Notes On Video

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...

Interview: Keanu Reeves on “the end of film” | Andrew O'Hehir | Salon.com Keanu talks about his career, love of movies, and the documentary about the transition from film to digital: ...to answer your question — I mean, it’s not as groundbreaking as when film went from silents to talkies. Let’s say that. Or from black-and-white to color. This doesn’t have that feeling of sea change to it. But there are many implications that come out of it. Especially in the early days, there was the question of the quality of the product you’re looking at, the quality of the image. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH BOSCPUG: BOSTON PREMIERE OF THE BLACKMAGIC CINEMA CAMERA | Boston Creative Pro User Group Registration isn't live (yet) but it should be open shortly... Tuesday, September 25th BOSCPUG Meet: Boston Premiere of Blackmagic Cinema Camera featuring Rob Bessette & Marco Solorio - ALSO! Stay Tuned for News on our FULL DAY DaVinci Resolve 9 & Blackmagic Cinema Camera Workshops BOSCPU...

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...