Variable ND test: Heliopan vs Tiffen vs LCW mk II

Every large sensor & HDSLR shooter needs an ND filter for outdoor shoots and Variable ND’s have proven mighty useful if you’re a one-man band or on the clock.
But it is also a known fact that some Vari ND’s dampen your shots quality to some extent. So which is the best Variable ND for the money? Tim Fok put together a very useful test in which he compared the most common brands in detail.

This is a guest post written by Tim Fok

So I’m on the look out for a new variable ND filter. I’ve used the LCW mark II for a couple of years now, and have never been particularly keen on the softness it’s always seemed to add. But whilst trying to complete my L series lens collection, the hunt for a new ND filter kind of took a back seat, until now.

More…

FCP Plugin for 5D mark III’s new REC.709 color space

I’ve received the following info from Canon inc. Japan:

The movie color conversion matrix (RGB -> YUB) for the EOS-1D X and 5D mark III has been changed to BT.709 (sometimes referred to as REC.709) for Full HD and HD movies (On previous EOS products it was BT.601). SD movies remain as BT.601.

Therefore it is recommended that editors use the new version of the EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro (Ver. 1.3) that supports a BT.709 color conversion matrix when using Final Cut Pro 6.x/7.x for editing.
What does this actually mean?
BT.709 is a broadcast color space that uses RGB values of 16-235 (rather than 0-255 as per a still image). It is the standard colour space for HD footage.
The downside is that if not properly converted (i.e. converting 5D III footage to ProRes for editing) footage will be more susceptible to gamma issues with NLEs than the 5D mark II was. This will result in “crushed” blacks (dark areas without detail) and a darker gamma on a computer screen which uses a 0-255 color space. If transcoding with software other than the EOS-movie plugin (such as 5DToRGB) set the gamma to 1.22 to get the correct display of tones.

Basically so far Canon HDSLR’s did not conform to the BT.709 standard which is “recommended” for HD. While color spaces are mostly confusing and a cause of trouble for less broadcast experienced editors the fact that the 5D mark III now conforms to this standard makes it more easily acceptable for HD broadcasters.

Download the new EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 V1.3 here: LINK
More info on REC.709/BT.709: Wikipedia

Canon 5D mark ii Firmware 2.0.9 – nothing new

We’ve got a new firmware from Canon for our favorite photo camera.
via Canonrumors:

1. Improves writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards.
2. Fixes a phenomenon where the IS function will not work when custom function C.Fn III-2 is set to [5: IS start] and the lens attached does not have an AF stop button. This is because custom function C.Fn III-2 allows users to assign IS start to the AF stop button on the lens
3. Corrects misspellings in the menu screens displayed in Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai languages.

You can currently download the firmware from Canon Asia:

Download for Windows
Download for OSX

Find a list of all Canon firmware pages and older firmware in this forum topic.