Notes On Video

Yesterday Sony Europe hosted a webchat on the new NEX-EA50 . For the next 30 days you can read an archive of the webchat here : http://www.bit.ly/NXCAMchat . Below is an edited version of the chat (primarily I have grouped the answers with the questions): Q: Why no ND filters? Alvaro Ortiz:  ND filters included on FS700 were completely newly developed, and they are extra-thin due to the short flange-back distance (sensor to mount), so their inclusion on EA50 would've involved a significant increase of price Kanta: The FS700E has the ND filter in it but it makes body big and it is rather costy part. For EA50EH, you can find several types of variable ND filter from optical filter manufacturer, which gives you seamless ND control. Q: I have the Sony EX3 with the ST-7 Shoulder mount with heavy duty battery fitted. I can see that this cam has a shoulder mount that can be retracted and used how ever is there provision for a heavy duty batter to be added? Dave:  the...

The Year Sony Kicks Ass | Michael Britt | PhotoCineNews Some people are thrilled by Sony's new full-frame camera announcements, the A99 DSLR, NEX-VG900 camcorder and RX1 : The full frame Sony Alpha A99 DSLR style camera is everything you’d expect from a company trying to dethrone the 5DMkIII. Full frame sensor, check. Amazing OLED electronic viewfinder, check. Great low light performance, check. 6 Frames per second capture rate, check. Uncompressed video out via HDMI (like the MarkIII should have had), check. Microphone and headphone monitoring jack, check. Sony NEX-VG900 Lens Sample | Focus Pulling | Vimeo Sony NEX-VG900 Lens Sample from Focus Pulling (.com) on Vimeo . IBC2012: Blackmagic Cinema Camera |  FilmTVVideo | YouTube Stuart Ashton, Director EMEA at Blackmagic Design, explains the concept and the handling of the Cinema Camera from Blackmagic Design. Tamron's new full-frame lenses: 90mm macro, 70-200mm tele | Stephen Shankland | C|net ...

Sony A99 Field Test with NEX-VG900 Preview | TheCameraStoreTV | YouTube In addition to the VG900 , Sony also announced a full-frame sensor DSLR, the A99 : The A99 is Sony's new flagship, with the SLT design promising amazing autofocus. To test this, Chris Niccolls from The Camera Store went to Wild Rose Motocross Park to see how the stills and video stack up.Also this episode, Jordan Drake takes a quick look at the Sony VG900, the first full frame camcorder. Sony A99 revealed with new video optimised full frame sensor | Andrew Reid | EOSHD On the audio side there are on-screen meters, a mic socket, headphone jack and even a XLR battery grip (XLR-K1M) for $800 which includes a shotgun mic. There’s a ‘silent’ control dial on the front of the camera. It isn’t a touch control though. The codec is AVCHD 2.0 and for the first time we officially have 1080/60p on a full frame DSLR. 24p/25p are there too but no word on whether it is region switchable yet. Sony NEX-VG900 Camc...

(SR5) First picture of the Full Frame E-mount VG-900! | SonyAlphaRumors Rumors are that Sony is going to announce another camcorder that's full-frame (not Super35 or APS-C), uses the E-mount, and will be called something like the NEX-VG900 and cost about $3,000. How that fits together with the already announced Sony NEX-EA50 and the existing  NEX-FS100 , which are also in the same approximate price, is a puzzle I'll leave to Sony: This is the first image of the first E-mount Full Frame camera! It’s actually a camcorder to be correct, the new VG-900. [...] It finally proves that a FF sensor indeed fits into an E-mount.  First Impressions: Sony NEX VG-900 | CHRIS GAMPAT | The Phoblographer Before today's Quick Links was even posted, the camera has been confirmed! It appears very similar to the Sony NEX-VG20 (which is now replaced by the NEX-VG30) . I'm really curious to see what the image looks like, and how this camera fits in between all the others (the VG20 a...

JUST C IT ! (EOS C100) | Sebastien DEVAUD | Vimeo The promo movie for the new Canon C100 proves that if you use a common element in all the shots of your movie, you don't need to have a coherent story. Though why is that guy shooting with a Canon XA10 on the beach, rather than the C100 ? That's the one thing I don't understand: Earlier this year, i was contacted by Canon Inc to create a new exclusive film for the worldwide launch of the new EOS Cinema camera : The EOS C100Given the difficult task awaiting me, I decided to call upon and challenge the C’brothers to highlight and validate the strenghts of this new technology…Join the new C generation !Just C it ! was shot with three C100 bodies and 12 EF lenses. AVCHD compress recorded on SD Card You can see the behind the scenes movie here: Sample Movie | Canon Japan Canon to Nex adapter with AF | EOSHD Forum Link to a video showing a Canon EF to NEX E-Mount lens adapter that includes Auto Focus control. Of course...

IBC 2012: Den Lennie Talks to DOP John Brawley about the M4/3 Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera  | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter My good friend Den Lennie has been at IBC in Amsterdam this weekend. He got a chance to speak to DOP John Brawley about the new M4/3 Blackmagic Design cinema camera. Brawley has been working with Blackmagic Design to develop the camera. This is what they had to say: DAY 6 – Are you listening? Audio and the BMCC | Frank Glencairn | Blog Frank continues his diary on the Blackmagic camera, this time looking at sound: Q Since the BMCC has no VU meters (yet), how do I see what my levels are? A: You need a outboard monitor anyway, so get one, that has build in VU meters. Even if BM updates the camera with VU meters, they are still on the build in monitor, where they are hard to see under certain lighting conditions. KineRAW-S35 (tm) I1 2K boxed 1920x1080 full range (grade a1) "Daisies and Windmills" | Dan Hudgins | Vimeo Some video from that C...

At this year's IBC, Cinematographer Roger Deakins talked about using the Arri Alexa . Deakins has been using the Alexa for some time, and recently completed shooting the latest Bond film, Skyfall . The ARRIChannel Twitter feed had the following comments from Deakins: UPDATE: They've also posted a video of the event (below): "There was so much more latitude in ALEXA than a 4K scan of film" when he first tested it for In Time Deakins on resolution race: "there is such a thing that is too much resolution, it becomes too sharp and synthetic" Deakins feels ALEXA can mimic film identically by adding grain "You can get there with the image but you can take it elsewhere as well" "Now when I go to the cinema & when I see grain, I don't like it. It's too much for me." Roll-off of highlights and detail in shadows is what he likes about ALEXA vs other digital cameras Deakins manipulated color temperature in camera on ALEXA...

What's The Big Deal With Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera's M4/3 Lens Mount? | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter Blackmagic announces a new version of their Cinema Camera: The newly announced passive M4/3 mount Blackmagic Design cinema camera (BMCC) presents a more attractive proposition to many shooters than it’s sister the EOS mount BMCC. Why? because it opens up a whole range of lens options that are otherwise impossible or difficult to mount on the EOS version of the BMCC.  EPIC-M Monochrome | Jarred Land | RED Forum RED announces a Black & White camera Newly Developed Mysterium-X Monochrome Sensor.  Native ASA 2000. Increased net resolution ( Removal of the debayer process, so every single individual pixel is used for luminance / image data ) New Low Pass Filter with to accomodate the reduced pixel pitch ( 1x1 vs 2x2 Bayer ) $42,000 ( brain only ) includes upgrade to Dragon Monochrome Sensor spring 2013.  Canon C100 | Zacuto Zacuto highl...

Video review of the BlackMagic Cinema Camera!! | Philip Bloom | Blog Philip has posted his video review of the Blackmagic Design  Cinema Camera: I for one will continue to use my C300 for the bulk of my work as the workflow is way faster, the image super sharp and the dynamic range just a stop less than this camera. It isn’t raw though or prores HQ…but as most of my work is documentary work the C300 is by far the best choice for me…yes for me…It is an expensive camera and way out of the budget of many. Shipping thread - Blackmagic Cinema Camera | EOSHD Forum Looks like the camera has been delayed: The camera's production has been hobbled by a parts shortage. Terry from Blackmagic:"Would love to give dates and a more exact timeline, but right now we can't until we get info on when that slow to arrive component will arrive in bulk. When we know that, we will communicate when we will be shipping in volume right away." Blackmagic in New Orleans | Diamond Bl...

Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Chris Hocking | LateNightFilms Some impressions of this new camera: This is NOT an RED Scarlet or Alexa replacement, but if you have a no-budget shoot, or if you need a decent “B Camera”, then this is a fantastic option. This camera is incredibly cheap for what it does – but at the end of the day you get what you pay for. Dungeness shot on the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera | Philip Bloom | Vimeo Philip is working on a full review, but has posted this video first: One thing I found on this pre-release camera is there is a touch of pink in the highlights when using ProRes HQ. BMD are aware, and it will be fixed for release. This doesn’t happen in the raw. The ProRes is beautiful. Sharp, flat as hell (very log-c Alexa like) and way easier workflow than raw. Canon C300 vs Blackmagic Cinema Camera – chart test | Andrew Reid | EOSHD A resolution comparison, note that Andrew also saw the same color issue: Considering how the C300 is probably the ...

IFA show report – Sony FS700 4K firmware due in a few weeks for same price as F3 S-LOG upgrade? | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Some tantalizing details on the 4K upgrade for the Sony NEX-FS700: Encouragingly this 4K firmware update is ‘weeks away’ according to Sony, unless that strategy changes or any unforeseen consequences occur. I asked about pricing and I am told it will be similar to the S-LOG upgrade for the Sony F3 which currently retails for £500 + VAT at CVP in the UK. It is just a firmware update.  Exploring Frame Rates and Resolutions On A Phantom Flex High Speed Camera | Tom Guilmette | Blog In most cases during our test, in order to capture a bullet leaving the barrel of the gun, we had to be out on the open range. The Phantom was not doing well under the shade of the small roof that was over our heads. You will see in some of the 10,000 frame per second shots, the footage is grainy. I had to work on it in post because it was so dark in the Phantom Flex viewfinder and...

The importance of story As I already mentioned, my daughter started college last week. The school organized a number of activities for parents, including a tour of three of the arts buildings. The film/video building particularly caught my attention. On the video side, they are using Final Cut Pro 7 and FCPX , but are thinking about going to Adobe Premiere CS6 . It’s a liberal arts college, and their focus (in all the schools) is more on the theory and principles of how to do things, rather than getting hung up on the software and equipment. I think that’s a good thing. One of the tour speakers mentioned that a few students had already shot projects with the RED camera, but that you could do almost as good with DSLRs. As he said, you can now create something that looks as good as a Hollywood movie, and that will get the viewers attention for the first five minutes, but what happens after the first five minutes? Then it’s all about the story. I seem to hear that a lot from other ...

It isn't shipping yet, but there's already been some price fluctuations on the Sony NEX-EA50 . The day it was announced, B & H were listing it at $4,000 U.S., but the next day it was changed to $4,500. Today I notice that it's listing at $3,599 , and that's with the 18-200mm servo zoom lens. Another variable; in the interview on DSLR News Shooter , a Sony rep mentioned that in some markets it would be sold without the lens and microphone, which would drop the price even further. At the moment, there's no sign of that option here in the US. Of course, if you're going to buy this camera, the servo-zoom lens would be very useful... I'm curious to see if the price sticks at $3,599, or changes some more (in either direction.) Obviously, $1,000 makes a significant difference for this camera.

In the RAW | John Brawley | Blog John's been playing with the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera for some time now, and offers these thoughts on working in RAW: A RAW workflow asks a lot from those who would use it.  Firstly, it pretty much demands an extra *processing* step.  In the same way shooting on film meant you had to “process” the film.  The same thing happens with raw workflows, and you can’t realistically use the RAW files to edit with.  You have to transcode them into more edit friendly forms. There are two ways to approach this. Sony's FS100 vs. Blackmagic's Cinema Camera: a Low-Light Showdown | Joe Marine | No Film School Joe offers his thoughts on the low-light test shot by Frank Glencairn: As far as noise goes, yes, it exists. There is no noise reduction happening in the camera, unlike the FS100 which is getting a little bit of noise reduction through the image pipeline as well as a smoothing of the noise thanks to the AVCHD codec. Eithe...