News From Here & There

Shooting Diary
Danny Stack at Scriptwriting in the UK documents a day's shooting:
6.30am-8am Andy and Chris set up and fuss over the shots like the ARTISTES that they are. Dan and Chris get into character. Emma wires them up for sound. I walk around with an important blue folder to make it look like I know what I'm doing.
dannystack.blogspot.com: Liquid Lunch: The Shoot!

I love the "I walk around with an important blue folder to make it look like I know what I'm doing" line so much, it reminds me of these tips on How to Be a Motion Picture Director, from Marshall Neilan who was an actor and director active between 1912-1937
Q. How should a director direct?
A. That depends upon the importance of the visitors on the lot who happen to be watching him.
OnAmination.com: How to Be a Motion Picture Director



More on the Sony NEX-FS100
Paul Antico, who expects to get his new NEX-FS100 today or Monday, writes about why he decided to get one and compares the pros and cons to the Canon 5D Mark II:
I think the pros vastly outweigh the cons here. The major issues I have with the 5D is the lack of proper sound (requiring double-system sound and syncing which slows things down), so-so performance in extremely low light (the noise is very digital looking and not pleasing), and the lack of detail in the image and aliasing caused by line skipping. The Canon HDSLRs really are missing lots of picture information, but more importantly (as the 5D2 still looks very good), aliases a lot. 
NeedCreative: Good-bye HDSLR for me! Sort of. A look at the Sony NEX-FS100



Shooting with the Canon 5D Mark II
Stephen Alvarez talks about a recent project for NPR which he shot with DSLRs:
I’ve chosen to work in film with DSLRs for the simple reason that I came to this type of reporting as a still photographer. Moving from stills to video is complicated enough so I didn’t want to learn to see again with a new piece of equipment. I’ve spent nearly 20 years learning what my 24mm f 1.4 and 50mm f 1.2 look like. The DSLRs keep that acquired knowledge relevant. There is something reassuring about having a familiar visual tool when you are stepping off into a new medium.
DSLRNewsShooter: ‘Nashville: Up From Prostitution’ – an assignment for NPR filmed on 5DMkII



OS X 10.7 Lion in June
The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports that Lion is being used for internal testing at Apple, and may be ready to ship at the World Wide Developer's Conference in June.

So does it arrive before Final Cut Pro X, and does this mean you'll have to upgrade to Lion to install Final Cut Pro X? Apple did say it would run on Snow Leopard at the SuperMeet...
TUAW: Rumor: Lion near to going live



Sony says Boston.com wrong about Digital Projectors
Engadget prints a response from Sony Digital Cinema about problems with digital projectors and misuse of 3D lenses when projecting 2D movies. The article states that:
Notable items on the list are that the Sony system does not alternate between two images rapidly, changing the lens takes less than 20 minutes, the RealD 3D filters only reduce light output by 20% (not 85%)
I'm not sure that this statement:
It takes less than 20 minutes for a trained technician to change the lens.
Sony has a system in development to make the change even simpler.
makes me more or less convinced that theaters are doing it.
Engadget: Sony stands behind its digital projectors, claims the only thing ruining movies is Russell Brand



Adobe SendNow
I'm actually not familiar with Adobe's SendNow service, but evidently you can send 100 MB files using Adobe SendNow’s free plan (and 2 GB files with SendNow Basic and Plus subscriptions).
blogs.acrobat.com: SendNow's Rising Star


Follow-focus for the Panasonic GH2
iDC Photo has released their follow-focus for the Panasonic GH2. Their follow-focus mechanism's have a very different design to more traditional units; I think they are more towards a shooter who is doing his own focusing, rather than if you have a second person pulling focus.
iDC Photo: iDC Follow-Focus for the Panasonic GH2

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sony GV-D200 review

Image
Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t
Read more

Response: Which iPhone to Get?

Image
In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some
Read more

Should you buy the Sony NEX-FS100 Kit Lens?

Image
The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera
Read more