cinema5D news

By: Jared Abrams

Teradek hooked me up with one of their Cube HD wireless Video Transmitter Beta Test versions that I mentioned here in the news section some time ago. I finally got around to testing this bad boy out and here are the stunning results. For the first test I used it on a Steadicam Rig with the iPhone as my monitor and transmitted to an iPad. There was some delay with that. The Laptop in the video worked much better. The Cube worked flawlessly in this motorcycle test we did in Downtown, Los Angeles. There is about a one third of a second delay in the stream, a little too much for critical focus pulls but not enough to stir up a client. We wanted to see if it would be able to withstand the shake of a motorcycle mount. We shook the hell out of it in the test, as you can see in the video. It was Rock Solid. They are starting to ship the HDMI version this week. The Cube HDMI retails for just under $1600 US.

C5D Rock Star Chris Collins hooked up this great edit. He deserves most of the credit for this video.

They have agreed to let me give away this beta test unit on Twitter. To win the Cube HD wireless video transmitter simply follow Teradek on twitter and post the following in quotes below.

“Follow @teradek via @goforjared to win a Cube HD wireless video transmitter. http://www.cinema5d.com/news/?p=4576. Please RT.”

The Winner will be announced Wednesday September 8th, 2010. Via Twitter.

Canon 4K Concept Camera Source: Philip Bloom

By: Jared Abrams

I am going to the Canon Expo 2010 this weekend and I wanted to make sure the viewers of C5D News have access to the most up to date information on the Planet! Philip Bloom has VIP status over at the Expo and will be one of the first sources of information. He has already down played the possibility of a 5D3 via Twitter but I still have a hunch we will see PL mount lenses and  possibly a Full Frame Video Camera. Either way check out his site for any breaking news. I will be reporting Thursday September 2^nd, when it is open to the public. Stay tuned for some cool gear from Canon.

Update*** Canon 4K Concept Camera. Source Philip Bloom.

Click Here For The Official Canon Expo 2010 Press Release of What to Expect at The Show.

Source: Philip Bloom

Source: Philip Bloom

http://www.vimeo.com/14583766

By: Jared Abrams

Matthew Bennett hooked me with this killer video about his DIY EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) and camera rig. His “Grip Box” is made of wood. We really dig this DIY kind of gear. One of the coolest things about HDSLR’s is how inventive the community surrounding it is.

Here is Matthew’s break down in his own words.

“I created this rig because I wanted a few things I couldn’t find with most mattebox/balanced shoulder rig setups.

1. They were too long in the back. I often shoot in cramped spaces and want to be able to back up all the way to a wall if need be. I hate the thought of a weighted extension swinging around behind me that I can’t see. Also, I just generally like the look of a stubby rig.

2. I wanted the camera to sit back a bit and use an EVF for a finder. That way I can adjust to almost any position for low mode shots, etc. Also I can gain stability this way.

3. I wanted to try out a sturdy, bashable mattebox with big grips on the side. I often operate with my hands on the sides of the mattebox, I find it gives me a nice feeling of stability and just.. well, feels right. It feels like you’re holding the shot in your hands. So I thought why not try to make a mattebox with actual gripping surfaces. I created a one-off prototype to try out the concept, and this was the result. Verdict.. fun and a very tactile experience when operating!

Now yes I know it’s not really a mattebox because you can’t drop in filters… so I just call it a ‘gripbox’.

4. I wanted a handheld rig that I could literally eject the camera from - with this, it pops out the side in a second.

More…

http://www.vimeo.com/14250282

By: Jared Abrams

Vincent Laforet breaks down his gear list in this video. I have seen the Viewfactor EVF he is using and it looks to be a winner. The next phase in HDSLR gear will be the electronic viewfinder. A few manufactures are working on them now and they should be out in the wild very soon. My main concerns with EVF’s are their stability. In this video the EVF swings away during the demo. They must be able to withstand a person’s weight to be effective. It also looks like O’Connner is getting into the HDSLR game with a new Follow Focus and O-Grips Handgrips.

Click Here To Go To Vincent’s Site.

By: Jared Abrams

Cinematographer Dan Kanes sent me a link to Rarevision’s free 5D to RGB Beta Software. This looks like a very promising addition to the FCP post workflow tool bag. Anything to help the H.264 CODEC is a plus in my book. I have not had the chance to use it prior to the post. I will update this when I get more info. Here is a rip from the Rarevision site. Rarevision is a post production and color correction facility in Los Angeles, California.

“5DtoRGB is an awesome tool that extracts every last drop of video quality from cameras that record to the AVC/H.264 video format. Cameras like the Canon EOS series of HDSLRs record video in this format with subsampled YCbCr color. Because of this compression, the video is at risk of massive quality loss during the post production pipeline. By using a very high quality conversion process, 5DtoRGB gets you as close as possible to the original data off the camera’s sensor while putting the brakes on any additional quality loss. In short, it’ll make your footage look just plain amazing!”

Click here to check it out.

By: Jared Abrams

Canon is keeping pace with the release of new cameras with their Final Cut Pro EOS Movie Plug-in. The new version 1.1 will have support for the new Canon EOS 60D. It will also provide the ability to view metadata and EXIF data for .MOV files.

Here is the Short Press Release.

“United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland 26th August 2010 – Canon today announces a new plug-in further enhancing quicker and easier editing of EOS MOVIE footage in Apple’s software suite, Final Cut Pro. The update will be available to download for free from mid-September.

EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro version 1.1 will add to the recently released Plug-in-E1 by providing support for the Canon EOS 60D, the latest addition to the EOS range. The plug-in will allow users to view metadata and EXIF data for movie files. It will also provide support for multi-core processing, allowing even faster conversations with the latest generation of Macs.

The original plug-in was designed to convert EOS MOVIE footage from Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR cameras to Apple’s high-quality ProRes 422 codec at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion. Users will still have the benefits of being able to add timecode and reel names to footage quickly and easily.”

By: Jared Abrams

The announcements are pouring out of Canon prior to the Canon Expo 2010. Here are a bunch of new lenses to the Canon lineup. Most notably a brand spanking new 8-15mm f4 Fisheye Zoom. Unfortunately it’s a slow f4, but a speciality lens like this can have a few faults. The 8-15mm f4 Fisheye Zoom will retail for around $1400 US. Here is a rip from the Canon website about the new 8-15mm zoom.

“With its unique focal length range, the EF 8-15mm f/4L USM is the world’s widest fisheye zoom lens. It delivers 180° diagonal angle of view images for all EOS SLR cameras with imaging formats ranging from full-frame to APS-C, and provides 180° circular fisheye images for full-frame EOS models. It features UD glass for suppression of chromatic aberration, a Subwavelength coating for reduced ghosting, a newly developed Fluorine coating that keeps soiling, smears and fingerprints to a minimum, has full-time manual focus for instant switching from AF to Manual operation, and is built to the standards of the amazing Canon L-series of lenses.”

They have also announced a 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS, a 300mm f2.8 IS tele, a 400mm f2.8 IS tele and two extenders a 1.4x and 2x. Click on them for pricing and features. Source: Rob Galbraith

Video Source: Canon Filmmakers

By: Jared Abrams

Today Canon announced the new Canon EOS 60D 18MP camera. The mid level camera will fit squarely in between the Canon EOS 7D and Canon Rebel T2i. The 60D has most of the same features as the Canon Rebel T2i or 550D with the exception of an adjustable LCD viewfinder. It also has some nifty in camera picture modes like a “Soft Focus” and “Grainy Black and White”. The question on my mind is with only one Digic 4 processor will it drop down to SD when recording HD video like the Canon Rebel T2i. Either way we now have a Canon Rebel T2i on steroids for only a couple hundred buck more. The Canon EOS 60D will retail for $1099 US.

Click Here for Features and Specifications from Canon.

The Making Of Supernova.

The Music Video.

By: Jared Abrams

Marty Martin hooked up this killer green screen split screen to show us how he nabbed some serious VFX for this music video. Here is how he did it in his own words. Thanks for hooking up C5D with the lowdown.

“First off, we shot with a Canon 5D Mark II with a set of primes.  A Nikon 50mm 1.4, a Canon 28mm 1.8 and a Canon 14mm 4.

For the interiors, we had a relatively simple setup with white and green backgrounds.  Lighting consisted of a 2K Mole and 2 2×4 Kino lights, plus some misc bounce boards here and there for reflections off the sunglasses.  We also had a couple of fans around because it got pretty hot in that little studio, then we ended up using them to blow wind across his frilly jacket as well.

Exteriors were even simpler.  A doorway dolly, tripod, 7’ mini jib and a 12×12 silk was all we had I believe.  There was some night time stuff we shot that was supposed to be our opening and closing, but we didn’t use any of it, and for that we had a 2K Mole.

Post was a crazy.  Aside from a couple of super small little projects, this was pretty much the first VFX work I have done.  Thankfully I understand VFX work from a both production and post-production stance, in and out, but actually doing it with little to no experience was a major challenge.  I cut the video in FCP, the pulled everything, one piece at a time, into After Effects and just kind of experimented my way to the end.  Hourly crashes, constant reboots, etc cost me more time than it actually took to cut, but I got it done.  And I think this is an awesome example for what the Canon cameras can do in the VFX world.”

By: Jared Abrams

Canon Expo happens every five years and you can bet this is where they will announce some cool new products. Canon Expo 2010 will be held in New York September 2nd and 3rd, 2010.  The word on the street here in Hollywood is that this is a must go to event, if you shoot Canon cameras. If Canon is going to announce a 5D Mark III, Pl mount lenses, Full Frame Video cameras Etc. This is where they might do it. I am not on Canon’s Non Disclosure List, so I really do not have any inside information. I also suspect that information about some of the newer cameras and lenses will be trickling out prior to the expo. Stay tuned for some exciting new gear from Canon in the near future.

The Canon Expo 2010 is an invitation only event, however I found a little info on the Canon Expo 2010 site that may be a gateway for filmmakers. Here is a quote from the Canon 2010 Expo site.

“Canon EXPO 2010 New York means business

We’ll be welcoming the extended Canon community, including CEOs and business executives, professional photographers, broadcast executives, filmmakers, photography and design students, procurement officers, IT leaders, hospital and clinic administrators, commercial printers, data center personnel, and many more. Only Canon can create an imaging event so all-encompassing, and appropriate for such a wide audience.”