Notes On Video

Low light comparison between the RED Scarlet & Canon C300 | Nino Leitner | Cinema 5D Nino does a low light test with the Scarlet and C300, and finds the Scarlet noisier: 4K sounds vastly superior - it’s 4 times the resolution of 1080p. But apart from the computing-heavy post production, there is one other downside to it: light sensitivity. If the pixels sit densely on a chip, they absorb more light, less resolution leaves more light for the individual pixel. The other part of the reason is the fact that the Mysterium-X sensor inside the Scarlet is now around 3-year-old technology. It’s not the most recent tech anymore and light sensitivity is an area where sensor technology seems to improve exponentially in recent years. RED will be bringing a new sensor to market which is supposed to be much better in low light. DP David Kruta and the Red Epic | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine After seeing Dave talk about the Epic at a recent Rule Boston Camera event, I interviewed...

Kessle takes a new stealth approach to Sliders | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter If you need to be mobile in the field, smaller and lighter is better: Enter the new Stealth hybrid slider which takes the Pocketdolly’s portability and combines it with drag control and a super smooth rolling precision stainless steel ball bearing wheel system on the carriage. It does not have the crank handle from the Pocketdolly and the overall design is more sleek than previous dollies. It can be used with DSLR as well as larger cameras like the Sony F3 or even some broadcast models. The Latest OS X Lion Hackintosh Recommendations for Video Editors | No Film School Save money, build yourself a Hackintosh: I recently upgraded my machine to OS X Lion (it’s working great), and so I also updated the guide to reflect an easy way to do it, courtesy Unibeast from Tonymac: The guide has been updated to reflect the latest hardware recommendations and OS X Lion instructions. My machine’s currently running ...

EOSHD tests the new Magic Lantern Unified on 5D Mark II | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Testing a beta of the next version of the Magic Lantern firmware hack adds high frame rates and HDR: HDR video alternatives between low ISO / high ISO frames and then you blend them in post. Brilliant feature. On fast motion you can get a bit of ghosting, I recommend a faster shutter speed to avoid that. More on this feature on EOSHD soon. Eve Hazelton lighting tutorial two: Using lights around the house to add that extra sparkle | Philip Bloom Blog Eve offers some interesting, low cost, ideas for lighting: #2 – Fairy lights! It’s Christmas. Don’t try stealing them off the tree just yet, but do go bag yourself some in the sale to keep in your lighting kit. We all know Phil loves a bit of Bokeh! and when you are shooting at a shallow DOF with these lights in the background its easy to see why! The beautiful out of focus discs of light can add colour, interest and of course movement (gentle twinkling o...

Sony FS100 Prime lens vs Zoom lens | Shawn Lam | Blog Shawn continues his lens testing with a comparison of the Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.4 prime lens and the Sony SAL1650 DT 16-50mm f/2.8 wide angle zoom lens: I saw a very slight advantage for the prime lens at f/2.8 in both sharpness and contrast but not much of a difference afterwards. The prime was also a bit more consistent when it came to light transmission across the different exposures. I was also interested to see the depth of field differences at the various f-stops. 14 Cameras in one year Part TWO | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior The second part of a look back at 14 interesting cameras released this year: Panasonic HDC Z10000 I first saw this 3D camcorder at IBC 2011 and it had an impressive number of features for the money. 3D is not for everyone but if you are looking at a semi pro 3D camcorder this must be one of your choices. Get Your Free Copy of “Becoming the Reel Deal” | Evan Luzi | The Black And Blue ...

An Affordable Remote Controlled Time-lapse Camera | Richard Harrington | 3 Exposure Using the ContourGPS camera for timelapses? That's not something I would have thought of doing! The unit is very small (95x58x34mm) and can easily be attached to a variety of mounting points. It’s also super light, weighing just over five ounces. It has good battery life at 2.5 hours, plus you can swap batteries in it for a longer day. For its size, it offers a capable 5 Megapixel Sensor. Book Review: Rotoscoping: Techniques and Tools for the Aspiring Artist | Nick C Sorbin | Renderosity I always been intrigued by rotoscoping; and Rotoscoping: Techniques and Tools for the Aspiring Artist looks interesting: Modern rotoscoping, which is still the same basic concept, is used to create mattes, by which parts of a live action scene can be isolated in order to insert effects, color correct, hide rigs or wires, etc. As rotoscoping is a crucial part of any video production today, so is the i...

Four Minutes With ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ | Gavin Edwards | New York Times Editors Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter with director David Fincher discuss a scene from the movie: To illuminate that job, and the trio’s ongoing collaboration, we asked Fincher, Baxter and Wall to break down a four-minute sequence that occurs early in “Dragon Tattoo.” The narrative set-up: The journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is visiting the aging industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), who is asking him to investigate a decades-old mystery involving his niece Harriet. Blomkvist agrees to listen, reluctantly, though he is determined to catch his 4:30 train. And ... action. Nela | Sebastian Wiegärtner | Vimeo Oh my! This is probably the first baby video shot with the Canon C300 ! Short film about my baby girl Nela, which I shot on her first day on planet earth (18th December 2011). Love my girls Eva, Annabelle and Nela. x Camera: Canon C300 Pre Production Model C-Log 720/...

DIY Indie Air Cannons | Realm Pictures | Vimeo Very cool little tutorial video showing how to create a practical effect explosion with an inexpensive air canon. They are also offering some other tutorials: For a tutorial on how to create your own DIY compressed air cannon like the one shown in the video, along with 9 other action tutorials, skip along to our KickStarter page and pick up the Indie Action Pack! The Ultimate Guide to a Camera Assistant’s Toolkit | Evan Luzi | The Black And Blue Another interesting article at The Black And Blue about putting together a toolkit: For me, I started out working heavily with the RED One on feature films. As such, my initial toolbag purchase was catered towards that kind of work. Nowadays I have been working a lot on commercials that use DSLR’s. Many of the tools I had acquired to work with the RED don’t have functions while shooting with a DSLR. On the flipside, many of the basic tools I have work in both types of gigs. Build A Jib F...