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Desert shooting with the Sony NEX-FS100 | David Lawless, EMCTV | Google+

I’m really impressed with how the camera performed in high-contrast conditions. Whilst not having built in NDs is a bit of a drawback for run-and-gun style shooting, we made do with a mattebox and filter set and some variable NDs. Where this camera really shines though is in low light. I am constantly surprised at how clean the footage is at 0db gain and even when pushed up to 18db the picture shows very little noise compared to other cameras.

Apple publish a white paper on RED Workflows with Final Cut Pro X | fcp.co
A white paper from Apple prompts the suggestion that Apple won't be updating FCPX to handle RED files anytime soon:

This white paper called RED Workflows with Final Cut Pro X details the methods of working with the files right now. As you would expect it relies heavily on converting them to ProRes first.

RED Gives up on Apple, Teams up with Adobe, NVIDIA and HP | Theo Valich | bsn
Didn't Adobe leave the Mac platform once already?

Adobe and Blackmagic are just some of the names that replaced screenshots in their manuals from a OSX to a Windows 7 one, as well as shifted their recommended systems from one platform to another. RED Digital Cinema was one of companies that was vendor agnostic, but even the creators of 4K and 5K cameras cannot keep their users in the dark anymore.

Final Cut Pro X features: catching up and superseding | Alex Gollner | alex4d
Some thoughts on where FCPX might go:

Final Cut Pro X – Early 2013?
Multi-user access to projects, events (inc. user-specific in and out points per clip) and storylines within timelines.
Third-party app access to project databases (e.g. Adobe Audition)?

Stop-Motion Animation – Equipment and Set Up | Tom Gasek
| Best Animation Books
The basics of stop-motion with digital cameras:

These days, like many things, digital technology has put the animation film camera to rest. The two main digital cameras used are the digital video camera and the dslr camera. There are advantages to each camera, and this is explored in my book Frame-by-Frame: Stop Motion. Remember that we need the ability to shoot one frame at a time.

The Camera Assistant’s Guide to Better Cinematography | Evan Luzi
| The Black and Blue
Great lessons learned!

3. Ceiling and Wall Bounces Work Wonders
The ceiling or wall bounce blew my mind the first time I saw it used. I was in school at the time and I distinctly remember chuckling to myself at how brilliant of a trick it is. For whatever reason, I had never thought to utilize the location as a tool to manipulate light.

Why do YouTube views freeze at 301? | Numberphile | YouTube
I wasn't even aware that YouTube did this:

Numberphile pays a visit to YouTube and learns the secret behind one of the website's famous idiosyncrasies - why view counts on new videos often freeze at 301. Subscribe to numberphile for new videos about numbers every week.

Tutorial: After Effects CS6 3D Camera Tracker | Vincent Laforet | Blog
Link to tutorial from John Carr and explanation of using the 3D camera tracker to add 3D text and effects to video:

The 3D camera tracker is incredibly easy to use. Once you have your clip imported and you have created a new composition with it, you simply right click the clip and select "track camera". After Effects will analyze the shot for you and apply a multitude of tracking points throughout the shot. The difference in color between the points doesn’t mean anything – it’s just a tool for differentiating between them since there are so many.

Fisher Stevens & Wally Pfister | Rodney Charters | Twitter
Monday evening Rodney tweeted some comments from a talk by Stevens and Pfister about the superiority of film, death of 3D and death of cinemas:

Wally makes the point that he and Chris stand beside the film camera quietly painting with light/in digital DIT & DP one tent Dir another...

Sundance last year only 5% shot on film but those films garnered 100% of the awards....

JJ Abrams switched to film from the Red to shoot Star Trek after viewing IMAX Dark Knight opening at private screening by Chris Nolan Wally

wally talking about the sad loss of the convention of screening dailies with the director cinematographer and crew

Blackmagic Cinema Camera gets a big lens | Andy Shipsides | Pinterest
Just a picture of the new Blackmagic camera with a really big lens...



Gear is not a bad four letter word: The story vs gear argument | Mike Sutton | Wide Open Camera
A discussion of story and gear, with a defense for both:

People in the DP end of this business (especially myself) love gear. We can talk about it all day. Pros and cons, feature sets, whats better about camera X vs camera Y, etc. Every-time this happens however someone drops the “its about story not gear” comment. We have all heard it and witnessed it. Its like a bomb dropping that is supposed to make you feel dumb for talking tech.

On The Rise '12: 5 Cinematographers Lighting Up Screens In Recent Years
| Oliver Lyttelton | IndieWire

Following our looks at actors, actresses, screenwriters and directors to watch in recent months, when the time came to put together a list of cinematographers (as we did two years ago), we went in with an open mind. But what was interesting is realizing, after the fact, that in an era where 35mm film is allegedly being phased out, that all five have done perhaps their most distinctive work on old-fashioned celluloid, rather than digital.

Live Long and Prosper | Shawn Sheehan | Vimeo
Very nice, clean animation:

This animation is an homage to one of the most groundbreaking sci-fi television shows ever to beam down to Earth. I grew up watching the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise "boldly go where no man has gone before". My goal was to try and capture the essence of what I found most enjoyable from the series for building this faux opening to this classic show using Adobe After Effects.