Notes On Video

This is disappointing: it seems that the Sony 18-105mm lens suffers from some pretty severe distortion (at least on video cameras) But Cory Shubert tried it on his NEX-VG20, and thinks the problem isn't so severe: A webinar from Imagineer Systems covering planar tracking stabilization techniques with Mocha. Shooting with the MoVI and the Sony NEX-FS100 and using the Sony 10-18 lens: Another effort at color grading the Blackmagic 4K camera footage:

ARRI Amira update (sort of) Back at the IBC show ARRI announced a new digital documentary camera, the Amira . It would be based on the sensor of the original Alexa, but other than that, ARRI was rather cagey about what it would cost or even when it would ship. But they have been showing prototypes and gathering opinions from users. According to Den Lennie , he and Rodney Charters got a demo of one of only three prototype cameras last week. Part of the demo took place at Britain's oldest pub . OWC Confirms Mac Pro 2013 Processor Upgradeable | OWC We got our hands on an Intel E5-2667 V2 8-core 3.30GHz with 25MB Cache processor, installed it in the new Mac Pro and have done some benchmarking to get an early look at the performance vs. the stock Apple / Intel E5-1650 V2 6-core 3.50GHz with 12MB Cache model.  Thunderbolt 2 is NOT twice the speed of Thunderbolt 1 | Red Shark News It turns out that the main difference between the two Thunderbolts is that version 2 ha...

Letus posted the following to their Facebook page  about the new anamorphic adapter for the GoPro that they teaser yesterday: Letus AnamorphX-GP (left), Letus AnamorphX for 35mm lenses (right) Here's a few specs for the AnamorphX-GP: 1.33x squeeze factor Custom CNC aluminum housing Use the GoPro 3+ waterproof housing for mounting. The adapter replaces the waterproof lens housing element. The unit will retain waterproof property. In 1080 mode, when the Letus AnamorphX-GP is attached, it will convert the 16:9 aspect ratio into 2.39:1 aspect ratio without the need for cropping (post production de-squeeze is required). In super-view mode the GoPro records in 4:3 aspect ratio and digitally stretch the image into 16:9 aspect ratio (dynamic stretching: http://gopro.com/support/articles/what-is-superview ). The center of the image is kept same but the outer of the image is progressively stretched outward and that is what causes the distortion, especially on the edges. This is...

Letus Corporation @letus35 Letus Tweeted this i nteresting idea  yesterday; an anamorphic adapter for the GoPro Hero! Introducing the newest member of Letus Anamorphic Club: 1.33x anamorphic lens adapter for @GoPro  Mac Pro Reviews Mac Pro, Final Cut Pro X 10.1, and five streams of native R3D | Philip Hodgetts Benchmarks, schmenchmarks: this is the performance I care about. Bottom line: multiple stream native RED 4K editing without proxies is practical if you have the storage speed. The New Mac Pro: Ridiculously Fast | Larry Jordan Here’s the speed of the Mac Pro talking directly with its internal flash drive. Holy smokes! I have never measured speeds this fast — BUT, even this speed does not fully load a single Thunderbolt 1 pipe. The new Thunderbolt 2 protocol, which the Mac Pro also supports, is more than twice as fast as the internal flash drive. The Mac Pro Review (Late 2013) | AnandTech Cheaper to build your own, but would it look as sexy? Th...

An initial look at the Digital Bolex D-16 | Philip Bloom First impressions, some sample footage, and a short video shot on the new Digital Bolex: Absolutely no moire or aliasing that I have seen. Zero, zlich. A very filmic image, more so than the BMD Pocket Camera. It really has a proper S16mm look to it, not just a S16mm sized sensor. Rain City: Initial shooting with the Digital Bolex D-16 from Philip Bloom on Vimeo . Philip compares the Digital Bolex to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, so here's another review of that: Taking a look at the Pocket Cinema Camera from Blackmagic Design. Is this the perfect camera for low budget filmmakers? It's a quirky little camera that packs a big punch, but there are some set backs to be aware of. Sony CineAlta 4K F-Series Webinar | Sony You can watch this 48 minute webinar; but you have to give them an email address to see it: What is the Digital Motion Picture Centre Europe and how you can make the best of ...

It's the New Year, and I should do a year in review piece , but I already did that for Filmmaker . And I just want to point out that I did 2014K a day before RedShark News published their piece on why this will the year of 4K . Not yet convinced that this will be the year of 4K? Canon just dropped the price of the C500 down to $20K. For the next three days you can buy it for $16,999 at B & H thanks to $3,000 in instant savings. If that's still too rich for you, the C100 is now $4,999 ....makes you wonder what will be coming at NAB... Meanwhile, Kai at DigitalRev takes a look at the retro Nikon Df DSLR , and doesn't like it at all (and it doesn't even do video!) Here's an example of color grading , using SLog2 4K footage from the Sony F55. And here's a really interesting video showing the effect of moving the positions of your lights . Amazing video of a brushless gimbal (the MoVI?) doing it's thing. The Playlist has a list of the 1...

H A P P Y     N E W Y E A R !

Color Correcting Video in Photoshop | Photofocus You’ll learn how to color correct and grade your sequence.  You’ll learn how to refine the color and exposure of video footage. You’ll also learn how to use Lookup Tables in order to quickly apply a style to several clips.  The Photoshop editing interface is easy to learn and master. Credit Suisse: Only Canon, Nikon and Sony will survive in the digital camera market | Sony Alpha Rumors “Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last – and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fulfil that criteria,” said Credit Suisse analyst Yoshida. The new Hobbit movie saw Weta Digital make Smaug larger than a 747 in one scene yet use GoPros in another | Pocket Lint That said, the scene where Smaug chases Bilbo about the mountain of treasure is jaw-dropping and obviously took a lot of work. Yet the barrel escape scene seems more straight forward. That intricate blend of 4K footage and GoPro shots is thanks to Wet...

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Review – Final Part | EOSHD Audio is the only major weakness of the camera. The internal pre-amps are poor, the circuits are noisy, monitoring it is tricky and there’s hardly any audio features. But considering how much hassle, manpower, time and expense is saved with other areas using the Pocket in a pure directing sense like a viewfinder with a record button, it isn’t much to ask to have a sound guy on location with you. An Examination of the RED DRAGON Initial Impressions | Timur Civan Thats when I realised the difference.   I thought my MX was broken….  It just looked …. old.  Its a funny thing with technology, you don’t notice an improvement  as being that huge until you take a step backwards in generation.  I love the current MX, but I just met its successful, smarter, hotter, younger sister. Cine-EI Mode when recording S-Log2/3 and raw on the F5 and F55 | XDCAM-User Prior to version 3 of the F5 and F55 firmw...

I saw a link to " Minimalist Posters Depict The Architecture of 13 Classic Films " and immediately scanned through them to see if the house from North by Northwest  was amongst the chosen ones. And of course, there it was: But wait! There's something wrong! Firstly, it's pictured from the opposite side of the house to that seen in the movie. That feels a bit wrong because you never see that side of the house in the move; I guess that does give the artist some extra room to play given that the house doesn't exist. Still, there's definitely some problems compared to the "actual house;" for example, in the poster the front section of the house is at the same level as the back section, but in the movie it appears to be lower than the back section, though that could be an optical illusion. More troubling is the placement of the stone structure next to the end of the front section of the house (the red line in the image above). If you comp...

Is the Mac Pro processor user replaceable? Reviews of the new Mac Pro's are starting to appear, and already it's a bit confusing whether the CPU can be replaced. MacWorld's review suggests that the GPU's are user replaceable, but doesn't mention the CPU (making you think that's it's not.) The article is well worth reading as it explains why the current iMac can actually be faster than a Mac Pro for some tasks: Mac Pro (Late 2013) review: Apple's new Mac Pro really is for pros | MacWorld When it comes to apps and tasks that can take advantage of multiple processor cores, GHz matters, but multi-core matters just as much—or more. For apps and tasks that don’t benefit from multiple cores, the processor’s clock speed becomes more important.  Meanwhile Mac Rumors has an article that says that the CPU is removeable, though whether the user can actually switch it for another processor is unknown: New Mac Pro Confirmed to Have Removable CPU | Mac Rumo...

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN 4K PRODUCTION CAMERA DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE FROM MARCO SOLORIO | News Shooter One thing I did notice is there didn’t seem to be as much dynamic range as some other cameras or even the original BMCC.  If you have a look at the sky at 01.08 and the shot in the garage at 01.37 of Solorio’s video you can see examples of what i’m talking about. There is also some noise visible in shadow areas too. Digital Bolex D16 Review Part 2: First Footage & D16 vs. Blackmagic Pocket vs. SI-2K Mini Test | No Film School To me the image looks a bit less digital than some other cameras, and I think part of that is due to the CCD sensor. The texture is different from CMOS sensors, and certainly at lower ISOs this can be a great look if the project you’re working on benefits from it. I have always been partial to CCDs and the way they produce an image, so I’m probably a little biased. Kicking the Tires on Final Cut Pro X 10.1 | Pro Video Coalition While the whole change...

The most ridiculous thing I have ever done…the “DigitalRev Cheap Camera Challenge” with…BARBIE CAM!! | Philip Bloom Philip was challenged to produce something using a cheap camera....a very cheap camera! I put the .AVI file (yes .avi) onto a 720p 25p timeline and upscaled it by 300%..my god it looked AWFUL!! Premiere CC just sort of accepted the odd framerate no problem and with this Super 8mm like frame rate I had to see if my go to plugin FILMCONVERT with a Super 8mm film stock could reduce the awfulness…and guess what? It did as you can see below! Sony RX10 Review: A First-Rate Camera With a Do-It-All Lens | Gizmodo A positive review of the Sony RX10 : The RX10, on the other hand, samples the entire sensor's raw data, then downscales to HD resolution using the powerful Bionz X processor. It works great. We found the RX10's video detail to be almost at the level of the Canon 5D Mark III, the camera most pro DSLR shooters spring for. You won't get the creamy ult...

Why I Sold My RED and Downgraded to a C100 | F Stoppers Interesting article about choosing the Canon C100 over a RED. Has prompted a lot of comments! After using the c100, I realize how wrong I was. In my opinion, the Canon C100 is the best of both worlds: A sharp and dynamic image in a compact body with professional audio inputs and amazing battery life/record time. The new Final Cut Pro release is out: Final Cut Pro X 10.1 | Philip Hodgetts As well as beefed up 4K support, making the best use possible of the dual GPUs in the new Mac Pro, additional language support, improved XML and a long list of other features, 10.1 gains some seriously useful media management and project organizational tools, plus improved editorial functions. 10.1 is for OS X 10.9 Mavericks only. What's News | Apple Final Cut Pro 10.1 - A First Look by Steve Martin & Mark Spencer | FCP.Co Final Cut Pro 10.1 is the next major step forward for Apple’s professional editing software Final ...

Introducing Amazon Storybuilder | Amazon A free, screenwriting tool that helps you build stories for Movies or TV. What is Amazon Storybuilder? Amazon Storybuilder is a cloud-based writing tool from Amazon Studios that can be used to create stories for Movies or TV. Amazon Storybuilder uses “notecards” to represent a single beat or event in a story, just as screenwriters have for years used actual physical notecards to represent story beats on corkboards around the world. Storybuilder notecards can include both text and images. You can string individual cards together into a sequence on a virtual “corkboard” to convey a narrative and tell your story. Unlike physical notecards, it is easy to share Storybuilder projects and it is easy to take them wherever you go with your laptop, phone, tablet or Kindle. Blackmagic 4K Production Camera – First Sample Videos from Grant Petty | EOSHD The first 4K images are rolling off the 4K production camera, shot by Grant Petty himself no...

Digital Bolex D16 Review Part 1: First Impressions (And How You Can Order One Right Now) | No Film School The camera does a very good job combining color temperatures in the same frame. This doesn’t always look right with certain camera systems, but it was a particular strength of film — and it certainly looks like a strength of the D16. 10 VIDEO EDITING HABITS TO GIVE UP | Videomaker It's no lie, video editing can be messy. It's also a bad habit. That doesn't mean a video editor has to like it or live there. A video editor who keeps their workspace, virtual space, and their projects well organized will be more proficient. I Am No Longer Going To Produce Films For My Living | Ted Hope I have decided I am no longer going to produce films for my living.  To do so requires me to deliver quantity over quality. Or to not contribute as fully as I like since I won’t be fairly compensated.  Or to make something that is virtually guaranteed to not have the cultural im...

Revising Your Script: The Evolution of Even The Dogs Know | Filmmaker Magazine Intrigued by how the script had evolved, and because Capodiferro had worked on the script through several screenwriting classes and workshops, I asked him if he would explain the evolutionary process of the script in more detail 88 CINEMATOGRAPHERS SHARE THE BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE THEY’VE EVER RECEIVED | The Black And Blue At the suggestion of reader Martin Warrilow, I went through AC magazine’s online archives and pulled the answers to this question from 88 different cinematographers. Some are well-known while others are still under the radar. Yet all have crucial insight, wisdom, and knowledge to share that could help you in your filmmaking career. DIY Monday: Telling the Truth Without Paying for it | MovieMaker Most documentaries show some slant in the way they present a story to further their theses. Likewise, fictionalization of true events in a narrative film can result in the altering...

Exploring a 4K workflow in FCPX | HD Warrior Philip Johnston got to play with the Sony 4K Camcorder, the  FDR-AX1 ($4,498). But then he had problems with editing the footage in Final Cut Pro X (readers suggested trying something else) and decided that the 4:2:0 8bit color isn't good enough, so he's going to try for the professional version of the camera, the PXW-Z100 ($5,499). More troubling (and rumored when it was released) the sensitivity of the camera is lower than similar HD cameras. A reader comment in the post notes: It is about 1 or 2 stops slower than the NX5U depending on the available light.  So maybe you should stick with HD for the moment... Death of the Canon 7D? Canon Rumors has run a couple of posts about the future of the Canon 7D. The first reports a rumor that there will be no Canon 7D Mark II , while the second consists of thought's about whether it can really be true that Canon is abandoning this segment: This got me thinking today wh...

SpeedGrade CC (7.2) Update | Adobe This update focuses on performance enhancements and bug fixes for the Direct Link workflow.  Adobe Premiere Pro CC December 2013 Release | Adobe This release brings multiple performance enhancements to Premiere Pro, and several new features. Planar tracking and camera solver with Mocha, After Effects & Plexus | AEScripts In this tutorial, Mary Poplin of Imagineer Systems uses mocha Pro and After Effects to design a dynamic animated, tracked graphic. Digital-Transition Doc Side by Side Gets Archived … on Film | Studio Daily Kodak is publicizing the decision as a testament to film's continued viability as a stable preservation medium, especially when there is no time-tested equivalent in the world of digital archives. Developing a Concept for a Video | Photofocus Don’t try to reinvent what already exists. You need to closely examine what’s already in the web video universe or competitive marketplace. Videos A Gu...

Sony has announced the HXR-NX3 ( $3,495, expected in January ). This isn't a large sensor, inter-changeable camera, and it doesn't have 4K, so it won't get a lot of coverage, but it's a good general purpose professional level camcorder. I'm not sure if it replaces the HXR-NX5 ($3,795) . Here's a couple of videos: Shot in Istanbul by DP Den Lennie, this video demonstrates the beautiful results that can be achieved on our new HXR-NX3 handheld HD camcorder. Boasting leading lens, sensor and LSI technology, in addition to built-in WiFi technology which allows it to be connected with devices such as smartphones and tablets, the HXR-NX3 is ideal for the professional videographer. We go behind the scenes with DP Den Lennie in Istanbul as he explores our new HXR-NX3 handheld HD camcorder, to beautiful effect. Boasting leading lens, sensor and LSI technology, in addition to built-in WiFi technology which allows it to be connected with devices such as sma...