching From Apple Color to DaVinci Resolve
Meanwhile, Patrick Inhofer over at The Tao of Color is documenting his journey from Apple Color to DaVinci Resolve.
Having never seen the Resolve in action and mostly skimming reviews of the app I think I’m in a pretty good position to help Apple Color users figure out if Resolve is for them (or how hard the transition might be).
TaoOfColor: Moving From Apple’s Color to BlackMagic’s DaVinci Resolve, Days 1 – 3



Eyedirect Review
Philip Bloom likes the Eyedirect device; which he says makes it much easier for non-professional's to "talk to the camera" during an interview. It's an interesting idea that works sort of like an autocue, except that the interviewer's face appears in the mirror in front of the camera's lens.

Personally, most of the time I don't like it when people talk to the camera during interviews, but if this is an effect you like, you might want to look into the Eyedirect.
PhilipBloomEyedirect: Solving the problem of getting people to look straight into the camera


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