Notes On Video

From Sony Professional Europe on Facebook. Sony held a webchat a few weeks back (see:  Sony "NewF" Webchat ) and now they are going to do another one on the 4th: Don't forget to sign up for a reminder to join our #TheNewF Cinematographer's Webchat on Tuesday. We'll have cinematographers and product experts who have worked with both cameras answering questions on December 4th. Get your questions ready and register for a reminder here: http://www.facebook.com/SonyProfessionalEurope/app_310432762368131 “Dig”, was written and directed by Martin Scalan and shot in 4K using the PMW-F55 by cinematographer Steve Lawes on location in Wales. “Images”, was directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic and was shot in XAVC HD using the PMW-F5, by Dominique Colin on location in France.

The future of 4K video and the cheapest way to shoot it | Tony Reale | NextWaveDV A look at the actual -estimated - cost of some 4K options: So what’s the most cost effective option for 4K? There is one last option that we haven’t talked about. The FS700 + Sony’s 4K option gives you 16bit 4K RAW. But remember back when we talked about the AJA Ki Pro Quad? 4K 10bit for $3995. Sony has hinted that the FS700 will support third party 4K recorders. Right now the Ki Pro Quad is one of the only 4K recorders on the market. Mahout - Sony F55 CineAlta 4k Camera Demo | Stargate Studios | Vimeo Sony asked Sam Nicholson, ASC, and Stargate Studios to produce a short film to test the F55. Nicholson, along with production teams from Stargate LA and Stargate Mumbai, travelled to Sri Lanka to produce the film, hiring local talent and crew to help in the production. "Mahout" follows an orphan girl who helps a baby elephant escape an abusive owner and return to his herd in the wild. ...

SONY ANNOUNCES PRICING FOR NEW CINEALTA 4K CAMERAS | Sony As expected, Sony announced the list prices for the PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 , and as expected, I can't afford either. Actual street price might be a bit lower... PMW-F5 CineAlta 4K Camera $19,400 PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K Camera $34,900 AXR-R5 RAW Recorder $6,300 Canon C100 Review – First impressions | Paul Joy | Blog This little camera intrigues me because it's big brother the C300 produces a great image, but I can almost afford the C100 . It does have some limitations, as Paul lists in this first impressions article. If you're interested in the camera, B & H now has it in stock . The side grip on the C100 is the same as the one on the C300, other than the addition of the orange dot on the record button. As with the C300 the C100 comes with a cover that can be attached when the grip is removed to allow operation of the camera in a hassleblad type position (hands clasping the body). This is all well and go...

Sony F5 and F55 96-page Report | Jon Fauer | Film And Digital Times A free 12 MB PDF of the Film and Digital Times Sony F5 and F55 96-page Report is now ready to download. Major motion pictures shot with the F65 will be released this spring andsummer. I think everyone will be excited to see the results. But the overall price of the F65 may have been a little bit high for television production. We have always felt that prime time television is a Sony domain starting many years ago with the F900, and moving to the F23 and F35. Sony cameras were used to shoot quite a few shows. So, we wanted to get back our leadership position in that part of the market. REVIEW - Panasonic AG-AC90 Camcorder | ADAM GARSTONE | Definition Magazine For its very competitive price (around £1500 plus VAT) the AC90 is a really nicely packaged product. It’s lighter than it looks, but is made of good quality plastics and feels like it’ll stand up to the normal levels of abuse. It’s well balanced too, whet...

First Sony F55 sample movie – 4K 60fps | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Sony wasn't supposed to show these until the 28th, but once again they have leaked out early... Here it is! Shot in 4K at 60fps for slow-mo, this is a test movie from the Sony F55. Designed to compete head-on with the Arri Alexa, the camera’s major selling points are a global shutter and future proof 4K.Although YouTube streams at 4K bear in mind that there is a LOT of compression added onto the image. Canon EOS C500 – Review & short film “ALEX” | Nino Leitner | Nino Film The C500 can’t record anything different from the C300 internally – it’s the same MXF files with the same bit rate (50MBit/s at 4:2:2), even the internal high speed recording isn’t any better (it’s 720p at 60fps in NTSC mode, and 30fps in 1080p mode). An external recorder was essential, and in the beginning we had our share of troubles sourcing one for our shoot. Shooting with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Part 2: Canon and Nikon lens tes...

On Tuesday, October 30th Sony held a webchat on "The New F"; the PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 . Below is an edited transcript; I have put the answers next to the questions and grouped them by subject. Features Q: Has the retail price for the F-5 and F-55 body been established as yet? Peter Crithary: The retail pricing for the camera systems have not been announced yet Q What is the weight of the F55 with external recorder? Peter Crithary: The dry weight of the F55 and F5 camera body is about 4.5lbs Q: Have the included modules been worked out yet? Wondering about the audio module, the TC module? Peter Crithary: The audio module and TC Genlock module are included Q: Will the camera be sold as a package or “al la carte” (where the customer specifies which modules, & viewfinder they wish to buy)? Fabien Pisano: It is of course possible to purchase module by module ; we are considering the bundle approach for later announcement Sebastian: we are considering all ...

MPC YEAR-END MEETING Wednesday, November 28th at WGBH Cocktails & Networking: 6:00-7:30 pm. Presentations: 7:30-9:00 pm. RSVP + INFO: mpc-november-meeting-wgbh Join your friends and colleagues to ring in the holidays with a great night of cocktails, presentations, and networking. 2012 MA Year In Review Highlights: Celebrating a wonderful year in film, we are excited to share a special reel of Massachusetts film, television, and commercial highlights from 2012. Speakers & Presentations: • Lisa Strout – Massachusetts Film Office • Diane Pearlman – Berkshire Film & Media Commission • Aframe: Cloud Video Production MPC SEMINAR SERIES: DISTRIBUTION Saturday, December 1st at High Output Coffee & Bagels at 9:30 AM. Seminars from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon. RSVP + INFO: distribution-seminar-december-1st The Distribution seminar will focus on an in-depth discussion on putting film and media into the world – from Film Festivals and Ad Campaigns – to PR and so...

What difference does a lens make? | Den Lennie | F-Stop Academy Den compares Canon L lenses with some Zeiss lenses I prefer the warmth and resolution of the Zeiss lenses.  I think they manage to retain detail particularly when the image is zoomed in even at 400%.  They seem top hold more contrast also.  To be completely fair I did not put every focal length up like for like as I don’t own the full set of Canon Primes but if you are looking for a great set of affordable cine primes then the Zeiss ZF.2 will give you a lot of bang for buck.  Live 4K in Remote Sports Production Is Still a Way Off | Brandon Costa | Sports Video Group “It’s not about technology, and it’s not about equipment [in sports],” said Jerry Steinberg, SVP, field operations, Fox Sports, during a panel on the future of 4K at last week’s Content & Communications World convention. “In the television business, and I emphasize business, it’s about eyeballs. Whether it’s sub fees from homes...

BOSCPUG Screens Side By Side with Director Chris Kenneally Advance RSVP is required to attend: boscpugdec6.eventbrite.com Save the Date! On Thursday, December 6th, BOSCPUG is excited to bring you a special event exploring the digital cinema revolution as we pose the question,"Can Film survive our Digital Future?" We will begin with a private screening of the documentary SIDE BY SIDE , followed by a Q&A and reception with CHRIS KENNEALLY (Director) & guests. B & H Black Friday Deals Bryce Bayer c1929 - 2012 Known as the Bayer Filter, Bayer’s invention is still used in nearly every digital camera, video camera and camera phone on the market today. The Bayer Filter array was patented in 1976 (U.S. Patent No. 3,971,065) and features a checkerboard arrangement of red, green, blue filters that enable a single CCD or CMOS imaging sensor to capture color images. Father of the Bayer filter dies aged 83 - HD Warrior

B-Side: How a Bunch of First-Timers Made a SAG Ultra-Low Feature Without Blowing Up the Garage | Amos Posner | Filmmaker Magazine We planned to not fix anything in post. Anyone who says “Fix it in post” during production should have to donate a dollar to the crew beer fund. If you don’t plan to fix anything in post, you’ll still have lots to fix. Don’t invite more.  The Making of legendary skateboarder Danny Way documentary, Waiting for Lightning | Webinar | Adobe Thursday, December 13, 2012 | 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM See how the video pros behind Waiting for Lightning used high-performance Adobe post-production tools to document the life of Danny Way, one of the world’s most visionary skateboarders. This presentation will cover Bandito Brothers’ digital workflows which relied on After Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, and other Adobe Creative Cloud tools to tell the story about how much abuse the body can sustain, how deep you have to dig to survive family troubles, and how ...

MATT ALLARD SHOOTS ‘THE IRON PSYCHE’ USING THE NEW KINERAW S35 CHINESE CINEMA CAMERA | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter The Iron Psyche was shot on the Kinefinity Kineraw camera. This camera records 2k 12bit RAW files to either Cineform or Cinema DNG. The camera used was an engineering sample and not a production model. It was edited in Adobe Premiere and the sound mix was done in pro tools. The EOSHD Blackmagic Cinema Camera Shootout | Andrew Reid | EOSHD Until now I was very satisfied with my FS100 and the DSLRs but going back to them after the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is very difficult. They look way too digital. 12bit raw is like looking out of a window. Truly film-like. The colours all look odd on the DSLRs now – compressed 8bit just doesn’t cut it any more. This is the first time DSLRS (and the FS100) are completely outclassed on image quality by a $3000 camera. Gopro3 vs 5D3 vs GH2 vs Gopro2 camera test  | TobyLoc | Vimeo Please note this test is slightly usele...

Sony 4K cameras: PMW-F55; PMW-F5; XAVC 4K codec; NEX-FS700 4K interface unit | Rick Young | Vimeo David Young, Product Specialist from Sony Europe, discusses the latest announcements made by Sony of the new 4K capable cameras, the PMW-F55 and PMW-F5, plus the newly announced XAVC codec and 4K RAW recording interface unit for the NEX-FS700E. FS100 – Ferrari Profile | Sam Morgan Moore | Blog Tuning the Sony NEX-FS100 : And that is how my FS100 camera is tuned right up. My colour profile is designed for minimal grading.. which means minimal banding, which means a smooth file. But it is contrasty – it wont bear an exposure error, and will get noisy if you up the ISO. This is for accurate shooting and using lights or reflectors when you need them. Creating a Beauty Light with a Book Light | Shane Hurlbut | Hurlblog A book light is simply a bounce source that is diffused with another layer of diffusion. It creates an image of an open book. Your light is positioned 45 degrees ...

Blackmagic Cinema Camera Problems Solved? Camera Shipping Update: 11/15 | Grant Petty | Blackmagic Forum The good news is that we got a small shipment of sensors that the sensor supplier had tested with their new test setup and they were all ok when we built cameras with them. This is good because they will now be able to see sensors that are contaminated and not ship us anything that's unable to be used to build a camera. Also, the sensor supplier has done a small run of sensors at the new company that's bonding the glass and they got almost a 100% pass rate, which is also great. This means they finally have a solution to bonding on the glass that looks like it will work. Sony F5 and F55 pricing released, by mistake! | Alister Chapman A rough conversion of the prices gives us the following: PMW-F55 Camera Body £23k/$36k PMW-F5 Camera Body £13.6k/$22k ASX-R5 Raw Recorder £4k/$6.5k Sony not doing well financially | Photo Rumors After their stock hit 32 years ...

I wrote about the Final Cut Pro X presentation at Tuesday nights BOSCPUG meeting, and completely left out a part of the meeting that was perhaps as educational as Abba Sahpiro’s talk. Because in addition to that talk, several film makers talked about – and some even showed - their films at the event. To start things off, Dan Berúbe invited two filmmakers who had shown their films at last weekend SNOB Film Festival to get up and briefly talk about their films. Steve Riley came all the way from Texas with his film Shooter . Steve is a professional photographer by trade, and this is his first film. You can see the trailer on YouTube : Shooter Noel Barlow said she is a couple of years out of film school, and directed and produced ‘Giddy in Love,’ a story about a quirky librarian who is ‘looking for love in all the wrong pages.’ With a cast of 12, she described it as a labor of love. Film website : Giddy In Love Director Marie Della Croce and DP Ben Consoli showed their s...

Last nights Boston Creative Pro User Group  meeting featured Abba Shapiro giving a run down on the new features in the 10.0.6 update to Final Cut Pro X . If you haven’t been following Final Cut Pro X ’s evolution, the latest recent upgrade featured a number of UI changes and enhancements, many of which seem to address the complaints that many Final Cut Pro 7 users had when they first tried Final Cut Pro X: Want a preview window as well as a Timeline viewer? FCP X now offers that as an option. Had problems with multi-channel audio? FCP X now lets you Expand Audio Components and start adjusting the individual channels. Frustrated that FCP X didn’t remember the In and Out points for a clip once you start working with another clip? Now FCP X remembers them for you! Found the Magnetic Timeline a little frustrating? Now you can put clips beyond the end of the timeline – it actually inserts a blank slug. You can also move clips that are linked, without having the linked cli...

A Portrait of Stockholm | Den Lennie | F-Stop Academy Shooting with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Zeiss lenses: Why Zeiss? Several reasons really; I like the metal construction as this makes them extremely durable. The ZF .2 are Nikon mount and have built in aperture ring which really does make a tremendous difference when exposing because you can adjust the aperture ring smoothly rather than in stepped increments when using Canon less with electronic iris control. I had two fader ND’s a Heliopan 77mm and a Genus 82mm and a series of adaptor rings for each lens. I’m also using a cheap nikon to canon adaptor that I bough at B&H earlier this summer. Blackmagic Cinema Camera post workflows | Oliver Peters | digitalfilms After Effects offers another solution. You can open CinemaDNG image sequences, make adjustments with its camera raw importer, and then render out final, graded movie files. Naturally, plug-ins like Magic Bullet Looks add more options for custom styles. ...