Notes On Video

Dueling Reviews I was intrigued when the news of Sony's sensor/lens add-on for your smart phone, the DSC-QX10/B Smartphone Attachable 4.45-44.5mm Lens-Style Camera  ($248), first appeared. But, after thinking about it for a bit, I decided it would be something I'd carry around for a while, and then just leave at home. Then I got interested again; maybe it would be useful if it wasn't that expensive, and the pictures were better than I get with my iPhone camera. But now the reviews are coming in, and I'm not too sure what to think, as you can see from these two reviews that seem to come to different conclusions. Note that this is the review of the lower-end model. There is the DSC-QX100 Lens-style Camera  as well, but at $499, I'm not sure I'd be tempted to get that. I think I'll just continue to drag along the Sony NEX-5RK  when I need - much - better pictures. Sony Cyber-shot QX10 review: a WiFi 'lens camera' that mounts directly on your sm...

I was visiting friends, and I had the Sony ActionCam, the HDR-AS15  with me (currently $178 but now replaced by the HDR-AS30V , which is $298), and it was suggested that we try and fly it. The only problem was that the kite we had available was a dual line parafoil stunt kite, which is a fun kite to fly, but not really the kind of thing you want to fly for cinematic shots - it does best moving back and forth in the sky, especially when there's not a whole lot of wind. And secondly, we didn't have any sort of rig to attach the camera to the kite's rig. So we duct tapped it to the surface of the kite! I made a simple cardboard "stand" to help keep it vertical, and I also put some bubble wrap over the top of it to provide some added protection. And tapped it all down. And then we went and flew it. On the first attempt there wasn't enough wind and the kite spent most of the time hitting the ground. Also, we had the camera pointing forward; which mean...

Oh, this explains the Merlin 2 price drop ... I was wondering the other day why Steadicam had dropped the price on the Merlin 2 to $399, and here's a video from News Shooter.com at IBC on the answer: the Steadicam Solo which was previewed at NAB, and should be shipping in November for.....$499. Watch this interview Dan Chung of News Shooter has with  Robin Thwaites of Tiffen/Steadicam. This is interesting because: 1) You can see Dan is itching to ask some questions like " why is this is a lot cheaper than your usual gear? " and " are you worried about brushless gimbals? " (both questions he actually gets to.) 2) Some discussion of brushless gimbals vs Steadicam. Ignoring price (I don't think any brushless gimbal system other than home-built ones are close to $499) the issues that are highlighted are: Problems with up and down motion while walking (a problem that can also apply to Steadicam's if you don't have the vest and arm) Pr...

Black Betty  Wednesday 9/18 Learning Lab @ Rule Boston Camera Don't miss this Wed's 9/18 Learning Lab from 10am to 11am with Adam Van Voorhis and Mike Szegedi on the story behind Black Betty and how they built this DIY custom camera housing that combines a Silicon Imaging SI-2K Mini Camera Head and an Apple Mac Mini resulting in a cohesive, portable camera system! See more details on our website and RSVP to events@rule.com. This event is free. Documenting the Life of George Plimpton: Interview with Luke Poling and Tom Bean Part I | Michael Murie |  Filmmaker Magazine George Plimpton led an eclectic life as a journalist, writer, editor, sportsman and actor, though he was perhaps most widely known for his exploits as a participatory journalist. When filmmakers Luke Poling and Tom Bean set out to make their first documentary, Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself, they were faced with enough material to make several documentaries.  ONE MICROPHONE EVER...

News From IBC Taredek and News Shooter.com has been producing a live broadcast and reports from the show floor. You can catch up with most things through the Live Feed through September 18, and also at News Shooter . Here's some high-lights: SONY TALK 4K AND THE NEW FDR-AX1 AND PXW-Z100 – THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES | NewsShooter Interesting discussion about the new 4k cameras and where they fit into the mix. Also, talk of the new NEX-FS700 models, and a suggestion that they will be slightly cheaper than the current model. Two of the more interesting new cameras at IBC this year are the Sony FDR-AX1 and PXW-Z100, which both shoot 4K. On this episode of the Teradek/Newshooter.com live show Sony’s Bill Drummond tells us about the camera’s advantages, and also its limitations when compared to the company’s other handheld cameras like the PMW-200. ARRI’S STEPHAN SCHENK AND RODNEY CHARTERS TALK IN DETAIL ABOUT THE ARRI AMIRA | NewsShooter I know this camera is go...

Definition Magazine (Download PDF) Special IBC Edition Arri AMIRA (AMIRA) 200fps Documentary Style Pick up and Shoot Professional Grade Video Camera | CreativeVideo UK ARRI AMIRA unveiled | ARRI Cheaper ARRI...but I can't find a price anywhere... ARRI proudly presents AMIRA, a versatile documentary-style camera that combines exceptionalimage quality and affordable CFast 2.0 workflows with an ergonomic design optimized for singleoperatoruse and extended shoulder-mounted operation. Ready to pick up and shoot straight out ofthe camera bag, AMIRA is hardy enough to take anywhere and features in-camera grading withpre-loaded 3D LUTs, as well as 200 fps slow motion. ARRI/ZEISS Master Anamorphic Lens Series Shipping Dates | Cinescopophila ARRI have published shipping dates for all seven of their focal lengths in the ARRI/ZEISS Master Anamorphic lens series. The MA35, 50 and 75 were released in August this year and have started shipping, with the MA100 to follow in Oct...

For years I've bought Duracell batteries because I thought they tended to be more durable; they seemed less likely to leak. But some recent experiences are making me rethink that. The first case happened with a battery in a guitar that leaked. Now the battery was not at the "Use By" date they stamp on them - which tend to be years out - but it had been sitting in the guitar for a year or two. I wrote that off as an unhappy accident (and removed all the batteries from all the guitars!) But today I went to use my wireless mic, and it didn't turn on (which was a bit odd as I'd tested it only a few days before and it had worked.) Then I noticed that the unit had been left on (which I thought was the reason the unit wasn't working.) I opened it up to replace the batteries and there was liquid all over the cradle that holds the batteries. - YUCK! Now I know that the batteries had been in there for less than two months (and that's being conservative, I...

The Massachusetts Production Coalition's seminar on filmmaking scheduled for this Saturday has been postponed: I'm sorry to report that this weekend's seminar for "The Independent Filmmaker" will be postponed. A new date will be announced soon. My sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused in your promotional efforts as we do appreciate your support of these events so much. Our Fall MPC Meeting on Tuesday night will proceed as planned.

LETUS35 LAUNCH HIGH QUALITY ANAMORPHIC LENS ADAPTER | News Shooter Enter Letus35 who have announced a brand new adapter that may just revive all that Anamorphic magic again – this time without breaking the bank balance. This series of adapters will start at around $1700 US and promise to be high quality and yet reasonably simple to use. Lens compatibility is much greater than vintage options with a universal adapter for zoom lenses and later on different versions for different focal length primes. EDITSHARE SERVES UP LIGHTWORKS ON WINDOWS, MAC AND LINUX AT IBC2013 | EditShare The Mac version of this editor is supposed to come out first quarter of next year, which will be only two years later than when they first starting talking about releasing a Mac version (but I'd be excited if they actually pulled it off!): The tri-platform editor has reached a groundbreaking 600,000+ registered users and is the tool of choice for editors working on a wide range of critically acclai...

My 5 favorite things from the upcoming Adobe Premiere Pro release | Scott Simmons | Pro Video Coalition SpeedGrade Direct Link This is probably the signature feature of this update and that above quote from Adobe's overview video is probably the understatement of the year. Notice that the heading says Direct Link and not Dynamic Link. This is important to note and was even corrected by Adobe’s PPro product manager on Twitter: After Effects CC: Mask Tracker | Adobe.TV Adobe is offering info on the new features too: Quickly create a mask and apply an effect such as color correction that travels frame by frame throughout your composite. Mask Tracker eliminates the need to adjust the mask and effect throughout time and avoids repetitive rotoscoping tasks. IPHONE 5C? YAWN. IPHONE 5S WITH 120FPS? AWESOME! | Hand Held Hollywood The iPhone 5S looks like an interesting step forward. My iPhone 4 is looking old.. this innovation comes with a dangerous side-effect. In about 2 m...

Defy Gimbal:  THROTTLE PAN/TILT CONTROL NOW AVAILABLE! Brushless gimbals are all the rage, and the Defy G2 seems to be a promising mid-priced gimbal for small cameras (like the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera.) They have posted some demo videos, including this one on using the (optional) pan/tilt control: We wanted to make it even easier for the “single operators” who need full control of their rigs which is why we are introducing the Throttle pan/tilt controller. The Throttle controller gives users extremely smooth pan and tilt with a bit of feathering to allow for buttery smooth operation and footage. Better yet, it’s a simple direct USB connection for the G2 as well as the G5. The Throttle controller is available for purchase now Flying Defy G2 Gimbal Stabilizer w/ BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera | Pro Cinema Tools One user reports on mixed results with the Defy G2 and the BPCC: I’ve heard that these brushless gimbals are a lot simpler to learn than traditional stabili...

MPC SEMINAR: THE INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER |  Saturday, September 14th High Output Studios Coffee & Bagels 9:30 AM Seminars 10:00 - 12:00 Noon A panel of talented filmmakers will deconstruct what "Independent Filmmaking" means today. In addition to being producers, directors and writers, they are also fundraisers, marketers, bloggers, distributors, educators, CEOs and CFOs of their own companies, technologists, designers, and more – all while keeping the fundamental STORY in their films front and center, and figuring out how to distribute their content onto all available platforms. MEET THE PANEL • Gabrielle Dockterman – Director / Producer, Angel Devil Productions • Laurie Kahn – Director / Producer, Blueberrry Hill Productions • Beth Murphy – Filmmaker / Founder, Principle Pictures • Moderated by Kathryn Dietz – Executive Director, Filmmakers Collaborative FALL MPC MEETING  |  Tuesday, September 17th DoubleTree Suites 6:00 - 7:30 pm Cocktails ...

It's IBC week , so expect some announcements this week. Adobe has started off the week with an announcement of new features coming for Adobe Creative Cloud. After Effects CC (12.1): what’s new and changed in this update due to be released October 2013 | Blogs | Adobe Here is a virtually comprehensive list of changes, with detail beyond the summaries of the top items listed above. We’ll be posting a lot more detail over the coming weeks, and the outline below will be populated with links to in-depth articles and tutorials, so bookmark this page and check back. Adobe Premiere Pro CC October 2013 Release | Blogs | Adobe Color is becoming increasingly important throughout an entire production workflow, and the addition of the Lumetri Deep Color Engine in the June 2013 Premiere Pro CC release gave editors the ability to work with beautiful SpeedGrade grades right inside the application. With this release, SpeedGrade has fully implemented the Mercury Playback Engine from Prem...

Sony FDR-AX1 The announcement of a $4,500 4K consumer camera by Sony has to prompt the question; when will there be a $1,000 4K consumer camcorder? Of course there already are at least two; there’s the GoPro Hero3 Black , and Acer just announced a 4K smartphone . But let’s talk about a reasonable quality, useable consumer camera? If what’s past is prologue, maybe we can look to the speed of adoption of HD to project how long it will take for Sony to come up with a $1,000 4K consumer camcorder. Sony HDR-FX1 In late 2004 Sony introduced the HDR-FX1. It’s kind of cool that the new camera’s name ( FDR-AX1 ) echo’s the model number of the camera that pioneered low-cost HD capture (as does the PXW-Z100 echo the name of the HVR-Z1, which was the professional version of the HDR-FX1.) The HDR-FX1 was also the first camera that featured Sony’s new camera body design with the LCD on the handle The HDR-FX1 also had 3-CCD chips, but let’s ignore that. The HDR-FX1 was priced at $...

Red Shark interviewed Bill Drummond , of Sony Europe, who is responsible for marketing of entry level production products, including all camcorders up to about 10,000 pounds (he covers everything from the  NEX-VG30 up to the PMW-320 .) While the interview was instigated by the announcement of the two new 4K camcorders (the FDR-AX1 and the PXW-Z100, there's very little information about the cameras presented, other than an explanation of the recording formats of the two cameras, and much of the discussion covers Sony's video business and the 4K market place. The most interesting things mentioned: When asked what their most popular cameras were in his market segment, he listed the PMW-200 and the NEX-FS700 "I think those two really indicate how the market is moving. A lot of mainstream run-and -gun style television shooting is moving to 50 M/bits MPEG 2 looking at products like the PMW-200. And then there’s also this requirement for new creative shooting, ...

First up in the world of 4K, Blackmagic announces a 3-4 week delay for their Production Camera , though it should still appear before the Sony FDR-AX1...maybe Blackmagic Design Forum |  Grant Petty |  Blackmagic Production Camera 4K Update Hi,I just want to give you an update on the 4K camera. As we mentioned a few weeks ago, we received the production sensors much later than we expected. When we built cameras from them we saw some big differences in the images between these production sensors vs the pre production samples we originally received. What this means is that we have been working over the last few weeks to replace a bunch of the software in the camera that handles the sensor calibration and image processing. It's taking a bit longer than we expected to do this and we think its going to take about 3 to 4 weeks more to get those changes done and to get the QA process completed before we can start shipping. Meanwhile, 4K is playing at your cinema (which may...

Here's more info on the 4K FDR-AX1 ; some first impressions and videos that Sony has posted to YouTube. One important note about this beast: the camera uses XQD memory cards, and with a throughput of 150MB/s you'll need the S Series cards, which cost $199.95 for 32GB , or $299.95 for 64GB . The Phoblographer | First Impressions: Sony FDR AX1–The First 4K Camcorder With an Auto Mode See that XQD card in my hand in the photo above? It was burning hot when it came out of the camcorder due to all the work that the processor was doing. Since the processor is burning that hot, the system obviously needs a way to cool it. There is a fan in the camera where the intake is around the side hand grip and the vent is toward the back.  SlashGear |  Sony FDR-AX1 4K Handycam official: top-quality video within reach The exposure system on this device works with multi-segment metering modes and both AE level and speed compensation. You’ll have noise reduction, white balance m...

In addition to the FDR-AX1  - their just announced $4,499.99 "consumer" camcorder - it seems that Sony has another version, the PXW-Z100, that offers a few more features and looks almost identical to the FDR-AX1. The PXW-Z100 offers: XAVC Intra 422 recording (the same codec found in the PMW-F5), 3G-SDI (for HD output), variable frame rate for HD and a Wi-Fi Remote. The significant difference is the recording format and the support for 4:2:2 (the FDR-AX1 uses 4:2:0 encoding.) All this will set you back about $6,500 and will be available "by the end of 2013." StudioDaily |  Sony Announces Sub-$6500 Pro 4K Camcorder Sony demonstrated the Z100 for members of the press in New York City last week, pointing the camera out the window of a midtown high-rise. The 4K image was of remarkably high quality given the camera's small sensor size, fixed lens, and aggressive price point. Live Production TV |  Sony Launches Professional PXW-Z100 4K Handheld XDC...