Notes On Video

Three years ago I bought a new MacBook Pro . About a month after I bought the machine, it developed an odd problem: it would lock up, the screen would go on the fritz, and then it would shut down or freeze. After this happened a couple of times, it stopped booting entirely. I took it into the Apple Store and they decided it was the hard drive. [ They also thought it might have been my fault for installing a piece of software that wasn't compatible with that version of OS X, but we won't go into that. ] They replaced the hard drive. Two weeks later, it started happening again. I took it back, and they decided it was the graphics card, so they replaced the entire motherboard. This took several days, during which I had no computer, which may explain my later behavior... After that, the machine worked, except for one problem; every now and again the screen would flicker - or have a black flash - that was about as quick as your eye blinking. It was enough to be noticeable, but...

A round-up of coverage on the 5D Mark III from around the web: The long awaited Canon 5D mkIII…is it what we were hoping for? | Philip Bloom | Blog The mkiii has been desperately needed by many, including me. Why? The full frame aesthetic is so unique and still has a very clear place for me as a filmmaker. I own and adore my C300 but really want a full frame Canon DSLR for all my lenses that has next to no image issues and has a wickedly sharp image! Of course it is also much smaller and is perfect for my timelapse. Canon Launch 5D MKIII – Headphone Jack, ALL-I Recording And Better Controls | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter Headphone monitoring is a big deal on this camera and it is the first time this has been seen on a Canon DSLR – even the EOS-1D X does not have a headphone socket. For news video and documentaries this means the 5DmkIII is a much better choice than the more expensive flagship model. Other audio features are the same as the 1D X and they include adjustmen...

The 5D Mark III lit up the web yesterday, here's some of the best Twitterverse comments: I'm underwhelmed by the 5D Mark III's video capability. More impressive is the drop in the Mark II price. Danfung Dennis @Danfung Best thing about the 5DmKIII - LPE6 batteries, no need to buy a load of new ones - I laud Canon for that Dan Chung @DSLRinformer All three of the Canon 5D Mark III videos demonstrate two undeniable facts: • Dramatic reduction in moiré • Canon needs @vincentlaforet A Prolost comment points out that the 5D Mark III's sensor res is exactly 3x 1080p, which bodes well for better video: prolost.com/blog/2012/3/1/… Stu Maschwitz @5tu So the 5D3 is exactly what I said it would be: a mini version of the 1DX. Reduced aliasing, moire (not gone), better stills. Paul Antico @AnticipateMedia Viewfinder magnification 5DMk3 vs D800. 0.71x vs 0.70x. Is that a game of Japanese one-upmanship if ever I saw one!? 5D Mk 3 ISO 1600 looks like ISO 100 o...

Sony Professional - NEX-FS100 In Depth: Introduction | Sony Professional | Vimeo Sony Europe is putting together a series on the NEX-FS100 , this is the next part: For more videos from the NEX-FS100 In Depth series, visit: NXCAM & AVCHD Guides The NEX-FS100 in-depth videos, created and produced by one of Sony's Independent Certified Exerts , Matt Davis, give a unique preview from a specialist's perspective. This first video introduces the key features of the NEX-FS100. Other videos in the series will cover key subjects such as: kit lenses, depth of field, bending time, picture profiles and downloading video. Canon Cinema EOS C300 Custom Picture settings | Kevin Ritchie | Vimeo Picture Profile tests for the Canon C300 : This video shows examples of the 3 preset Canon C300 Custom Picture profiles: Off, EOS Std, and Cinema. In additional I have shot each of the available Gamma and Color Matrix settings to show how they effect the image. The Custom Picture setting...

It's announced; the 5D Mark III , and it has the following video capabilities: Next generation EOS Movies The EOS 5D Mark III builds on the reputation of the EOS 5D Mark II, with a range of new features introduced following feedback received from photographers to provide even better Full HD video performance. As well as offering the depth-of-field control loved by video professionals, the new full-frame sensor combines with the vast processing power of DIGIC 5+ to improve image quality by virtually eradicating the presence of moiré, false colour and other artifacts.   The addition of a movie mode switch and a recording button also offers greater usability, enabling videographers to begin shooting immediately when movie mode is engaged.  Additional movie functions include manual exposure control and an enhanced range of high bit-rate video compression options , with intraframe (ALL-I) and interframe (IPB) methods both supported.  Variable frame rates range from 24fp...

Sony has announced it has "discontinued" the PMW-F3K , PMW-F3L models and re-introduced them as PMW-F3K/RGB , PMWF3L/RGB with the 10 bit S-Log package as standard, with no price increase. The 10 bit S-Log package, CBK-RGB01 will now sell for $899.00 (for those existing owners still without it.)

Canon Rumors & PhotoTips Live Launch | CanonRumors If the 5D Mark III is announced this evening, these guys will be doing a live webcast about it. And if it isn't announced, there is a fall-back plan: All this will start at 11PM EST on Thursday, March 1, 2012. If there is no 5D Mark III to speak of, James and I will sing A Cappella show tunes instead. Personally, now I'm hoping Canon  doesn't announce it! Magic Bullet Denoiser II is Here! | Aharon Rabinowitz | Red Room Blog Last year, Red Giant had to discontinue the sale of their Denoiser product due to a licensing issue. But they promised a new product, and now it's here: We’ve developed Magic Bullet Denoiser II from scratch (completely new code) to bring you the quality of Denoiser 1, but with more stability. Red Giant owns this code 100% – which means the product is not going anywhere. We have spent lots of time developing the default settings for Denoiser II to give you the best possible look as ...

Last week Vincent Laforet spoke at a meeting of the Boston Creative Pro Users Group  about filmmaking with the Canon C300 . The event happened at Emerson College's  Bright Family Screening Room at The Paramount Center  in Boston. Vincent started out the evening talking about his career as a still's photographer - he worked for The New York Times for several years - and showed some stunning examples of his work (he didn't actually mention it, but he has a book out of his still images: Visual Stories: Behind the Lens with Vincent Laforet (Voices That Matter ) . He also showed several tilt-shift images he had taken, claiming that he was doing it "before it got popular again." He mentioned " Reverie " - the movie he shot with the Canon 5D Mark II - only in passing, and then, saying that he didn't mind ruining the secret, he showed the behind-the-scenes video made about the making of the short " Mobius. " He then talked a bit about shootin...

BOX OFFICE: ‘Act Of Valor’ #1 With $25M Weekend, ‘Good Deeds’ $16M, ‘Wanderlust’ And ‘Gone’ Bomb | Nikki Finke | Deadline Hollywood A $12M movie that made $25M on the first weekend will probably make a profit: Educated guess is that they spent $45M-$50M total to hawk this actioner. Yes, they acquired domestic rights for cheap and aggressively pre-sold foreign. And, yes, the budget was only $12K. Looks like Relativity will recoup. Marketing-wise, Relativity launched an aggressive 400 screening program in over 40 markets as part of a multi-pronged strategy that spoke to gamers, action fans, sports fans, ethnic audiences, country music fans, patriots, military, women, and the faith-based community. Big Roundup Of Canon C300 Rig Options | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter Dan puts together a collection of rigs from Redrock, Zacuto, Genus and others for the Canon C300 : Redrockmicro had one of the first dedicated cage setups for the C300 and it was used extensively by Vincent Laforet a...

I didn't want to live-blog the event, but here's a recap of my notes from the evening. My night of watching got off to a rocky start at 8:00pm, which is when I thought the show started. But it turns out it starts at 8:30, and I get to watch half an hour of the red carpet special after all. Oh dear. Evidently Angelina Jolie was "made for the red carpet." I still think the best dress-related comment I ever heard at the Oscars was when the winner in the documentary category said her dress cost more than her movie. It's almost like comfort food to have Billy Crystal hosting again. The first time Billy Crystal did the bits intercut into the movies it was hilarious, but now it’s just sequelitis. I still like Billy Crystal, and I thought he did a pretty funny show - mostly - but maybe it would have been nice to do something really different. He did have some great lines about the Kodak Theater during the show: "Here at the Chapter 11 theater" "Here ...

C300 and F3 Grading Tests | Alister Chapman | XDCM-User Another in a series of comparisons between the C300 and PMW-F3 . It is increasingly clear that if you're recording to memory cards, the C300 comes out slightly on top, but if you use an external recorder that can take advantage of the F3 's 10-bit output, then the F3 beats the C300 . If only the C300 had 10-bit output: Well both the cameras grade well, even the 35Mb/s 4:2:0 of the F3 holds up OK. The C300 50Mb/s 422 comes out a little cleaner than the F3 35Mb/s 420 after grading. The F3 recording to the Samurai at 10 bit ProRes HQ is cleaner than the C300 50Mb/s 422 after grading. Testing the Canon WFT-E6 Wi-Fi dongle with the C300 | Philip Jonhston | HD Warrior Philip got a loan of the Wi-Fi dongle for the Canon C300 (they aren't shipping yet.) He reports that it can be used to focus some lenses on the C300 , and that it can operate as a WiFi hotspot (though he doesn't know how yet!): The thing I lov...