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Showing posts from September 25, 2011

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Testing the MTF EOS adaptor for FS100 | Matt Davis | Vimeo A quick demo of the MTF EOS adapter for the NEX-FS100 . D|Matte | Jag35.com The D|Matte is now shipping. It costs $225.00 12 essential DSLR accessories | Daniel Freytag | Blog A list of accessories, including: LCDVF, Sachtler Ace, Glidetrack and shoot35 Follow Focus. Schneider Professional Lenses, coming to the iPhone | Glyn Evans | iPhoneography Available for pre-order, the iPro kit is supplied with two lenses, a wide-angle and a fisheye. Kodak plummets 54% on bankruptcy rumors | Julianne Pepitone | CNNMoney Things aren't looking good for Kodak...this could be the end of film. Sony NEX-5N: rattling in the videos and an early solution | Focus Numerique Sony France report that the clicking noise is a mechanical part of the shutter that moves during sudden movements of the device. Sony's "fix" evidently lubricates the part to reduce the noise. [French site] Sony Nex 5n compared vs....

Nikon say's "it's all about the gear"....ah, never mind

You have to be careful with Social Media; it can turn around and bite you in the avatar. All it takes is one miss-step, as Nikon discovered this week when they posted the following comment on Facebook: “A photographer is only as good as the equipment he uses, and a good lens is essential to taking good pictures! Do any of our facebook fans use any of the NIKKOR lenses? Which is your favorite and what types of situations do you use it for?” NikonRumors.com | Oh no they didn't... Now I think there are several ways to read that comment. One way is that if you want to do the best job, you want to use the best tool you can get. Another, similar, way to read it might be that if you don't have the best tool, it won't be as good as it could be. And I guess the third reading is that skill is unimportant, only the tool is important. That seems a rather too literal reading of something that, admittedly, came from the PR department of a camera manufacturer. Still, we on the interne...

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Sony FS100 Review | Jeremy | Tweak Digital A positive review of the NEX-FS100 , with a pros and cons list. Sure, I have some strong opin­ions about this cam­era (and the dSLRs), but only because they are actu­ally so good (and could be even better). The Sony FS100 is, all-in-all, a huge win­ner that I can highly rec­om­mend. It isn’t a DSLR killer because of the cost fac­tor (pro stills shoot­ers will already have invest­ments in the bod­ies and lenses). It isn’t a mini-Alexa or mini-RED because it lacks ProRES and only goes to 60p. But, If you are tired of dual-system cap­ture or qual­ity issues with DSLR cam­eras, you’ll love the Sony FS100. FS-100 PistolGrip Handle | Caleb Crosby | Vimeo A video showing a custom top handle developed for the Sony NEX-FS100 . Zacuto EVF & SmallHD DP4-EVF Comparison: PART 1 | Nice Lady Productions | Vimeo A video comparison of two EVF's, one from Zacuto, the other from SmallHD. Strongman: Shot on RED EPIC at 120 and 300 FPS | ...

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Tools of the Trade Part 1 | Clinton Harn | Zacuto Zacuto posts the second article on sound by Clinton Harn . This is the first of what is promised to be two parts on tools: I’ve devised a method utilizing acronyms that will help you better understand sound and make appropriate choices in equipment selection. I encourage the use of these words as a reference for ongoing technical and artistic sound making as well as purchasing decisions. The system is separated into 3 stages: The Nature of Acoustics Stage 1:RAD: Reflection, Absorption & Diffusion The Recording Stage 2 (Golden Rules):PICSS: Proximity, Isolation, Consistency, Sensitivity & Separation Captured Sounds Stage 3:STAT: Sound Transparency & Audio Translation One Day, 197 Set ups, 12 Shooters & 9 Navy SEALs to bring Jeep COD (Call of Duty) Ride Experience to Life | Shane Hurlbut | Hurlblog Shane writes about a fairly complicated, and intense, shoot: Operator Andrew LaBoy loaded 8 contour cams in the...

Amazon Kindle On Fire

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I followed the Amazon announcement today, and I got quite excited; for a moment or two I was seriously thinking of ordering a  Fire ...except that I already have an iPad . But if I didn't already have an iPad , I would think seriously about getting the Fire . Except I don't really use the iPad to read books and watch movies, which seems to be how they are positioning it. That, and for web surfing, and I don't use the iPad a whole lot for that either! Clearly, I'm not the target user. I do use the iPad for those things sometimes, and especially when traveling, but I don't travel that much. For me, I've discovered that the tasks I use the iPad  for the most, the reason I'd miss if it was taken away, is for note taking/ audio recording. And I'm not sure that the Fire can do that. Does it even have a microphone? Okay, so I'm sure I'm not the typical buyer, let's see what the experts think. Darrell Etherington thinks that the Fire...

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What Adobe Should Do With IRIDAS SpeedGrade | Stu Maschwitz | prolost Stu offers his thoughts on what he thinks Adobe should do with the new color software they bought. Noting that he's both a user, and a competitor (designer of Colorista ) and noting that IRIDAS has a uniquely weird user interface, he also thinks that Apple sort of had it right when they integrated Color into FCPX , even if they did it the wrong way: This is important, so I’ll say it another way: Apple screwed up by making the FCP X “Color Board” less industry-standard (I mean sure, dream up a better way—but it has to actually be better), but their decision to make color controls part of the settings inherent to any clip in the timeline is spot-on. inqScribe - review | NotesOnVideo Looking for a tool to help transcribe or caption video? InqScribe is pretty good and available for Mac and PC. I posted a review yesterday. Kodak Vision 3 vs Canon 7D w/CineStyle ad hoc test | Alex Walker | Vimeo "...

Adobe Takes A Leaf Out of Apple's Book

Adobe seems to have taken a leaf out of Apple's playbook. Last week they bought color correction developer IRIDAS , and this week they entered into some kind of arrangement with the developers of Automatic Duck . Tom Dagion at Adobe says it's a partnership: So I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to say that Adobe and Automatic Duck are now partnering with the aim of bringing absolute best-of-breed workflow integration into Premiere Pro. This means that, as we work together, Premiere Pro’s ability to integrate with the industry’s other leading tools using technologies like AAF, XML and OMF will get stronger and stronger. And so Premiere’s ability to be a good citizen in all kinds of broadcast and post-production workflows will get better and better. -Al's Blog / Exciting News While at Automatic Duck , it seems more like a purchase: To that end I have joined the Adobe Product Marketing team and am really excited about their products both today and new things yet to be r...

InqScribe - review

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Last week I wrote about adding transcriptions and captions to YouTube videos, and I wished that YouTube would add a captioning tool. Well, so far, there's no sign of that happening, but a reader pointed out an interesting transcription application, InqScribe , that supports the captioning format that YouTube imports. And it looks like a pretty useful tool for both captioning and transcribing audio. Even better, you can download a 30 day demo for either Mac or Windows. The InqScribe interface is straightforward; drag either a video or audio file to the top left media panel. There's controls for starting and stopping playback below this panel, and a text panel to type in on the right. To use the program, you really only need to know three things: The Tab key stops and starts playback Control-tab jumps back 8 seconds. Command-; inserts the current time code. And away you go. There are a few other major features in InqScribe ; support for a foot-switch control, custom...

Amazon Deal of the Day: AmazonBasics 16 GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card

AmazonBasics 16 GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card: $18.99 ($4.50 down from $23.49)

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Finally! The looming EF Mount Adapter Wars – Birger, MTF, Redrock | Nino Leitner | Nino Film A look at the current - actually, the near future, as most of these are still not shipping - options for using Canon EF mount lenses on non-EF mount cameras like the Sony NEX-FS100 and Panasonic AG-AF100 . Unfortunately, much of this is speculation until the Birger and MTF products ship! Birger Engineering yesterday tweeted: Birger adapter EF lenses on Sony PMW-F3 ships next week. More details in dealer package out late this week. No cables! - @ErikBirger Birger Engineering mount for PMW-F3 Sony PMW-F3 Firmware | Peter Crithary | Twitter Peter Crithary , Marketing Manager for Super 35mm acquisition at Sony US has tweeted: NEW firmware #PMWF3 coming soon, FREE update v1.20 enables #CINE S-Log-EI mode, easy stepping through assigned EI values & more EI is Exposure Index values, new v1.20 free firmware updates requires #SLOG optional purchase to work for this specific feature ...

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$100 Canon 5D Mark II Rebate | B & H Last week CanonRumors reported that the price of the Canon 5D Mark II in Canada dropped to $1,999, so I was thinking there might be more than a $100 instant rebate announced by Canon, but that's all we got! The rebate is in effect until Oct 29, 2011. (And note, CanonRumors thinks this is just a regular end-of-year sale, and doesn't expect a 5D Mark III this year.) Editing Sony NEX-5n 60p Footage in Final Cut Pro X | Eric Reagan | Photography Bay Final Cut Pro X doesn't support the Sony NEX-5N 60p files, but Eric documents some workarounds: I’ve already covered how to import AVCHD files into Final Cut Pro X; however, working with AVCHD 2.0 files at 60p requires another step to get the footage into FCP X. Still yet, it’s no so bad. New GlenColor Picture Profiles for the Sony FS100 | Frank Glancairn | Blog Originally posted last month, Frank has updated the picture profiles he's using with the NEX-FS100 : After m...

Video Editing News

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Final Cut Pro A quick note on the Final Cut Pro X XML | Digital Rebellion An explanation of why you can't take Final Cut Studio XML into Final Cut Pro X , and vice versa: So the two formats are completely different and there is no way to directly import FCP 7 XMEML into Final Cut Pro X or vice versa. Apple seems to be leaving this up to third-parties. DaVinci Resolve supports FCPXML and XMEML so it may be possible to convert one to the other (I haven't tested this). Some features will not translate back and forth because they don't exist in the other application. Announcing Project X₂7 | Philip Hodgetts | Blog Philip gives the details on a new app for processing XML from Final Cut Pro X and passing it to Final Cut Pro 7 . The app was previewed at LAFCPUG's DV Expo meeting. We still have a little work to do, but right now we support most features: connected clips, primary storyline, transitions (currently all are replaced by a cross dissolve but we’ll do bett...

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Sony offers 'adjustment' for NEX-5N camera to reduce clicking sound while recording video | Engadget Sony is offering a fix for the NEX-5N clicking noise, though it's unclear what that fix is; it appears to involve sending the camera to Sony for repair. November 3rd…are the planets converging?! Canon S35 camcorders! Red Scarlet goes on sale! Also Nikon bring out mirror-less cameras! | Philip Bloom Philip adds his own details and speculations about the forthcoming Canon announcement. New NEX system chart (in japanese) | SonyAlphaRumors A chart that graphically shows the NEX still cameras and there accessories. An interesting comment about chip resolution and processing | EOSHD 4K and 5K video has become the next big thing; there's some speculation that Canon's new video camera might even support 4K. Yet it's easy to forget that digital cameras have been routinely including sensors with much higher resolution for some time now. It's the proce...

ARRI Alexa latest news @ Rule Boston Camera, Sep 29th

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Rule Boston Camera will be holding two ARRI Alexa related events on Thursday, Sep 29th: Join ARRI's Guenter Noesner for the latest news of the ALEXA 35mm film-style digital camera including an overview of the new CODEX ARRIRAW onboard recorder and workflow and ARRI Look Creator, a creative in-camera tool enabling DPs to view the final look for each scene while on set. You can attend either the morning Learning Lab, or the evening Pub Night: Learning Lab 10am - 12 noon Pub Night 6- 8pm RSVP: events@rule.com Rule is located at: 395 Western Ave, Brighton, MA 02135