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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Quick Links

Audio Recorder Roundup: Zoom H4n vs. Tascam DR-100mkII vs Tascam DR-40 | E.M. Taboada | No Film School
A look at these three audio recorders, with the DR-100mkII coming out slightly on top:
Over the course of many tests I thought the DR-40 and H4n were very similar in the kind of sounds they picked up, with perhaps the DR-40 having slightly (as in ever so slightly) more white noise. The DR-100mkII seemed to have a slightly cleaner sound than the other two, but tended to not pick up lower frequency sounds quite as strongly.
[...]I would pick the DR-100mkII. I liked the sound coming out of it, and really dug the input level knob.


How to Guide Your Documentary Interviewee | Todd Grossman | MasteringFilm
Great article on things to think about when interviewing a subject:
Another interesting technique is to consider what tense they will be answering in. Most sit-down interviews happen after the fact, and are more or less recaps of an event from the past. This can give the viewer a more distant feeling of the event—a feeling that can work both for and against you. In some cases, you will want to try to re-create the power of what actually happened in the past. For this, I will sometimes have an interviewee outline what happened off camera, then, on camera, take me play by play through that event as if it were happening right then.


Are You Practicing these 5 Natural Lighting Tips? | Mitchell Kanashkevich | Digital Photography School
Some different ways to think about natural lighting:
The characteristics of natural light change due to the time of day, because of the weather and due to various other circumstances. You can essentially say that there are different kinds of light. The different kinds of light will make the same scene will look quite different, as you can see in the photographs above, which were taken during different times of day (left – twilight, middle – sunrise, right – middle of the day).


Canon 5D Mark III! | Ben Jacobsen | Blog
A review of the new Canon, accent on still photography:
For me the 5Diii has been a nice improvement over the 5D2 in a lot of little areas. I didn’t need my higher ISOs to be any better, I was fine at 3200 on the 5D2, but now that I can use 12,800 I’ve been finding uses for it. I had been making due with the AF from the 5D2 for ~6 years, now I don’t have to, now I have “1 series AF” in a 5 series body. The FPS boost is huge for me for some of the sequence shots I do, I can now use my 5D3 for a lot of those.


4K dominates NAB agenda | George Bevir | Broadcast Now
A very quick look at the 4K cameras at NAB:
Not to be outdone, Red, a long-term advocate of 4K, released details of a 6K sensor on Monday. The Dragon sensor offers “15+” stops of native dynamic range and 120fps at full 5K. An upgrade for Epic users will cost $6,000 (£3,770), with the Scarlet upgrade yet to be confirmed.


The Camera Conundrum: What "K" is the Right "K" at NAB 2012 | Ryan E. Walters | The Town Crier
Another look at the different cameras at NAB:
Blackmagic Cinema Camera
This is the "3K" for 3K camera. The camera allows you to record RAW 2.5k imagery with 13 stops of dynamic range and a "native" EI of 800. Cinema DNG is already supported by many software companies, and it is easily integrated into an Adobe / Resolve workflow. Additionally, you can choose in between RAW and ProRes recording in the camera. So for the work in which you need the highest quality image you can use the Cinema DNG files, and for work that has a tight schedule, or doesn't need RAW, you can shoot in ProRes.



Shooting with RED Epic #1: How to Properly Calibrate Black Shading | Evan Luzi | The Black And Blue
You don't have to do this calibration on the RED EPIC all the time, but you do have to do it more often than on the RED ONE:
The RED Epic Operations Guide says black shading calibration takes “about 10 minutes,” but this information is outdated both in my research and my own experience.
While reading through forum posts and articles, I consistently found other AC’s or operators complaining about the process being ballooned to a 30-minute time-suck. My own black shading experiences have lasted around 20 minutes or so.


"The Journey of the F65" - Behind the Scenes Pt. 2 | Band Pro Film & Digital | Vimeo
A behind-the-scenes on shooting with the Sony F65 in Hawaii:
Follow the continuing adventures of Director/DP Ruben Carrillo & Band Pro's Randy Wedick on their quest to capture the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, using the new Sony F65 & Leica Summilux-C lenses. This episode showcases the natural environments the crew worked in, the rainy climate of Kauai and the volcanic flows on the big island.
This production was designed as both a camera test and a workflow test. In addition to testing dynamic range, color fidelity and the camera's performance in extreme environments, the filmmakers also traveled very light and by necessity whittled the workflow down to it's bare essentials.


Canon 5D Mark III - "Copelandia" - Production Diary #3 | Neumannfilms | YouTube
And a short behind-the-scenes of a short film being shot with the Canon 5D Mark III:
The third "same day" Production Diary for our short film Copelandia. Our first on the 5D Mark III.

All of the BTS material is filmed with the Canon 5D Mark III and the Canon 24-105mm f 4 lens.


Framing the 'Hobbit' hubub: Think bigger | David S. Cohen | Variety
Another look at the reaction to the high frame-rate The Hobbit, this one with three predictions:
  • The 48 fps format of "The Hobbit" will not be widely adopted, because it's a compromise that doesn't deliver the full impact of HFR;
  • •Eventually, but probably not soon, the default frame rate for most studio movies will be something around 60 fps, with directors choosing higher or lower frame rates for creative effect;
  • •Bizzers in both TV and movies are going to be making creative and financial decisions about HFR for years -- maybe forever.


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