I was really impressed with this year’s NAB in Vegas. Amazed with the organization and how it was all run. (100,000 people/2nd largest Conv in Vegas) It was thoroughly professional and enjoyable. I was able to get some hands-on with some new sliders, shoulder-rigs, stabilizers, and also checked out some of the newest gear including Nikon D800, Canon C500, BlackMagic Cinema Cam, Kessler, Zacuto, Konova and Jag35 systems just to name a few. Without a doubt, the surprise announcement was the BD Cinema Cam. A 2.5K Raw cam with an even amazing form-factor and simplistic interface that shocked everyone. The Sony FS700 was the other big cam at 4K resolution (w/external recorder). So, with all the hoopla, i was able to figure out where i want to go with support systems. Definitely well-worth the time and travel for this big convention. Check out this new FS700 promo-video. Amazing resolution and frame-rates. (Watch at 1080/full-screen).
Adobe CS6 Premium is announced for NAB. This looks like a great upgrade from the previous 5.5.
Pretty much a no-brainer upgrade. Whats different is the new Cloud Subscription services Adobe has adopted but you can still
upgrade the traditional way. Here are some new features for PPro and AE (not all the apps).
CS6 Production Premium applications:
Adobe Encore CS6
Adobe Media Encoder CS6
Adobe Story Plus
After Effects CS6
Audition CS6
Photoshop CS6
Prelude CS6
Premiere Pro CS6
Speedgrade CS6
PPro:
An optimized Mercury Playback Engine that is faster than before in software-only mode, and also sports a broader range of choices in graphics cards.
Adobe Mercury Transmit gives Adobe I/O hardware partners, such as AJA, Black Magic Design, Bluefish444, Matrox, and MOTU direct access to the Mercury Playback Engine. Using external monitors, you’ll get full-screen playback while maintaining all the real-time performance benefits of the Mercury Playback Engine.
Warp Stabilizer and Rolling Shutter Repair, which were previously only in Adobe After Effects.
Unlimited cameras in Multicam.
New and enhanced editing tools such as adjustment layers very reminiscent of After Effects, trimming directly in the Program Monitor, and a redesigned Audio Mixer. You can now double click to apply effects to selected clips.
Three-Way Color Corrector effect, that uses GPU acceleration
Adobe Media Encoder is now fully 64 bit software with a much expanded preset list and more efficient batch encoding that makes multiscreen delivery a breeze.
After Effects:
Native support for Adobe SpeedGrade .Look files, cineSpace .csp files, and overrange IRIDAS .cube files.
Not only is Mocha still there, but you can launch it directly from within After Effects.
Global RAM cache. This is a vastly improved frame caching system that allows you to try different options and Undo without a penalty in productivity, as well as render and cache a comp’s work area in the background.
Persistent Disk Cache. Previews done in a previous session are saved and immediately available the next time you open a project.
New graphics pipeline. With more efficient use of OpenGL, the work environment in After Effects is more highly responsive and smoother. You’ll get faster manipulation of layers with graphical overlays such as masks, motion tracker points, and motion paths. Depending on the hardware, functions may be speeded by anywhere from 1.5 to 16 times!
Intelligent 3D Camera Tracker effect.
Ray-traced 3D rending engine giving you the capability to quickly design fully ray-traced geometric text and shape layers in 3D space. Pair this engine with, say an nVidia Quadro 2000, and you’ll see over 10 times the performance over CPU-only rendering by a stock Intel i7 3960X processor!
Variable mask feather lets you set any number of points along a closed maks and define the width of the feather on a per-point basis
Pro Import, previously available as a separate product from Automatic Duck, is now included with After Effects CS6.
Effects that were previously 8bpc now support 16bpc or 32 bit float including all of the HD plug-ins of the included CycoreFX HD Suite.
This camera is a real 4K acquisition camera but its ’4K-ready’ now till Sony releases their external recorder. Amazing…., 4K-RAW is here. And you can pre-order at B&H. They say it will be available at end of June. The other incredible feature-set are the various frame rates. It is a true 1080p/460fps and it goes all the way to 960fps with a lesser 500 horizontal lines and B-frames. It is 8-bit, 4:2:2. I would be surprised if the SDI-output is not compatible with 3rd party capture cards/devices. Hoping to check this camera out soon.
The most anticipated dSLR camera has been released. Here are the details.
22.3 Megapixel Full Frame CMOS sensor
DiG!C 5+ Image Processor
ISO 100-25600 (expandable to L:50 H1:51200, H2: 102400
Full HD Movie (ISO 100-12800 (H:25600)
61-point high-density reticular AF (up to 41 crosstype points)
6.0 fps for high continuous shooting
Intelligent viewfinder with approx. 100% coverage
3.2-type, approx.1.04m dot (3:2 wide) Clear View LCD II
iFCL metering with 63-zone dual-layer sensor
Shutter durability of 150,000 cycles
Silent & low vibration modes
Dual card slots (CF & SD)
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Mode
Multiple Exposures
Comparative Playback function
Improved durability & water and dust resistance
Available Colours – Black
Megapixels – 22MP
Sensor Size – 36 x 24mm
ISO/Sensitivity – 100 – 25600
Autofocus Points – 61 points
Lens Mount – Canon
LCD Size – 3.2″
Liveview – Yes
Viewfinder – Optical TTL
Min Shutter Speed – 30 sec
Max Shutter Speed – 1/8000 sec
Continuous Shooting Speed – 6 fps
Self Timer – 10 sec, 2 sec
Metering – Centre-weighted, Spot, Evaluative, Partial
Video Resolution – Full HD 1080
Memory Type – Compact Flash
Connectivity – USB 2, HDMI, Mic Input, Wireless (optional)
Battery – LP-E6
Battery Type – Lithium-ion
Charger – Includes Li-Ion Charger
File Formats – AVI, RAW, H.264, MOV, MPEG-4
Dimensions – 152 x 116 x 76mm
Box Contents – Battery Pack LP-E6 .. Battery Charger LC-E6 .. AV Cable AVC-DC400ST .. Interface Cable IFC-200U .. Eyecup Eg .. Wide Strap EWEOS5DMKIII .. CR1616 Lithium Battery+
March 2, 2012 | Categories: 5DMkIII, Canon | Comments Off
The rumors of this cam have been finally answered. It is pretty much what most have anticipated. This release guarantees the 5DMkIII to be announced soon. Looking forward to pictures with the downscaling. Higher megapixel count does not necessarily mean better imagery but this is a new sensor and new RGB color system. Here is the official announcement from Nikon and specs.
A little while ago, Canon unveiled a new Cinema camera and Cinema lenses. This announcement was to usher in a new ‘division’ or presence in the Movie Industry that they were entering into the high-end camera market. Cameras in the like of Red, Alexa, Sony to name a few. The C300 is like a big brother to the 5DMkII. It is their first cam with a 4K chip and outputs 1080P. I think its beautifully designed and seems to be a natural fit for cinematographers. I was able to check it out recently. Its only 3 1/2lbs. Here was the video announcement of the cam.
Here are a few pics i took of the C300 and Canon lenses.
If you are fairly new to filmmaking, its quite a shock to see the prices you have to pay for a professional tripod/head systems. If you thought the body and lenses were expensive…the sticks can leave you shaking your head. But i think you don’t have to spend in the 1000′s for a tripod system if you are using a dSLR. If you have a bigger form-factor, then it is very important to have a system that will handle the weight and all the accessories that come with it. On the other hand, it doesn’t take long to realize after shooting how important stability is and why you don’t want to ‘go cheap’ with this. Thats why i decided to look for something that was professional but have the bang4buck factor. Alot of the newer gear has improved in quality/technology plus better pricing. I think the 502 fits right into this category.
I like the feel of the 502. It reminded me of the Miller system when you have it dialed. You have to get used to the pan and tilt main knobs which didn’t take long. Once you have it dialed, the incremental dials (with the red colors) is very handy for fine-tuning pan/tilt. They call this ‘bridging technology’. The weight is good but i need to get carbon legs now. I think this is the ideal bang4buck head for dSLR form-factor. I can’t vouch for it on something like an AF100 or C300 type of body. Here’s a short clip of a beautiful wide view of the Pacific. It was pretty easy to maneuver for almost 2 minutes.
January 14, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Comments Off
