Notes On Video

Mocha Last night was the latest  Boston Creative Pro User Grou p meeting. This meeting featured three separate presentations, and in the first one  Ross Shain of Imagineer Systems talked about - and demoed - Mocha , along with Robin Hobart of Brickyard VFX who went through some examples of projects on which he had used Mocha . If you're not sure what Mocha is, it's a "planar tracking tool"... which doesn't really explain all the magic that it can do. Basically, it will identify the movement of a group of pixels in your 2D video sequence, and figure out the plane of those pixels in the frame, and how it changes as the camera moves. This makes it much, much easier to replace parts of the image; whether the screen on a computer, or the label on a box. Mocha can do many other tricks; the Pro version can remove parts of an image, and even figure out the movement of a 3D camera based on the video sequence (making it reasonably easy to place 3D models into your...

ARRI’s New ALEXA XTs – Internal ARRIRAW, True Anamorphic Capture, Better Lens Metadata (But Still No 4K) | Neil Matsumoto | HD Video Pro Today , ARRI announces its new  ALEXA line with features that have been requested by professional users. The ALEXA XT, ST M, XT Plus and XT Studio cameras will replace all previous models with the exception of the original ALEXA. ALEXA camera owners will be able to purchase individual upgrades that give you the same features of the new XT configuration. Canon Service Advisory Emails Sent for 5D Mark III & EOS-1D X | CanonRumors But the updates aren't expected until April and May... Depending upon the shooting conditions, it may take slightly longer for the EOS 5D Mark III and EOS-1D X digital SLR cameras to acquire focus when using the Speedlite’s AF Assist Beam, compared with that of the EOS 5D Mark II and EOS-1D Mark IV digital SLR cameras using the Speedlite’s AF Assist Beam. Diary of an Avid Switcher – Part 1: Humble Beginnin...

Review: Blackmagic Cinema Camera | IAIN ANDERSON | MacProVideo For the solo operator using DSLRs with a small kit, it’s a great A-cam, that lets you produce fantastic images with room to expand. You can rig it up, you can use it alone on a tripod, you can go naked and handheld (with a stabilized lens). It works with you, encouraging you to learn more about filmmaking as you chase that perfect image. For every tiny thing wrong, there’s a huge thing right. Dissecting a Trailer: The Parts of the Film That Make the Cut | SHAN CARTER, AMANDA COX, and MIKE BOSTOCK | New York Times Interesting little interactive doodad that shows the location of the source material used in the trailers for five of the nine best picture nominees. Check Out The First Affordable Electronic Viewfinder with HDMI Loop | Cinescopophilia $375 for an electronic viewfinder?! There's an update with a lower price too... IndiPRO Tools have released what they call the first affordable 3.5″ electroni...

Nikon D5200 review | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Hmmm...Andrew seems to think this Nikon is a better video camera than most of the Canon DSLRs, and the Panasonic GH3 as well...and it's only $800 . UPDATE: The HDMI output on this camera is uncompressed 4:2:2, for a leap in image quality over the internal 24Mbit codec! Check the forum for my ProRes noise grain sample shots The Nikon D5200 is the best mid-range Nikon yet for video. What is more of a surprise is the relish in which it takes on the much more expensive 5D Mark III, Panasonic GH3 and Nikon’s own flagship the D800 and D4. RED Sues Sony and Other News | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine Some Canon and Sony firmware news too... In case you are living in a cave and missed it, the big news of last week was that RED is suing Sony. RED claims that Sony’s F65, F55 and F5 infringe on patents RED holds, specifically relating to REDCODE RAW. It appears that the issue may turn on the compression of a RAW video stream in the camer...

Sony EA50 and the Z test | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior Philip has the Sony NEX-EA50 on loan and is working on a review. He tried out one simple test to see what happens if you remove the card during recording: Simple…you let the camera record for 30 seconds then pull the SDHC card while still in record mode…why ? This gives you some interesting critical information about your solid state camcorder thats worth knowing, for instance…If your battery fails will your precious footage still be recorded as we all know horror stories of lost footage and corrupt cards. The New 4K: Different from the Old 4K | Art Adams | ProVideoCoalition I've seen 4K demos projected on 25' screens, and the footage comes across just as a movie would: there's nothing inherent in the presentation that makes me say "Wow, that's an amazingly detailed image!" When the same image is displayed on a 60" monitor, however, the effect is jaw-dropping. The amount of detail crammed ...