Notes On Video

The Sony A7 and A7r are trickling out, and we're starting to get a better idea how they perform as video cameras. It seems like the RX10 is the one for video (though at least one poster has reservations - see below.) At $1,298 the RX10 is not cheap, but it's considerably less than the A7 ($1,698) and A7r ($2,298) . It seems that if you're looking for a full-frame camera, the Canon 5D Mk III still does a better job in video than the A7r (that's disappointing.) The RX10 is scoring because it has less moire and artifacting present in the footage compared to the A7's and it includes built in-ND filters. There's no interchangeable lenses, and the sensor is not as big as the other two, but it's small and light, (you can't have everything!) Finally, it looks that the A7 and A7r video are very similar in quality, even though they use very different chips. Sample video – comparing the Sony RX10, A7R and FS100 | EOSHD Andrew Reid at EOSHD has pos...

Sony A7-first look | Cinema 5D Cinema 5D takes a look at the video capabilities of Sony's new A7, and finds it an improvement over previous Sony's (like the A99) BUT they also think that the A7r will have better video (though at $2,299.99, it better be incredible!) I'm curious to see how the two compare, as I thought when the cameras were first announced that there were people saying that the A7 would do a better job in the video department... Sony themselves are looking at the A7r as superior in image quality when it comes to video. For that reason a dedicated full length A7r review is coming soon. Daytime Sony A7 footage will follow soon too. Adapting Your Canon Arsenal with Duclos | Shane Hurlbut With Canon’s new arsenal of Cinema Primes and Cinema Zooms being either PL or EOS mount, we have a predicament here. Who has the money to buy two sets of lenses? Which rental house has all this money sitting around to engage both mounts? To my knowledge, Can...

INTER BEE 2013 LIVE SHOW REPLAY: SONY NEX 18-105MM F4 SERVO ZOOM LENS SHOWS PROMISE | News Shooter If you have a NEX mount camera, I think this lens looks really interesting, the $598 Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens : The new lens seems well suited for run-and-gun shooting with its constant f4 aperture and Optical Steadishot coupled with a nice mid-wide to mid-telephoto zoom range. Autofocus seemed quite snappy although it did struggle from time to time in the low light of our set. Manual focus is fly-by-wire which works quite well, but is no substitute for a ‘proper’ manual focus ring. It should be available before the end of the year. 3 SIMPLE BUT CRITICAL FILMMAKING TIPS FROM RON HOWARD | Fast To Create Challenge your story idea. Imagine yourself asked to watch it. Really imagine others committing the time to view it. Understand what you and your friends would appreciate about a movie version of your idea, then go for it. HEVC H.265 Royalties Are Killing It Even B...

Are Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) Files Backwards Compatible w/ CS6? | ProDesignTools Adobe officially states, “Each of the following CC apps support the ability to export to the CS6 version of the program: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, and After Effects” – with the caveat that, “New features added may not be supported in the exported file or implemented by the CS6 application.” And the same would go for CS5, CS4, or CS3. Fare-thee-well Magic Bullet Grinder | ProVideoCoalition Grinder’s demise probably happened upon the launch of Magic Bullet BulletProof. The good folks at Red Giant confirmed that Grinder is indeed gone. That is entirely understandable as BulletProof is a one-stop-shop data-wrangling and DIT tool for all things DSLR. BulletProof incorporates pretty much every feature that Grinder had so it might seem rather pointless for Grinder to still be developed.  Red Giant replied: Red Giant ‏@RedGiantNews Our plan is to add more automati...

RODE INTRODUCE THE VIDEOMIC GO – A LIGHT, COMPACT AND BATTERY-LESS MINI SHOTGUN MIC | News Shooter A new small and light mic intended for basic portable recording, and it's just $99 : The mic weighs a mere 73g (2.5oz) and also equipped with the excellent Rycote Lyre suspension system similar to that on the latest VideoMic. This eliminates a lot handling noise and the occasional bump by isolating the mic effectively from the camera. New H.265 codec on test – ProRes 4444 quality for 1% of the file size | EOSHD CineMartin are the first company I know of to give us H.265 HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) conversion with the just-announced CINEC v2.7. It supports up to 4K resolution and you can try it today. In case you live at 12 Under Rock Drive, the H.265 standard is the biggest codec of the decade. It supersedes today’s most common codec for encoding and internet delivery of video (H.264) and makes 4K recording to SD cards possible on DSLRs. Perspective Control an...

Last week was InterBee 2013, and News Shooter has posted some interesting reports from the event. The three most interesting over the last couple of days: INTER BEE 2013: TESTING THE CANON C100 DUAL PIXEL CMOS AF | News Shooter I have to say I am tremendously impressed with the results. It seems quite responsive without looking like a mechanical movement. In our tests we let the camera try to track the subject continuously to see how well it coped, but I think my preference would be to set the autofocus to only active when the Push AF button is pressed. It is however a shame that the AF box is currently locked to the centre of the frame and is not movable. INTER BEE 2013: NEW FOSTEX AUDIO ADAPTERS FOR DSLR AND IPHONE | News Shooter Fostex are an established maker of audio products and are best known for their range of sound recorders. At Inter BEE they were showing several new products – a simple minijack stereo mic adapter called the AR101 for iPhone and DSLR, and the AR501...

Canon Suspends Downloading of New C300 Firmware | CanonRumors We have suspended download services for Firmware Version 1.1.0.1.00 that was posted Tuesday November 12, 2013 at 8PM EST, because it has been determined that discrepancies in color balance can occur with footage captured by the EOS C300 and EOS C300PL running Firmware Version 1.1.0.1.00. UPDATE : Paul Antico writes: Just FYI, I did upgrade my cameras before the FW was pulled. I can't find anything wrong with the color; I shot for two full days afterwards with no issue and the footage looks fine in the edit. However, I used C-Log. Some are reporting the issue is with a green tint on Wide DR gamma in the C300, which I generally avoid. Upcoming New England Events SMPTE New England 4K is Here to Stay: Are You Ready? with Grass Valley & Blackmagic Design Wednesday, November 20, 2013 Doors open at 6:30pm Presentation at 7:00pm Rule Broadcast Rule Broadcast Systems, 1284 Soldiers Field Road, Boston, MA 0213...

4K Cameras: What’s the State of the Art in 2013? | StudioDaily But 4K's early adopters remained on the cutting edge all year, without many new camera products to challenge them. At NAB, Blackmagic announced a 4K camera for June delivery but has struggled to get it out the door in 2013. JVC devised a more expensive alternative to its inexpensive GY-HMQ10 camera, but only put it on the market in Japan. Freelance. To Incorporate Or Not | WideOpenCamera I used My Corporation to set everything up. They are fairly inexpensive and will do everything for you. There are a few ways to save a few pennies by sending in some of the forms yourself but the entire process only cost me around five hundred smackers. INTERBEE 2013 LIVE SHOW REPLAY: “5D MKII WAS A KINDA ACCIDENT FOR CANON” – CANON CINEMA EOS GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGER YOSHINARI ONDA TALKS | News Shooter Canon Cinema EOS global product manager Yoshinari Onda came onto our live show from the show floor. Mr Onda has been in c...

More Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera RAW footage I decided to compare ProRes with the recently released RAW firmware from Blackmagic. I was very surprised by how much of a difference there was between the two. The 12-bit RAW looks alot better than some RED footage I've worked with, besides the ugly Moire which shows it's ugly head in this shot. Detail seems nearly identical. The most apparent difference is how the raw responds to the LUT. In the second shot, you can see the raw retains the highlights better. The blacks are also more crushed in the prores clips. Overall the colors respond more willingly. Being able to dial in WB/EXP/Sharpness in post feels pretty nice too. No sharpness applied to these though. CANON UPDATES FIRMWARE FOR CINEMA EOS CAMERAS – C300 GAINS AF AND OTHER FUNCTIONS | News Shooter Today they delivered on their promise with firmware version 1.1.0.1.00 and added a raft of extra functions as well. The AF is similar to the original C100, but ...

Thursday, November 14, 2013 Time 6:00pm until 9:00pm in EST Directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Lucy Walker, this HBO documentary tells the story of an escalating rivalry between snowboarders Kevin Pearce and his nemesis Shaun White in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics that leaves Shaun on top of the Olympic podium and Kevin in a coma following a training accident in Park City, Utah. Kevin's tight-knit Vermont family flies to his side and helps him rebuild his life as a brain injury survivor. But when he insists he wants to return to the sport he still loves, his family intervenes with his eloquent brother David speaking for all of them when he says, “I just don’t want you to die.” Kevin’s doctors caution him that even a small blow to the head could be enough to kill him. Will Kevin defy them and insist on pursuing his passion? With his now impaired skills, what other options does he have? How much risk is too much? Lucy Walker, Kevin Pearce, and Dan Daneshvar, a postdo...

I've always wanted a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, but.... Now I find that Sony has an E-mount 70-200 f/4 lens coming that includes Optical Image stabilization. And even though I have a Canon DSLR, I'm using lenses on the NEX-EA50 more than on the Canon camera. [ Note , the NEX-EA50 currently has a $600 mail-in rebate, costing $2,725 .] The new lens is expected to ship in April 2014 and cost between $1,300-$1,600. Sony :  FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS SEL70200G This compact, lightweight telephoto zoom lens is ideal for full-frame E-mount bodies, delivering superb G Lens image quality throughout the zoom range. AA (advanced aspherical) elements, Super ED and ED glass elements, the Sony Nano AR Coating, and a 9-blade circular aperture add up to refined rendering with smooth bokeh where desired. Maximum aperture is a constant F4, and the physical length of the lens does not change when zooming or focusing. Dual linear motors ensure fast, precise focusing. Focus hold, range limiter an...

I recently interviewed Gez Medinger, the co-director of AfterDeath , a thriller/horror movie currently in post-production. You can read the interview, in three parts, at Filmmaker Magazine. If you've dreamed about making a film, or you're in the process of trying to get your first film off the ground, you really have to read this story. Gez spent ten years intending to make a movie: When we wrote our business plan back in early 2002, I remember writing, “We expect to be in production of our first feature film by 2004-2005,” and as it happened it was 2013 before we actually got there. But after several false starts, and many years, he finally realized that he had to make it happen himself: I realized that the only thing that stops me from making a film now is me. As soon as I had the realization that I had to take the power and control out of other people’s hands and put it into my own, I knew the only thing that would ever stop me from making a film was my own drive a...

Listen Up, First Time Filmmakers! Why Low Budget Directors Shouldn't Be Their Own Producers | IndieWire A good producer will handle problems on set while allowing you to do what you’re supposed to be there for – directing the film. And not only will they keep people from bugging you while you’re trying to direct, but they will also keep the day moving. It’s literally impossible to keep track of all of the moving elements on a film production yourself, and when you have a great producer on board, they will ensure that the train keeps moving and gets to where it needs to be on time. The 5 Habits of Highly Successful Filmmakers | Raindance Film Festival 2. Use it or lose it. One of the first film persons I met was Dov Simens of 2 Day Film School fame. Although he is neither a screenwriter or director, he writes every single day. He doesn’t write twelve page articles that are finely polished, or a script a day – all he does is flex his mind muscles – a bit like going to the h...

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 ...