Notes On Video

First Look at the Ultra-Compact Phantom Miro M320S | AbelCine | Vimeo Vision Research has announced the  Phantom Miro M320S high-speed camera. It's described as their new flagship of ultra-compact high-speed cameras: The Miro M320S features a 12 bit, 2 Megapixel sensor that’s near the size of 35mm film, and can capture up to 1500 frames per second at 1920×1080 resolution. The M320S features an HD-SDI output for high-quality monitoring or recording and is available with all popular lens mounts. Literally fitting in the palm of your hand, the Miro weighs in at only three pounds. There's more at Studio Daily : Phantom’s Miro M320S Shoots 1080p at 1540fps | Bryant Frazer | Studio Daily The sensor has 35mm depth-of-field characteristics, and the camera is available with a variety of lens mounts, including Canon EOS, 35mm PL-mount, and Nikon F-mount and C-mount. When using the EOS (EF) mount, aperture and focus can be remote-controlled. Along with the M320S, the Miro M-Series ...

First Hands-On Review of the SONY FS700 | Frank Glencairn | Blog Frank got to play with the FS700 and provides a lot of details in this blog post: It looks like SONY has really listened to the users. We finally have that ND Filter wheel, a lot of guys where asking for. The top handle is super beefy now and feels like it is milled out of one massive block of aluminum. Also the front mount sits on a big black metal base, very solid and twice the size of the FS100 counterpart. Overall the whole body feels more rugged and solid, but gained some weight, because of all the extra metal. Adding that his FS100 is for sale, he goes on to say: Noise is about the same as in the FS100, and it looks like we lost a bit of low light sensitivity (still impressive). But the downsampled images from the new sensor are stunning and the option of future 4k raw output is amazing. Sony Professional: Introducing the Sony NEX-FS700 | Sony | Vimeo Sony Europe has posted a video on the NEX-FS700 that in...

First Look at the Sony NEX-FS700 | Andy Shipsides | CineTechnica Andy was lucky enough to get his hands on an NEX-FS700  [ for at least 7 minutes -Ed] and gives it a quick look. Some interesting things I didn't know about the camera; the buttons are raised, making them easier to operate and the handle on the top seems a lot stronger too. Oh, and the rosette is explained... Other big features of the FS700 include: Cine gammas (the same found in the PMW-F3), progressive (P/Psf) outputs over HD-SDI and HDMI, still picture shooting, 50/60hz switchable, the ability to save picture profiles to an SD card, up to 8x focus magnification, and a sturdy body design. The camera will have a newly designed handle which attaches to the camera via an Arri style rosette. NAB 2012…The story so far…Sony | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior Philip just bought a Canon C300 , so there may be an element of buyers-rationalization in this post, but he suggests that the manufacturers have jumped on the ...

The new handgrip: for NEX-FS100 users, too? | H. Paul Moon | Vimeo FS700 Group Paul Moon noticed something interesting in the FS700 product photos on Facebook ; the handgrip on the FS700 has changed; it adds a rocker switch, amongst other things. Could it work with the FS100 ? What lenses will it control? [ Note ; the PMW-F3 was released with a rocker, but it took Sony to release a lens that worked with it!] One of the other things people disliked about the FS100  is the comparatively flimsy, and not always seemingly securely attaching handgrip. Perhaps Sony has upgraded the handgrip: See the zoom rocker? Clearly Sony has an E-mount lens with servo motor (for zoom control) in the works, though it is not on their official lens roadmap for the next few years. Another thing: there is more than just Start/Stop on that handgrip (iris, photo shutter and expanded focus), but if NEX-FS100 users luck out: (1) it's the same LANC cable with the same 1/8" plug; Sony Professional ...

NEX-FS700 As seems to be a habit for Sony, they pre-announced some cameras yesterday - a good two weeks before NAB. Sort of ruins the whole, surprise, doesn't it? The NEX-FS700 looks interesting; I liked the FS100 but I really wished it had ND filters so that I didn't have to bother with ND filters in front of the lens. Sony has listened to me! (and lots of other people that mentioned this short-coming when the FS100 was released.) Oh, and thrown in the promise of 4K as well. One of the things I like about the Canon  C300 is the built-in ND, though the built-in Canon mount is attractive too, for someone with a collections of Canon glass. So maybe now I can go back to lusting after a Sony. The only wrinkle; I suspect that the FS700 will be several thousand more than the FS100 , putting it out of my price range. Perhaps the FS100 will come down in price, and I'll just have to make-do?! Sony ProUSA Facebook page: Sony Expands NXCAM Line With New Full-HD Supe...

Yesterday was April Fools Day , making trawling for news a rather hectic affair. Here's a few things that came along, who knows whether they are true or not! Video Shootout: Nikon D800 vs. Canon 5D MkIII | Dan Chung | DSLR Shooter A very thorough report from Dan, primarily on the Nikon D800 , with comparisons to the Canon 5D Mark III along the way. Nikon seems to have definitely upped their game in video, with new features. The image is sharper than the Canon: This does give the D800 an advantage for news shooters on tight deadlines who do not want to have to post-process files. In-camera sharpening can be turned up on the 5D mkIII, but this introduced some haloing effects and a slightly artificial quality to the image that I didn’t like – a possible compromise is to turn up sharpness just one step above zero. FCP X: Native vs. Optimize vs. Proxy Media | Larry Jordan | Blog Larry explains the differences between media in Final Cut Pro X : Optimized media is always ProR...

Head-to-Head Video Comparison of the Nikon D4, D800, Canon 5D Mark III & Canon 5D Mark II DSLR | Cameratown At the moment this is just a low-light ISO comparison of the four cameras - more is promised later: Based on these video comparisons it is clear that the king of low-light is the Nikon D4 ($6000), followed closely by the Canon 5D Mark III ($3500). In third place is the Canon 5D Mark II ($2100) and in last place for ISO noise suppression is the new Nikon D800 ($3000). Please note that this is just based on ISO noise levels in video mode. Nikon D800 vs Canon 5D mkIII boxing test | DSLRNewsShooter | YouTube Jello comparison: Side by side rolling shutter test of the Nikon D800 and Canon 5D mkIII at the Gleasons gym in New York. Do not use this clip to assess anything more than rolling shutter performance as the white balance and exposure are not optimally set for either camera. A TALE OF TWO LED LIGHTS – LITEPANELS 1×1 COMPARED TO A MANDA CN 900-HSA | Matt Allard | ...

Canon C300 News Roundup First the Good News: EOS C300 receives coveted broadcaster approval | Canon Europe The C300 receives the BBC's stamp of approval: Canon has announced that the groundbreaking EOS C300, the first camera in Canon’s Cinema EOS System, has met the standards the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) requires from cameras tested to the European Broadcasting Union’s recommendation EBU R118 for High Definition TV production. CANON C300: Trimming White Balance, Plus a Look at Daylight vs. Tungsten Color | Art Adams This may not seem completely good news; it's an article about how the C300 white balance isn't totally "white," but it offers some tips to address this: This isn’t unusual at all. A lot of cameras do this. Even the Arri Alexa white balances cyan, which is why I use it primarly on preset—and even then I have to pull some green out of the image to suit my taste. (For daylight I use 5600K CC-3 preset, and under tungsten light I u...

Canon Rumors. Possible 4K HDSLR. Why I’m Not Buying A 5D3 Just Yet | Jared Abrams | WideOpenCamera Repeat after me: "there will always be a better camera in the future." Though I will admit that the time between releases seems to be accelerating. Jared explains why he isn't buying a camera right now: Canon Rumors is reporting a possible 4K DSLR from Canon on April 16th at NAB 2012. There is also another event on the 15th. Two big announcements from Canon on the heels of the new 5D3 makes me want to wait and see what will be shown at NAB. I also think we may see a 4K camera from Sony. Hustle: Color Grading Canon C300 Footage | Chris Portal | Blog Chris blogs about the other half of this weeks presentation at the Boston Creative Pro Users Group : The whole color grading process took a total of 7-8 hours over the span of 2 days. Having worked with 5D, 7D, Alexa, Red, 16mm, 35mm, and now C300 footage, Rob described the C300 footage as having significantly more latitud...

Hot news for those waiting for NAB announcements; the Sony leaks have started appearing! EOSHD reports: The Sony NEX FS700 – 4K for $8k At NAB 2012 next month, Sony will shake the digital cinema market to its core. Sony’s answer to the C300 is a 4K Super 35mm update to the FS100. It will be available in June for a provisional $8000. My source (based in Taiwan) says that the FS700 does 4K via 3G HD-SDI to an external recorder. The FS700 is said to include 3 internal ND filters yet retains the NEX E-mount. Looks like they found some space for those missing FS100 NDs after all! ND filters and 4K for under $10K? Where do I sign up?! They claim that it will be in the same body as the FS100 ; but this seems unlikely to me...it might resemble the FS100 , but they'd have to do some surgery to put in ND filters. Of course, just because last year they told us they couldn't put ND filters in there because there wasn't enough space, doesn't mean that they won't suddenly...

Last night's Boston Creative Pro User Group meeting at Rule Boston Camera featured pizza and beer, Carl Peer of Canon U.S.A. discussing the Canon 5D Mark III , and Rob Bessette , colorist at Finish Post discussing grading the short " Hustle " (shot on the Canon C300 and graded on DaVinci Resolve .) I'm not going to write at length about the meeting as they were video taping it, so it's probably is going to appear on the web near you somewhere soon. But here's the pieces that stood out to me: Canon 5D Mark III ISO 25600 on the Mark III is about equivalent to 6400 on the Mark II   How are you reducing Moiré? "It starts at the sensor, but then afterwards, it is about how you are going from 22MP down to a 1920 x 1080 image, which is about 3MP. So how you get down into that is how you are going to reduce moiré in the large scale. On the small scale, it does happen at the sensor, but on the large scale, it is about how you are reducing that [frame si...

The C300 and the Ice Cream Factory for “You and your Canon C300″ | Philip Johnston | HD Warrior Despite the title, this is not a post about shooting with the Canon C300 . It's about looking for "the shot," and creating visually interesting shots with some imagination and lighting: I planted two 600W LED lights behind the mixtures but the white light destroyed the effect I was looking for so I added red and yellow gells to the lights and then added a third camera light at the back and lay a blue gel on top of it. Review of the Canon 5DmkIII now with full video review and footage | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip has expanded his review, adding a 17 minute video that you can view on his blog or on Vimeo: "I am much happier with this camera now, than I was a few days ago when I first got it." There's some nice footage of New Zealand too: EDIT: After doing some experimenting do some work on it in post. Bit of grading and post sharpening the footage is coming ...

C300, the good the bad and the ugly! | Paul Joy | Blog More on the color aliasing issues in highlights with the Canon C300 : As you can see the issue appears as alternating green and red pixels which is really distracting and darn right nasty to look at when watching the moving images. I’ve done a lot of testing with this issue now and it happens with any lens, at any aperture and with or without ND engaged. It happens regardless of any picture profiles or gammas too. Panasonic GH2 vs 5D Mark III | Andrew Reid | EOSHD PanasonicHD Except for the shallower depth of field and color rendition (for some things) that the Mark III provides, Andrew really prefers the GH2 : The 5D Mark III is an incredible stills camera and the sensor is much improved in low light. However the video image is not really an improvement on a nearly 4 year old predecessor aside from cleaning up a bit of moire. The 5D Mark III is as soft as the 5D Mark II, and almost as poor as the old 550D and 600D, the im...

At the MIT forum " Documentary Film and New Technologies " I was taken by this answer from Patricia Zimmermann to a question about the difficulty - particularly with interactive work - of knowing which platform to use. I found the answer fascinating because it is really about the longevity of mediums. I look at the floppy disks I still have lying around, with documents created in old applications; should I be trying to preserve them? or should I be thinking of the medium as more like theater; something that exists for a moment - or a year - in time, and is then gone? Q: How do you deal with the broad question of the instability of platforms? What does an aspiring young documentarian do facing not only the enormous number of choices, but also the deep, deep question about whether the chosen platform will be around in five years? What do we do about being in a moment where platforms are very instable? I’d like to take this on. It’s interesting to me when you use the words...