Notes On Video

No Canon 7D Firmware update in sight According to Jared Adams at Cinema5D the firmware update rumored seems a ways away: After speaking with Nolan from Canon USA I can safely say that there is no firmware update for the Canon EOS 7D as of yet for USA model cameras. According to the canon rep, there may be differences in the firmware versions 1.0.7, 1.0.8, and 1.0.9 based on language updates alone. But this cannot be confirmed, as he is only able to speak for U.S.A. model cameras. Note that there may be two reports mixed up here; someone reported that they received a camera with 1.0.9 firmware (most U.S. models seem to have 1.0.7) and a Philip Bloom reported that he had heard that Canon was working on a firmware update that had something to do with 720p. JVC Picsio, another opinion The JVC Picsio has only been out for a few days, and already there's a negative review on Amazon for it: JVC PICSIO GC-FM1A The image was grainy and shaky (even though stabilization was on) [...] I'...

Is it just a year ago that I was madly speculating whether Apple would release Bluray hardware/software support? Why yes, it is! I even went so far as to say: If they don’t announce something October 14th I’m going to have to write Steve Jobs a carefully worded letter! And since then? Zzzzzzzzzzz. A few months ago, the rumors started up again, suggesting Apple might put something into upcoming iMac updates, but now those rumors have been crushed . Oh well :( In the mean time, a couple of interesting Apple patents : Appleinsider reports : " Apple has investigated a method to make imperfections in compressed video files less visible to the human eye, a new patent application revealed this week shows. " And MacWorld says : " Apple filed a patent application entitled Synchronization of Media State Across Multiple Devices, which appears to combine local iPod and iPhone synchronization with MobileMe and cloud-computing services. " All good stuff, but it doesn't qu...

I went to a joint meeting of the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group and the Boston Avid Users Group last night. It was held at Rule Broadcast Systems , who I think paid for the free pizza, chocolate chip cookies and soda. Full disclosure : If you're in the greater Boston area and you're interested in video editing, you should definitely make an effort to catch a meeting. They have had some interesting meetings lately. The featured speaker was colorist Alex Bickel of Outside Editorial, Soho NY. I’ll write more about that in a later post. Anyway, a couple of interesting things. Before the meeting I was talking to a guy about the Canon 7D and the new Nikon D3s and he was saying how he was using a small pocket Panasonic Lumix camera (similar to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS25 though I’m not 100% certain it was that model) and shooting sequences of still images and then turning them into video, and getting quite impressive results. He showed me a nice night-driving scene on his iPhone....

The Federal Trade Commission has revised guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials. This has provoked some reaction because of it's impact on bloggers . Most importantly: A post from a blogger who receives cash or "in-kind payment" regarding a product (review) is considered an endorsement. While I'm generally in favor of full disclosure, I am concerned that the guidelines seem to treat bloggers differently to "traditional media" i.e. it appears that if a blogger is given a free book to review they have to disclose that, while traditional media would not be expected to . I don't see the difference. In fact, I can think of some journalists who I really think should do some disclosing: I'd love to see a full disclosure from Walt Mossberg of the value of software/hardware/meals/trips/t-shirts he's received from the companies he writes about. In the mean time, here at NotesOnVideo I will be filling out the Federal Trade Commission's Bl...

I hadn’t even heard of iFrame before this morning, and then yesterday Apple released an update to iMovie that added support for the iFrame format, and today Sanyo has announced two cameras that support iFrame: the VPC-HD2000A and the VPC-FH1A . There’s a support document on Apple’s site iMovie ’09: About the iFrame Video format . But it's hardly that informative: The iFrame Video format is designed by Apple to speed up importing and editing by keeping the content in its native recorded format while editing. Based on industry standard technologies such as H.264 and AAC audio, iFrame produces small file sizes and simplifies the process of working with Video recorded with your camera. And then adds to select: "960x540 30fps" Now the 960x540 size isn't exactly new to iMovie; it's the default "Large" video resolution that iMovie uses when you import video (iMovie converts all imported video into a format it prefers.) The step forward appears to be that App...

Flip has released the Flip MinoHD Camcorder 2nd Generation, , which doubles the storage to 80GB, has a larger two-inch screen and a mini-HDMI port. 8GB = 2 hours of video. It sells for $299, while the original is $199. The Nikon D3S is out, and dpreview has a preview. A video by Vincent Munier really shows the low light capabilities of the camera. It's supposed to support up to ISO 102,400 (wow!) BUT the video is only 720p24. Now 720p isn’t that shabby, and a few years ago it would have been amazing to have a camera that supported that, but it’s also not 1080p. Ultimately, the $5,199.95 means it’s not a camera I will be considering!

I appreciate the efforts of anyone that offers up a review of a product I’m interested in. As long as they aren’t shills for the company, different points of view can nearly always add additional light on the subject (and let’s face it, everyone comes to things with their own biases, so there’s no independent, unbiased report on anything.) So I really like that camcorderinfo.com does reviews of camcorders - they are one of the few sites that does a reasonable and regular job of it, and I even wish they did more. That said, I am often puzzled by some of their results and comparisons. It’s not the big picture stuff, but little details that get me confused. And some of the explanation of how they test and compare cameras leaves me puzzled. I can’t help thinking that unless you’re a broadcast engineer, you’re probably confused too. As one tiny example, their latest review of the JVC Picsio has a " Close-Up Color Comparisons " table. They do include the disclaimer: We can tell you...

JVC Picsio Camcorder.info has posted a review of the JVC Picsio . At first glance, the Picsio is just another Flip clone, trying to carve a piece out of the ultracompact camcorder marker. Beneath the surface, the Picsio provides some impressive quality video that is, unfortunately, accompanied by a body design that lacks durability and reliability. I like Engadget , but they often get the horse before the cart, or get outraged about something before knowing all the details. Today they posted about JVC’s Picsio pocket camcorder, headlining the post JVC’s Picsio pocket camcorder does fake 1080p for a real $200. Their complaint? It's advertised "1080p" resolution is 1440 x 1080 at 30 fps But 1440 x 1080 is the same format of 1080 HD as used in HDV camcorders (it uses non-square pixels to get 1920x1080.) Canon loyalty Rebate Canon USA has a $50 off coupon if you buy a Canon EOS camera between October 12 and December 31, provided you own a prior Canon Camera. Buy a regular ...

I went to a demo of Adobe Story last week. Story is a beta/pre-release from Adobe Labs. It looks like it's an outgrowth of Buzzword , the online word processing application developed using Adobe Flex , that Adobe purchased a while back. So what is Story ? At the moment, it's described as a scriptwriting/collaboration tool. Signup to use it and you log into a web app that lets you import/create and edit scripts in classic Film Script format. It has a number of nice features; as you type, it prompts for the different script elements using a little pop-up menu. Each part of a script is listed in an outline next to the script. You can quickly navigate by clicking on an outline item. Even better, little colored dots indicate the presence of a character in the scene. Story organizes things into Projects, which can contain Scripts, Character Bio's and Links. Perhaps more interesting, you can share a Project by entering an email address and indicating the access rights of the pe...

I didn't see Coraline the movie in the theaters, but I just watched the DVD last night, and found it very enjoyable. You can watch it in 3D too using the red/green glasses that are included. It takes a little getting used to; but after a minute or two it was working okay for me; but didn't work for my movie companion. We ended up switching back to the "regular" movie. Either way you watch it, it's a good story that is very well animated. If you're interested in stop-motion, then definitely get this movie. And after you watch it the first time, watch it again with the director's commentary on. It's a great insight into how they went about translating the book to the screen, and the joys - and trials - of making a stop motion movie. Some of the discussion about voices and casting I found particularly interesting. You can also find a slideshow on the making of the movie at the LA Times .

Yesterday I was looking at the Canon BG-E7 Battery Grip for Canon 7D Digital SLR Camera on Amazon, and reading through the page discovered some interesting technical details: Curiously, today it has been changed to: Yellow Ink Tank for the S800 photo printer and other select Canon printers Weird...

I’ve been using Final Cut Pro for three or four years now. Prior to that I’d been using Premiere , but when Adobe – temporarily – abandoned the Mac platform, I switched. Coming to Final Cut , I didn’t spend much time really learning the program; I figured out what I needed to do - how to cut clips, apply transitions and effects, and add titles - and away I went. Over the years I picked up how to use the 3-Way Color Corrector (after going to a demo on using XDCAM with Final Cut Pro !) but I never spent any time learning more. And I never got beyond Final Cut ; I never did more than launch Motion , and didn’t even get that far with Color or SoundTrack . It’s silly really, having these programs and not being able to use them to their full – or any - potential. After attending a recent seminar and seeing a demo of new features in these programs, it occurred to me that it was time to spend a bit of effort actually figuring out how to use these tools. So I started with Motion . Motion is ...

Engadget has a gallery of images of Panasonic's 1080p twin-lens P2 camcorder taken at CEATEC . Unfortunately, the camera is in a glass case, so they aren't that clear. It appears that there were no demonstrations, and there's been very little word on this camera since it first popped up back in April . Is 3D the future? I'm not so sure, but perhaps Fujifilm's Finepix Real 3D W1 will be a harbinger of things to come: The camera's special LCD monitor displays the images in 3D (and you can buy a special 3D digital viewer as well.) Some of the blog reactions to the camera have been less than enthusiastic (the links below, not withstanding!) but the camera should be widely available shortly. Unboxed – Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W1 Fujifilm 3D camera hands-on Fujifilm: FinePix REAL 3D W1 AMAZON

1. Two of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics this year are Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor." While CCDs are increasingly being replaced by CMOS in digital cameras, the CCD really started the digital image revolution. 2. Camcorderinfo.com doesn't review as many cameras as we might like, but they do get around to one or two...and they've just reviewed the Canon HV40 . Tape is not dead yet! The HV40 is the latest update to Canon's popular HDV small camcorder line, unfortunately it seems it's only a small update: the only notable advance is the support for true 24p (rather than 60i video with a 2:3 pulldown used in the HV30.) Since the HV40 is only a minor upgrade over last year's HV30, it seems that Canon isn't putting too much effort into its tape-based HDV models. The HV40's flash-memory counterparts have more sophistic...

Know your fonts? How about your cheeses? Play Cheese or Font and see how good you are at telling one from the other. (I played a little, and I think I was doing about 50% at best when I realized that I wasn't that good!)

1. Mike Kobal has posted some good examples of rolling shutter for the Nikon D90, Canon 5D, 7D and Panasonic GH1. For each he first does a very quick pan, and then a slower pan. All cameras have noticeable problems with the very fast pan, but the slow pan seems fine for the G5, 7D and the GH1: Rolling Shutter compared: Nikon D90, Canon 5D mark II, Panasonic GH1, Canon 7D 2. Canon USA has posted an interesting article on using the 7D for shooting video: Harnessing the Power of the EOS 7D’s Video System Traditional movies, shot on actual film, are shot at true 24 fps. Video from an EOS 7D, taken alongside actual film (which we anticipate will be done from time to time in Hollywood studios) is shot at an actual rate of 23.976 fps; it would have to be speeded up very slightly in the computer to exactly match film — normally, very easy to do. Keep in mind that even though the Mode Dial has settings for Tv (shutter-priority automatic) and Av (aperture-priority automatic), these are for sti...

This is not really video related (even though Flash is used to play back a lot of video on the web these days), but Adobe Labs has announced that Flash Professional CS5 will enable you to build applications for iPhone and iPod touch using ActionScript 3 . These applications can be delivered to iPhone and iPod touch users through the Apple App Store. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 with prerelease support for building applications for iPhone is planned for later this year. Sign up to be notified when the beta starts . Some notes: The new support for iPhone applications in the Flash Platform tooling will not allow iPhone users to browse web content built with Flash technology on iPhone, but it may allow developers to repackage existing web content as applications for iPhone if they choose to do so. iPhone applications built with Flash Platform tools are compiled into standard, native iPhone executables, just like any other iPhone application. Application cannot load SWF files or ...

1. Canon Europe has posted some interesting technical information on the Canon 7D, and the WFT-E5 (the wifi transmitter that connects to the bottom of the 7D.) Inside the Canon EOS 7D: examining the technology and its benefits WFT-E5 - taking wifi possibilities to a new level 2. Everyone seems to be shooting demo reels with the 7D. The latest example is: "Vienna is not Beijing" - 4 to 7 A.M short 3. Danfung Dennis is a freelance photojournalist who has covered Afghanistan and Iraq since 2006. He used a Canon 5D to shoot footage for a video on Afghanistan: Obama's War . You can read an interview here . Here's what he said about shooting with the camera: I am using a new camera called the Cannon [EOS] 5D Mark II, shoots full HD video. I've custom built it so I can rig it onto a steady cam-like device, so that when I am running it will shoot a very smooth, steady picture. It's a bit tricky because [the Marines are] running, you're running, you're wea...

If you’re a Final Cut Pro user, there’s a lot of online tutorials, as well as forums that act as great resources. One source I had missed for information: Apple. They have some interesting stuff on their Final Cut Studio Resource page. If nothing else, it’s worth going to get the Alpha Transitions , Color Looks and Compressor Droplets that are available for free. The Alpha Transitions are very cool. After downloading them, they have to be "installed" and used in a particular way; this tutorial explains how to install and use an alpha transition: Using the New Alpha Transitions in Final Cut Pro 7 . Even if you don't like the examples Apple has provided, they show you how to use Alpha Transitions, and might get you wanting to create your own using Motion.

Amazon now has the VholdR ContourHD1080p available for pre-order. Expected delivery is November 16th, and they are quoting $329.99 Links the-gadgeteer.com: Capture extreme HD footage with the VholdR ContourHD Helmet Cam (includes press release) Helmetcameracentral: VholdR ContourHD 1080p Review: Delicious Full 1080p Wearable Video (includes more details specs) One interesting thing: ContourHD1080p has five video resolutions, the two highest are: Full HD - 1080p (1920x1280) Tall HD - 960p (1280x960) But 1080 is 1920 x 1080. Clearly the Full HD could be cropped down, but 1280 x 960 is closer to 720p, which is 1280 x 720.