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Shooting Video With a DSLR
Why are these cameras so good (or bad) for video?
See new in-depth article
Russian Lens Finds New Purpose
550D Clip: Helios 44M 58mm f2 from Chris W on Vimeo.
As Chris Watson http://www.dallasweddingfilms.com reported in the VideoUniversity Forums, the Zenit 35mm film cameras come equipped with a Carl Zeiss-like lens. Zeiss lenses are highly regarded in the world of cinematography. Chris found one of these cameras in a pawn shop for $35. He took the mint condition Helios 44M lens and put it on his Canon Rebel T2i DSLR. The results are remarkable in a dreamy way. What a cool look. You can find these Russian cameras and lenses in pawnshops and on eBay.
The lenses have an interesting history. It started back when the Soviets took over East Germany right after World War II. They discovered a plant that made Carl Zeiss Biotar design lenses. The Russians used the blueprints for those Carl Zeiss lenses to create their own version called Helios lenses which they included in their Zenit 35mm film cameras.
Consider joining the VideoUniversity Members Only Forum. You can read the entire thread and meet some great videographers.
New Sony EX series Camera the PMW-320
Sony announces a new Sony EX series camera at NAB. The PMW-320 is a 1/2″ chip version of the PMW-350. Both camcorders have three Exmor™ full HD 1920×1080 CMOS imagers, HD-SDI and HDMI out. The PMW-350 camcorder features a DVCAM recording and playback as an option; with both features offered as standard on the PMW-320. The 320 is $12,800 WITHOUT the lens. With the lens, it’s $14,800.
For more info see the Sony Brochure.
Pocket Flix Viewer Allows You to Watch Star Trek Anywhere
The Pocket Flix viewer allows you to watch Star Trek anywhere.
The Pocket Flix was created by Ideal Toys in 1978. It was a battery-operated movie viewer that accepted film cassettes. Clips from movies, TV shows and cartoons were available.
There was talk of it being able to carry phone signals and display newspapers and books. Some even thought it could become a way of sharing documents and pictures. While it never got that far, it foretold devices such as the iPad.
Google TV
Google, Intel and Sony are developing Google TV to bring the Web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes.
The Google TV software, based on the Android operating system, which was designed for smartphones. It will allow Facebook, Twitter, and other social media into the TV. It’s open source, so manufacturers of device and TVs can design it into their products. Google encourages developers to invent new applications.
Google will have a toolkit for outside programmers within two months. Logitech is building a remote with a very small keyboard for Google TV. We could see products based on Google TV software in a few months.
I have a $80 Roku Box for streaming Netflix movies. It is terrific at what it does. I use it just to stream movies from Netflix, but it can also access videos from Amazon, MLB.com and a few other sites. It’s not everything I’d want, but I believe some kind of box like this will soon be giving us a lot more than movies. And that box could well be Google TV.
The Google TV software will be able to search the Internet as well as watch YouTube videos, TV shows from Hulu.com, keep up with Facebook, Twitter, download games and more.
Many other companies are chasing the same rabbit. These include Cisco Systems, Motorola, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, TiVo and start-ups like Roku and Boxee. This giant corporate battle could lead the way to convergence of the web and TV.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google and Dish Network are testing a TV program search.
For more information see
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/technology/18webtv.html
Canon EOS 5D Mark II firmware has a problem
Canon admits Version 2.0.3 firmware for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II causes a malfunction in which the manual recording level changed and made recording impossible. The correction is a new release Version 2.0.4 which is available from the Canon web site at:
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html
Thanks to Adam Forgione for sharing this information
Stunt Glider Pilot
To produce this video we removed the nose cone of the glider and constructed, in its place, a very strong camera platform facing the skilled stunt pilot. The music is “I Just Want To Get You High” by http://www.vincenthayes.com/ with Steve Yankee. This film is available for licensing.
Low Cost 3D Video
This is silent footage.
Ron Proctor and Amy Jo Proctor built a 3-D video system for only $250. If you have anaglyph glasses with a blue left lens and red right lens, you’ll see this video in 3-D.
Essentially, their system uses two Kodak Zx1 Cameras on a 6.5cm baseline. That’s similar to the human eye baseline. The cameras were started manually.
Then in a non-linear video editor, Adobe Premiere CS4, they overlaid the two tracks and set the compositing mode to “screen.” This is called “add” in some editors. They removed the red channel from the right, and then removed the blue and green channels from the left.
They said [ital] We also had to adjust the offset a little bit so the “focus” was on one of the middle birds. Whatever the two channels “line up” on will be the “focus,” also known as the “screen plane depth.” Whatever is in front of that will “pop out” and whatever is behind will “pop in.”
How Anaglyph Works
Anaglyphs are traditional 3-D images like we’ve seen for decades in print, movies and TV. Viewing anaglyph images through colored glasses results in each eye seeing a slightly different picture. In a red-blue anaglyph, for instance, the eye with the red filter sees the red parts of the image as “white”, and the blue parts as “black.”. The eye with the blue filter perceives the opposite effect. True white or true black areas are perceived the same by each eye. The brain blends together the image it receives from each eye, and interprets the differences as being the result of different distances.
Sony Introduces AVCHD Camcorders: HXR-NX5U and HDR-AX2000
LAS VEGAS (CES Booth 14200) Jan. 6, 2010 – Sony Electronics is expanding its line of solid state camcorders with two new models designed to broaden the shooting capabilities for professionals and consumers. The company is introducing its first professional camcorder that implements the AVCHD format, the HXR-NX5U, as well as a consumer AVCHD model, HDR-AX2000.
The professional HXR-NX5U model is part of Sony’s NXCAM family of video products for professionals. It features Sony’s Exmor™ CMOS sensor with ClearVid™ array, to deliver full high-definition resolution and low light sensitivity with low noise. The camcorder will record AVCHD up to 24Mbps, delivering 1920×1080 high definition images with both interlace and progressive modes along with native 1080/24P, 720/60p and MPEG-2 standard definition recording. Only the professional NX5U camcorder includes both HD-SDI and HDMI™ outputs, as well as two-channel linear PCM audio capabilities. Other unique features for the professional NX5U camcorder include 720/60P recording, built-in GPS function, SMPTE Time Code I/O and an upgrade option for 60i/50i switchable.
AVCHD technology has been widely adopted in Sony’s consumer camcorder line. In the professional market, Sony has already introduced one AVCHD-based model: the compact point-of-view (POV) camera and solid-state recorder combination, model HXR-MC1.
According to Sony, AVCHD is a highly efficient long-GOP codec based on MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Long-GOP image compression, a member of the MPEG family of codecs. This approach is consistent with Sony’s current line-up of MPEG professional camcorders, including the HDV™, XDCAM® HD optical and XDCAM EX™ series.
The new NXCAM model also shares the 20x optical zoom G lens used in Sony’s HVR-Z5U professional camcorder. The camcorder uses two types of consumer media along with an optional HXR-FMU128 128GB Flash Memory Unit for more than 11 hours of recording time at 24 Mbps. The HXR-FMU128 unit can be easily removed and simply powered through a computer’s USB connection, to make file downloading or editing easier and faster. Besides the Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media, users are also able to record HD content on class 4 or higher SDHC cards.
The new HXR-NX5U will be available this month, at a suggested list price of $4,950, which is the same as Sony’s highly successful HVR-Z5U. The HXR-FMU128 unit will also be available this month, at a suggested list price of $800. It can only be used with the professional model HXR-NX5U, not with the HDR-AX2000.
For High-end Prosumers
With both the HXR-NX5U and the HDR-AX2000 Handycam® camcorders, professionals and more adept consumer videographers can achieve a deep cinematic look with film-like movie quality and advanced color settings.
Recording full 1920×1080/60i high-definition video at up to 24Mbps, the HDR-AX2000 features progressive scan at 1080/24p and 30p, giving video film-quality motions for brilliant scene reproduction. Sony’s new prosumer camcorder delivers HD broadcast-quality images with the convenience of a non-linear recording format to Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media for editing and playback. CinemaTone Gamma™ and CinemaTone Color settings complement the 24P capabilities by providing the color and gamma range for an even more high-end feel and extra control over image expression.
The model uses three 1/3″ Exmor™ CMOS Sensors with Exmor derived technology to improve the color reproduction of video recordings and capture sharp, detailed images even in less than perfect lighting situations. Noise reduction is accomplished via the unique column-parallel analog-to-digital conversion technique and grid arrangement of the photo diodes, which are designed to provide high sensitivity, deep resolution, high-speed reading, and a wider dynamic range. The Exmor technologies combine to allow the new camcorders to perform significantly better in low-light environments with sensitivity of 1.5 lux.
The EIP processor is able to rapidly process the vast amounts of pixel data read from the three 1/3” Exmor CMOS Sensors, and record beautiful HD and colorful video. The Exmor CMOS Sensors were developed using some of the most advanced technologies in the semiconductor industry. They handle video data in 1920 x 1080p and 4:2:2 color space for high-quality signal processing before recording it to the dual Memory Stick PRO Duo media. Together, the EIP and Exmor CMOS Sensors imaging system allows both HXR-NX5U and the HDR-AX2000 camcorder to provide extremely high image quality with smooth gradation and detailed image reproduction.
The new camcorder uses Sony’s 3.2” (16:9) (measured diagonally) Xtra Fine LCD™ screen (921K) and Xtra Fine LCD electronic viewfinder (0.45-inch, 1,227,000 dots) for high-resolution and high-contrast images with remarkable color reproduction.
$300 Video Leads to $30 Million Contract
Ataque de Pánico! (Panic Attack!) on Youtube
Fede Alvarez from Uruguay uploaded this short film to Youtube last month (November, 2009). As he told the BBC’s Latin American service Mundo “I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios.”
Alvarez directs commercials and specializes in Special Effects. He has recently signed a deal with Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures to develop and direct an original science fiction film to be shot in South America. “Panic Attack” has been compared to Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9″ documentary like depiction of a robot invasion.
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