Notes On Video

BlackMagic Design Cinema Camera Black Magic Cinema Camera (BMCC) Beautiful & Befuddling | Vinvent Laforet | Blog Vincent writes at length about the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera , praising the image; " I think that this camera produces one of the most beautiful images in the cinema/video market ," but his biggest concern is the image sensor size, and the fact that it has an EF mount, making it difficult to find good, wide lenses to use with the camera: The single most “befuddling” decision with this camera is the choice of such a small sensor size.   My guess is that it was one based on economics and how a larger sensor would not only be more expensive to produce, but also the fact that having to process RAW images from a larger sensor at 30fps would also lead to much more expensive internal hardware within the camera.   Andrew Reid | Twitter Awesome news from @brawlster the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is now shipping. Reckon I will get mine on the 7th-10th all...

I'm dropping my daughter off at College today. Why am I paying for someone else to take a bunch of classes I'd like to take? Twice I've watched webinars on Adobe Speedgrade, and I still don't have a clue how to do the basics in the program. That either says something about webinars, or about Speedgrade. Or maybe my attention span. The more intrigued I become by the Canon C100, the more I wonder; didn't you say you couldn't afford the Sony NEX-FS700? It's two days after appealing the take down notice I got from YouTube, and I haven't heard a peep from them, not even acknowledging the appeal, or explaining what the next step in the process is. When I went to College it just seemed like another thing I was expected to do, and I didn't really care about any of it. Now it seems like an exciting, interesting place. Of course, now I'd take completely different classes...why did I ever think I should do a Bachelor of Engineering? Something abou...

Lasst week I interviewed Tim Mangini for Filmmaker Magazine . Tim is the Director of Broadcast for WGBH's Frontline, and he is an incredible source of information. I came away with so much that, even with heavy editing, we ended up posting it in two parts, with a side bar that explains Frontline's typical production schedule: FRONTLINE’S PRODUCTION SCHEDULE | Filmmaker Magazine Episodes of Frontline have an average eight-to-twelve month gestation period from the time they are awarded to the time they go to air. “We might have some programs that go two or five years, and we have some programs that are done in a matter of weeks, but the average is eight to 12 months” explains Tim Mangini, Frontline’s Director of Broadcast. DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION AT FRONTLINE: INTERVIEW WITH TIM MANGINI, PART 1 | Filmmaker Magazine Filmmaker : So you don’t recommend cameras? Mangini : Along the way we’ve certainly learned a lot about different types of cameras, and what they do and what th...

Canon has gone and announced the baby brother to the C300 , the C100 : The Canon EOS C100 EF Cinema Camcorder (Body Only) inherits the design concept of the EOS C300, which put DSLR quality video in a groundbreaking form factor with the key features of a more traditional video camera. The C100 has been optimized for run-and-gun and one-man-band style shooting, a specialty of event videographers, documentarians and independent filmmakers. This camera is about 15% smaller than the C300, and yet its 1080p image will hold-up nicely beside that of the more expensive camera. The C100 even has a few features not found in the C300, like One Shot AF, Push Auto Iris, a built-in microphone and non-compression HDMI out with superimposed timecode and 2:3 pull down marker. With built-in ND and half the price of the C300 (estimated $8,000) it will make an interesting competitor to the Sony NEX-FS700 . I think this will be very popular; there are a lot of people that really wanted a C300 but had a...

YouTube thinks I've posted music illegally, which is ironic because I have; just not the video that they think. But a bit of history first. A few years back I shot some video at a James Blunt concert. I posted it, and it got a few hits (nothing spectacular) and his label immediately protested it and had it taken down. Back then YouTube just sent you a notice it had been removed and told you not to do it again. Actually, it was good that they did, because the video was appalling bad - think cell phone at a concert quality -  and it's removal saves me the embarrassment of having to admit I actually attended a James Blunt concert. (In my defense, it was a free concert with a bunch of acts, and I didn't go to see him - honest.) But I digress. The video that they are all upset about this time has some music taken from the Apple Final Cut Pro 7 sound library. Now it's my understanding that this music comes with permission to use it, providing you weren't repacka...

Canon EF Mounts For All | Matthew Duclos | Circle of Confusion Matthew looks at the Canon EF mount, and it's use by more camera manufacturers, including RED and Blackmagic Design: A fine tool for still photography, the Canon EF mount is a bastard child to it’s cinematic parents. The resolution of the focus control is determined by the lens motors and other components that have nothing to do with the camera. The aperture can only be adjusted in 1/4 stop increments and cannot be pulled smooth for transition shots. Nothing devastating, but certainly isn’t helping the fight for the Canon EF mount to be the go-to motion picture lens mount. BIRTV 2012: GL OPTICS ZEISS ZE CINEMA LENS CONVERSIONS FOR EOS MOUNT | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter A Chinese firm that converts Zeiss still photo lenses into cine style lenses for a reasonable fee, but you have to send them to China for the conversion: Chinese firm GL Optics is going one further and adding a proper mechanical aperture to...

First Hands on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera – Test Diary | Frank Glencairn | Blog Frank is doing a daily blog of his experiences with the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera . First the unboxing, and now a low-light test: DAY 2 – Breaking out the big gunsAs you might know, I have a nice set of vintage (late 1960s) Zeiss primes.I think they complement the BMCC very well, if you are out for a organic look. Here is a quick and dirty lowlight test between two thunderstorms.800 ISO on a Tokina 12-24 f4 at 12mm (hence the muddy edges). 5D Mark III or Blackmagic Cinema Camera? | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Andrew Reid explains why the BDCC is a better choice than the Canon 5D ; though I think it's still a little too soon to make a real pick: Canon had a good run with the 5D Mark III but now what they need is a C100 for around $4000. Though I have never felt at a disadvantage with the 1.86x crop sensor on a GH2 over the FS100′s 1.5x, I am sure a Super 35mm C100 will look better to many...

Why is the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Such a Big Deal? | Joe Marine | No Film School If you’re shooting in RAW mode, you have even more freedom. The big reason this camera is so special at this price point is because it lets you focus on storytelling. You’re not compensating for the camera, you’re actually using the camera to push you to tell the story in a more creative way. Lan Bui ‏@lanbui | Twitter New @zacuto product coming soon... a proper iPhone case and system. Hey, stop photo bombing @philipbloom http://instagr.am/p/OxbC35MDLM/ Final Cut Pro X Tutorial Pt. 30 - Sound Effects Library | Dan Allen | YouTube In this HD Voice tutorial for Apple Final Cut Pro 10 we learn about the Final Cut Pro Sound Effects Library which is available under the meny 'Final Cut Pro' - 'Download Additional Content' - We can then access it via the audio library, by either searching or using the sub-folders, then simply dragging and dropping into the timeline / storyline ADDITIO...

It was 43 years ago that man landed on the Moon. And 40 years ago that the last man stepped foot on the Moon. The best book I have read about what it's like to be an astronaut is Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys by Michael Collins, who was the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 11. The one that didn't set foot on the Moon. Collins says in his book that Armstrong actually said: That's one small step for A man; A giant leap for mankind But a drop-out in the radio transmission cut out the 'a'. The quote makes more sense with the 'a,' but try telling that to everyone that constantly quotes it without. WBUR: Neil Armstrong, First Man To Walk On The Moon, Dies

Filmmaker will not believe me on this: NEX-VG900 Full Frame E-mount camera for a tiny bit more than 3.000 Euro! | SonyAlphaRumors Hmmm...if true, wow! Though that equals ~$4,000US, which would place it in the same price as the NEX-EA50 ... Oh, one more, thing, will the E-mount support a full-frame sensor? Sony will announce the new NEX-VG900 at around mid September. It is a Full Frame E-mount camcorder (Full Frame in photographic terms!). And it costs just a bit over 3.000 Euro! It records 1080p60 in AVCHD format (24Mbps/s). A FF camcorder for 3.xxx Euro is something almost unbelievable. Short overview of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera menus | Sebastian Wiegärtner | Facebook Short overview of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera menus. Excuse bad audio quality, recorded with my iPhone 4! Unboxing BMCC | Frank Glencairn | YouTube FOR THE RECORD:This is my first and last unboxing video ever .... I mean it, really.I did it just because I had a ton of requests bombing my ma...

Canon  C500 Price finally out... 20 000£ | Jim Martin | DVXUser I've been told that Canon will have a press release out either at the end of this week or next week regarding delivery and price on the C500, pricing on the smaller cinema zooms shown at NAB....and maybe something else! As soon as its out, we'll have it up on our site. Rumored high megapixels Canon EOS-3D X and EOS-7D Mark II cameras | Photo Rumors Rumors of new cameras from Canon are heating up: Canon EOS-3D X specifications: 46 MP 3.7 frame per second Dual DIGIC 5+ ISO: (25) 50-6400 (12800) VIDEO INTERVIEW: SONY’S NEX EA50 DEMONSTRATED | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter Dan gets to play with the new Sony at the BIRTV show in Beijing. Dan thinks the image out of the NEX-EA50 is better than the NEX-5N , but Sony isn't yet saying whether the chip is the same. It appears that - at least in some markets - Sony will be selling it with and without the lens: The camera feels very light in the hand a...

The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera   [B&H: $2,995] hasn't arrived yet - though some people are being promised it soon - but they have created a new forum for the camera, and have posted some files captured with the camera: Blackmagic Forum | Cinematography | John Brawley | Forum To launch this new forum, BMD are making Cinema DNG files available to download. These DNG's from my recent shoot with director Ben Phelps, Afterglow. Afterglow was done with a shipping version of the camera though it's likely that the software will have been updated by the time many of you get your cameras. AFTERGLOW – DNG’s are out in the wild | John Brawley | Blog John writes about the content himself: A RAW workflow means the sensor data is recorded in camera but not processed until the images are loaded in post where the user can either choose to keep the settings that were selected by the cinematographer at the time of shooting or choose and optimize for a different set of setti...

About a week ago my MacBook Pro's trackpad started acting up. I did a Google search and the first thing that came up was that excessive heat could cause the trackpad to misbehave. And the MacBook Pro had been feeling a bit toasty lately. I installed the Fan Control control panel, and was running the Activity Monitor app as well to see what was going on. Things seemed okay, though I couldn't figure out what the graphic in Fan Control meant. But the temp it reported was mostly okay, and it seemed the fans were working. But the trackpad seemed to be getting worse, no matter how frequently I'd put the computer to sleep "to cool down." I definitely thought it was temperature related; it seemed to get worse the longer I used it. I did notice a couple of things along the way that were unexpected; Word 2001  (with it's PowerPC emulation) can suck up more processing cycles than Word 2010 . Sometimes. Oh, and the Google Talk plugin was running and sucking up...

THE WEEK IN CAMERAS: SONY NEX-EA50 AND ZACUTO SHOOTOUT | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine I look at the Sony NEX-EA50 , and the controversy over the Zacuto shootout: What is the Internet without a bit of controversy? Last week Zacuto released the third and final part of their “Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout.” The second episode had already created controversy when Gizmodo reported that no less than Francis Ford Coppola preferred the Panasonic GH2 over the Sony FS65. Tutorial - After Effects Part 5 - Windows and Tabs | Chris Fenwick | One On One Many people get confused when they accidentally close too many windows in After Effects and can’t get stuff back to where it was, let alone where they want it. This video will show you around how to customize your windows and tabs. Mac Pro RAID setup | Paul Joy | Blog Paul documents setting up a new RAID: It took 15 hours for the RAID 5 set to build. Once complete the common ‘This Disk needs to be initialised” appeared on my ...

Ep. 9 - Notes On Video | Need Creative Podcast | Anticipate Media I'm on the latest episode of the Need Creative podcast. I have to say, Paul does an amazingly great job on this show; how does he manage to talk so long without going 'umm' or 'ahhh' and soud so coherent? I don't know how he does it. Anyway, it was fun to chat with him and Jason, and talk about the new Sony NEX-EA50 , the Zacuto shootout, this blog, and my acting tips: In this ninth episode of the NeedCreative Podcast, your co-hosts Paul Antico and Jason Sidelinger were joined by Special Guest via Skype (a very clean connection this time), Michael Murie of the Notes on Video Blog, to discuss the past week's events in indie filmmaking and technology, and to discuss universal themes in storytelling. CAMERAS: The Zacuto Fallout Continues | Art Adams | ProVideoCoalition Art continues documenting the reporting from Zacuto's camera shootout: The other problem is that every article firs...

I'm very interested in the just announced Sony NEX-EA50 ; partly because of the form factor (an ENG layout is more useful for the kinds of things I shoot) and partly because of the price. That said, I do have some questions about it that I hope will get answered soon. Some are important, and some are just out of curiosity: What sensor/processor is in there? Is it the same as the NEX-5N , or is it upgraded? It's obviously not the same sensor as the NEX-FS100 , which is a 3.43MP sensor, vs the NEX-EA50 's 16.1 MP. It seems likely that the low-light performance won't be quite as good and there will be more moire effects. What is the sensor size? Sony uses Super35 designation for the NEX-FS100 and APS-C for the NEX-EA50 , though the two are very close. I've seen the EA50 quoted as being 23.6 x 15.8, yet other numbers are often quoted for APS-C. The NEX-FS100 is quoted as being 23.6 x 13.3 mm. Is it just that APS-C adds more pixels for the still picture aspec...

John Brawley long interview on the BMDCC | EOSHD Some info on the upcoming BlackMagic Design Cinema Camera : It's finally confirmed, rolling shutter is a feature, which is weird if they're using the rumoured Beyer Dynamics sensor, as that one has a global shutter mode. If that's indeed the sensor, it would make a lot of sense to use that mode, or even better, have the option to go between the global shutter mode at 24/25/30fps and the 60fps rolling shutter mode it's capable of, but it probably isn't even using that sensor. New Sony NEX-EA50EH shoulder mount 35mm camcorder. Power Zoom lens for FS100 and FS700 | Alister Chapman | XDCAM User Getting back to the camera, because the sensor is a 16.1MP APS-C sensor designed originally for still photos, there will be more moire and aliasing than you would see from a dedicated video camera sensor because the optical low pass filter is designed for still photo resolutions as opposed to HD video. Although based on the...