Notes On Video

5D Mark III raw video (Magic Lantern) versus KineRAW MINI for image quality | EOSHD Overall I prefer the 5D Mark III because of the full frame look to lenses and Canon colour science. That said, colour isn’t baked in with raw. It’s very much in the hands of the colourist – it’s just that the KineRAW MINI’s output often needs that bit more effort in post than with Canon raw. After Effects Creative Cloud Updates | ProVideoCoalition The Rigid Mask Tracker, which can take an initial mask shape you’ve drawn, and adjusts it from frame to frame as the enclosed object moves around the screen. There are some limitations - such as the object must be “rigid” (think windows instead of moving lips) - but it works surprisingly well. Canon Introduces the DP-V3010 4K Monitor | CanonRumors The Canon DP-V3010 4K Reference Display measures 30 inches wide diagonally by 7.4 inches deep to help minimize space requirements and provides a 2000:1 DCI-compliant contrast ratio, uniform brightness,...

Don't Mourn Blockbuster. Weep for the Video-Store Era | IndieWire Blockbuster Video is dead, or at least it will be by January, when the company will close the 300 stores it operates and end its DVD-by-mail service. The Los Angeles Times says franchised and licensed stores will stay open -- no number is given -- but chances are they're not long for this world either. Interview with Visual Effects Artist David Luong | Grey Scale Gorilla David Luong is currently a Senior Cinematic Artist II at Blizzard Entertainment, He’s been working in the visual effects industry for nearly 8 years. He currently does lighting, compositing, and matte painting for Blizzard’s cinematics on games such as Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and World of Warcraft. Independent Videographer and Cinematographer Adam Lyons Converts to Sony Pro Camcorders | Sony He uses different camera combinations for different projects. Lyons prefers to use the Sony FS100 for music videos and other small productions,...

Yesterday Canon announced a Dual Pixel AF upgrade for the Canon C100. It promises faster focusing, but you have to send the camera in to Canon to get the upgrade - which costs $500 - and the upgrade will be available starting February 2014. I was wondering what the upgrade involved (was the sensor replaced?), and whether it would be a permanent upgrade to future models, so I sent an inquiry to Canon. They responded: 1. There is no need to change the image sensor in the EOS C100 digital video camera in order to perform this feature upgrade. 2. This is an optional upgrade, and as such it will not be installed at the factory for future shipments of the C100. If you're interested in the upgrade, you might want to check out Jonah Kessel's article about it at News Shooter.com . He's not really sure he needs the feature, but the article also includes a description of how it works:  CANON C100 UPGRADE: DUAL PIXEL CMOS AUTOFOCUS BREAKS INTO C SERIES CAMERAS | News Shoot...

The State of 4K | Filmmaker Magazine I tried to sum up what's going on in 4K at the moment... Technology tipping points – when something goes from the unusual to the commonplace – can happen with unexpected rapidity. Has 4K reached a tipping point, and if so what aspect of 4K? Acquisition, production, distribution, or all three? If you’re shooting a film today, should you be shooting in 4K? But of course, things keep changing. Here's an article that ARRI was promoting yesterday because it makes the case for dynamic range over resolution: Why 4K Might Not Be the Best Way to Attract Consumers | The Hollywood Reporter But what if they could choose only one? By a show of hands, the majority of the hundreds of engineers in attendance voted for better pixels, with a fair amount choosing faster pixels (higher frame rates), leaving 4K a distant third with just a few supporters in the room. From Chicago to the Moon: The power of 4K resolution and how to make it work for you ...

Canon to Offer Dual Pixel CMOS AF Upgrade for the EOS C100 Digital Video Camera New EOS C100 Camera Feature Upgrade Offers Outstanding Continuous AF Performance for Documentary, Electronic News Gathering, and Small-Crew Productions MELVILLE, N.Y., November 5, 2013 – Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced today that the Company will offer an optional feature upgrade for the EOS C100 Digital Video camera which will support innovative Dual Pixel CMOS AF autofocus technology, enabling continuous autofocusing with Canon’s entire EF lens lineup [1] . This optional upgrade is expected to be available in February 2014 for a cost of $500.00 and will require the EOS C100 camera body to be shipped to a Canon service center. The Canon feature upgrade will provide the EOS C100 camera (first introduced in November 2012) with greatly improved autofocus (AF) functionality made possible through Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology. First employed in the EOS 70D digita...

D3ing the F3 | Sam Morgan Moore Working with the Sony F3: So I've been fiddling around with Sony Slog footage from my new camera. The trouble is that it is so flat ‘where to go’?Then I realised, make it look like a camera you like, and the Nikon D3 stills camera is a camera I like. Exclusive images show skydivers' terrifying collision and chaotic plunge | NBC News This is about the most amazing footage I've ever seen: The cameras strapped to the skydivers' helmets were supposed to memorialize their perfectly timed jumps and exhilarating descent from two small planes to the earth 12,000 feet below. EBB AND FLOW: JONAH KESSEL ON COMMERCIAL VIDEO FUELING EDITORIAL POSSIBILITIES | News Shooter What I didn’t realize then was that the financial necessity fueling my venture into the commercial video world, would not only change how I view the online video landscape, but also elevate my ability as a video journalist dramatically. Found: Long-Lost Movies No...

D16 Camera from Digital Bolex Could Be Released in Just a Few Weeks | NoFilmSchool In a blog post over on the Digital Bolex site, Joe and Elle mentioned when we can expect the first cameras to be released, and also posted some photos of the completed paint job and metal work on the camera: Mark Schimmel, Director/Producer Finds the Sony FS100 the “Right Tool” for any Job | Sony “The camera helps to create a subtle and stunning ‘bokeh’ effect combined with depth of field, which is very important to the look and feel I am always trying to achieve.  The sensor also delivers outstanding exposure latitude for HD shooting. During the Wrangler project when I was shooting in the roping arena, there was no artificial light, only ambient light filtering through a translucent roof covering. The camera’s exposure latitude allowed me to shoot at 60 FPS in low light conditions. The end results were outstanding.” Shooting “The Whistler” on ALEXA | Colton Davie Because of our tiny c...

New Creative Cloud pro video features now available | Adobe The updates to Adobe's Creative Cloud are coming out. The Prelude Live Logger iPad app sounds interesting: The 150+ new features in Adobe Premiere® Pro CC, After Effects® CC, SpeedGrade® CC, Prelude™ CC, Adobe Media Encoder CC, and Adobe Story CC Plus that were announced at IBC last month are available effective immediately via Adobe Creative Cloud. Today we are also delivering a new iPad app, Prelude Live Logger, which adds another tool to your arsenal for faster, more efficient production workflows. announcing the After Effects CC (12.1) update, one of several October 2013 updates for Adobe professional video applications | Adobe Among many other changes and fixes, this updates enables After Effects CC to run on Mac OS X v10.9 (Mavericks). This full update makes it unnecessary to install the previous After Effects CC (12.0.1) patch. Unlike the After Effects CC (12.0.1) patch, the After Effects CC (12.1) update ...

It was ironic that on my way to last night’s SMPTE meeting at Channel 5 Boston, I dropped off my cable TV box at a Verizon store. I am now officially cordless - no more cable TV for me! The only way I can see Channel 5's programming is on their website! The meeting was a presentation from Sony talking about 4K; specifically 4K TVs and projection. The message was; 4K is here, and NHK in Japan is working on 8K . They had a 65” 4K TV ($5K for 4K), the $650 “hockey-puck” 4K home video server (which only works with Sony content and a Sony 4K TV) and a 4K Projector (and it was not one of the big “Cinema” projectors, but one of their “home or business” units.) Up close the picture on both was very impressive. I’m still not convinced that you need 4K in the home unless you have a really large display, and/or sit very close to the display. It would make no sense to replace my 42” HD screen with a 42” 4K one. And, of course, given the lack of 4K material, buying a 4K display is mor...

Tomorrow night, Halloween, they are going to do a  recreation of the War of the World's broadcast at the Regent Theater in Arlington MA. Christopher Lydon, Joyce Kulhawik, William Martin, ChaChi Loprette, Laura Raposa, Allison Cahill and the rest of the cast are gearing up for a great night of entertainment as the live recreation of Orson Welles' WAR OF THE WORLDS lands at the Regent Theatre in Arlington at 7:30 this Thursday. Find out more at: The Orson Welles Complex Film Scoring & Music Seminar : Saturday, November 2nd High Output Studios Coffee & Bagels at 9:30 AM. Seminars from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon Creating the music and scoring for films is an art – but defining the sometimes-mystical quality that will help a music score succeed is difficult to quantify.  Join us for an open discussion with 4 top composers as they give you insight into how to approach scoring for films – from conceptualization to composition to orchestration – and the challen...

Blackmagic Design Cinema Cameras: Production Workflow Roundup | Premium Beat For a truly cinematic look it helps to shoot in a cinematic aspect ratio using anamorphic lenses. Redshark News offers some insights into working with the BMDCC cameras and anamorphic lens adaptors in this short post. In the video above DP Ryan Glover shot in Log Pro Res on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera with a Kowa/B&H 2x anamorphic adapter. EOS 7D Mark II Spec List Surfaces [CR1] | CanonRumors According to the rumor, the sensor is not yet confirmed, though it does mention it won’t be the same as the EOS 70D. Also a mention of innovative video features, something we’ve talked about previously. There’s not much new here as far as specs go, but at least the camera is being talked about. Consumer DSLRs “dead in 5 years” | EOSHD Until now the ‘smartphone problem’ had been pretty much isolated to the low end compact camera market. In my opinion this market is defunct and will vanish entirely withi...

I need another lens like I need another hole in my head, but a lens that does intrigue me is the new Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens ($598). It's an E-mount lens, and it has at least four intriguing features: constant f/4 maximum aperture Optical SteadyShot image stabilization internal zoom operation powered zoom If you have a still camera, this lens probably won't excite you, but if you have a video camera such as the Sony NEX-VG30 , NEX-EA50 , NEX-FS100 or NEX-FS700 , this lens could be just what you're looking for. I have the NEX-EA50 camera, and it comes with the  18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 PZ OSS Alpha E-mount Lens  (as does the other cameras.) It's actually not a bad lens; zooms nicely, focuses pretty quickly, and it's nice and long. BUT, though it starts at f/3.5, it closes down to f/6.5 as you zoom. It also does something else when you zoom; it almost doubles in physical length. I don't know about you, but having a lens that extends as you zoom...

I've been experimenting with the DJI Phantom Quadcopter ($455.05) . One of the problems it can suffer from is a jello effect caused by vibration transferring from the airframe to the camera. This can be difficult to remove, as you'll see in the example below. Here, applying the Premiere Pro's Warp Stabilizer can actually make it look worse. I've written about the options for reducing this effect; one is to use some kind of anti-shake mount. These range in price and complexity from simple rubber insulators through to expensive brushless mounts. I tried a simple anti-shake mount, the  Anti Vibration Anti-Jello Vibration Isolator Low Profile Carbon Fiber Mount (below) and it does seem to make a difference. The two clips below show footage taken using the anti-shake mount. The first sequence is the "raw" footage; it still has some shaky moments, but that can mostly be removed using Premiere Pro/s Warp Stabilizer, as can be seen in the second clip. No...

Producing a Low-Budget Short Film and Pitching a Movie: Run Like Hell | Filmmaker Magazine Red Giant has unveiled their latest low-budget, effects-rich short; Run Like Hell. It’s billed as a short film, but it’s really intended to be a teaser for a full-length movie director Stu Maschwitz hopes to make. Maschwitz is a visual effects wizard who worked at Industrial Light & Magic before co-founding effects house The Orphanage.  Run Like Hell (the script) | Slugline You can get a copy of the script for the Run Like Hell trailer here. Run Like Hell is a hilarious feature film in development, inspired by the cult classic video game. As the director attached to the project, I teamed up with producer Adrian Askarieh and Red Giant Films to create this teaser. Step one was writing the script. New Sony A7, A7R and RX10 – exclusive hands-on look at video quality | EOSHD Andrew looks at the video quality of the three new Sonys, and decides the A7r is the best of the thre...

Gareth Jones creates piece using 3D plug-in FreeForm | Mettle FreeForm makes 3D movement in character animation much easier, especially head rotation. For example, the head can be placed on it's own layer, FreeForm applied, and the head can then be shaped in 3D using FreeForm's control points and tangents. A displacement map can also be applied in FreeForm to add more volume and detail. VIrgin Media from Gareth Jones on Vimeo . Product Review: Sorenson Media Squeeze 9 Pro | Larry Jordan The application can take you as far as you want to go in improving the quality of your compressed videos. Keep in mind, however, that like any powerful tool, you will need to invest time to learn how to use it well. One of the things that impresses me about the Sorenson website is that they have already taken the time to provide the tools you need to learn the application. A warning about OS X Mavericks from Adobe: Adobe Premiere Pro @AdobePremiere Though #PremierePro CC sup...

Last night I went to a talk by Vincent Laforet. The event was sponsored by Rule Boston Camera, Canon and the PBS show Frontline . I’ve heard Vincent speak before, and some of this talk was a rehash of past material; his years at The New York Times , the amazing pictures taken at the top of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, the helicopter shots of New York, and Reverie ; the first movie shot with the Canon 5D Mark II, it was all there. But Vincent added in a new element from past talks. In this one he looked at what’s going on with the internet, social media, and the advancement of technology, and tried to make sense of it all and offer suggestions for how to have a creative career in this new world. Learn all the Rules, and then break them He had some fascinating stats on the volume of media being produced and uploaded to social networks every hour of every day. Hundreds of thousands of pictures are uploaded to Facebook, and hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every...

‘12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Mother of George,’ and the aesthetic politics of filming black skin | The Washington Post Increased sensitivity of digital cameras makes it easier to record darker skin tones: For the first hundred years of cinema, when images were captured on celluloid and processed photochemically, disregard for black skin and its subtle shadings was inscribed in the technology itself, from how film-stock emulsions and light meters were calibrated, to the models used as standards for adjusting color and tone. #166. Are the new Zeiss / Sony lenses for the A7 camera too expensive? | Dear Susan Sony announced some new E-Mount lenses that are a bit more expensive than their previous models, and some people are complaining. This article explains why they are worth the money, though I like the first sentence best: Short answer: NO. They’re a bargain. The end. And then the article goes into a lot of depth about MTF curves. You were warned: In brief : Zeiss have re...