Notes On Video

EOS C300/EOS C300PL, Firmware Version 1.0.8.1.00  | Canon Canon officially releases a firmware fix for the color fringe issues in early C300's: Firmware Version 1.0.8.1.00 incorporates the following fixes and improvements: Some of the EF lens products that can be mounted on the camera can be controlled more reliably. Corrections to the Spanish and German language texts in the View Assistance function [View Assist.]. Efforts to correct image color fringing when a subject is of high contrast have been made. Note: Firmware version 1.0.7.1.00 incorporates items 2 and 3 above. Battle of the Bokeh - Canon, Nikon Sigma 35mm f/1.4 | DigitalRev Battle of the Bokeh is back and we're looking at some fast 35mm lenses from Canon, Nikon and Sigma with the Canon 35mm 1.4L, Nikon 35mm G AF-S and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM, respectively. This time, however, it's up to you to vote, and the video shows you the results of the blind-bokeh test. Which lens has the best bokeh? Visualizin...

Testing the Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Blake | The Martini Shot You need to use the right camera for each job. And while the BMCC will work in a lot of situations, it wouldn't be ideal in others. I personally feel it's a great fit for medium to low budget commercial work and narrative indie films.  It'll also probably get a lot of work as a B Camera to Alexas on bigger shoots. Documentary or run and gun stuff? Not ideal.  RED Epic versus Blackmagic Cinema Camera – Part 2 – Resolution and conclusion | Andrew Reid | EOSHD At 1080p, the Epic still has an advantage in fine detail and how clean the image is – if you think 5K doesn’t make a difference on the web think again! That amount of oversampling makes for a very sharp image relative to the 1080p workhorse cameras such as the Canon C300. BUT – the false colour streaks become a bit more noticeable.Raw on the Blackmagic looks cleaner at 1080p than native 1080p in ProRes on the camera. This is why I prefer to buy a fe...

Dear Avid Community | Avid Louis Hernandez replaces Gary Greenfield as Avid president/CEO: From my perspective, Avid has never been better positioned to deliver products and solutions that help meet your current and future business challenges. Over the past 25 years, Avid has built a strong heritage of industry leadership with the customers who create the most listened to, most watched, and most loved entertainment in the world. 10 Rules for a Successful Interview | Larry Jordan | Blog 1. Who Are You. Be able to explain what your company does in a single, succinct paragraph. You get BONUS points if you can avoid using words like: “solutions,” any acronym with more than three letters, or hyphenated-techno-speak. If you can’t explain it in English, no one listening will understand you. Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting | Oscars.org The Academy's Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting is an international screenwriting competition established ...

Reader Varun Gathani added the following comment to the post: The Canon C300 or the Sony FS700? Hey Guys, I've read what all of you guys have had to say... and I agree with all of valid points made. For me the only two options at this point is either to buy an FS700 or Not! As thats all i can afford right now. However would you guys say its a better option to a Canon 5d Mark 3 or a 1D with its 4K for that matter. I am really confused weather FS 700 is worth investing all my savings into? Varun, One of the most important things to remember is that there is no perfect camera, no one-size-fits-all, and no one 'right' answer that applies to everyone... That said, if I was trying to decide between the Sony NEX-FS700 , the Canon 5D Mark III or the Canon 1D C , I'd pick the NEX-FS700 every time. Why? Because it's a video camera. It has built-in ND filters, good audio monitoring, an LCD that's pretty good for monitoring, XLR audio inputs, and on and on. ...

It’s not exactly video related, but I’m currently helping a client with some audio issues. They have a contractor coming in and providing wireless mics and projection equipment for a monthly meeting, and they’re thinking it might be cheaper to do the job themselves. For the audio they have two wireless handheld mics and a lavaliere going into a mixer, which is then connected to house speakers. Mixer The mixer the contractor uses is a Mackie 1402-VLZ3 Fourteen Channel Mixer with 6 XLR Mic Inputs ($399.99) A nice little box with multiple inputs, and it even has sliders! Given that the client typically only has three sources at their events (the three mics) they could get by with the Mackie 802-VLZ3 8-Channel Compact Audio Mixer ($199.99), even if it has knobs instead of sliders. Mackie 1402-VLZ3 However, an eight-input mixer doesn’t mean eight individual inputs. The 802-VLZ3 has 2 mono lines and 3 stereo line inputs. So that’s really five channels, and if they decide they ...

It's Friday, February 8 2013, and everyone in the Northeast is battened down and waiting for the biggest snow storm of the season. And while I still have power - and the internet! - here's the news of the day. Canon C100 stuff It's been an interesting week for Canon C100 news. I'd just put up a report on Filmmaker ( Canon C100 or C300: Which One to Get? ) about the Canon C300 vs the C100 image, speculating whether the Atomos Ninja would really make a big difference in image quality when Paul Antico emails me to say he just got one and tried it with his C100 and felt it was making a big difference in image. Exciting. ( Canon C100 Does 4:2:2 with the Ninja Video Recorder ) I must admit that if I had the money, I'd buy a C100 . Yes, it doesn't do 4K or overcranking, but for 99.999% of what I'll be doing over the next few years, it will be more than sufficient. The only problem is that it's outside my camera budget. The Canon C300: Field Tes...

Well, this looks cool. It's P roCutX for Final Cut Pro X , an iPad interface for controlling Final Cut Pro X that actually looks cooler than the interface of Final Cut Pro X . But $24.99? Hmmm.. I must admit, I purchased another - sort of similar -  iPad app that controlled Final Cut Pro 7 , and used it exactly twice. It wasn't because it didn't work, it was just that I could work very well with the keyboard and mouse...switching to the iPad didn't really seem like that useful. So yes, I find it intriguing, but I'm not certain that if I bought it I would actually do anything more than try it out once, go 'that's so cool,' and then never use it again....which is about the story for half the apps I've ever installed on my iPad .

You Don't Have to Go to Film School to Make It: A List of Film Schools 2013 Sundance Directors Attended | BRYCE J. RENNINGER | Indiewire 64 filmmakers responded, and the results may be surprising. 29 said they had no formal training in filmmaking. Some learned skills in design or photography school or as journalists but had no formal film school education.  The most popular film school from the filmmakers we surveyed was NYU, which had seven respondents. My Review of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Daniel Freytag | Blog It's a nice camera with nice images. But it's not that unicorn what everyone expected. I think there are simply to many disadvantages to use it for my productions. It has some nice things like 10-bit SDI out, 2.5K RAW recording with 13 stops of DR but on the other hand it has a huge crop-factor, it doesn't have 50/60p and the battery solution is not optimal. Canon EOS 1DC test short “Hyber Nation” & review | Nino Leitner | Blog Last but...

Using a Home Projector for Rear Projection | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine The projector mentioned in this article, the Vivitek D950 1080p HD (at $899), did an amazing job:  I was amazed at how bright the projector was; given the size of the image (about 40 feet across) and the fact that the curtain wasn’t a real projection screen. The room was darkened, but it was still quite impressive.  1. Write the Feature. 2. Make a Short. 3. Get the Feature Made. (Coming Soon: a MANCHILD Short) | Ryan Koo | No Film School This section isn’t easy to write, because I can hear this hypothetical comment ahead of time: “Wait, you got us all to give you money so you could make your movie and now you say you need MORE money?” Sure, but I’m not asking for more money on Kickstarter; we’re looking to raise more financing to make MANCHILD by augmenting the Kickstarter funds with traditional independent film financing. Most Kickstarter campaigns only cover part of a film’s production...

Cinematographer Ben Smithard (My Week With Marilyn) on choosing Sony’s F65 for Belle | Chris Patmore | movieScope The Sony is better than a lot of other digital cameras and is probably the closest to film that I’ve ever seen. I really hope that the F65 becomes a standard because it’s a great camera and it would be good for the film industry to settle on something, because there’s a lot of money swilling around the pot that could be better used somewhere else. F55/F5 RAW support (in addition to F65RAW) | Sony Sony releases support for Sony's F5 and F55  in Premiere Pro: This plug-in adds support for Sony RAW MXF files in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 products, allowing viewing and editing capabilites. What's New: F55/F5 RAW support (in addition to F65RAW) THERE AND BACK AGAIN: LEARNING TO LOVE (AND HATE) THE CANON 1DC | Andrew Wonder | Blog Now putting the 1DC in the real world it becomes harder to see the differences that 4K brings to the table. Yes it appears sharp...

I'll admit that I wasn't that impressed when Rode announced the  iXY Stereo Recording Microphone for iPhone/iPad recently. At $199 to add a better microphone to the iPhone, I felt that the money would be better spent on a dedicated recorder. Now they've gone and announced the smartLav , which goes and turns an iPhone into a recorder - also - but this time with a lavaliere mic. Is that a good thing? Well the downsides, as Dan Chang notes in his article , include the fact that you need an iOS device, it has to be in Airplane mode to avoid interruptions, and you can't monitor the recording, so you can't be sure that's it's working correctly (the mic gets obstructed.) But then that's true for most self-contained recording devices. I guess I like a few things about this: the cost is said to be about $60 which is more affordable it could be useful for recording audio only sessions; a lav mic is less intimidating than putting even an iPhone in ...

Animating the Inanimate: Interview with Charlie Collier | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine At 20 years of age, Charlie Collier of Zapamation may be a young filmmaker, but he’s already got almost eight years of stop-motion experience behind him. A self-taught animator, he says he was able to get into this partly because of the flexibility he gained from being homeschooled; he was able to incorporate animation into the curriculum.  Stop-Motion Music Video Uses Hundreds of Polaroid Pictures | Brian Anthony Hernandez | Mashable Cool animation using Polaroid pictures... The video weaves a stop-motion tale using hundreds of Polaroid pictures, whose once-blank canvases were provided by ex-Polaroid employees now leading The Impossible Project. FocusMaker – A unique focusing tool for stills lenses | Matthew Jeppsen | Fresh DV Here’s a tool that I don’t really know how to classify…it’s called the FocusMaker, and it’s a simple $89 device that straps directly on to...

Seeing RED at Sundance | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine RED was part of a seminar hosted by HP: 4K and Beyond: The Evolving Role of Technology in Digital Filmmaking. Moderated by Schilowitz, the panel featured a number of post software developers including Adobe, ASSIILATE and Autodesk. The seminar focused on the 4K workflow, with the message that “you can edit 4K now.” F5 & F55 Launch Event & Workflow Technologies | Sony Professional | Vimeo View highlights of the F5 & F55 Launch Event, and learn about some of the workflow solutions presented at Sony's DMPC (Digital Motion Picture Center) on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California. Working in True 4K with the F65: Belle - the UK's first 4K cinema production | Andy Stout | Red Shark "We were after a really naturalistic look for Belle, in keeping with the period," explains Smithard. "The F65 produces images which have a softer, more pleasing quality, and you could really fee...

Day for Night: Magic Bullet Looks vs Baselight suite | SUPER MASSIVE | Vimeo An interesting comparison. Baselight maybe looks more 'realistic' but hard to see what's going on!: Footage shot with various camera settings on ARRI Alexa, 19-90 zoom lens. Half graded with Magic Bullet Looks and FCP 3 way colour corrector, gradients added. Half graded on Baselight suite for comparison.H264 compression very harsh on all gradients and masks, horrible artefacting - all baselight graded material looks perfect on Dolby monitors. Download least compressed h264 for closest impression. (But still knocked down to prores and then H264). How to Keep Track of Your Battery Levels | DSLR Video Shooter Most people don’t know this, but there is a built in way to label your batteries as full or empty. This works best with the Canon LP-E6 batteries, but you can make it work with any battery with a simple mod. If you look at the back of your LP-E6 battery you will see two colors, blue and...

Color Matching a Canon C300 to an Arri Alexa | Art Adams | ProVideoCoalition The C300 doesn't have the subtlety of color that Alexa offers, nor can it match Alexa's dynamic range, and it doesn't duplicate that delicate Alexa softness that makes everyone and everything look great. On the other hand, the C300 is less expensive and much smaller and lighter, and is the perfect tool for certain projects. MATT ALLARD GOES HANDS ON WITH THE NEW SONY F55 – NO HIGH FRAME RATES UNTIL SEPTEMBER | Matt Allard | DSLR News Shooter I found the camera design to be very good. Everything was easy to find and the key camera functions are accessible without having to go into deep menus. Even as a first time user of the camera, it is very easy to get it turned on and shoot quickly. There is one major design flaw: the connection cable for the new Sony OLED or LED viewfinder sticks straight out the side of the camera.  While it is reasonably secure, it would be easier to knock and broken...

A SHORT WEEKEND WITH THE C100 | Sean Meehan | Cross River Pictures Sean has been shooting recently with a Canon C100 and loves it: First and foremost, I love the image out of this camera. So many of us have fallen in love with the look of the C300, and I would say that, to my eye, they’re pretty comparable. They could certainly intercut, and if you’re contrasting with Canon HDSLRs, the difference in sharpness, dynamic range and resolution is big. It’s not surprising, considering it’s processing the image in a way very similar to its bigger brothers. You're Not Too Old | Vimeo HOW WE MADE THE ATC MUSIC VIDEO “READY OR NOT” | Rick Macomber | Macomber Productions I wrote about this for Filmmaker Magazine, but here's Rick's report: The video has two distinctive shooting styles. Most of the narrative scenes were either shot on a Miller Solo tripod, on the Kessler slider or the Kessler Crane, all donated for the entire length of the shoot by Mike Sutton and Paul Ant...

Fringe Issue in Older Canon C300′s Solved? | Michael Murie | Filmmaker Magazine Since its release, the Canon C300 has received a lot of praise for its image quality and low-light sensitivity. But some users have reported problems with color fringing: incorrectly colored pixels that appear on in-focus vertical or horizontal borders adjacent to a blown out – or nearly blown out – background. This most commonly appears on man-made objects like railings and window edges, though it can also be seen in specular highlights on ocean waves. Review: Sony 10-18mm F4 OSS Wide Angle Lens (Sony NEX) | PETER WALKOWIAK | The Photoblographer With it's image stabilization and wide-angle of view, this lens is intriguing for NEX owners. It's not cheap though, at $848 : The lens itself has a metal body and feels very dense. It is a heavy lens due to its construction but did not feel uneven when paired with the NEX-6. The lens has a fairly wide base compared to the 50mm or kit lens and ma...