Notes On Video

Nikon D4 Digital SLR - The New King of the Hill for DSLR Video? | Cameratown A look at the promising video capabilities of the new Nikon D4 : The uncompressed HDMI output allows the video feed from the camera to be fed to an external HD field recorder for a more streamlined workflow in some circumstances. Unfortunately, it's been reported that the camera cannot record to it's own memory cards while sending the signal to it's HDMI port. I'm not sure if this is only true when mirroring the signal to the camera's LCD. If not, this could pose a big problem for those looking to use an external monitor for monitoring. Nikon D4 | Amazon No price, and you can't order yet, but you can sign up to be notified when it's available. And so it Begins… Nikon D4 HDSLR Announced! | Paul D A list of specs for the D4 . I recently wrote “..if you thought 2011 was an important year for cameras, photographers and filmmakers…you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Well we’re on...

Unfortunately, this video wasn't shot with the Canon C300 , but you get to see four C300's!

A correction to today's report on the Canon C300 supporting 60p out the HDMI port. This is incorrect and a result of working from my incomplete notes taken during the meeting. Here's what Larry Thorpe actually said about the HDMI/HD-SDI output and 60p support: Q: I was wondering if you could discuss what’s coming out the HDMI and the SDI spigots out the back? A: HD-SDI is coming out, base band, 4:2:2, 8-bit in a 10-bit carrier, as I described earlier. HDMI, same signal, base band HD Q: And all the frame rates will come out? A: Yes, all the frame rates will come out. Oh, frame rates, now that's another thing I have to say, because there’s a limitation there, the image sensor that I described can go all the way up to 60p, it’s very fast. The processor and the codec that we lifted out of the XF305 to put in this camera, at 1080 it can’t deliver 60p, it’s limited to 30p, so we have 24p, 23…oh by the way we do 24.00 and 23.98, if you want to do film or television work....

Rule Boston Camera has been running their Pub Nights - a slightly less formal, evening lecture series - for about a year now, but I’m pretty sure that last night’s “ Canon EOS C300 New England Debut ” had the largest attendance of any of them. A large crowd turned out to eat the free pizza and drink the beer, and hear Larry Thorpe explain what’s so different about the C300. Larry brought with him four cameras, including one with a PL mount, and they were set up in different configurations and rigs for those present to handle. But they couldn’t tell us one thing; the price. They won’t tell us that until January 17th. Until then, all they will say is “the list price is $20,000.” Introduced by John Rule as “ an engineers’ engineer, ” Larry began by asking how many creative people were present - at least two thirds of the crowd put up their hands - and then, how many techie people were present. When only two or three people put up their hands, he continued, “Oh great, no PowerPoint to...

Due to a power outage(!) and other issues, there will be no posting this morning, but I will be at the Rule Boston Camera event tonight to see the Canon C300 and will post on it either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Canon C300 – the ultimate low light test with Rodney Charters, Drew Gardner and Lan Bui | The Bui Brothers | Blog Another post from the adventures of Rodney, Drew & Lan and the C300 : ... then shot this non scientific test for low light with the Canon C300. Rodney shoots a lot of TV stuff and has much more knowledge than I do on how good this test really is. I was blown away at how well we were able to see Drew when we lit him with just an iPad. Yes thats right we lit a person with just an iPad and shot it with a C300. Now some of you might we thinking it is unrealistic to actually use an iPad in a production to light something. I’m not going to tell you if it is right or wrong… but it is a possibility. The Ultimate low light test with a Canon C300? perhaps not, but a real eye opener as my eyes were starting to close | Drew Gardner Drew also posted the video, with only a few more details: It was a fun day, but by close to 2AM on the 1st January I was fading FAST. At this...

New Year's Resolutions For Filmmakers | Scott Macaulay | Filmmaker Scott offers ideas for the coming year: 4. Work for a friend. Take a page from Lucas McNelly and his Kickstarter project — don’t just obsess about your own work, make yourself crew for someone you know. UPM, do locations, cast, take sound for a project of someone other than yourself. Commit to the level of your free time. New MTF Services Lens Adapters" Electronic EOS To Sony F3/FS100/Panasonic AND B4 To EOS/Sony F2/FS100 | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter We've been looking for a good EOS lens adapter, and maybe MTF has one: The MTF EOS electronic lens adapter is the first to actually be available to order for the Sony F3 and NEX. It also works with Micro 4/3 cameras like the Panasonic AF100 where it joins the already available Redrockmicro livelens adapter in offering aperture control, but adds the benefit of image stabilisation. American company Birger Engineering have also been working on a simila...

So You Want to Buy a RED Scarlet? | Matt Jeppsen | ProVideoCoalition Subtitled "Do you really need that new camera? An intervention," Matt offers reasons not to buy that new Scarlet , C300 or PMW-F3 : Oftentimes client requirements and expectations do not push the capabilities of your camera…and while YOU personally might want something more powerful/interesting/snazzy, can you justify the additional cost? Will you honestly use those features? Will those features add value to your work? Be honest. Some questions relevant to the Scarlet might be; How often do you really overcrank? Are you aware of Crop Factors when overcranking Red? Does that have to be slower than 60fps? Do you honestly need higher resolution acquisition, or will you most likely still work in 1080p? Are you pushing the limits of your current acquisition codec, and why specifically? Red Scarlet X Footage at ISO 320-6400 & at 3K 48fps & 4K | Cinescopophilia Three tests shot with a Scarlet ; at I...

The Best of The Black and Blue 2011 | Evan Luzi | The Black and Blue The Black and Blue blog is a great resource for the camera operator. Evan has put together a look back at the best articles of the year. Whether you’re stepping on set for the first time or the fiftieth time, reviewing the essential skills of camera assisting is never a bad idea. Even a small reminder of how or why can have a huge payoff. Below are some articles which didn’t introduce any ideas particularly revelatory or new, but reinforced old ones that have stood the test of time. Top 5 Video Production Industry Trends 2011 – Part 1 | Shawn Lam | Blog Shawn is putting together a series of the top industry trends of 2011. The first part looks at Final Cut Pro X : You can’t tell the story of the rise of Adobe Premiere Pro without first mentioning the failure of Apple Final Cut Pro X. The two stories are linked and it wasn’t so much that Adobe did anything special with their CS5.5 release that lead to their un...

C300 | Rodney Charters | Vimeo Rodney Charters shot this video of Drew Gardner and Lan Bui talking about the Canon C300 while shooting at the Billingsgate Fish Market. The BTS video was shot on the iPhone 4S . How To Make Money From Moving Image: Producing & Others | El Skid | Wide Open Camera Another article from El Skid about making it in the movie business, this time about being a Producer: Producing is a skill all of its own and should not be considered the default fall-back for those who weren’t really good enough to direct. I’m really not very good at it, I’m way too nice to people and don’t negotiate prices properly. In fact I suck at producing. Which is bad really since about 90% of the work I do carries a producer/director credit. What I like is putting projects together, pulling all the elements into place so that it can happen. The budget and the operational side I’m just not interested in, which is why I prefer to hire a production manager to take care of al...

Case Study: Rampart | HD Magazine A look at the workflow for the Arri Alexa used on the movie Rampart : “This was one of the first; if not the first; feature films to use the SxS module to shoot directly to ProRes 4:4:4:4 files,” notes FotoKem Vice President Mike Brodersen. “We did quality tests that showed the format holds up beautifully with no obvious compression issues. The images are recorded in Log C, which allows the full dynamic range of the Alexa to be captured even on relatively ‘lightweight’ media. The ease of media management and the lighter files, without the need for a big recorder or tethering, was important to Bobby in this case.” The Importance of Sound and Where You Get it From | Mario Feil | Zacuto Zacuto has been posting articles on audio lately, the latest on using music in your videos: 1-Man-Composer: I work with friends who design music by themselves with Logic or Cubase. Stock instruments and sounds are already included with these programs. They have ev...

B & H is offering the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II at $1,974, that's $400 off. The offer appears to run through Jan 7th. It's a really nice - if rather large and expensive - lens.  -  Ahh, if I only had the money....

Redrock sent out an amusing little card this year. I particularly like the microTape spelling out the greeting...

Senior Director of Professional Engineering and Solutions at Canon, Larry Thorpe presents this powerful new camera tool offering quality and innovation at an affordable price. Join us for an overview of the C300 followed by Q&A. Boston Rule Camera 395 Western Avenue Boston, MA 02135 Thursday, January 5. 6:00 to 8:00pm • Pizza and Beer Space is limited. RSVP events@rule.com

Part 1 now live!! The Christmas mini shootout with the C300 (pre-production), F3, FS100, hacked GH2 and more!! | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip has posted the first part of his Canon C300 comparison, with some interesting conclusions: Bang for buck the clear winner was the GH2 with the Driftwood hack but this is purely on resolution. The F3/ C300 are damn close to each other and the FS100 not far behind. Part 2 moves onto skin tones and low light where the camcorders come into their own. I also take a look at how well each of the internal codecs hold up to colour correction and grading. Shootout reveals Panasonic GH2 resolution at Canon C300 level | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Andrew Reid at EOSHD looks at Philip's results and rates the cameras from best ( C300 and GH2 ) to worst ( AF100 and Canon 7D ): Although that is not the full story. For example I prefer gradation, tonality, colour and shadow areas in my 5D Mark II footage to the GH2. Stuff shot on the 5D looks great on a pl...

I saw the Tintin movie - in 2D - the other night. I went in optimistic that it would be a good evenings entertainment; unfortunately, that wasn't really the case. In the interests of full disclosure: I was never a reader of the Tintin books. Though I was aware of them - and had glanced at them once or twice years ago - they never grabbed my attention. So I really knew very little about Tintin at the beginning of the movie, and came out knowing very little more. Tintin is also bring distributed in 3D (stereoscopy), but I won't be talking much about that as I only saw the movie in 2D. I will note that when watching the movie in 2D there was never a point where I felt "this is a stereoscopic set-piece" - a scene that was obviously composed to create the maximum stereoscopic effect. I've always found those scenes a little annoying in stereoscopic movies, and I even noticed it in the recent Hugo , so points to the producers for not doing that in Tintin .[ 1 ] Bu...

5D Mark III Sooner Than Later [CR2] | CanonRumors Now the rumors say sooner rather than later on the 5D Mark III . But don't be surprised if it changes again! Barring another manufacturing problem in Asia, count on the 5D Mark III being announced around the end of March or early April 2012. Don’t Hold Back Your Art | Ron Dawson | Dare Dreamer The next two posts are sort of similar. This one is an argument for putting yourself out there... Do you know what’s so ironic about my initial feelings regarding this video? It has a sound bite by designer Rick Anwyl of Sonandsons.com (the presenter the day the video was shot) saying how each of us is unique and special, and that we each have something to give. He goes on to say “Find your voice. Be confident in who you are and what you do.” I guess I need to pay more attention to my own work. Under The Circumstances: The Phrase That Means Nothing & Everything | El Skid | Wide Open Camera ....and this post argues that you sho...

I’ve had a chance the last couple of weeks to play with the Sony NEX-VG20 thanks to B & H PhotoVideo , who kindly loaned me a camera (full disclosure: I have to send it back.) The NEX-VG20 is an upgrade to the  NEX-VG10 , and one way to describe this camera is as a DSLR in a personal-camcorder body. Like a DSLR, it has a large sensor (I've read that it's the same sensor as the one in the Sony NEX-5N ),  and supports interchangeable lenses using the Sony E-mount. Like a camcorder, it has a flip-out viewfinder, a very different form factor, and a much better microphone. At $2,199 - with the $600 kit lens - this camera is not cheap, though you can buy it without the lens . Here's a list of things I like about this camera: Body shape: At first the camera just felt wrong in my hands; it wasn’t a small traditional camcorder, but it wasn’t a big body camera either. It was sort of in-between. After a week or so of handling it, I got used to it, and it actually works o...

A Year with Large Sensor cameras | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior Philip looks back at the large sensor cameras he's encountered this year, starting with the Panasonic AG-AF100 : My recommendation is to get a prime lens that is f1.4-f1.2 for producing interviews and don’t be scared to give the subject breathing space by shutting down the iris to f2.8 there is nothing worse than a person moving in and out of focus during an interview, 9 times out of 10 you won’t know that till you have started the interview wether they sway back and forth. F65 "Behind the Scenes" | Sony A five minute video on the F65, with an interview with Curtis Clark, ASC. The Sony F65 | Video4 This F65 dealer has put together an information page on the camera. You can find most of this on Sony's page, but it's all in one place here: Some camera manufacturers measure their sensor resolution on the basis of “K,” a unit that equates to 1024 horizontal photosites. So a 4K sensor might ha...