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When You Find Me – Awesome Canon C300 / 5D Short Film | Paul Joy | Blog
Canon had a competition where they invted people to submit photographs and Ron Howard would shoot a movie based on those pictures. Originally the movie was supposed to be shot on DSLRs, but evidently mush of it was shot on the C300. You can see it on the web at YouTube: Project Imagin8ion

I’ve not seen any details from Canon confirming that camera that were used on the film but it’s widely reported that a prototype of the Canon C300 was the main camera with some HDSLR’s being used as well. I’ll update this post when more info comes to light.

“Sugared Art”, a new short film on the Sony FS100 | Philip Bloom | Blog
Sony hired Philip for this project. You can read about it, and see some BTS footage, though Philip notes he was'nt a very happy camper because he'd put his back out the day before:

Gear wise, obviously the FS100 and Zeiss ZF macro lenses 50mm and 100mm. The Zeiss ZF 50mm and 85mm F1.4 too. I widest lens I used was the Samyang 35mm F1.4. So no wide angles in this piece! Lights were the Litepanel 1x1s. One bi-colour and 1 bi-focus. One Dedo 150. One 2k light blasting through the window for the baking shots. The monitor was my trust TV Logic 5.6″.

First Look at the $10K RED Scarlet X Camera | Jon Snyder | Wired
This isn't a review, just a note that they got their hands on one to review:

The good people at RED came by the office today and gave us a new Scarlet X to mess around with. It takes gorgeous, über-HD video at 4096 x 2160. It’s also their cheapest offering, coming in at around $10k, depending on options.

RED EPIC-X Now Available for Ordering, SCARLET-X Increasing in Price by $2K
| No Film School
Better hurry and order that Scarlet-X; the price is going up!

So, let’s do the math: the Aluminum mount is $500 (you can’t buy it by itself, only as part of a SCARLET package for the time being). The Side SSD Module is $1,500. All told, the SCARLET is effectively going up by $1,950 (you’re no longer getting $2,000 of accessories bundled in the base model, but you save a whopping $50).

Sony A65 first impressions review – documentary shooting evolves | Andrew Reid
| EOSHD
That's the A65, not the F65!! And the first half of the article wonders why you'd want to use the camera in the first place:

But still that burning question – why does the A65 deserve a place in your bag when the GH2 is just so damned good? The GH2 is more adaptable to different lenses, it has been hacked into the stratosphere codec wise, it has by far the cleanest image from a stills CMOS sensor, the best image processor in class and the most ‘real’ resolution of any DSLR video offering.

Engadget Primed: Why your camera's sensor size matters | Sean Arbabi | Engadget
An in-depth look at sensors and sensor size, and why - in most cases - size matters:

DxOmark considers 9EVs or less too limiting for image sensors, showing less than smooth gradations between shades and colors below this level. Leaf -- a digital back manufacturer that entered the market in 1992 and partnered with Phase One in 2009 -- claims its latest full frame 53.7 x 40.3mm sensor can cover an "unsurpassed 12 f–stop dynamic range."

10 Tips for the Best Holiday Video | Jennifer O'Rourke | Videomaker
Some tips for those year-end memories you never get around to editing:

Soft twinkle lights and candle-light are everywhere during winter holidays – take advantage of their soft glow to get some artistic cutaways. Pre-focus on the light then shooting from a distance [too close will blow our your shot] slowly zoom in. As you zoom into the light[s] or candle, slowly rack the focus ring to take the shot out of focus, being careful to not jerk the camera. This shot is best done using a tripod.

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC adopts digital capture on the sci-fi thriller In Time
| American Cinematographer
Article includes interview with Deakins about using the ARRI Alexa for the movie In Time:

“The Alexa is a game-changer,” Deakins maintains. “This moment has been coming for a long time, really, but with the Alexa I believe digital has finally surpassed film in terms of quality. What is quality? It’s really in the eye of the viewer, but to me, the Alexa’s tonal range, color space and latitude exceed the capabilities of film. This is not to say that I don’t still love film — I do. I love its texture and grain, but in terms of speed, resolution and clarity of image, there is no question in my mind that the Alexa produces a better image.

PMW-F3 and Samurai Codec Tests | Ingenious TV | Vimeo
Sample clips posted shot in S-Log:

These are a few test shots done with a PMW-F3. The F3 was set to S-Log. First you will see the shots in their original size with a slight grade/correction effect applied half way through each clip. The colour correction filter used is exactly the same for both the internal recordings and the Samurai recordings. The third set of clips are side by side crops of selected parts of the image where you should be able to clearly see the differences between the images.

The Christmas mini shootout with the C300 (pre-production), F3, FS100, hacked GH2 and more!! | Philip Bloom | Blog
Philip is updating this post as he goes...he's already posted some frame grabs.



Xto7 for Final Cut Pro | Assisted Editing | iTunes
This new Mac App translates the Final Cut Pro X Project XML (fcpxml) and converts it for import into Final Cut Pro 7. The Final Cut Pro X Project becomes a Final Cut Pro 7 Sequence.