Notes On Video

In an interesting turn for documentarians, a US Tax Court Judge, Diane Kroupa, has suggested that documentaries mainly serve to educate rather than to make money. That assertion potentially relegates documentary filmmaking to the status of hobby in the view of the IRS. With such a ruling, expenses would no longer be tax-deductable, making any documentary maker subject to much higher taxes. This was not a final ruling, but a statement made during the course of a hearing; the actual ruling is due in the summer. The International Documentary Association has filed an amicus brief in the case, urging the US Tax Court to recognize that the production of a documentary film is, at its core, a “for profit” business such that business expenses are deductible for tax purposes. While it makes sense that the IRS can rule ventures a hobby on a case-by-case basis, to right off a whole category of business as education - and therefore a hobby - seems like a big stretch. It might also be an inte...

CineGear This weekend is the CineGear show in LA. If you can't be there, Wide Open Camera is doing a pretty good job of covering the event. They have already posted video's with Steve Weiss of Zacuto, Ted Schilowitz of Red Digital Cinema, and Ali Ahmadi of O’Conner. WideOpenCamera Entertainment Technology Expo New York Createasphere's Entertainment Technology Expo will be held September 20-21, 2011 at The New Yorker Hotel , New York, NY. Over two days their will be panel discussions, seminars, and a technology show floor. Free registration is open now. Createasphere : Entertainment Technology Expo GoPro HD Review Ron Risman at CameraTown reviews the GoPro HD . I do want to mention that the best use for a POV camera is to mount it in a place where movement will be smooth. I see way too many POV videos where the camera is mounted to the handle bar of a bike or helmet of a rider, and the video is so shaky that it makes you sick watching it. Trust me when I s...

On Thursday, Sony released the firmware update v1.1 for the PMW-F3 . It's free, and includes the following enhancements: Dual Link HD-SDI output 4:2:2 10bit 1080 23.98/ 25/ 29.97PsF, Planning Metadata, S&Q Wheel as a Menu Dial, and ND Adjustment. The firmware also includes the capability for S-Log gamma mode, 3G-SDI output, Dual Link 444 RGB video output, custom user LUTs and pre-loaded LUTs (look up tables). BUT you have to buy the CBK-RGB01 upgrade key , which is now available for order from several retailers for $3,680. (I've checked and two retailers are stating that delivery will take about three weeks.) B & H: Sony RGB444 & SLOG SOFTWARE F/PMW-F3K/L [$3,680] CineTechnica : Andy Shipsides of Abelcine has written up a short piece on the functionality (both free and paid for) in the v1.1 firmware: New Sony PMW-F3 Firmware V1.1 Released

According to Sony, it takes about half an hour to update the camera: Sony : PMW-F3 Firmware Version 1.1 The details of what's included are listed here : CineAlta Blog : PMW-F3 New Firmware Information

People Don't like Short Films Guy Ducker wonders why people don't like short films, and comes up with three reasons: Chances of a short making some money – moderate Chances of a short making all its money back (depending on the budget) – small to tiny Chances of a short turning a meaningful profit – too low to calculate. He then explains why you should still make one: Short films can genuinely help your career. Come up with a strong idea, get the script right, cast it well and get good performances and your film will soar above most of the competition. TalesFromTheCuttingRoomFloor : People Don't like Short Films Working with Green Screens Julie Babcock at Videomaker offers a tip for improving your Green Screen technique: The trick to selling any effect is to match the light on your set to the light of the background plate. Choosing your background prior to starting production will allow you to plan your lighting design accordingly. VideoMaker : Make your Green...

[ UPDATE Jun 5 7:00PM - Philip Hodgetts thinks it will be June 21st, though it seems this is based on when "Spring" ends: In Feb, invitees got told "Spring". At NAB they said "June". The latest it can be is June 21..  ] I've been trying to decide whether Apple will release - or even show - Final Cut Pro X at the World Wide Developers Conference  next week. I'm starting to think that they may do neither; it's not like the World Wide Developers Conference is a huge video editors event. It just seems the wrong location to roll it out. Which suggests that they may roll it out a week or two after the WWDC at the earliest. There's one exception to that prediction; if there's something they haven't told us about it...some tight integration existed with either Lion , iOS or iCloud - or all three. If you can seamlessly work with content on iCloud , that might provide a compelling reason for going "and by the way, here's ...

Sony has posted more information about the free v1.10 firmware update for the PMW-F3 , as well as the features which are activated with the " CBK-RGB01 optional cost-based software key ." The free update includes: Dual Link HD-SDI output 4:2:2 10bit 1080 23.98/ 25/ 29.97PsF* The paid update includes: RGB4:4:4 10bit, 1080 23.98/ 25/ 29.97PsF output on the Dual Link HD-SDI or 3G-SDI. S-LOG Gamma output on the Dual Link or 3G-SDI. Switching HD-SDI Dual Link and 3G-SDI. CineAlta Blog : PMW-F3 New Firmware Information

Adobe After Effects: Warp Stabilizer, synthesize edges Steve Forde , Senior Product Manager for Adobe After Effects provides a tutorial on a feature of the Warp Stabilizer called Synthesize Edges . Synthesize Edges fills in spaces at the edges of the frame created when the Warp Stabilizer manipulates the frames to stabilize the motion. It does this using frames before and after the current frame. BUT, what others discovered is that you can use it for object removal; say you want to remove someone from a scene. This short tutorial shows you how. NOTE : Steve mentions that this is not quite the same as Content Aware Fill in Photoshop - the technology is different, though he also says it was developed by the same engineers. As he also says, while it's not perfect, a little improvement could make this function even more useful... Amazon Blogs : Warp Stabilizer - Redux Adobe Premiere Pro  Scott Simmons looks at the Speech Analysis tool that was new in CS4 , and has been ...

Are you ready for Final Cut Pro X ? Here's your check list: [ ] Do you have a Mac? Seriously, if you have Windows and were thinking Final Cut Pro X would be released for Windows , think again! [ ] Do you have a Mac with an Intel Core Duo 2 processor or better? You better, because it won't run on the Core Duo * [ ] Do you have Snow Leopard? You have to have Snow Leopard . If you're still running Leopard , then maybe you should wait until June 6th for the World Wide Developer's Conference , when Apple will explain when Lion will arrive, and how much it will cost. You might want to save the $30: Mac OS X version 10.6.3 Snow Leopard [ ] Do you have at least 10GB free on your application/systems disk? We don't know how big the package will be, but it's a good guess that if you have less than 10GB free on your hard drive, you're going to have to do some tidying up before you can install. Even 10GB might not be enough... [ ] Do you have an Apple acco...

Yesterday, Filmmaker Sebastian Wiegärtner posted to his Twitter account the following question: Panasonic AF101 or Sony FS100? Which one would you buy? In the space of a couple of hours he got fifteen responses: 11 people voted for the NEX-FS100 (three of them noting they'd already ordered one!) The better image quality, low light performance and dislike of the AG-AF100 's 2.0 crop factor were sighted as reasons for going with the NEX-FS100 1 person said the AG-AF100 was still a good value for the money, even though the crop and low-light performance were the biggest issues against it  1 person would go for either , though he liked the Micro Four Thirds sensor and mount of the AG-AF100 1 person voted for the AG-AF100 because " The AF100 feels like a camera. The Sony is a plastic box. [...] The AF100 has a few more features " And 1 person said they are both sh$t " 4:2:0 cameras that are fine on Youtube but really aren't acceptable " B ...

You Don't Need A Light With This Camera Rick Darge took the Sony NEX-FS100 out at night, no extra lights, and got spectacular results in low light at -30db (that's reportedly the equivalent of 16000 ISO!). This camera can 'see' in the dark better than the human eye can. Used 2 Canon k35 Superspeed PL lenses. An 18mm T1.5 and a 24mm T1.6. Picture Profile was set to CinemaGamma2. Detail was shaved off by 3 points. Contrast was lowered by 3 points as well. Used the MTF PL adapter. Vimeo : Sony FS100 - 30db Night-time Test CineTechnica : Sony FS100 Ratings and Dynamic Range Speaking of the NEX-FS100 , Mitch Gross of AbleCine posted a photo of NEX-FS100 's waiting to be shipped!: yfrog Overcranking the PMW-F3 Greg Hren shows what you can do over-cranking the PMW-F3 with a short video made in Wompatuck State Park, MA Vimeo : Behind the Scenes: Vol 24 Overcranking the Sony F3 The End Of Film Just last week I was speculating wildly about the end of film...

This months LearningLab Series at Rule Boston Camera look interesting, with Lighting, Transitioning from Stills to Video and the Sony NEX-FS100 amongst the topics. Learning Labs: June 8 -  Lighting From ARRI ARRI's Jane Rein presents the new Arrilite 750 Plus and 2000 Plus, the efficient LoCaster A2 LED and the L-7 LED Fresnel June 15 -  Transitioning From Stills to Video Boston-based commercial photographer Greg Hren shares stories and insight into his transition from still photography to video image capture and how best to straddle both worlds successfully. June 22 -  The Teradek Cube Rule's Tom Talbot presents the Terdek Cube, the world's first camera-top streaming HD video transmitter. June 29 -  Sony's New NEX-FS100 Sony presents the newest member of the NXCAM family, the FS100 with Super 35 CMOS Sensor. All sessions run from 10am - 12 noon. R.S.V.P. to events@rule.com

It's countdown to Final Cut Pro X, and since today is June 1st, many people are already considering it late! It's June in two and a half hours! Hey Colorists, are you worried that FCPX and color matching will put you out of business? ;) RobImbs New predictions are appearing hourly: Condemnation Films on Twitter says that it will be released this week so that the release isn't overshadowed by the fun and games of the World Wide Developer Conference next week. They also predict that Compressor is part of FCPX , but S oundTrack Pro and multi-cam are gone, BUT capture from tape is still there. The prediction about SoundTrack Pro and Log & Capture are interesting because they are the opposite of what Philip Hodgetts was predicting last week. It will be interesting to see who's right! ( see: NotesOnVideo : Final Cut Pro X @ the May BOSFCPUG & BOSDLSR Mixer ) Meanwhile, Philip has published an article explaining why Final Cut Pro X uses metadata , an...

CreativeLIVE is offering a 3 day workshop July 8, 9 & 10 with cinematographer Gale Tattersall . It's free to watch live (registration required), and/or you can buy the recording of the event for $99 (until July 8th, after that, it's $149.) CreativeLIVE have done similar events with Vincent Laforet , so it will be interesting to see how this one goes. The enrollment page contains a tentative schedule for the event. NOTE: Times are Pacfic (i.e. each day starts at 1pm Eastern) ENROLL FREE : HDDSLR Filmmaking with Gale Tattersall BIO : Gale Tattersall has been at the forefront of pushing HDDSLR’s in Hollywood. He is currently the Director of Photography for HOUSE , which airs Monday Nights on FOX, and last year filmed the entire season 6 finale of HOUSE using the Canon 5DMII. As a cinematographer Gale has photographed major motion pictures such as The Commitments, Ghost Ship, Pushing Tin, Wild Orchid, Tank Girl , and The Addams Family .

The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera ...

Steve Jobs to unveil iCloud, Lion and iOS5 at World Wide Developers Conference on June 6. It's official; the long rumored iCloud - some sort of network storage/sharing thing - will be unveiled! : AppleInsider Canon Firmware Updates Canon Europe confirms latest firmware updates for its EOS-1D Mark IV (Version 1.1.0) and EOS 5D Mark II (Version 2.0.9): EOS-1D Mark IV and EOS 5D Mark II firmware updates available TED is coming to Boston, June 28, 2011. TEDxBoston is TED in Boston. There may be some interesting talks for filmmakers there. TEDxBoston JJ Abrams Speaking of TED, The New York Times quotes Abrams from a talk at TED: “What are stories,” he said on the stage at TED, “but mystery boxes? . . . The first act is called the teaser.” NYTimes : Filmmaker J. J. Abrams Is a Crowd Teaser 3D Forever! So says Panasonic's Chief Technology Officer, Eisuke Tsuyuzaki . ' We have already taken 3D from geekdom to an early mass market,' he insists. [...] 'Thi...

Canon 5D Mark II Firmware Update 2.0.9 Improves writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards. Fixes a phenomenon where the IS function will not work when custom function C.Fn III-2 is set to [5: IS start] and the lens attached does not have an AF stop button. This is because custom function C.Fn III-2 allows users to assign IS start to the AF stop button on the lens Corrects misspellings in the menu screens displayed in Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai languages. CanonAsia :  EOS 5D Mark II, Firmware Version 2.0.9 [Windows] via CanonRumors.com 3D Movies Not So Hot Another report that 3D is not doing so well at the theaters: Ripples of fear spread across Hollywood last week after “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which cost Walt Disney Studios an estimated $400 million to make and market, did poor 3-D business in North America. While event movies have typically done 60 percent of their business in 3-D, “Stranger Tides” sold just 47 percen...

B & H  in New York is holding a couple of interesting events on June 6: D.I.Y. Distribution for Filmmakers Monday, June 6, 2011 | 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Speakers: Andrew Byrd Skill Level: Basic, Intermediate In the late summer of 2005, Andrew P. Byrd walked out of Graduate school and into producing his debut comedic film, Johnny Appleweed . Join Andrew for a step-by-step presentation that will provide useful information and advice for aspiring and experienced filmmakers whose goal is to get their movies seen and distributed. There will also be a round table discussion on packaging materials for film markets such as Cannes and AFM. This will include showing examples of budgets, schedules, posters, and treatments, as well as what a filmmaker needs for perspective investors in order to secure financing. Also discussed will be how to work film festivals if you’re an Official Selection. This will include helpful tips on how to get your film the most favorable treatment with...

Review of the Zacuto EVF Pro Philip Johnston at HD Warrior reviews the Zacuto EVF Pro and raves about it. He previously owned the Cineroid EVF , and liked that, but this one is clearly in a league of it's own, with it's build quality, full-size HDMI plugs and easy to switch batteries (and it uses the Canon LP-E6 batteries too.) The bottom line is the picture quality of the LCD and I have to take my hat off the Steve and the boys they have sourced a cracking LCD panel it’s the best, cleanest picture I have seen in a long time, it is so smooth you cannot even see the pixels. His only complaint is that the bag they provide isn't big enough to hold the EV with Z-Finder attached. HDWarrior : Zacuto EVF Pro “Worth the wait…a blue moon product” B & H : Z-Finder EVF Pro (3.2") $950 B & H : Z-EVF-1S EVF Snap ( for those that have a Z-Finder ) $641.25 Google TV could still be a hit Google TV is considered a flop because consumers don't care, TV netwo...