Notes On Video

An abbreviated post from my iPhone about the Canon Expo. I'll just list the highlights and try and do a more in-depth report next week. 1. Coming down I read a couple of Tweets from another blogger that described it as "corporate" and rather lame. Maybe I was expecting the worst, or had my expectations lowered, but I'm pretty amazed. They have ice skaters!!! 2. Vincent Laforet looks like the guy from C.S.I. 3. New York is humid and crowded. 4. The 4k camera is amazing as a demo, even if they didn't really have many details. 5. Ice skaters! 6. Daniel Berube from the Boston Final Cut User Group may get drummed out of the group; he was demoing Adobe Premiere! 7. They have an amazing print-on-demand machine...for those interested in that kind of thing. 8. I was surprised by the best speaker of the day; Corbin Bernsen. He's pationate about indie film making. I may not agree with all his ideas, but he has a lot if them! Well worth hearing. [ UPDA...

Steve Jobs rolled out the expected new version of the Apple TV that's 1/4 the size, and geared towards streaming and rentals of TV shows/movies (it has no internal storage.) You can still stream from your computer, so I assume you'll still be able to buy TV shows and movies using your computer if you want to. In the past, Steve somewhat dismissively said that Apple TV was a hobby, and they even riffed on that at the beginning when he said "One More Thing" and the screen changed to "One More Hobby." I was a bit surprised that the interface seemed almost identical to the current Apple TV; it had been rumored that it would use iOS, but when introducing it, Steve listed things they'd learned from the original Apple TV , and one of them was that people " don't want a computer. " The Apple TV will retail for $99 and be available in four weeks. It has HDMI output only (which is a problem for my old component only TV.) Steve also demoe...

Today Apple is doing a press announcement, and everyone seems to think that they will announce a new iPod Touch , and a $99 Apple TV . The latter will be a new version that runs the iOS (like that used in the iPhone and iPad ) and they'll also have rentable TV shows for 99 cents, and maybe other streaming deals (Netflix?) I'm wondering if my old Apple TV will now become irrelevant. Announcements start at 1pm, and Apple themselves are streaming the event. That in itself, might be a hint at what's to come, as they haven't been streaming their events for some time. Does this mean they think there will be a smaller audience than for iPhone rollouts, so they can handle it okay?; Or is it so there won't be so many bloggers live blogging the event and ruining Steve's wifi/cell access? Or does it mean they have a much bigger streaming service online to handle the demand? Guess we have to wait and see. I'm really hoping they'll either announce the avail...

According to an article on Canon Europe's site: The XF models use a new 1/3-type, 2.07 Megapixel Canon CMOS sensor, adapted from the 3CMOS sensor system employed in XF300-series models , captures Full HD video at native 1920x1080 resolution. The XF100-series has a new Infrared (IR) shooting mode that’s activated via a switch on the front of the camcorder, beneath the lens. With a built-in IR lamp, both green and white light shooting options. A single manual lens ring provides control over focus, zoom and iris, with a side-mounted switch allowing the user to switch instantly between modes. A new Face-Only AF mode limits autofocusing to detected faces only. Two CF slots for continuous (relay) recording. SD card slot for stills. PRICING According to a post at the dvinfo.net forum, the pricing of the cameras will be as follows: The Estimated Street Price for the XF100 is $2999 and the Estimated Street Price for the XF105 is $3999. However, Canon has made a corporate decision ...

XF100 I'm still getting over the announcement of the XF100 today....okay, it's not like the world completely changed, but in this day of rumors and leaks, it's a little shocking to see something like this appear without any prior hint. So what are the XF100 and XF105, and how do they compare with the XF300 and XF305? There's some information still missing (i.e. price) but comparing the available specs, you can see that the XF100/XF105 models are quite a bit smaller in size and probably lighter, with a shorter zoom (10x instead of 18x.) The cameras appear to use similar CMOS chips (at least the resolution is identical) with an approximate total number of pixels on the chip of .37 megapixels (2044 x 1160 pixels.) Obviously only 1920 x 1080 are actually used. The other significant difference is that the XF100 & XF105 have a single sensor, while the XF300 & XF305 have three. Sensitivity seems a little lower too, though this could be due to the slightly slower...

Well this came out of left field! Everyone was so focused on the 60D , that there wasn't even a hint of this announcement: two new "compact" camcorders that fit under the XF300/305 range, but look pretty "pro" anyway; 4:2:2 color! No prices and aren't scheduled for availability until first quarter 2011. PRESS RELEASE LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., August 31, 2010 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today announces the new Canon XF105 and XF100 Professional Camcorders for mobile HD video capture in a compact form factor. Canon's smallest professional camcorders, the new XF105 and XF100 utilize the same Canon XF Codec featured in the Canon XF305 and XF300, introduced earlier this year. The Canon XF Codec is an MPEG-2 4:2:2 50Mbps codec used for exceptional high-definition image quality, full non-linear editing (NLE) systems compatibility and efficient, robust workflow. These camcorders include in-camera features enabling the easy set-up and capture ...

Jason Levine: DSLR Video Editing for Photographers Jason Levine has posted part 1 of DSLR Video Editing for Photographers . It's centered around Adobe Premiere CS5 . Jason Levine : DSLR Video Editing for Photographers Canon 60D lacks AF microadjustment Heavens! I didn't even know what AF Microadjustment was until I saw this posted at the Canonfumors forum, but it appears the 60D lacks this feature. Petitions will soon be happening! This article at Northlight Images explains how to do it (on cameras that have that function), though I'm trying to figure out if I even want to begin doing this... : Camera AF Microadjustment - for free Canonrumors.com : The 60D Needs AF Microadjustment Manfrotto’s 504HD Fluid Head overview Ian McCausland at CineTechnica takes a look at the new 504HD Fluid Head in this two minute video. It's an overview of the features, not a review of the head itself. CineTechnica : Manfrotto’s 504HD Fluid Head overview

A couple of months ago the B-17 Liberty Belle visited a small airfield north of Boston, and I went out to shoot some video of it. It was mostly a learning exercise as it was one of the first time's I used the Canon 7D to do an extended shoot. The weather was awful; during all of the time you could get close to the aircraft it was pouring rain, and the sky was totally white with clouds. I did a rough cut, and was somewhat happy with it, and then I went to the Philip Bloom workshop - it's never a good idea to do something like that in the middle of a project; you end up hating everything you've done - and decided the rough cut was too rough. There wasn't anything I could do about re-shooting, but I could do some visual effects. I ended up adding cloud effects using Apple Motion , which got rid of the boring white skies, and some zoom and panning to give the thing more life. Fortunately, all of the middle sequences were shot on a tripod, which - luckily - made addin...

If you've passed by here before, you'll know that I'm less than a fan of 3D. Still, it's important to keep up with the state of play. Bad 3D films threaten the success of 3D? Sure, Avatar was a big hit, but since then there's been a mixed bag of 3D movies ( but then, isn't there always a mixed bag if movies?) In an article at CNET : 3D at home still a tough sell Erica Ogg suggests there's concern that bad 3D movies could depress the enthusiasm for 3D. But in a competing point of view, In Praise of the 3D B-Movie Brian Barrett at Gizmodo claims movies like Piranha 3D help 3D, not hurt it. Clash of the Titans: A few more 3-D spectacles like "Clash of the Titans" and audiences will be clamoring for 2-D. [...]The result is 2.5-D, a murkily virtual virtuality. You get an ambiguous sense of depth at a steep price that includes, but isn't confined to, the box-office surcharge that the studios have begun to impose on such attractions in a ...

Boston documentary filmmaker Nathaniel Hansen is looking for a Boston based assistant editor to work on his upcoming project The Elders. Could be a good opportunity for a film student. Contact him through his website: The Elders

Earlier in the week I mentioned using iTunes to convert an MP3 track to another format ( see : What's that clicking? Mismatched audio sample rates .) It's not the best/most convenient tool to use for it, but if you've nothing else handy, it can get the job done. Here's how: First you need to set it up to save in the format you want (using AIFF - which is uncompressed - is probably a good choice.) 1. Launch iTunes and choose Preferences...  from the iTunes menu. 2.   Click on the General tab (it should actually open in it by default!), and click the Import Settings... button 3. In the Import Settings dialog, choose the encoder you want to use from the Import Using menu. In this case, I'm using the  AIFF Encoder . 4.   Choose Custom... from the Setting menu. (if Custom is already chosen, then choose Automatic, and then choose Custom again to open the Custom dialog.) 5. Choose the Sample Rate , Sample Siz e and Channels ; whether Stereo or Mono. I...

MPEG LA , the organization that administers the patent pool that applies to H.264 announced earlier this week that royalty-free use for free internet video will now continue forever (previously they had announced an extension to 2016.) Who does this impact? Really, it only impacts sites/people that host videos. What about the fact that my camera uses H.264? and my software? Well, the camera maker and the software maker had to pay already. But you can happily use your camera and editing software. And if you put the resulting video on a web page (and don't charge people to view it) then you're free and clear. What if I charge? Then you have to get licenses and pay fees, but that hasn't changed; you had to do that last week too. For more information: CNET: Web video gets H.264 royalty reprieve Gizmodo: H.264 Will Be Royalty Free For Internet Video Forever, Mozilla Still Doesn't Care

You can pre-order the Canon EOS 60D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only) @ Amazon for $1,099.00 Funnily enough, while checking that, I was reminded of the fact that there used to be a Canon EOS D60 6MP Digital Camera .  Don't get them confused!! Wikipedia: Canon D60 Canon EOS timeline ten years from 3.1MP to 18MP : D30 [3.1MP] 2000 > D60 [6.3MP] 2002 > 10D [6.3MP] 2003 > 20D [8.2MP] 2004 > 30D [8.2MP] 2006 > 40D [10.1MP] 2007 > 50D [15.1MP] 2008  >> 60D [18MP] 2010

In addition to the 60D, Canon also announced some lenses, the most interesting - for video producers - is probably the 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS , and the 8-15 f/4L Fisheye Zoom. And since I tend to like wide-angle lenses, the 8-15 is really interesting: Canon's new 8-15mm fisheye zoom. That' some weird looking reflection in the glass! When paired with Canon’s full-frame DSLR bodies, such as the EOS 5D Mark II or the EOS -1Ds Mark III, professional photographers can choose to capture circular or full-frame fisheye images, allowing them to view a scene in a completely new and unique way. This new level of choice provides enhanced creative flexibility when shooting scenes such as the night sky, where the full 180º horizontal and vertical fields of view (FOV) allow every detail to be captured with incredible clarity in one single image. When used with EOS bodies featuring APS-C or APS-H sensors, the EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM produces a more traditional, full frame fisheye view. A z...

Finally, finally ! Canon announced the 60D. There have been rumors about it for months, and it was expected that at some point they'd replace the 50D, so in many respects the announcement of the 60D was as unexpected as the announcement of the iPhone 4. Still, it's an interesting development for a couple of reasons; the addition of an articulating screen, and the "downgrading" of the XXD series. Previous models (the 10D, 20D...50D) had magnesium bodies, but the 60D switches to polycarbonate like the Rebel T2i. This is unsurprising; the release of the 7D above the XXD line perhaps forced Canon to reposition the 60D. The 60D also seems to be pitched more to consumers than pro-sumers (see the video below.) Another interesting feature; manual audio control (the 5D Mk II got this with a firmware upgrade, but the 7D, T2i and 1d Mk IV don't offer this feature.) The switch to SD cards is interesting too, though wouldn't stop me from buying the camera (since I ha...

Canon announced the EOS Movie Plug-in-E 1 for Final Cut Pro version 1.1 will be available to download for free from mid-September. The update will add support for the Canon EOS 60D , the latest addition to the EOS range. The plug-in will allow users to view metadata and EXIF data for movie files. It will also provide support for multi-core processing, allowing even faster conversations with the latest generation of Macs.

Yesterday I went to upload a demo movie (the clicking audio clip) and decided to put it up at Vimeo . But after it finished uploading, I'm presented with a screen saying that the processing of the movie won't start for an hour and 33 seconds - BUT if you're a Vimeo Plus member, you get moved to the front of the line. Popped over to my YouTube account, uploaded the video there, it took a few more minutes to process (it's a very short movie!) and it was up and done and the Vimeo clip still had at least another 45 minutes to go before it would be ready. I don't have a special YouTube account either. So is the 1:00:33 a real wait time; or is it enforced to advertise the paid service? I tried a second experiment today, and got exactly the same amount of time as an estimate for the time to process... I don't begrudge Vimeo putting their paid users first, BUT since I can go and upload it on YouTube, I don't see any real reason to wait for Vimeo.

The wonderfully named SNOB Film Festival (that's S omewhat N orth O f B oston) began back in 2002 in Concord NH and ran for several years, then went on hiatus last year. But now it's back, and will be held at the Red River Theatres in Concord, NH. running from 11.19.10 through 11.21.10. They're looking for submissions. Find out more at their website : snobfilmfestival.com facebook : SNOB Film Festival

One of the things you're warned about early on in digital audio editing is to be careful about mismatched audio sample rates; it can cause strangeness. Of course, knowing what you're supposed to do, doesn't mean that you always do it... For example, a recent project in Final Cut Pro , had a nice stirring sound track set against some video that was shot outside in the rain. The rain was noticeably audible in places, which was why I didn't notice - for days - that there was a clicking sound in the music track; I just wrote it off to other sounds in the audio. But I was finishing up the video and the clicking was starting to annoy me, so I was dropping down the audio level on the ambient track.... and the clicking wasn't going away ! That's when I realized that the clicking was in the music track, not the ambient track. And it wasn't part of the original music track either. I had imported a 44.1 kHz MP3 track into a Project that was set up for 48 kHz ...

Things are hotting up! Sony has announced two mirrorless DSLR 's capable of full-time phase-detection autofocus. DPreview explains how: The SLTs do have mirrors, but they're mirrors that let the majority of the light pass straight through to the sensor, rather than having to swing out of the way to allow exposure. As a result they are fixed in position, always reflecting a portion of the light emerging from the back of the lens onto a phase-detection AF array housed in the top of the camera. (A newly-developed 15-point array in the case of these two cameras). The A55 and A33 look interesting, but of course I'm also waiting to see how the NEX-VG10 turns out...the idea of buying another brand of DSLR for video, doesn't really appeal to me, but if you're already in the Sony DSLR camp and want to do video, these look iteresting. DPReview: Sony SLT Alpha A55 In-depth Review,* August 2010 Canon has announced an APS-H sized 120 Megapixel chip (though they aren'...