IBC 2011: LCDVFe – All you need to know about Kinotehnik’s EVF

Tonis’ LCDVF viewfinder for dslrs was a very useful asset two years ago when hdslr filming started. This year his much anticipated digital version of a viewfinder will finally hit the market.

The housing of the LCDVFe could already be seen at NAB in April this year, but now for IBC Tonis had 3 actualy working models with him.

See the video above for a detailed walkthrough and introduction.

The most important things to say about this device are the following:
- very good 800×480 24bit screen
- hdmi loopthrough with audio
- endless features: peaking, zoom, autozoom, guides, markers, crop, anamorphic, etc…
- snappy due to high processing power (Altera Cyclone FPGA processor)
- very little delay (very very important!)
- 15mm rod- and hotshoe-mount included
- powered by 4AA batteries
- diopter adjustment -3 to +2

Testing the device I found it very usable and well made, great glass (screen size in front of your eye), little optical deformation, snappy menu and processor, very sharp image. I haven’t done extensive testing on EVFs, but I did like this device, used it for about 10 minutes.

Tonis says it will be available in large quantities in November.
And it will probably cost 650€ ($890)

Check the Kinotehnik website to preorder.

B&H has provided these exclusive phone numbers for you if you have questions or require assistance:
US: +1 877 502 5839 and INTERNATIONAL: +1 212 465 0114

IBC 2011: F&V 7” monitor – basic, high quality, affordable (199€)

You might not know the company F&V, but you should. Among many other intriguing products the monitor they just released stands out among the affordable 7-inchers.

It is extremely basic, peaking is the maximum fun you will have with this baby, but quality wise its display delivers a sharpness that impressed me and the casing seems robust and lightweight.

Resolution is 800×480, like most other field monitors and allow for good focusing (if the panel and software is right.)

The hdmi version is 199€ ($270).

There is an HD-SDI version that sells for only 349€ ($480).

Get the F&V 5” monitor

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B&H has provided these exclusive phone numbers for you if you have questions or require assistance:
US: +1 877 502 5839 and INTERNATIONAL: +1 212 465 0114

When will it be too late for the 5D mark III?

Among other rumors (which I find too vague to mention here) on the 5D mk3 canonrumors recently wrote:
February 2012 would be the earliest for an announcement that will address the 5D line.

If we picture February 2012 as an announcement date for the mk3 then May/June would be realistic release dates as Canon usually announces several months prior to release.

Considering that 3 years have passed the development and improvement of Canon video dslrs has gone very very slow.
The 5D mark II still almost matches and in some aspects exceeds the video capabilities of all the other (later) Canon hdslr cameras.
Usually we see a different stills camera come out with just the same video functionality in it and all the major problems we don’t like so much. Video still seems to be treated as a side effect to these dslrs.

Well, somehow it’s legit, after all these are still cameras that come out of the stills factories of Canon, so maybe one could say: “Why should they care, they develop for photographers.”.

We seem to finally have come to a point in time where

More…

FxPlug – CineStyle LUT PLugin for Final Cut Pro

German based company Pomfort today released the beta of their long named “free DSLRLog2Video FxPlug plug-in for Final Cut Pro”.

The plug-in lets you preview footage recorded with the Technicolor CineStyle picturestyle in realtime without the manual handling of an LUT (LookUpTable).

Download the plugin here.

And see our article and explanation of the CIneStlye and LUTs here.