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Today, its years are numbered, but I will remain loyal to this analogue artform until the last lab closes.
- Steven Spielberg [The Guardian, "The Joy of Celluloid"]


The Sony NEX-7 & Zeiss 24 has arrived! My 1st look and video! | Steve Huff | Blog
Steve just got a production copy of the NEX-7, and promises a review in a couple of weeks:
When the guys opened up the box (which was NOT a finished box) they told me the camera is final, and the firmware is also final. They included the 18-55 kit zoom in black as well and I have to say it looks much cooler in black than the super shiny silver. But we all already know how the 18-55 is, so the real start of this set is the Zeiss 24 1.8 Lens.


MacVoices #1189: Dan Berube and Michael Horton Talk Final Cut Pro X and the Upcoming FCP SuperMeet in Boston | MacVoices
Organizers of The Final Cut Pro SuperMeet Daniel Berube and Michael Horton talk about Final Cut Pro X, and the upcoming Boston Supermeet, which will include a presentation by editing superstar and Oscar winner Walter Murch.



New Noktor HyperPrime 12MM 1.6 | Beeldlab
Yesterday I linked to a preview of the Noktor by Andrew Red at EOSHD, and now here's another person that got to play with a prototype:
My first impressions of the lens are great. It feels robust and solid. Focus and aperture ring move as smooth as butter. 12mm looks like a nice wide angle view (like 24mm on 5D Mark II) and you can get nice shallow depth of field. I bett that this will be an awesome lens, especially outside, when stopped down with ND.


How to Share Your Opinion on a Film Set (If Asked) | Evan Luzi
| the Black And Blue
Evan offers tips on how to give advice on-set (or even off-set for that matter!):
Step 3. Offer Alternative Approaches
One thing that has always bugged me about asking others for their opinion is when they criticize without offering solutions.
I remember sending out a survey for this site awhile back and getting responses back like “needs to look better.” When it comes down to it, that response is neither helpful nor genuine. Instead it comes across as obnoxious and useless.
Before you open your mouth to share your opinion, always be ready to provide alternative solutions or at least help guide the conversation towards it.


What the Hell is Digital Distribution? Here’s 7 Core Ideas You Must Understand
|| Orly Ravid | IndieWire
An excerpt from “Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul," written by The Film Collaborative co-executive directors Orly Ravid and Jeffrey Winter:
5. HAVE GOOD ART THAT WORKS SMALL.
For God’s sake, take good photos. And compose the images with an eye toward the fact that it won’t be on a poster; it will be on a computer screen. Look at your key art as a thumbnail image and make sure it is still clearly identifiable.


The Letters H and D Are Now Meaningless | Alexis van Hurkmand | Blog
This post starts with a rumination on how meaningless the definition "HD" has become, and then get's into the details of image quality from a color graders perspective:
At this point, the wide variety of camcorders, cheap-o party digital recorders, point and shoot and DSLR cameras, and even our cell phones can record 720p or 1080p video. High Definition video. And yet, what does this really mean in terms of quality? Most of these devices record a highly compressed video stream, now usually a variation of the reasonably competent H.264 codec. On more inexpensive devices, the chroma subsampling is 4:2:0, meaning that roughly 3/4 of the color data is irretrievably thrown away when the image is recorded.


10 Things Every Creative Person (That’s YOU) Must Learn | Chase Jarvis | Blog
Some interesting tips for creatives:
3. Don’t aim for ‘better’, aim for ‘different’.
It’s funny how related “better” and “different” are. If you aim for ‘better’ that usually means you’re walking in the footsteps of someone else. There will often be someone better than you, someone making those footsteps you’re following…


Sony PMW-F3 S-LOG VS Cinestyle2 XDCamEX | thomas ozoux | Vimeo
Experiments with the Sony PMW-F3 shooting a scene with a wide exposure range, with and without S-Log. The S-Log footage is superior both in color, and dynamic range.



Filmmakers, meet iPhone 4S. iPhone 4S, meet Filmmakers | Taz Goldstein
| Hand Held Hollywood
Thinking of upgrading to the iPhone 4S? Why yes, I am! Taz offers his reasons for upgrading; if you're eligible for the discounted upgrade:
If you're stuck in the middle of a 2-year contract, ineligible for discount pricing, it will cost you at least $650 to upgrade. For that reason alone, I think you should at least consider holding off until the iPhone 5. 1080p is great, but Apple's stabilization does yield artifacts. Siri is awesome, but perhaps you should wait and see if your iPhone 4S purchasing friends actually wind up using it. The other new features are swell, but they're not so revolutionary that I'd consider the iPhone 4S a filmmaking must-buy.



Cut Notes 1.1 | Digital Rebellion LLC | iTunes
An update to this iPad logging application has been posted:
  • Final Cut Pro synchronization (requires wi-fi)
  • Hold button removed - holding can now be achieved by tapping the timecode while playing
  • Minor UI refresh
  • iOS 5 compatibility
  • Fixed an issue where project names with a period in them (e.g. Project.01) would be truncated in the project browser


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