Notes On Video

A good fluid head video tripod can be expensive; very expensive. Which is why I was intrigued by the Ravelli Tripods offered on Amazon. There are two "video" models; the Ravelli AVT Video Camera Tripod  [$78.39] and the Ravelli AVTP Professional 75mm Video Camera Tripod  [$146.89]. Even at that price, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money without seeing one, but a friend just bought the Professional model, and I got to play with it for a bit. First impressions were quite positive. It seems to be solidly built; the legs are sturdy, and it's nicely machined and finished. The battleship gray finish is a little 50's in style, but it still looks nice. I guess I'd describe it as basic looking, but not cheap looking. There's some nice touches with dual handles and the quick release mounting plate has a lock and a latch. The bottom of the feet have an interesting rubber cover that adjusts to the surface it's placed on. The tripod comes in a light

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous N E W - Y E A R!

Sony PMW-F3 vs Panasonic AG-AF100 Philip Bloom has received his production Panasonic AG-AF100, and has also had on loan for a week a pre-production PMW-F3. He clearly likes the PMW-F3 "This feels like a really meaty professional camera and if feels reassuringly expensive," but as he tweeted, there are other considerations: image is definitely cleaner with F3, but AF has the 1080p 60fps overcrank and is SO much cheaper. - Philip Bloom, Twitter Also, check out his comparison of field-of-view for both cameras with the same lens. PhilipBloom : Field of view comparison between the Panasonic AF-101 and Sony F3 PhilipBloom : Got a production Panasonic AF-101, hurrah and shooting with Sony F3k for first time today Camera Sales in Japan The 43rumors site has a chart showing the sales for DSLR cameras in Japan. The Canon EOS Kiss X4 (that's the T2i here in the states) has 13.6% of unit sales, while the 5D Mark II has just 1.6%. Does this mean anything? Probably

The figures are in for the year, and Toy Story 3 was not only top at the box office, it is also the highest-grossing animated film of all time (on an adjusted basis). It's also one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. It receives an almost perfect 99 out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes. Disney ( DIS - news - people ) is also pushing the film for a Best Picture Oscar instead of just hoping for a Best Animated Feature win. The studio recently unveiled a clever line of "for your consideration" ads comparing Toy Story 3 to past Best Picture winners. Forbes : The Top-Earning Movies Of 2010 But it's not all good news; while the total box office remains high for the year, total attendance has fallen (the difference made up by increased revenue from 3D movies.) A full 8% of this year's box-office revenue, or about $850 million, came from the additional $3 to $4 a ticket that moviegoers paid to see films such as "Toy Story 3" and "Clash of the Titans

The Consumer Electronics Show runs January 6 through 9th, and there should be something interesting announced by someone at the show. Last year Sony announced the HXR-NX5u and the HDR-AX2000 along with several consumer video cameras. It's also the time that Canon announced their updated consumer video cameras, as well as the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. Neither company usually announces much pro-video gear at the show; though the HXR-NX5u is in Sony's professional range, and the EF 70-200mm is a pro-lens....which means you never can tell! The Canon Rumors site has a 5D Mark III rumor and they also separately report that Canon will announce some kind of camera - other than the point-and-shoots and consumer video cameras - at CES, though he's not sure what. He doesn't think it's the 5D Mark III, and I suspect he's right; unless Canon is feeling pressure from the Panasonic AG-AF100 , it would be unusual - and early - for them to announce the 5D Mark II

I saw the Coen Brothers version of True Grit yesterday, and enjoyed it a lot. As I suspected, it was very similar to the John Wayne movie; the same characters, the same plot, and many of the same dialog lines. There were some differences in the story, but the plot was essentially the same. This movie seemed visually a lot richer and more detailed than the original - the locations looked more authentic and less like movie sets. Jeff Bridges was much harder to understand at points than John Wayne was, while Matt Damon's performance as LaBoeuf gave Bridges less chance to steal the entire movie. If you liked the original movie, or like westerns in general, you'll enjoy this movie. I do have one complaint though; I found the color grading of the movie somewhat annoying; a lot of it was very washed out. The Coen's seem to like to manipulate their movies - O Brother, Where Art Thou? was the first movie digitally graded and had a very yellow look, while their movie A Seri