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Announcement Soon [CR3] | CanonRumors
Excitement grows about a possible update to the Canon 5D:

Things are heating up and we’re going to see an announcement soon. February 28, 2012 is still shaping up as the day of an announcement, though it could be a week later. We’ll be seeing a full frame camera announced. We’re still unsure if it’ll be a 5D Mark III or a 5D X.

Highlights of BVE London. The broadcast video expo! Cool toys everywhere!!
| Philip Bloom | Blog
Philip talks about the BVE show. He notes that "there's nothing really sexy and new" at the show, though that might be attributable to the fact that the English hold this show two months before NAB:

I check out the MTF EF adaptor which is now for sale, the Sony F65, C300, the excellent AJA I/O XT, the JVC 4K and the Atomos Samurai amongst others…

Final Draft Inc Announce New Technical Support Policy | movieScope
In addition to their iPad app Final Draft Reader, Final Draft have changed their support policy:

As of 16 February 2012, telephone calls to their support line will cost a cool $25.00 per call. This new premium service replaces the previous per-minute billing systems which proved unpopular with many. For international (non-US) users of their software, the news gets even worse as the new service is only available Mon-Fri from 9am to 5pm, Pacific Standard Time.

Editing

Canon C300 Footage Is Now Supported in Most NLEs | Scott Simmons
| Studio Daily
Is this really a surprise? I thought the C300 was using the same basic format as Canon's existing XF300 line:

With the new Canon C300 cameras rolling out into the world one hoped that Canon would quickly release format and driver plug-ins for all the major NLEs so we could start importing the footage. With yesterday’s release of the Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro 2.0, most NLEs are supported now, at least on the Mac.

Filtering a Video Clip with Photoshop Extended | Richard Harrington | TipSquirrel
How to apply Photoshop filters to video:

First, you must use Photoshop Extended to open a video clip. Other versions of Photoshop can’t do this task. If you run a filter on a video clip on its own, the filter will only apply to the current frame. This is why you must convert the video layer into a Smart Object. You can create Smart Objects by choosing File > Place or by choosing Filter > Convert for Smart Filters. Remember, a Smart Object embeds the original content of the layer inside the Smart Object.

Matrox release beta drivers for Final Cut Pro X broadcast output | FCP.co
Final Cut Pro X support expands with drivers for the Matrox MX02:

At BVE Expo in London this week we got to play with FCPX and a Matrox MXO2 with the unit outputting to a broadcast monitor. Now Matrox have released the FCPX enabling software upgrade as a public beta. The unit seemed to work well with just a bit of cut lag, the skimming was good when it worked, being slightly temperamental. Remember this is a beta working with beta software from Apple.

Final Cut Pro 7 to X | Chadwick Paul
Philip Hodgetts actually demoed his 7toX tool at this week's Boston Creative Pro User Group. Here's a short review:

Probably the biggest thing missing in the stock version of Final Cut Pro X is the ability to bring in old projects for revisions or repurposing. Philip Hodgetts at assistedediting.com and his team built an amazing little app that converts your old legacy projects into the current version (10.0.3). While I’m still confused how apple hasn’t purchased this software from them, I’m glad a small shop can leave such a huge impact on our industry.

Final Cut Pro X (Updated for 10.0.3) | ContourDesign Shuttle Forum
New drivers released for the Contour Design Shuttle that support Final Cut Pro X:

Two new sets of Apple Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3 settings are now available. One set of settings is based on the "frames per second" style of Final Cut Pro X. The other set of settings is based on the "playback rates" style of Final Cut Pro v7. Use of the "playback rates" style settings requires importing a new keyboard map into Final Cut Pro X; the keyboard map is also attached to this post.

4K Editing Setup | Tom Lowe | Vimeo
Video of the hardware setup Tom is using to edit 4K:

Here's a look at my 4K editing system as I near completion of my debut film, "TimeScapes." I am using Adobe CS5.5 Premiere and After Effects and a custom, overclocked Origin PC with Nvidia GTX 580. I will do another video soon with more details about the system, including specs.

Customer Reaction to Final Cut Pro Crossgrade with Jigsaw24 at BVE 2012 | Avid
| YouTube
Interview with Jamie Allan of Jigsaw 24 at the BVE show. The first half of the interview is about how good it is that Avid is being more open.


Gear

More Options For Sony PMW-F3 S-Log Buyers? | Sony | Twitter
After dropping the price on the S-Log upgrade from $4,000 to $900 for the Sony PMW-F3, Sony offered a couple of discounts on other gear for those that already bought the upgrade. Now Peter Crithary, the Marketing Manager for Super 35mm acquisition at Sony Electronics, suggests that there may be "other options" for those buyers:

For those that purchased CBK-RGB01 10 Bit #SLog RGB444 option at full price, we are looking into further options, #PMWF3, #F3

Do More With Your DSLR II: Building a Rig | Daniel Hayek | Vimeo
Vimeo continues it's film school series of educational articles with one on putting together a camera rig:

After learning the basics of shooting with available light from the Bui brothers, I was totally ready to start rolling. Then, out of the blue, Andrea asked me to build a rig. Not wanting to seem like a total goof, I tried making my own, with disastrous results. Luckily, the Bui brothers appeared once again and saved the day. Let’s see how it all went down:

Z-Focus Extender | Zacuto
Zacuto now offers a $95 extender pin for their Z-Focus:

The Z-Focus Extender is used to extend the distance between the focus knob and gear housing on any Zacuto Z-Focus. Moving the focus knob away from the rods is essential for compact rig setups with multiple accessories. The Z-Focus Extender is 4.5" long. The added distance provides clearance between an EVF and focus knob, making it much easier for the focus puller or camera operator to control the knob and see focus marks. This accessory can potentially shorten your overall rig length by three inches, moving the rig center of gravity closer to the user’s shoulder. Installation is easy. Step by step instructional video below!

Cameras

The Travel Channel on Location: 'No Reservations' with Sony's F3 | Jon Silberg
| DV.com
Using the Sony PMW-F3 for shooting the cooking show 'No Reservations':

“The technology is finally where we’ve always wanted it to be,” [videographer] Zamboni says. “We’ve always wanted to do this show completely in Super 35 format. We used Letus adapters early on to get that look. We’ve used Canon DSLRs for the past couple of years for certain shots, but those [cameras] really aren’t made for this kind of work. The F3 offers us a less compressed, more robust format in a design that was meant for video.

Hands on with the Canon C300 – Paul Gwilliams guest post | Planet5D
Shooting a cooking show with the Canon C300. This is actually a reprint of an article that Paul posted on his own blog a few weeks back, though it does add some new photos:

With the 70-200 on & the iso set to 8000 the low light shots were possible, useable & beautiful – having looked back on a large HD monitor these are the shots that really stand out for me – the grain at these high iso’s is really organic and very film like.

An inside look at the glass protecting the C300 sensor | John Green | Vimeo
Shows the IR cut filter in front of the sensor, and the action of the ND filters:

The video also shows the smooth action of the glass ND filters as they silently glide in front of the sensor. When you operate the camera, there are two buttons, "ND + and ND -" that allow you to go from 2 stops to 4 stops to 6 stops and back around to nothing. You can keep pressing the "+" button and the filters will cycle through from 0 to 6 stops and back indefinitely.

Screen grab from C300 blown up | Philip Bloom | Flickr
Philip posted a couple of frames grabbed from the C300, one with recorded natively, the other on the Samurai:

One side is native XF codec. Other is ProRes HQ with Samurai. Which is which?
Of course seeing it moving makes a huge difference. This is just a fun guessing game! :)
10,000 ISO

Filmmaking & Business

The making of Sentinel "Tail Wagging" Champaign - Director | Muy Lang Linda Ung
| Vimeo
Nice little behind-the-scenes on shooting a commercial. Though it's not mentioned, they are using DSLRs, and there's some interesting comments about storyboarding and planning, as well as the difficulty of getting good performances from your actors (in this case; dogs!)



Progress Billing | Richard Harrington | American Society of Media Photographers
Perhaps the most important thing when you're in business is getting paid:

Production — I recommend the submittal of an invoice once shooting begins. This is typically the most expensive stage of a project. Be sure that you have received some form of payment before production begins. Do not hand off project footage until at least 50% of a project’s budget is in hand.