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14 New Cameras in one year (Part One) | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior
The first part of a look back at 14 interesting cameras that were announced this year:

I decided to take the F3 through to Edinburgh one cold January evening to film some low light footage and I was astounded at the footage I brought back, this was indeed the king of low light filming.

Stage 4 - Reservations are now Open | Jarred Land | RedUser
Order an EPIC now and save!

Given the price increase coming in the new year, We are opening up EPIC Stage 4 for deposits today so everyone interested in stage 4 can lock into 2011 Pricing.

We have a few Stage 2 orders to still mop up, so Stage 4 will not start shipping until those have been completed and the process of Stage 3/3.5 has begun . Since Stage 3 and 3.5 have the opportunity to be a lengthy processes ( sending in cameras, inspected, etc. ) Stage 4 orders and Stage 3/3.5 will be shipping in the same time frame.. with Stage 3/3.5 orders given shipping priority.

Ryan Koral of Epic Motion “Shares” Some Valuable Advice | Ron Dawson
| Dare Dreamer
Part of a series of "bite-sized" bits of advice; a short video clip:

Today Ryan Koral of Epic Motion ”shares” some advice that has helped his wedding and event studio become an award-winning studio admired by videographers around the world.

$26,000 OKTOCOPTER Crash with Sony FS-100 Camera From Abel Cine
| ItsNotFlare | YouTube
Moral of the story; be careful who you let fly your camera on an RC plane:

I was looking to hire an R/C Helicopter pilot for something I was shooting when I found this guy. He seemed legitimate - but I was a little concerned about letting him fly my Red Epic Camera - so instead He went and got a Sony FS-100 from Abel Cine in Burbank.

Igus W1080-B Slider Review And Dollarama Bokeh | Benjamin Von Wong
| DIY Photography
A review of the budget Igus slider:

Overall, I have to say that I was rather pleased with the rails: It’s lightweight, easy to transport, very simple to use and simply does the job. I did find it was slightly fragile so I would highly recommend transporting it in a case. In addition, I did notice that there was a slight but distinct noise when sliding the camera around… so if you record audio, that’s definitely something to keep in consideration. That being said, price/quality ratio, I do not know of any system that comes even close to the quality you are getting.

Quality Visual Effects Make Video Advertising Worth Watching | Press Release
| GenArts
GenArts paid for the survey, so the results may not be surprising:

As online video advertising expands, the case study demonstrates that advertisers can use visual effects to differentiate their brands as effectively online as they traditionally have offline. In fact, VFX were shown to drive a 13% increase in downloading a coupon, a 9% lower abandonment rate, and an increase in purchase intent of up to 12%.

Universal has 'Tech News Today' episode yanked from YouTube for reporting on MegaUpload promo video | Nilay Patel | The Verge
Things are getting silly in the new copyright bill debate:

Host Tom Merritt and crew played two clips of the "Mega Song" video while discussing the issue and MegaUpload's pending lawsuit Monday afternoon, which was too much for Universal: it filed a copyright dispute and had the episode pulled from YouTube by Monday night. Never mind that news reporting and commentary are core elements of the traditional fair use analysis, of course — or that no audio from the video was even played during first clip.

Circumventing the Pesky DVD Region Code on Your Mac | Lou Lesko
| Photo Cine News
If you have a Mac, it's been a pain playing DVDs with different country codes, but here's a way around the problem:

VLC is an open source media player that ignores region code on RPC-1 firmware drives making it a region-free player. Unfortunately every time I put a DVD in my laptop, the Mac DVD player would open up and start playing the video or give me a choose a region code message. To get around that I went to my System Preferences in the CD/DVD section and changed the default behavior of the DVD.

On the road again | Ben Eckstein | Blog
Ben writes about a recent trip with some interesting notes on the bags he uses while travelling:

I had 5 bags in total, 3 checked and 2 carry-on (Kata HB 207 backpack with the cameras and lenses, etc, and a laptop bag). My big checked bag is a Kata OC-88 which I can fit lights, stands, and other gear in (and my clothes). The second was the Pelican 1510, which I usually use as an audio case, but I rearranged the dividers to use it for audio, some lenses, and the KiPro Mini and batteries. Third, I had a tripod case with a tripod, boom pole and another light stand. The biggest issue I find is getting my Kata bag to stay under 50lbs.

I Have Been Saying This For Awhile; Why 24FPS? It Sucks | Peter Jackson
| Cinebasics
Peter Jackson stands up for 48 frames per second:

Looking at 24 frames every second may seem ok—and we’ve all seen thousands of films like this over the last 90 years—but there is often quite a lot of blur in each frame, during fast movements, and if the camera is moving around quickly, the image can judder or “strobe.”

Shooting and projecting at 48 fps does a lot to get rid of these issues. It looks much more lifelike, and it is much easier to watch, especially in 3-D. We’ve been watching HOBBIT tests and dailies at 48 fps now for several months, and we often sit through two hours worth of footage without getting any eye strain from the 3-D. It looks great, and we’ve actually become used to it now, to the point that other film experiences look a little primitive. I saw a new movie in the cinema on Sunday and I kept getting distracted by the juddery panning and blurring. We’re getting spoilt!

The Christmas mini shootout with the C300 (pre-production), F3, FS100 and more!! | Philip Bloom | Blog
Philip Plans to do a shootout with the C300 and other cameras this weekend:

C300 of course as it’s the catalyst for this test, F3 (with and without Slog) as this is the best camera in it’s class, the FS100 as it’s the budget F3, the AF101. DSLR wise the 7D for a change rather than the 5DmkII as it has a similar size sensor to Super 35mm, the Gh2 with AVCinta Driftwood hack and the NEX5N.

Critique: Part 2. Turning The Knife On Myself | El Skid | Wide Open Camera
A followup to a previous post about critiquing work, El Skid decides to critique his own work:

Directing and DoP'ing a video yourself is a big ask, and not something I enjoy.] Some of the shots are too hot and you can tell. It’s at its most successful when its handheld, some of the lock off shots are just a little flat. The masks are a blessing and a curse. They give you something very interesting in closeup, but for the performers they take away that vital connection between the performer and what they’re singing. This is particularly bad in the second verse where the video feels like it’s just padding, getting us to the rap verse where we get to see a different phase of the idea.