The News

New Creative Cloud pro video features now available | Adobe
The updates to Adobe's Creative Cloud are coming out. The Prelude Live Logger iPad app sounds interesting:
The 150+ new features in Adobe Premiere® Pro CC, After Effects® CC, SpeedGrade® CC, Prelude™ CC, Adobe Media Encoder CC, and Adobe Story CC Plus that were announced at IBC last month are available effective immediately via Adobe Creative Cloud. Today we are also delivering a new iPad app, Prelude Live Logger, which adds another tool to your arsenal for faster, more efficient production workflows.


announcing the After Effects CC (12.1) update, one of several October 2013 updates for Adobe professional video applications | Adobe
Among many other changes and fixes, this updates enables After Effects CC to run on Mac OS X v10.9 (Mavericks). This full update makes it unnecessary to install the previous After Effects CC (12.0.1) patch. Unlike the After Effects CC (12.0.1) patch, the After Effects CC (12.1) update can be used to update the trial version of After Effects CC (12.0).
Paul Antico passes along the following tips for Mac users:
If you installed After Effects 12.0.2 (?) to fix the Mavericks crash bug, you have to go and change the permissions on the 12.1 preference folder in your library to add yourself as read/write rights or it will crash.
Also, to get the GPU rendering to work on an iMac with a 680MX processor, you have to reboot the machine otherwise you will get a message saying there is not enough VRAM.


First Look: DJI Phantom 2 Vision | ProVideoCoalition
I have the original Phantom ($479), and it is cool. This looks even cooler, though at a sizeable increase in price ($1,199). I think I'll probably just hang on to what I have.
For the shear fun of flying, I must say the Phantom 2 Vision is a major upgrade in the experience - especially for novices and hobbyists. The camera's optics are clear and provide good quality HD video and hi-res photos to give you a POV shot like you've never experienced before. However, if you're looking to shoot professional-quality video productions, you will need a much more sophisticated piece of gear - complete with at least a 2 or 3-axis gimbal and a professional camera. 


Finding the Right Story to Tell: The Making of AfterDeath (Part 1) | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine
The first two parts of a really interesting interview with a first-time feature film maker.
The psychological thriller/horror movie AfterDeath is the first feature film of directors Gez Medinger and Robin Schmidt. Shot on a tight budget and a tight schedule, the development and shooting of AfterDeath offers a lesson to anyone looking to make their first feature. 
Script Development, Casting and Locations: The Making of AfterDeath (Part 2)



Editing 4K on the new 15″ MacBook Pro | blog.alex4d
Although it has been possible to create 4K timelines for many years, smooth editing of 4K footage requires instant playback of more than one stream of video footage at once. For example if you had clip A transitioning to clip B while clip C is overlaid as a picture in picture, your editing software would have to play back clips A, B and C at the same time – changing the transparency of clips A and B while scaling clip C.


Canon 5D Mark III Firmware 1.2.3 Released | HD Cam Team
4. Fixes a phenomenon in which the histogram of a LiveView image is incorrectly displayed when an HDMI cable is connected.
5. Enables the brightness of the camera’s LCD monitor to be adjusted even when an HDMI cable is connected.


Have we missed the new killer feature in Mavericks for video editors? | fcp.co
It now takes only a few clicks to link two Thunderbolt Macs together with a Thunderbolt cable and it should be possible to share media from a third device such as a Pegasus Promise Thunderbolt RAID. With the caveat of 'We haven't actually tried it ourself', this will make a huge difference to the smaller edit shop



Glidecam Ships iGlide Stabilizer for Lightweight Cameras | StudioDaily
Only $129 for the Glidecam iGlide, though it's only for cameras under 14 oz. A review on Amazon complained about the adjustment of the head, which they considered rather imprecise...but then Videomaker has a positive review.
Glidecam started shipping its new iGlide, a $149 handheld camera stabilizer designed for the tiny likes of GoPro cameras, the Canon Vixia, and—with a $49 iGlide Adapter, the iPhone. If you're looking to get the most out of an inexpensive camera, that's a pretty cheap way to help your footage look not quite as cheap.


A Feast for the Eye and the Ear - The Best Cinematographer's DVD Commentaries: Part II | MovieMail
But Heat of the Night wins the day, really for the contagious delight Wexler and Jewison share in revisiting a film about a Philly cop (Sidney Poitier) investigating murder in a bigoted Southern town. Plainspoken and impassioned (“That was a bitch to light!”), Wexler discusses his famed hand-held work, borrowing DIY techniques from the French New Wave and making a film during, and emanating from the white heat of the Civil Rights Movement. 


Sony’s RX10, possibly the best hybrid for the serious documentarist: a few things to consider | mike kobal
Interesting discussion of the $1,298 RX10:
When I mentioned that I really believe this camera could be very interesting for all of us (even achieve GH2 cult status), because there is no line skipping and Sony finally managed to employ a processor powerful enough to allow for full 5k readout (sadly we will only be able to record it in full HD) we all knew that this should result in much cleaner looking footage than what we are used to from our DSLR’s. It also has a built in ND filter, clean HDMI (4:2:2) out, Zebra and peaking options…… I had their attention.


Exclusive: Artwork And Test Footage From Pixar's 'The Blue Umbrella' | The Playlist
The footage, which you can watch below, is a hoot: it features director Saschka Unseld underneath a blue umbrella very much like the one in the film, and shows him sliding around the Pixar campus. You can see that they are testing what the umbrellas look like, how they bunch together and interact. It's also kind of surprising to see how small the crew is for a short that is perceived as a technical breakthrough (and Oscar front-runner for Animated Short). 


Full frame kaleidoscopic video with the Sony RX1 | EOSHD
The Sony RX1 has amazing stills but awful video! I began thinking how could I use this otherwise great little camera for video? The answer is to rough up the image beyond comprehension, with trick filters. Here’s how I did it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sony GV-D200 review

Image
Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t...
Read more

Response: Which iPhone to Get?

Image
In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some...
Read more

Should you buy the Sony NEX-FS100 Kit Lens?

Image
The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera ...
Read more