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Showing posts from September 8, 2013

News from IBC

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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

Duracell not so Durable?

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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

Mass Prod Coalition Seminar "The Independent Filmmaker" postponed

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.

Quick Links

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

The News

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

The News

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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 stabilizers

Upcoming Events (Boston)

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 & Hors d&

Adobe announces October upgrades for Creative Cloud

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

When cometh the $1,000 4K video camera?

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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 $

Sony's video business and 4K

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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,