News From Here & There

Final Cut Pro Stuff
While we impatiently wait for Apple to not release anything about Final Cut Pro 8 at the NAB show, here's some great tips for Final Cut Pro users: fcp.co: The Top Ten FCP Technical Errors

And Noise Industries has some free filter effects that work with FxFactory: Free Final Cut Pro plugins

Going to NAB? Don't forget the SuperMeet; even if you aren't a Final Cut Pro user, if you edit with any NLE it's worth going to. Early bird sales end March 15th.



Hardware News & Reviews


Rycote Portable Recorder Audio Kit
Rycote has announced this new piece of gear; a combined Windshield and Suspension solution, the kit contains everything needed to protect a handheld digital recorder from outdoor wind noise, and also to isolate it from unwanted vibrations. It's currently available in a configuration for the Zoom H4n.
[It's listed as available March 1st, though it's not yet available at online retailers.]
Rycote: Portable Recorder Audio Kit


Inexpensive wireless HDMI transmitter
Vincent Rozenberg found an inexpensive (US $338) wireless transmitter and says that it works well, though he's having trouble getting it to communicate with a Lilliput field monitor because the latter shuts off before the transmitter has had time to configure itself.
The transmitter and receiver are both the same size, a bit smaller then the length and width of a V-mount battery, and about a centimeter thick. 5 Volts is the input, so you can make a cable with power converter to power the transmitter via your camera output. The weight is almost nothing.
VincentRozenberg: Cheap wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver


GoPro Review
Ben Horton reviews the GoPro camera, and he thinks it as revolutionary as the Canon 5D. He offers some tips:
  • You don’t have any control over the exposure or ISO, it’s the trade off for getting a tiny camera for $300, so if you want a professional looking shot, you need to pay attention to your light. There’s not a lot of leeway, so you can’t use photoshop to save your images as much as you can with an SLR.
  • For filming action sports, shoot in 60P. The ability to slow down the footage a bit without creating a video reminiscent of a flip book will help take some of the jitter out of some of the bumpier subjects like skiing, rally car racing, or a high speed chase. The trade off is now your shooting at 720 instead of 1080.
PhotoCineNews: Nat Geo Shooter Ben Horton Reviews GoPro Cameras
B & H: HD Helmet HERO Camcorder [$299.99]


Rokinon 85M-C F/1.4 Aspherical Lens
Ron Risman reviews this all manual lens that costs just $270. For video he thinks it's a good budget choice, though he notes that when shooting wide open at f/1.4 you will sometimes notice a bit of chromatic abberation along high-contrast areas that are out of focus. He doesn't recommend it for stills. It's available for Canon, Nikon and Sony alpha mount.
Cameratown: Rokinon 85M-C F/1.4 Aspherical Lens Review
Amazon: Rokinon 85M-C 85mm F1.4 Aspherical Lens for Canon (Black)[$274.36] | Nikon (Black)[$271.67] | Sony (Black)[$274.36]



3D
Will 2011 be the year of 3D? 2012? Andy Stout at TVTechnology argues that what 3D really needs to sell into the home is a big event; HD video, he says, had Beijing. He goes on to suggest that 3D could come to the London Olympics, and drag everyone along with it. Except that he says the "signals are impressively mixed," over whether that will happen.
The manufacturers, with Panasonic leading the charge, are all over it and promising great things, but Olympic Broadcasting Services’ Manolo Romero is cautious, on record as saying that OBS might experiment with recording some events (notably the opening ceremony in 3D) but not as yet seeing any great demand from broadcasters for 3D. 
TVTechnology: The Year of 3D?





Comments

VisionRouge said…
I bought 2 pair of these to do a dual transmissin from 2 EX1R behind a wall.
First the product auto configure, so you need to plug one pair, wait they work, and start with the second set, sometime need to plug again the hdmi to start the signal again. I have to say a bit complicated to work as pro with this.
Turn out we keep the camera on all day, soBut only one pair will work perfectly.
The setup on the mornig was done one time only and so product was great.

For avoiding problem with 5D or other camera weird HDMI signal, i use a cheap HDMI splitter on the output of the receiver and plug the splitter to my PC screen and turn out it "fix" the signal problem, and so work on most of my monitor now!!!

Be also carefull that they provide 2 set possible one is 60i max, the other is 60p (the one i have).

You can rent this video gear from me to test by yourself
www.visionrouge.com/rent/
We are a video production company based in Shanghai.
Mar 4, 2011, 11:29:00 PM
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