Notes On Video

The ongoing problems in Japan continue to pose a problem for manufacturers, and are starting to impact the availability of certain products. Sony Tape : HD Warrior reports that the factory that manufactures tape is still out of production, creating potential shortages of: HDCAM SR, HDCAM, DVCAM, Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, Betacam IMX, Betacam SX, XDCAM, SxS, DV and HDV. HD Warrior: Sony’s HDCAM SR tape in short supply Sony Products : Sony Alpha Rumors reports that all Sony announcements have been delayed (we assume this does not include already announced items like the NEX-FS100 .) SonyAlphaRumors : IMPORTANT: All new products announcements have been DELETED! Canon Status : A press release from Canon is highlighted at Canon Rumors : Recovery Status Report for Canon Inc. and Canon Group Following Great East Japan Earthquake I encourage everyone that can, to donate something to the Red Cross or charity of their choice to help those in Japan. G I V E    T ...

Cinematographer and Editor  Chris Loughran has been working with Improv Assylum , a Boston based comedy troupe, to produce comedy shorts. Their latest is The Oscar-Winning Boston Movie , which he describes as being neither a movie, nor an Oscar winner. He shot the majority of the movie on the Panasonic AG-AF100 , and edited it in Final Cut Pro . I spoke to Chris about this project at the recent BOSFCPUG & Boston DSLR meetup where the video was one of those shown during the Screen Your Shorts part of the meeting. You can view the video on Vimeo : The Oscar-Winning Boston Movie from Improv Asylum on Vimeo . Who had the idea for The Oscar-Winning Boston Movie ? One of the actors in the film was also the writer and director, he’s an extremely talented guy, his name is Evan Kaufman. We like to do upcoming events, and the Oscar season was coming up and since many of the films this year were from Boston we thought it would be a really funny, not exactly a parod...

Planet5D is having a live webchat with Steve Weiss of Zacuto TODAY, Monday April 4th – 3pm EDT/2pm CDT/12pm PDT – 7pm GMT: Planet5d: Live

Copyright . Over at Ken Kaminesky 's blog, he's posted an interview with Carolyn E. Wright of photoattorney.com . While it's about still photography, a lot of the same info applies for video: Photography, Copyright, and the Law DSLR Documentary Shooting . Simon Weyhe shot a documentary in Lebanon and Jordan using the Canon 7D and Canon 550D (Canon Rebel T2i ) and the GoPro HD camera. He shot several timelapses, though only a few were used in the final project. This article includes a gear list, which is worth checking. DSLRNewsShooter : Turntables in the camps – Simon Weyhe shoots a dslr documentary in Lebanon and Jordan Timelapse Shooting . And on the subject of timelapses, Philip Bloom has posted his latest timelapse, shot in Seattle, and has also produced a video showing how it was down - note the use of a lensskirt to reduce reflections when shooting through a glass window. PhilipBloom : Seattle Timelapse: The Space Needle ContourGPS Connect View: En...

APR 5 | Sony NEX-FS100 Chat : Sony Professional Europe will be having a live Facebook chat to discuss their NXCAM product range, and "we welcome your questions and comments." Den Lennie - who got to play with an NEX-FS100 last week - will be part of the chat. Facebook: Song Professional Europe APR 6 | 5th Annual Video Educators of New England Spring Conference , Mount Wachusett Community College, Garner MA. VENE was conceived in 1997, in order to form a platform for Video Educators to convene for panel discussions on course curriculum and relevant subject matter concerning the video community.: Videoeducators.org APR 7 | AiME Awards Show , 6:00pm Coolidge Corner Theatre , a celebration of the best student work from the New England Institute of Art : Aimeawards.com APR 11 | DSLR Meetup at NAB : Monday, April 11th. If you can go, they'd like you to RSVP so they have a count of numbers: NAB HDSLR Meetup – Monday evening at the Hard Rock APR 12 | Actio...

Making Panasonic Video look like Canon : EOSHD has posted a short tutorial on how to make the video from the Panasonic GH2 and AG-AF100 look more like that from Canon cameras. Panasonic's colour science is very technically correct but not as emotionally satisfying as Canon's, here's how to change that. [...]The GH2 is a big improvement in this regard on the sensor in the GH1, and especially the first generation sensor in the GF2 and GF1 - but it still needs a helping hand with customised picture profiles and white balance. Here is what to do... EOSHD : Tips and tricks for making Panasonic look more like Canon RED Epic User Report . Jason Wingrove got a chance to spend some time with a RED Epic, and he warns people not to get too close; you'll want one! In a nutshell its impossible to find a camera that comes even close, a camera thats capable of 19+ stops of dynamic range, gives 5K of raw images at 120fps in the palm of your hand and is as capable on set on ...

Video Review Sean Seah at Firewerks Films in Singapore got his hands on an  NEX-FS100 and put together a short video review. He thinks it's a really nice camera and demo's how the microphone mount, LCD and VF tube work. He doesn't like the adjustment for the hand grip, and says that hand holding it is "a bit weird," either with or without the VF tube. "And yeah, one glaring omission; where's the ND filter?" The last half of the video (starting at 6:20) has video taken with the camera, including some low-light stuff. Sony NEX FS-100 Review from Firewerkz Films on Vimeo . Den Lennie video now posted at 1080p F-Stop Academy has posted a 1080P version of the music video they shot with the FS100 . F-StopAcademy : **UPDATE*** Full 1080P version of FS100 Footage now Available An hour with the NEX-FS100U John Burkhart at Mynan Media - also in Singapore - also got to spend an hour with the NEX-FS100U , and has posted his impressions o...

I went down to the Mall, and the Sony Store was gone, ah oh, way to go... Sony Store, Burlington Mall, Massachusetts Don't know what I'm going to do at the mall any more after going to the Apple Store...

If it's not one Sony video camera causing controversy, it's another. Now it's the Sony PMW-F3's turn to be the subject of disagreement. Alan Roberts has issued a technical report on the picture quality of the PMW-F3 , and wrote this about noise levels: Since the slope of the gamma curve is unity when the signal level is about 50%, it is also clear that the noise level is only about -48.5dB rather than the claimed -63dB in the specification. - ADDENDUM 68 : Assessment and settings for Sony PMW-F3 This prompted a response from Alister Chapman at XDCAM-USER : Now I don’t have the ability to measure noise as Alan does and I normally respect his results, but this noise figure does not make sense, nor does his comment that the camera has similar sensitivity to most 3 chip cameras. To my eyes, the F3 is more sensitive than any 3 chip camera I’ve used and it’s a lot less noisy. The implication of the test is that the F3 is noisier than the PMW-350. Well that’s not what m...

by Jared Flesher With all these small video cameras, having a good way to stabilize them is obviously very important. But many of the rigs you can buy are ridiculously expensive. I’ve taken a Spiderbrace ($70 at Spiderbrace.com ) and fused it with a Bogen monopod and quick release monopod head ($60). My “Spiderpod” has turned out to be a light-weight, portable solution that’s great for run-and-gun documentary filmmaking. It gives you four points of stabilization: your two-hands, your shoulder, and the ground. Or you can shorten the monopod up and walk around with it, with the fourth point of stabilization resting against your stomach. Either way, you don’t ever get tired of holding it -- you can keep it steady for hours. The monopod handle also screws off easily, so you can use the Spiderbrace as a ground tripod. The quick-release monopod head let’s you get the camera on and off very quickly if you need to switch to a ...

AV3 Software has dropped the price of GET , the phonetic search plug-in for Final Cut Pro to $249. GET [ they don't capitalize it, but it's confusing if you don't-Ed ] will quickly index the audio tracks of footage, and then you can search for words phonetically. For documentary workers, I think this tool would be indispensable. You can download a trial version from their website: www.getphonetic.com . NotesOnVideo : 'get' for Final Cut

NAB Stuff NAB Canon & Sony predictions. I probably shouldn't list this today - given it's April Fool's Day - but this article on EOSHD was actually published yesterday, and contains speculation about Canon releasing a large sensor video camera ( Personally, while it would seem logical that they would, but Canon always seems to be a good step behind everyone else on the video front; they like to see how things are shaking out, and then release a fully featured - and expensive - camera. ) On the Sony front, he hopes for more manual controls on the replacement for the NEX-3 that is expected; though it seems doubtful Sony would announce a new NEX-3 at NAB. EOSHD : Canon at NAB 2011 / Sony's lucky number Tips for Job hunters. The NABShow Blog has posted an article full of tips for internship and job hunters at the show. Suggestions include: Focus Your Itinerary; Learn to Break the Ice; Get a Relationship, Not Just a Business Card. NABShowBlog : Tips for Interns...

Be careful out there folks, it's April Fools Day . It's that day of the year to be careful about what you read on the internets [ isn't that every day?!-Ed ] So be careful! Spoiler alert. Collected below are the April Fools Gag's I've encountered so far. Obviously, this list ruins the joke for you, so don't read any further if you enjoy being surprised! HD Warrior : Canon 35mm NAB 2011 Show-stopper I think a lot of people actually expect Canon to announce something like this....someday . EOSHD : James Cameron to shoot low budget personal project with 5D Mark II What? Not in 3D? Philip Bloom : Very clever ipad app to control and monitor your Canon DSLR wirelessly amazingly smooth video... CreativeVideo.uk : CineDesign iShoot35 35mm DoF adaptor interface Some people go to a lot of trouble on these gags... The Steadiglove : [ADDED] Reel-Vision.tv brings us this video showing this new camera stabilization tool. Vimeo: The Steadiglove T...

Over at the Mastering Film web site, Elliot Grove has written a short piece on Social Media, and how it is dismantling the traditions of the movie industry. He's definitely right that changes are going down, though I'd dispute his conclusions about why it's happening, and what the results will be. It's not Social Media that's changing the video, film, and many other creative industries. Computers and the Internet are doing that. Social Media is a tool that people are using to try and reinvent creative mediums: people no longer buying music [leads to] labels no longer promoting and grooming new acts [leads to] acts having to do it themselves. Social Media - like the Internet that came before it [ you're being ironical, aren't you?-Ed ]- provides new ways for individuals to market to people. How successful any individual effort will be really depends upon how good they are at marketing - and also, to a great extent - how lucky they are. Having the right ...

Michigan Film Tax Incentives : Since 2008 Michigan has had one of the most lucrative tax credits (42%) in the nation, but after governor Rick Snyder proposed reducing the credit, production started to pull out of the state: IndieWIRE : Michigan’s Film Incentives Are Leaving. So Are Its Filmmakers. Movie attendance down 20% compared to last year. Is it because of bad movies, or very bad movies, or because people just aren't going to the theater? " ...changes in consumer behavior combined with the continued tough economic times, higher gasoline and movie ticket prices (driven in part by more premium-priced 3-D movies) could be drawing people away from theaters... " LATimes : Movie industry hits ticket sales decline on the nose: It's put out some stinkers Higher Frame Rates will improve the 3D experience , and James Cameron is all for that: "It improves (3D)," Landau [Cameron's producing partner] said. "An artifact in 3D (creates) strobing ...

All your base are belong to us Just a couple of months ago, when  Google dropped H.264 support from Chrome in favor of WebM , John Gruber at Daring Fireball pointed out that one advantage H.264 still had was hardware video encoding available for mobile devices. Now Technology Review reports that the other shoe has dropped. Google has advised that: New software has been released that can build [WebM] into dedicated chips for cell phones and other gadgets, perhaps the most crucial step before it can displace the proprietary video format that currently dominates. TechnologyReview : Can Google Reinvent Web Video? NotesOnVideo : Google to drop H.264 support from Chrome Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 lenses coming for E-Mount It had already been widely reported that Zeiss would release Micro Four Thirds mount versions of their CP.2 lenses , now comes word that they will release E-mount versions (this is not really a surprise either, as Sony announced Zeiss would be supporting t...

I've been playing with the Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 lately, and the other week I decided to take it to the monthly meeting of Boston Media Makers and try and put together a short video record of the event. This was really the first time I'd shoot anything more than a few clips with either the iPhone 4 or the Steadicam Smoothee . The results are mixed. Firstly, the Smoothee definitely improves the smoothness of the video. It's a lot more stable than if I hand hold the iPhone 4 . On the other hand, the iPhone 4 on it's own is terrible; most modern video cameras with some sort of optical video stabilization will do a much better job than the iPhone 4 . Is optical image stabilization on a consumer video camera as good as the iPhone 4 with the Steadicam ? I think it depends on what you are doing. If you're walking, the Steadicam is better - though not always perfect - but if you're stationary and just aiming the camera at different things, it's a ...

Operating Your Camera : In this article, Art Adams provides some wonderful tips and advice for any camera operator; even if you aren't regularly working with crews, and don't have a geared tripod head , keep reading, there's lots of useful advice. ProVideoCoalition : Random Tips from a Professional Camera Operator Sony PMW-F3 in low-light : Euan Preston has posted a short video shot in city environments at night using the PMW-F3 (and graded in black & white) Vimeo : Sony PMW-F3 in Low Light Another Sony PMW-F3 sample video, taken in Brisbane shot with Sony Primes at 720p 25p overcranked to 50 fps at 35Mb/ Vimeo : The Sunshine Coast - Sony PMW F3 Camera Test Marshall Electronics V-LCD50-HDMI Portable Field Monitor Review . Videomaker likes the false colors filter and peaking, and really only criticizes one missing feature: " Since this product is targeted specifically to the DSLR user, HDMI is the only input option with this monitor and we think tha...

Vimeo has posted an iPhone app that is free, and includes basic editing functions. It's 20.1MB so you have to download through Wi-Fi or your computer (at least is you are using AT&T) Vimeo : It’s finally here: the OFFICIAL Vimeo iPhone app! Canon 60D firmware update : Firmware v1.0.9 fixes bugs relating to Live View shooting in specific conditions. The latest version also changes name of the Art Filter feature in the Japanese market to Creative Filters keeping it consistent across all regions. CanonUSA: EOS 60D Drivers & Software

(have to keep my hand in.) Philip Jonhston at HD Warrior got to interview Sony UK Product manager Bill Drummond about the camera. Philip makes it clear that he would have preferred Sony produce something like the HXR-NX5u (or a PMW-F1.5 as he describes it) rather than something that's shaped like a DSLR, and through on a PL-mount. Interestingly, Bill describes the NEX-FS100 as an outgrowth of the NEX-VG10 , defends the E-mount - you can get an A-mount adapter - and says HDMI is becoming "more professional every day." He also says that the NEX-FS100 has manual gain from 0dB-30dB in steps of 3dBs. We’re on a journey and we’ve been speaking to film makers for many many years in terms of what their requirements are and we take feedback from a wide range of different sources and I take your comment about the F1.5. If there is enough demand in the market we will make many different types of product for many different types of customers. HDWarrior : SONY and the FS1...