Notes On Video

Nikon D4 Digital SLR - The New King of the Hill for DSLR Video? | Cameratown A look at the promising video capabilities of the new Nikon D4 : The uncompressed HDMI output allows the video feed from the camera to be fed to an external HD field recorder for a more streamlined workflow in some circumstances. Unfortunately, it's been reported that the camera cannot record to it's own memory cards while sending the signal to it's HDMI port. I'm not sure if this is only true when mirroring the signal to the camera's LCD. If not, this could pose a big problem for those looking to use an external monitor for monitoring. Nikon D4 | Amazon No price, and you can't order yet, but you can sign up to be notified when it's available. And so it Begins… Nikon D4 HDSLR Announced! | Paul D A list of specs for the D4 . I recently wrote “..if you thought 2011 was an important year for cameras, photographers and filmmakers…you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Well we’re on...

Unfortunately, this video wasn't shot with the Canon C300 , but you get to see four C300's!

A correction to today's report on the Canon C300 supporting 60p out the HDMI port. This is incorrect and a result of working from my incomplete notes taken during the meeting. Here's what Larry Thorpe actually said about the HDMI/HD-SDI output and 60p support: Q: I was wondering if you could discuss what’s coming out the HDMI and the SDI spigots out the back? A: HD-SDI is coming out, base band, 4:2:2, 8-bit in a 10-bit carrier, as I described earlier. HDMI, same signal, base band HD Q: And all the frame rates will come out? A: Yes, all the frame rates will come out. Oh, frame rates, now that's another thing I have to say, because there’s a limitation there, the image sensor that I described can go all the way up to 60p, it’s very fast. The processor and the codec that we lifted out of the XF305 to put in this camera, at 1080 it can’t deliver 60p, it’s limited to 30p, so we have 24p, 23…oh by the way we do 24.00 and 23.98, if you want to do film or television work....

Rule Boston Camera has been running their Pub Nights - a slightly less formal, evening lecture series - for about a year now, but I’m pretty sure that last night’s “ Canon EOS C300 New England Debut ” had the largest attendance of any of them. A large crowd turned out to eat the free pizza and drink the beer, and hear Larry Thorpe explain what’s so different about the C300. Larry brought with him four cameras, including one with a PL mount, and they were set up in different configurations and rigs for those present to handle. But they couldn’t tell us one thing; the price. They won’t tell us that until January 17th. Until then, all they will say is “the list price is $20,000.” Introduced by John Rule as “ an engineers’ engineer, ” Larry began by asking how many creative people were present - at least two thirds of the crowd put up their hands - and then, how many techie people were present. When only two or three people put up their hands, he continued, “Oh great, no PowerPoint to...

Due to a power outage(!) and other issues, there will be no posting this morning, but I will be at the Rule Boston Camera event tonight to see the Canon C300 and will post on it either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Canon C300 – the ultimate low light test with Rodney Charters, Drew Gardner and Lan Bui | The Bui Brothers | Blog Another post from the adventures of Rodney, Drew & Lan and the C300 : ... then shot this non scientific test for low light with the Canon C300. Rodney shoots a lot of TV stuff and has much more knowledge than I do on how good this test really is. I was blown away at how well we were able to see Drew when we lit him with just an iPad. Yes thats right we lit a person with just an iPad and shot it with a C300. Now some of you might we thinking it is unrealistic to actually use an iPad in a production to light something. I’m not going to tell you if it is right or wrong… but it is a possibility. The Ultimate low light test with a Canon C300? perhaps not, but a real eye opener as my eyes were starting to close | Drew Gardner Drew also posted the video, with only a few more details: It was a fun day, but by close to 2AM on the 1st January I was fading FAST. At this...

New Year's Resolutions For Filmmakers | Scott Macaulay | Filmmaker Scott offers ideas for the coming year: 4. Work for a friend. Take a page from Lucas McNelly and his Kickstarter project — don’t just obsess about your own work, make yourself crew for someone you know. UPM, do locations, cast, take sound for a project of someone other than yourself. Commit to the level of your free time. New MTF Services Lens Adapters" Electronic EOS To Sony F3/FS100/Panasonic AND B4 To EOS/Sony F2/FS100 | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter We've been looking for a good EOS lens adapter, and maybe MTF has one: The MTF EOS electronic lens adapter is the first to actually be available to order for the Sony F3 and NEX. It also works with Micro 4/3 cameras like the Panasonic AF100 where it joins the already available Redrockmicro livelens adapter in offering aperture control, but adds the benefit of image stabilisation. American company Birger Engineering have also been working on a simila...

So You Want to Buy a RED Scarlet? | Matt Jeppsen | ProVideoCoalition Subtitled "Do you really need that new camera? An intervention," Matt offers reasons not to buy that new Scarlet , C300 or PMW-F3 : Oftentimes client requirements and expectations do not push the capabilities of your camera…and while YOU personally might want something more powerful/interesting/snazzy, can you justify the additional cost? Will you honestly use those features? Will those features add value to your work? Be honest. Some questions relevant to the Scarlet might be; How often do you really overcrank? Are you aware of Crop Factors when overcranking Red? Does that have to be slower than 60fps? Do you honestly need higher resolution acquisition, or will you most likely still work in 1080p? Are you pushing the limits of your current acquisition codec, and why specifically? Red Scarlet X Footage at ISO 320-6400 & at 3K 48fps & 4K | Cinescopophilia Three tests shot with a Scarlet ; at I...

The Best of The Black and Blue 2011 | Evan Luzi | The Black and Blue The Black and Blue blog is a great resource for the camera operator. Evan has put together a look back at the best articles of the year. Whether you’re stepping on set for the first time or the fiftieth time, reviewing the essential skills of camera assisting is never a bad idea. Even a small reminder of how or why can have a huge payoff. Below are some articles which didn’t introduce any ideas particularly revelatory or new, but reinforced old ones that have stood the test of time. Top 5 Video Production Industry Trends 2011 – Part 1 | Shawn Lam | Blog Shawn is putting together a series of the top industry trends of 2011. The first part looks at Final Cut Pro X : You can’t tell the story of the rise of Adobe Premiere Pro without first mentioning the failure of Apple Final Cut Pro X. The two stories are linked and it wasn’t so much that Adobe did anything special with their CS5.5 release that lead to their un...