Notes On Video

Only a few days old, and the NEX-FS100  seems to have prompted as much heated reaction as any camera announcement I can remember. Much of it might be written off as a difference of opinion between the different factions of the video community; ENG Video Pros don't seem to like the compromises (lack of ND, small controls, no HD-SDI) while DSLR shooters aren't so sure they need all the buttons, and don't like the price. And everyone agrees that what they really want is the PMW-F3 for $2,500. Could Sony finally have made a camera that no one likes? Let's not be too hasty. It's second hand reporting, but Ira Block reports that his friend Mark Forman has had a chance to play with the NEX-FS100 and said of it: He told me the native ISO for the camera is 800 and the night footage that I saw which he shot at 2400 ISO, had very little noise. [...] The Sony is a true video camera with a monitor and good sound capabilities. It also accepts professional cables. Mark...

Equipment Software Zeiss CP.2 lenses for Micro Four Thirds (for the Panasonic AG-AF100 et.al.) Zeiss says they will be shipping their Compact Prime CP.2 Lenses with F and MFT mounts this week. 43rumors.com PMW-F3 Footage : latest video examples from this camera include: Arthur-Film GmbH posted another video shot with Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 50/T2 / Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 35/T2 / 4:2:0) showing some night shots at 0 db, 9 db and 18 db: PMW-F3 lowlight test  | Matthew Allard compares PMW-F3 footage at 35Mb/s and 4:2:2 (Cinedeck) " Amazingly the 35MB/s codec stands up much better than you think it would. You should never judge a codec purely by a number. 4.2.2 10 bit is sharper and slightly cleaner but it is very hard to pick the difference. "  Sony F3 XDCAM 35MB/s and ProRes 422 220MB/s Cinedeck Extreme Comparison  | Ryan Bohling has posted  Morning on the Reservoir , shot with the 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses, with some shots over cranked at 60 fps....

MAR 30 | HDSLR Workflows: Kit Gear, Build Outs and Alternatives : Webinar [Price $99] Wednesday, March 30, 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. PT. A show-and-tell discussion of the latest lenses, tripods, lens gears and rigs from ARRI, Chrosziel, Glidecam, ikam, Redrock, and others aimed at improving workflow during HDSLR shoots. An on-demand archive of the webinar will be made available for later viewing. StudioDaily: HDSLR Workflows MAR 31 | BOSFCPUG & BOSTON DSLR Mixer : 6:30pm. NYC-Based DSLR Filmmaker Yan Shvalb of DigitalFilmCreators.com on "Manipulating Time" - Time Remapping in FCP and Motion and Timelapse Workflow (plus more!) Filmmaker Stuart Cummings - see Panasonic AF100 recording to AJA KiPro Mini - tips & tricks. Free if you register beforehand! : BOSFCPUG: March 31st Mixer APR 5 | Sony NEX-FS100 Chat : Sony Professional Europe says they will be having a live Facebook chat to discuss their NXCAM product range, and "we welcom...

Yesterday, Den Lennie from F-Stop Academy took part in a web chat with Mitch from Planet5D  about the upcoming Sony NEX-FS100 . The replay is supposed to be up today, and it's worth checking out if you're really interested in this camera. Den is up front about his involvement with this camera, which began over a year ago when he was asked down to Sony to a meeting to talk about DSLRs. When he - and several other camera people - got there, an entire team of engineers were present, and they wanted to know what the focus group liked and didn't like. "We essentially designed a camera on the whiteboard," he said. "They didn’t give us everything we asked for, but they went 90% of the way." He added that he thought Sony realized they had not been listening to customers, and were now "all ears." He even brought up a photograph of the whiteboard to prove what they had done. Sony, he said, had noted the uptick in DSLR sales, but this camera wasn...

Film & Digital Times opens their post about the new Sony NEX-FS100 with the following line: What can we say about Sony’s new NEX-FS100U NXCAM Super35? How about “best design of a digital camera this year in a tiny package under $7,000?” then goes on to add: It fits in the palm of your hand, feels like a Hasselblad... Pretty positive stuff! Film&DigitalTimes : Sony NXCAM Super35 But not everyone's been so positive about the NEX-FS100 . You might have seen Nigel Cooper 's less than glowing review of the camera which included statements like: Plastic, ill-fitting fixtures and fittings, finicky switches and buttons, cheap feeling dials are just some of the things that spring to mind. Overall it did not inspire much confidence in the build quality department. It is worse than the EX1 or any other Sony camcorder that came before it. DVuser : Sony NEX-FS100E review by Nigel Cooper He was okay with the image quality, but he really hates the build quality and the ergo...

I met filmmaker Jared Flesher at last years SNOB (Somewhat North of Boston) Film festival, where he was showing his first documentary The Farmer and the Horse . That documentary, which is a great example of storytelling, follows three young farmers who are just starting out and want to use horses rather than tractors. Now he's working on a new documentary, Sourlands , about The Sourland Mountains, which he describes as "the last green spot on the map between New York City and Philadelphia." Jared answered some questions about the project, which he's already started work on, and will be shooting with the Panasonic GH2: 1) Where did you get the idea for this project? For me, the Sourlands are home -- I grew up in New Jersey and decided to come back after I graduated college and traveled around for a bit. As a journalist and filmmaker, I get excited about finding local stories and telling them in ways that demonstrate how local issues have national significance....

Yesterday, someone asked; " how many blog posts were made about the Sony NEX-FS100 today?" I counted at least 50; half of them were mine! Meanwhile, the video from F Stop Academy with Den Lennie got almost 12,000 views in a day; which suggests there's quite a bit of interest in this $6,000 camera: NEX FS 100 Video Blog. And if you're looking for some more sample footage , there's this video that features a variety of lenses including E-mount, A-mount and Zeiss PL mount Compact Prime CP.2 lenses: Youtube: NEX-FS100 Lenses and some footage shot by the editors of Videomaker with Sony's E-mount 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 lens and A-mount 35mm f/1.4 G Series lens with an adapter: YouTube: Sony NXCAM Super 35mm Test Den Lennie NEX-FS100 Web Chat time correction . If you're interested in catching the Planet5D webchat with Den Lennia (who got to play with a pre-production NEX-FS100 ) note that it's at 4pm EDT , not 3pm as originally reported: planet5D l...

Streaming Movies: Would would watch on-demand movies with commercials every 10 minutes? Screen Media Ventures thinks you might: Indie Film Distributor Screen Media Starts Streaming Ad-Supported Releases Streaming Film Festival : the  Tribeca (Online) Film Festival  will host free exclusive content including six feature length festival films: Videography:  Tribeca (Online) Film Festival Creates Innovative Festival Experience Online Is this the year of video EVFs? LCDVF announces the LCDVFe with focus assist via red peaking over black and white, exposure assist with under and over exposure Zebras, 1:1 pixel zoom feature with positionable recall feature and 840x400 resolution: LCDVFe DPReview reviews the Panasonic GH2 . " The GH2 is easily the best video-equipped stills camera that we've ever used. The depth of its feature set is impressive, but more importantly, it creates great looking video. " Some people have suggested it's taken DPReview quite some t...

How's your color perception? X-Rite has the Online Color Challenge : drag and drop the colors in each row to arrange them by hue order. The first and last color chips are fixed. Once you're done, press Score Test, and it gives you your results. One thing; it is a lot of work to rearrange all those colors!! (and how easy it is may also be impacted by the monitor you are using.) I took a fairly quick stab at it, and got 22, which is by no means perfect, but doesn't appear too bad (lowest score is better, and it's on a scale of 0 to 1500.) And, you know, I wasn't really trying !

It's in the lens If you're planning to get an NEX-FS100 , you're going to have to think about what lenses you will use with it. Because you'll want to use E-mount lenses if you want to have optical image stabilization and auto-focus. If you use A-mount lenses (with the A-E mount adapter) you will probably still have auto-focus (though it will be interesting to see how well that performs, if it's like the NEX-VG10 , it's not the greatest.) But if you use any other lenses, you lose all that. The product specification for the NEXFS100UK says: Image Stabilizer: Optical SteadyShot | Optical SteadyShot with Active Mode But the NEXFS100U (body without the lens) lists: (nothing) That's because the E18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS zoom lens included in the kit model supports optical SteadyShot and auto focus. Meanwhile, The DSLR Shooter , while noting that the E-Mount provides: The beauty of short flange distance is that you can practically use any lens via a 3rd par...

[ Previous updates : NotesOnVideo Sony NEX FS-100 ] Sony US microsite is up for the NEX-FS100 : NEXFS100U For a more positive view of the NEX-FS100 , check out EOSHD : Sony FS100 - a kick up the arse: This is definitely going to be popular, not since the VX2000 / PD150 have Sony produced something so compelling for filmmakers. For those who can afford $6000, and with no 5D Mark 3 available yet, the FS100 is a good choice Zacuto says you'll want a rig for it: Sony’s NEX FS100 has Arrived Unlike most ENG cameras, the NEX-FS100 is not ergonomic. Because it is such a small camera, it doesn’t fit the human body very well. Mounting the camera on your shoulder without a proper baseplate system is impossible. 10-bit or 8-bit HDMI? The NEX-FS100 doesn't have HD-SDI out, but it does have HDMI 4:2:2. One question; is that 8-bit or 10-bit. Nigal Copper says it's 8, while others are saying 10 [ UPDATE 5 ] Den Lennie , who got to play with the NEX-FS100E will be...

Sony Professional posts another video about the NEX-FS100 featuring Den Lennie, Zulqar Cheema, and others talking about the design of the camera... [ It seems odd that the first user review (see: Sony NEX-FS100E review by Nigel Cooper ) is so negative about ergonomics, when Sony is highlighting the user opinions they got in designing this camera... ] Sony Professional - NEX FS100E: Affordable Super 35mm from Sony Professional on Vimeo . HXR-NX70E - Another Sony Announcement Not to be overlooked, Sony also announced the HXR-NX70E , "the first rain and dust proof camera, designed to stand up to even the most inhospitable environments. " This is just a promotional video: Sony Professional - HXR-NX70E from Sony Professional on Vimeo .

DIY Video Summit , California College of the Arts, April 16 10am - 8pm. Free and open to the public: Amiando :  24/7 2011: The State of the Art in DIY Video The Register reviews the consumer Panasonic HDC-TM900   camcorder and rates the picture quality outstanding for the price, but notes that shooting with 3D, though novel, brings a lot of creative limitations:  Panasonic HDC-SD900 camcorderFull HD with 3D extras Avid Media Composer 5-5 Tip : How to export an AAF with footage imported via AMA: Videoguys :  Avid 5-5 AMA & Exporting AAF Now Works Video Shoot Behind-the-scenes: - Shane Hurlbut provides a behind the scenes look at a five day shoot on dragster racing. Gives you a good idea of what a serious production shoot with the Canon 5D & 7D can be like; and he really likes using the Cineorid EVF: Vimeo :  AAA Behind the Scenes Part 1 More Sony PMW-F3 clips : -  Steve Cocklin shot some clips with a Nikkor 17-35mm lens [Vimeo:...

[ UPDATE 3 | 9:30AM -( first two are at end of this post )] Nigel Cooper posts the "worlds first official full review," and isn't happy. Describing is as a "huge let down" he says that the image quality on the Sony is better than the Panasonic AG-AF100 , but the usability, ergonomics and build quality of the Panasonic AG-AF100 is better than the NEX-FS100 : DVuser : Sony NEX-FS100E review by Nigel Cooper Plastic, ill-fitting fixtures and fittings, finicky switches and buttons, cheap feeling dials are just some of the things that spring to mind. The minute size of some of the other buttons defies belief they are so small. It is almost impossible to hold the camcorder by the top handle/mic holder and have a decent view of the scene via the LCD screen. Sony tell me that they could not fit an ND filter wheel due to the very short flange-back, there is simply no room for an ND filter wheel to go in front of the sensor. There is some visible aliasing, but no...

NVIDIA Quadro 4000 owners: beware the 10.6.7 update. DO NOT INSTALL! The machine won't boot; they are preparing a new driver: Quadro 4000 Mac User - Important Information Regarding Mac OS X 10.6.7 Update How Do You Clean A Lens?   - Evan Luzi at The Black And Blue blog explains how he cleans a lens. (Hint: don't use your t-shirt!) He recommends Pancro lens cleaning fluid , Kimtech KimWipes , and some kind of compressed air or blower: How to Clean a Camera Lens Without Damaging the Glass Interested in the Phantom Flex 2500fps high-speed camera? Rule Camera Boston is holding a LearningLab on the camera tomorrow, Mar 23 at 10am: Events@Rule House DP Gale Tattersall online chat. Planet5D will host an online chat with Gale this Saturday at 10am PST: Gale Tattersall – HOUSE DP live conversation on planet5D! March 26 Good news for all Canon EOS-1D Mark IV owners: Canon extends EOS-1D Mark IV two-year warranty dates Magic Lantern update for Canon 5D Mark ...

Tapeless Acquisition Increases Shooting Ratios Shane Ross at the Little Frog in High Def blog looks at how tapeless acquisition has greatly increased the amount of material an editor has to review; yet they are expected to do it in the same amount of time: On EVEN STEVENS , we’d have perhaps 3 hours of footage for the 22:42 min show. But [my friend] is on another Disney Channel show where he regularly sees six to 8 hours of footage…multiple takes buried in one roll. Little Frog in High Def : TAPE & TAPELESS…AND SHOOTING RATIOS Trent Reznor on writing for The Social Network All Things Considered Sunday spoke to Trent Reznor about working on the film score for The Social Network . At least two really interesting things came up; he observed that the film isn't about Facebook at all - Facebook could have represented anything - and secondly, he talks about the music used in the early scene of the movie when Mark Zuckerberg walks across the Harvard campus after breaking...

In this video from the April meeting of Boston Media Makers , Adam Weiss talks about the advantages of the Rode VideoMic Pro Compact Shotgun Microphone . He compares it to the Sennheiser MKE 400 , which had been his previous favorite mic. Features of the VideoMic Pro include: Supercardioid Polar Pattern Integrated Shockmount and Windscreen 3-Position Level Control 2-Step High Pass Filter A green light on the back of it indicates it's on! Interestingly, Philip Johnston at HD Warrior just put up a review of the VideoMic Pro and comes to a different conclusion; he doesn't consider it "pro" enough; for example the cable he thinks is too short. I suspect that it depends upon how you're using it - what kind of camera - and what kind of user you are, that will determine whether this mic is a good fit for you: RODE VideoMic PRO “User Review” B & H : Rode VideoMic Pro Compact Shotgun Microphone [$229] Amazon : Sennheiser MKE 400 Shotgun Microphon...

Problems with new MacBook Pros Locking Up : There seem to be a lot of reports of new MacBook Pro' s freezing "under heavy loads." Even CNN has noticed: CNNMoney : Hard freezes in new MacBook Pros | Apple Discussions : MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze | MBP-Freeze (Wiki based on Apple Discussion thread), | I'm Not Bruce ( Final Cut Studio Blog): 2011 MacBook Pro's Are Locking Up UnderLoad Music Video shot on iPad 2 "doesn't suck" : Geek.com reports that "Singer Eddy and her film crew, Remedy Films, took advantage of the iPad 2 ’s addition of another camera, one of which is capable of shooting in HD. The video is just under four minutes long but took about five hours to film, and 12 hours to edit" Geek.com : First music video shot using iPad 2 doesn’t suck Bokeh Test - Vince Gaffney posted a video comparing the bokeh from three lenses: Voigtlander 25mm 0.95, Zeiss 28mm 2.0 zf , and a Wollensak cine raptor 25mm 1.5. The Ze...

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A couple of weeks ago I bought a new Sony TV because my ten year old Trinitron set developed a habit of going all red and turning itself off (a story for another time.) Unbeknownst to me, Sony has this new feature - added within the last ten years, anyway - called Bravia Sync that lets Sony HDMI devices talk to one another. For the first two weeks everything was fine; I was managing my TV, amp, Cable box and Blu-ray player separately, but quite happily... until ... ...last night I accidentally pushed a button on the TV remote that did something I didn't even know was possible; it told the TV to talk to the Sony amp and the Sony Blu-ray player [ Sony, Sony Sony? Haven't you heard of Panasonic? Toshiba? -Ed ] Everything continued to work fine when using the Blu-ray player; in fact, now the TV remote could adjust the volume on the amp. Nice! The problem was the Cable box. It isn't a Sony device [ Seriously, LG? Samsung? -Ed ], and it is connected via the Component in...

Comparing the AG-AF100 and PMW-F3 by the charts . Adam Wilt does some chart tests on these two cameras, and also compares them with the Alexa and RED cameras. Finds lots of trade-offs and no perfect solution. ( though look at that chroma moiré on the PMW-F3 !)  AG-AF100 and PMW-F3 on the Charts . No Film Schoo l also interprets the results: The Sony F3 Put to the Test: 12+ Stops of Dynamic Range and a Bit of Aliasing Meanwhile Hello World Communications posts a lens flare comparison on the PMW-F3 using three sets of lenses; Arri Ultra Primes , the Sony PL 's and Zeiss CP 1 1enses at 35mm (the Arri was a 32mm), 50mm and 85mm. Vimeo: Sony PMW-F3 Flare Test Scott Simmons at StudioDaily wonders if the NLE should be sold as a modular solution. The NLE as a Modular Product . This sort of echoes an earlier post at No Film School too: Will Apple Split Up Final Cut Studio and Sell the Components a la Carte? Adobe has created a web page devoted to DSLR Video Production ...