Sony just revealed their latest lineup of AtomX compatible SSDmini drives. There are three models, ranging from 500GB up to 2TB and they’re exclusively designed to fit the highly popular Atomos Ninja V monitor/recorder.  The Atomos Ninja V is a relatively small device and therefore you might want to invest in specialized SSDs designed to fit. You can –of course– use regular sized ones but they will stick out of the unit quite a bit. Angelbird already offers AtomX SSDmini drives and now Sony enters this market, too. Atomos Ninja V with Angelbird AtomX SSDmini drive attached. So if you you don’t want to use regular sized SSDs, like the Samsung 850 Pro or the Western Digital WD Blue PC SSD, then this new offering from Sony might be worth a closer look. Sony AtomX SSDmini Drives Just like the Angelbird SSDs, these new Sony AtomX SSDmini drives are available with capacities of 500GB and 1TB, but Sony adds a third option: 2TB of storage. All three models share the same specs: Up to 550MB/s read speed and up to 500MB/s write speed, a size of 80.0 x 75.5 x 7.8mm and a humble weight of 88g. The SSD is connected to the Atomos via SATA 3 (6Gbps). All codecs available on Atomos products are supported by the SSDmini drives. According to Atomos, the new Sony drives (along with the Angelbird SSDmini drives and all the other certified drives) are capable of processing up to 10bit ProRes raw HQ @ 4K 50/60p or ProRes HQ / DNxHR @ 4Kp60 / 2K 240p. Advantages / Disadvantages The good thing is that these Sony AtomX SSDmini drives fit snugly with the Ninja V monitor/recorder without compromising on capacity or speed. However, this advantage can turn into a disadvantage if you use it on a larger device such as a Atomos Sumo 19 monitor. It’s simply too short. In order to fix this you’ll need a special Atomos SSDmini Adaptor. Make sure to have some ready if you consider swapping drives between different devices a lot. Sony AtomX SSDmini with an Atomos adaptor handle attached. A key advantage of using SSDs to capture your footage is the increase in work speed. Once you’ve finished recording, simply remove the SSD, insert it into your workstation, and edit away. No offloading required – but don’t you forget to backup! Links: Atomos compatibility chart Do you use a Ninja V recorder? Which drives do you use? Would you consider getting one of these Sony drives? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The term post-production might seem simple but beneath the surface it’s a rabbit hole. That’s because Frame.io have put together the ultimate (their words) post-production workflow guide. It covers everything from capturing to exporting footage and is rounded off with dedicated case studies. Best of all? It’s free! There’s just so much involved when it comes to post-production: Acquiring footage, codecs, conforming, editing, building and adding effects, color grading, sound design, exporting.. you name it. Every step in the process requires particular attention in order to maintain image (and sound) quality throughout post. Many weird specs and technical jargon are involved. Post-Production Workflow Guide Frame.io makes it clear right from the start: This guide is completely product-agnostic. It’s about the concepts, not particular gear, services or software. They worked with a number of professional filmmakers around the world to bundle as much expertise as possible into a comprehensive post-production workflow guide.   As David Kong, director of content at Frame.io, puts it, “There are many amazing resources for post-production information scattered across the web. But these resources are all spread out, hard to find, incomplete, and none of them gives you a complete overview of the entire process. That will soon change.” You might know David already from one of his extensive guides, such as his superb primer on video codecs over at Philip Bloom’s blog. Diving in The post-production workflow guide splits into 9 chapters: Capture, Prep, Edit, Conform, VFX, Color, Sound, Delivery and Case Studies. Each chapter is divided into smaller, easily digestible sections. All together it’s a 100.000 word document and you’ll need about 90 minutes of pure reading time to work through it. In reality, of course, it will take much longer as there are so many images, charts and the above case studies which will glue your attention to the screen for quite some time. Once you have worked your way through the thicket, this guide is still very useful for later reference. Frame.io states that they will improve and expand the guide over time. As Frame.io puts it, this post-production workflow guide is designed to be the “go-to resource for anyone (rookie or veteran) looking to understand all (or certain) parts of the video workflow, from acquisition to delivery.” If you want to know about the creators of this workflow guide, Frame.io, make sure to check out our coverage here and here. link: Frame.io Workflow Guide Is this guide helpful to you? Do you have other resources you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below!

2018 is almost over and these lines were supposed to summarize the almost 365 days behind us and provide a glimpse of 2019. But instead of listing each and every major tech product of 2018, I’ll take a slightly different approach. What is the future of indie filmmaking and how does modern gear technology in mirrorless cameras helps to shape that future? image credit (cropped): Lucas Favre via Unsplash.com FUJIFILM X-T3, Canon EOS R, Nikon Z6 and Z7, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC4K), Sony A7 III or the Panasonic GH5 / GH5s to name just a few (make sure to read Johnnie’s article about best small cameras of 2018). All these cameras are tiny in comparison to proper digital cinema cameras. And all of these cameras are very potent filmmaking devices which were impossible to think of just a few years ago. Video Technology The one key spec which impacts the resulting video quality the most is bit-depth and chroma sub-sampling. There are more factors, but the ability of recording 4:2:2 10-bit is one of the most important factors that sets a pro camera apart from a consumer camera. Guess what: this barrier is about to collapse. The GH5, released in early 2017, is already capable of recording 4:2:2 10-bit internally but it sports a micro four thirds sensor “only”. Many of the mirrorless cameras of 2018 either record 4:2:2 10-bit internally or at least output it via HDMI. The BMPCC4K records raw as a cDNG stream (Blackmagic RAW seems to be around the corner) but –again– it “only” uses a micro four thirds sensor. The Sony A7 III tops out at 4:2:0 8-bit (internally) and 4:2:2 8-bit (externally) but it sports a full-frame sensor. Wait and see what the upcoming a7S III will offer! The FUJIFILM X-T3 does 4:2:0 10Bit internally and steps up to 4:2:2 externally, all with a super35 (APS-C) sized sensor. With cameras like the Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R and the aforementioned Sony a7S III, which are anticipated for an 2019 release, the number of 4:2:2 10-bit capable devices with large sensors will grow but the compactness of the camera bodies will remain the same. Pro technology trickles down to more affordable gear, that’s a trend which started earlier of course but in 2018 we got to a point at which the transition from mega-bucks cameras to very affordable gear is in full swing. The point is: These less and less bulky cameras don’t compromise on quality any longer. To me, 2018 marks the year in which the equation small device = poor quality is no longer valid. This opens a door to a new thinking and new concepts for indie filmmakers. Other Gear It’s not only cameras, obviously. Everything regarding indie filmmaking gear gets smaller, more lightweight yet super capable without compromising on quality. The good ol’ V-mount / Gold mount batteries for powering your (big) pro camera are now available in tiny sizes. Bebob offer their V-micro line of batteries, CoreSWX have the Hypercore 9 Mini and the Power Base EDGE (even as a specialized model for the BMPCC 4K). Building a decent rig becomes a whole lot simpler if the battery is not the bulkiest part of it! External video recording is still a thing, for obvious reasons. But even solutions for full-fledged external recording become smaller and yet as feature-packed as full-sized gear. The Atomos Ninja V fits a mirrorless rig perfectly while the larger Shogun Inferno might seem a little bulky on such a camera. The BMPCC4K renders an external recorder obsolete and to be honest I’d be happy to see more (smallish) cameras with such potent recording options, including high frame rates, in 2019. Stabilizing Shots Internal sensor stabilization is another buzz word of 2018. Not every camera has it and it’s one of these things which might tip your buying decision to one or the other make and model. If you, like me, chose a non-stabilized body such as the superb FUJIFILM X-T3 you might want to get a gimbal for certain smooth tracking shots. In 2018, grabbing a powerful yet decently priced one, is not a problem anymore (here’s our review of the X-T3). The gap between huge devices such as the MōVI Pro or the DJI Ronin 2 and smaller single handed gimbals is no longer very big. Sure, a bigger device can handle (way) higher payloads but the single handed Ronin-S is indeed a very capable gimbal for all of the aforementioned mirrorless cameras (here’s our review of the Ronin-S)! It’s actually kind of overpowered for such a camera which ensures very good reliability and performance even for demanding movements. Other options are the Tilta Gravity G2X or the new Zhiyun Crane 3 Lab. DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Source: DJI Wanna film things from above? The new DJI Mavic 2 Pro is a pocket-sized drone which packs lots of punch for its tiny size. You can carry one of those along with your other gear all the time. If you need it: it’s there waiting to lift off. If you don’t: no worries, maybe next time. Compared to that bringing an Inspire 2 to set is a bit of a hassle. The Inspire 2 is the better drone, sure, but for many use cases the Mavic 2 will be just fine without comprising too much on image quality. Packing Stuff You see where this is heading, right? In late 2018 you can pack a whole truckload worth of filmmaking gear into one reasonable sized backpack. Useful options would be the new Peak Design Travel Backpack complete with packing cubes in various sizes (2018) or the WANDRD PRVKE (from 2016). Peak Design Travel Backpack (with folded away straps). It’s all about portable, versatile, customizable and modular gear. Everything gets smaller, yet more powerful. Being a one-man band is not an obstacle anymore but an opportunity. Grab your bag and go. Camera, on-board monitor, lenses, gimbal, drone, travel tripod, batteries, media, it’s all in there! All of the above-listed gear would leave the technically savvy guy (or gal) of 2015 with an incredulous look and a strong craving reflex. Just because the specs seem to be way too good to be true for such smallish pieces of gear. State of Mirrorless Cameras You could easily employ a recent mirrorless camera as a B-cam next to a proper camera such as a Canon C300 mark II. Depending on the job, you could even replace the bigger camera without being left behind with bad image quality. You can use a Mavic 2 Pro instead of a Phantom 4 Pro V2.0 or Inspire 2. Sure, there are differences in terms of image quality but the point is: The Mavic 2 Pro is not bad – at all! The aforementioned gear is not inferior just because it’s not playing in the premier league of filmmaking. All of it is very decent indeed. Nice cam.. but it’s huge! Image credit: Jakob Owens via Unsplash.com Being in this business for more than a decade (15 years to be exact) I know that cutting edge gear always was kind of the minimum requirement for most jobs. And I think these times are over for good. Cutting edge gear will always be a thing but for the average indie filmmaker it’s not only OK but very reasonable to employ average prized gear for their jobs. As I’ve stated before: Average doesn’t mean inferior any longer. Just like with audio gear, video gear doesn’t need to be cutting edge anymore in order to perform at a very decent level. Pro cameras will always play their role and depending on the job they are worth the bulk and cost. On many other jobs, however, a smaller package will do just fine. Just grab your tiny yet super powerful mirrorless camera and off you go! Post on the go And when you’re done shooting, recent developments transform your laptop into a pro workstation: Just connect a portable eGPU and edit / grade / export away. Everything in a traditional post production pipeline can be achieved using a laptop right there in the field. Again, full-fledged post suites are still a thing of course but you can do it on the go. This was impossible in 2015 but here we are on the brink of 2019… This is the future and it will evolve in 2019 and beyond. As I stated in the beginning, this article was meant to sum up 2018 and in a way it did. My approach is putting together a one-bag solution with 2018 tech for all my indie filmmaking needs for 2019 and I will write up a dedicated post once I’ve finished building it. Let’s cut some bulk while remaining confident that we are employing state of the art technology! What are your thoughts about this? Is 2018 a turning point or are we not there yet? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Creating a Hollywood horror movie without fearing the horrors of an unusual camera setup for this kind of production? The creators of “The Possession Of Hannah Grace” had the guts to employ a Sony a7S II (a bunch of them) full-frame mirrorless camera for their feature film. This is a Hollywood first! BG Image credit: izayah ramos | unsplash.com If you’re not into super scary horror movies (I am not.. at all!), the headlining movie of this post, “The Possession Of Hannah Grace”, isn’t for you. But, since the whole movie was shot on a Sony a7S II –along with slick lenses and a lot of accessories–, this might be an interesting development for future productions. Hollywood vs. Small Cameras The Sony a7S II is a very capable camera. It’s tiny, yet sports a full-frame 4K sensor, offers Slog 2 and 3 and an incredible low light performance. And it’s relatively cheap in comparison of many other full-fledged digital cinema cameras. In conjunction with Vantage Hawk 65 anamorphic lenses, the crew was able to pull off amazing shots on a budget. See the trailer below but mind you: It’s super scary and definitely not for everyone: We’re still talking about a Hollywood movie here. So even though the crew was working on a somewhat tight budget, the actual camera setup doesn’t look very low-budget. That’s mainly because the giant Hawk 65 anamorphic lenses and a varitey of outboard monitors, wireless transmitters and lens controls. Can you spot the Sony a7S II? According to the filmmakers, the combination of the camera and anamorphic lenses were key to the final look of the movie. Employing that anamorphic style adds to the cinematic look. According to DP Lennert Hillege things like dynamic range, color science, skin tone rendition, detailed blacks, natural highlight roll off and the ability to shoot and output Sony LOG were critical aspects that were considered. The biggest downside of the a7S II’s capabilities was the lack of 10 bit recording. It’s only 8 bit but Hillege puts it like this: If you’re not too dirty, and you keep to certain rules about exposure and color, you can shoot really beautiful, monumental images with it. Since the camera itself isn’t that expensive, the crew was able to avoid lens swapping just by using not one camera but one camera per lens. Vantage helped with adapting the PL Hawk 65 lenses to the E-mount of the a7S II. Three focal lengths were available at the time of production: 40mm, 60mm and 95mm all with a 1.3x squeeze factor, resulting in a 2.40:1 widescreen image when used with a 16:9 sensor. With the Sony/Vantage combo, the team had a relatively small and lightweight setup at hand with a very capable low-light performance, which seems adequate for a dim and eerie horror movie like this one. Proper Cinema Cameras? Usually you would use something like a Arri Alexa LF for a full-frame Hollywood production like this, right? Well, since this movie was shot on a budget (which applies to both money and time) the a7S II seems to be a decent choice, especially if it opens the door of having one camera attached to each lens which avoids downtimes. Arri Alexa LF vs. Sony a7S II Sure, the Alexa delivers superior image quality but according to DP Lennert Hillege that’s not the point. If you work with a director who wants to shoot anamorphic, and we work with a producer who really wants to change the whole vision of how to shoot a cine movie, perfection is not the most interesting goal. It’s how you are telling the story and whether that works. It’s the culmination of many things that gives a certain look. All these new ideas and ways of working are interesting to think about, investigate and put into action on a script. Remember the movie “28 Days Later” by Dannie Boyle from 2002? DP Anthony Dod Mantle shot it on a Canon XL-1S, which is actually a miniDV camera which records in SD resolution. is it a bad movie because of this? No, it’s a great movie because making a movie is not about the camera but about the story. Canon XL-S1 camera – in SD resolution :)  Lenses vs. Cameras These are modern times and recent cameras are high end performers if you compare them to older models such as the aforementioned Canon XL-S1. Maybe it’s more about everything else but the camera. As “The Possession Of Hannah Grace” DP Hillege puts it: Typically, 70 percent of your frame is out of focus. You might be looking at the 30 percent that is in focus, but there’s magnificence in what is in the background, and the Hawk lenses are designed with this in mind. This movie wouldn’t be as cinematic as it is without using these anamorphic lenses, I’m sure. Since nowadays cameras are such capable devices they become less and less important. It’s more about the style and look — and these are characteristics (cine) lenses are made for. “The Possession Of Hannah Grace” was released on November 30th. Links: Vantage Film | Sony.com | first seen on Petapixel.com What do you think? Is it overkill to use 5 Sony cameras instead of one “proper” cinema camera? Or is it the future of filmmaking we’re witnessing here. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

SWIT have announced a few new products back at IBC 2018 in Amsterdam including a fresh 5.5″ monitor. the SWIT CM-55 C called device features almost everything you need for decent onboard monitoring for a mirrorless camera, including support for custom LUTs. And it’s priced very competitive, indeed. What are you looking for when it comes to a versatile onboard monitoring solution? For me, three things stand out: Image quality, features, weight. You don’t want to mount a giant 3 lbs monitor to your shiny new 1.2 lbs Fujifilm X-T3, do you? SWIT CM-55 C Monitor This monitor features a 1920 x 1080 FullHD 5.5″ IPS LCD display. The actual image quality looks very nice indeed and the display is rated at a brightness of 450nits, it features a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a H/V viewing angle of 178°. I actually did receive a unit just today and I’ll update this post (or even better: put together a proper review) once I have played with it for a little while. The reason why I bought this SWIT CM-55 C right away? It has the right size for me, it’s lightweight, it comes with a ton of features and it’s actually very affordable. In Germany, it’s about €199 + VAT. Hardware Features The whole unit weights only 0,35 lbs (160g) and it’s 6.1 x 3 x 0.8″ (156 × 78 × 20mm) in size which is perfect for any mirrorless camera. It looks quite similar to the well-known SmallHD 502 line of monitor, it even features a similar looking 5-way joystick. The SWIT CM-55 C is controlled entirely with that joystick, the only other control is the on/off switch on the back of the unit. A cool thing is the dual battery slot on the back. You can attach either Canon LP-E6 style batteries or Sony LP-F style batteries. Your choice entirely. Furthermore, you can use a phone charger or power bank (anything from 5 – 17V, min. 1.5A) and feed the monitor via micro USB As with many lower priced monitors, the SWIT CM-55 C only features a HDMI input, no SDI whatsoever. There’s no option to loop the HDMI signal through, either. It’s just one standard HDMI-A sized input and that’s that. It supports video resolutions up to 3840 x 2160p UHD @ 30 fps. 1080p is supported up to 60fps. The connector next to the HDMI input can be used to power your camera through the monitor itself. The standard barrel connector acts as an additional output to the attached battery, 7.4V that is. You can get the SWIT CM-55 C bundled with a dummy battery for your given camera or just get one yourself. The monitor comes with a handy L-shaped tilt arm for attaching it to your camera’s hot shoe and the arm provides another cold shoe for attaching accessories such as a microphone or video light. It’s not as good as the arm you get along with a SmallHD Focus monitor since it tends to get loose when you tilt the monitor, maybe I can DIY it a little bit so it performs better. Furthermore you get a sunshade which will come in handy when shooting in bright sunlight. While 450 nits is not bad, it’s not sufficient for shooting in bright conditions. Unfortunately, the sunshade is rather poorly build but it’s better than nothing. It is basically a piece of plastic with two rubber fasteners on the sides. If your camera doesn’t feature a headphone jack for monitoring audio, the SWIT CM-55 C does have one, so you can monitor 2 channels of audio provided through the HDMI signal. Software Features When it comes to software features for an onboard monitor these are the most important ones (at least for me): decent focus peaking false color tools waveform The good news is: The SWIT CM-55 C does it all. It supports R/G/B 3-color focus peaking, waveform/vector scope/histogram tools, false color, zebra with adjustable threshold, 2-channel audio metering (through HDMI) and LUTs (both pre-installed and custom)! Support for LUTs, especially custom ones is a rare feature to be found in lower end monitors. You can load up to 16 custom via SD card through the built-in SD card reader at the bottom of the unit. If you are familiar with LUTs and waveforms, you’ll want to know which signal the waveform is analyzing, I’m sure. And I can confirm that it’s actually measuring the incoming LOG signal rather than the overlying LUT. So you can look at the beautiful Rec.709 image through a LUT of your choice while still being able to check for correct exposure via the waveform. Neat! Just like the SmallHD 500 series, this SWIT CM-55 C monitor lets you create several scenes to flick through with the joystick. Every scene can be configured exactly to your liking. One page with false color and aspect guides enabled, one with only focus peaking turned on, one with a LUT and another one with only a crosshair in the middle? No problem. Eight scenes can be configured in total, each containing up to 8 individual tools. Build Quality The obvious comparison between the SWIT CM-55 C and the SmallHD 500 series of onboard monitors will only allow for one clear winner: The SmallHD is 5 times more expensive and you know why once you have one in your hands. It’s solidly build, it has HDMI inputs and outputs including cross-conversion to SDI (yes, there’s a SDI input, too). Plus, SmallHD did all the pioneering efforts regarding the innovative page layout UI. SmallHD 502 monitor The SWIT CM-55 C lacks a little bit on build quality, I hope the joystick will last for more than just a little while. The whole unit is made out of plastic which results in a nice lightweight monitor but it doesn’t feel as solid as the aforementioned SmallHD. At all! Is it worth it? Absolutely! It sells for a fraction of the price and in that regard it is really feature-packed. My personal aim is to use it on a gimbal and as an onboard monitor for my Fuji X-T3. Speaking of gimbals, what I really miss is a 1/4 20 mounting point on the top of the SWIT. Only two mounting points, one at the side and one at the bottom can be found on the unit. Good thing that you can rotate the screen via software! The SWIT CM-55 C might seem to be a little bit of a low-cost copy of the higher end SmallHD monitors and I hope that SWIT are adhering to current patents here. Other than that, this seems to be a legit monitor at a very affordable price and a great feature set. Links: SWIT homepage What do you think? Are you in the market for a new affordable onboard monitor? Or would you prefer the real deal (aka SmallHD 500 series)? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

At Inter Bee 2018 we met with Astrodesign Inc. to discuss their new take on 8K acquisition. What we found on display was not a ready-to-use product but a very interesting concept which looks a lot like a proper cinema camera. Let’s look at the future in the shape of this new Astro 8K camera concept. 4K video is pretty much here, at least in terms of acquisition. It’s the legit successor of (Full)HD and nobody will deny its superior look and feel over aforementioned HD. So what’s next? For many manufacturers of camera gear the future is in plain sight: 8K! We met with Carly Mary Haden from Astrodesign Inc. to discuss their latest concept: A new Astro 8K camera with all the controls onboard. Astro 8K Camera Concept Astrodesign have done 8K cameras in the past but this concept is the first one to feature dedicated controls built into the actual camera body itself, no need for a bulky external CCU (camera control unit) and remote control. Since 8K is still a bit of a cutting edge technology, the upgrade from a camera head / camera control unit combo towards a compact one-box package is actually a pretty huge leap. HD vs. 4K vs. 8K (image credit: Astrodesign) Since this new Astro 8K camera is still in development it is far from a feature-locked product. As Carley points out, they are actively gathering feedback and suggestions from professionals who will actually work with such a camera in the field. While you can spot a bunch of familiar controls on the prototype, such as a 6-button menu screen complete with a push dial, assignable buttons and switches and even internal ND filter controls, nothing is set to stone here. The Astro 8K concept features a custom color science although the sensor itself is not being developed by Astrodesign but licensed from a third-party company. There will be a flat gamma log recording mode and the camera will support HDR recording. Pricing The pricing of this camera calls for a dedicated sub-heading here. While this Astro 8K camera concept might look appealing for a lot of our readers (including myself), the asking price might kick you back to reality: We’re looking at around $100,000. Again, nothing is set to stone, so this could change, even a lot, but in terms of ballpark pricing this Astro 8K camera seems to be out of reach for the average indie filmmaker. Better think of it as a rental house or big broadcast company item. Links: Astrodesign Inc. What do you think of this 8K concept camera? Any suggestions you’d like to add to the mix? Feel free to reach out to Astrodesign with your feature request and share your thoughts in the comments below!

At this year’s Inter Bee show in Tokyo, our own Johnnie Behiri met with Blackmagic Design in order to discuss their latest updates for both DaVinci Resolve 15.2 and firmware version 6.0 for URSA Mini Pro cameras. We already reported about the updates to DaVinci Resolve 15.2 and Camera 6.0 in detail here. Here’s a round-up including the interview with Blackmagic Design. With version 15 of their popular editing/grading/audio mastering/delivery suite Blackmagic Design added a new tab to their one-app-for-all approach: Fusion FX. Now, just a few months later, Resolve 15.2 hits the streets and it comes with a lot of improvements to almost every aspect of this software. One part of Resolve to which special attention has been paid is the Edit tab. DaVinci Resolve 15.2 Improvements Blackmagic Design really pushes hard in order to get the editing part of their software right. In Resolve 15.2 the editing timeline renders much faster, resulting in a smoother look and feel. Also, a lot of animations within the UI have been improved. As a general improvement the part of DaVinci you are currently working in is being highlighted which makes it easier to keep track of what’s going on. Speaking of visual feedback: You now can easy track down bits of the timeline which contain duplicate frames (pieces of footage you actually have used before within the same timeline). Furthermore clips in the media pool show a visual indication if (and which parts) are being used in the current timeline. You now can load a second timeline or compound clip into the source viewer and send clips straight to the active timeline. This should increase the speed of your workflow! Two bins now can be viewed and accessed at the same time as well. Another nice improvement is the freshly implemented keyboard shortcut manager which is now a visual tool just like in Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X. You even can emulate keyboard settings to the aforementioned NLE’s. Furthermore you now can assign items from contextual popup menus to keyboard shortcuts. New FX Plugins & Audio Tools Additionally DaVinci Resolve 15.2 features new FX plugins such as Beauty (Studio version only) or Blanking Fill. More advanced plugins for the color page include ACES transform and Gamut Limiter. Edits and transitions applied to audio clips on the Edit page now can be further tweaked on the Fairlight tab of Resolve 15.2. Furthermore you now can edit multiple audio clip at the same time. A cool new feature is called Stereo Fixer. It helps you map your audio to the appropriate channels in order to avoid bad audio mixing. Common mappings such as stereo, reverse-stereo, mono and others are built right in. There are really a whole bunch of new features and a lot has already been covered by Nino in this article. If you want to dive deeper in all the new features make sure to watch the following intro video by Blackmagic: It’s Still Free Although Blackmagic tries hard to convince users to buy the Studio version by limiting certain features such as noise reduction or the new Beauty FX plugin, you must not forget that DaVinci Resolve 15.2 is still free to download. This is actually pretty incredible. You get a full-fledged piece of post-production software which gets frequent updates for no money at all. If Blackmagic maintain their current development speed, this suite of tools might get pretty dangerous for a lot of other (paid) NLE’s out there pretty soon. While it might not be the first choice for serious editing work right now, let’s wait and see how Resolve 15.2 will impact the market. I’m really curious what future versions of Resolve will bring. How about you? URSA Mini Firmware 6.0 This new firmware adds two important new features to the URSA Mini Pro camera: Blackmagic RAW and ISO 3200. Read all about this new RAW format in our initial coverage here. The new ISO doubles the current limit of ISO 1600 and should be a useful tool when shooting in difficult lighting conditions. When does the new Blackmagic RAW codec hit the popular Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC4K) you ask? The answer is: It will but it’s not yet certain when. That’s not exactly what we wanted to hear but at least it’s coming! Need a refresher on this new RAW format? Watch Blackmagic Design CEO Grant Petty’s introduction here: CinemaDNG might be cool but you’ll end up with lots of GB worth of data and it really demands for a mighty powerful computer to cope with it so Blackmagic RAW might be the better choice offering a very good balance between quality and size. Plus it offers a much more modern approach to metadata handling. Links: Blackmagicdesign.com (DaVinci) | URSA Mini Pro | Blackmagic RAW Are you digging the all-in-one approach of Resolve? Or do you prefer Adobe’s take of individual software tool working together? What do you think about v6.0 for URSA Mini Pro? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Now that the new Atomos Ninja V Monitor/Recorder is available for just over a month, the company pushed hard to deliver a huge upgrade for their devices underlying operating system: AtomOS 10 offers some very handy improvements for the new 5″ Ninja V. Let’s have a quick look, shall we? newly designed Atom OS 10 If you’re new to the Atomos Ninja V monitor/recorder, catch up here and here. AtomOS 10 (10.01 to be exact) comes as a free-to-download piece of software. Once you’ve installed it, you’ll be rewarded with a familiar, yet very different user interface. Since the Ninja V is all about HDR recording and monitoring, Atomos chose to make the different UI elements less distracting and therefore reduced their saturation quite a bit. It’s all about the actual image you’re monitoring, really. But there’s more, obviously. AtomOS 10 Apart from the less saturated UI elements (a nice touch, much more pleasing to the eye I think), Atomos also changed the arrangement of these elements and even reworked the whole menu system in order to make it easier and more accessible. If you’re updating from an earlier version of AtomOS, it’s pretty clear that this new version is really about cleaning up the user interface. It’s also about keeping the actual image in view at all times, without having many overlaying pages and menus. The entire user interface has been carefully reworked to cater for the smaller 5″ screen of the Atomos Ninja V. Improved Features Once you’re done setting up the unit for your given shot you can easily get rid of all the overlays by just tapping the screen. That’s fine but this will also disable all the crucial information you probably want to keep an eye on, such as audio meters or a HDR waveform. That’s where the newly designed shooting page comes in. Once you’re done with your monitor settings and tap “MON” again, a discrete status bar is the only thing that appears beneath your current image. That status bar includes useful information such as battery status, recording status, an HDR waveform, audio meters and access to all the well-known REC, PLAY, MON and EDIT settings. One of the major changes AtomOS 10 addresses is the way you select the type of input signal coming from your camera. This setting used to be part of the Monitor page of the menu. Now it can be found on the Input page and that is -at least to me- a much more appropriate place for this particular setting. Jeromy Young, CEO of Atomos, has put together a in-depth walk-through of all the new Atom OS 10 features, make sure to sit back and watch it here: HDR – Slider vs. Buttons Another major change addresses the HDR slider of previous versions of Atom OS. Actually, as Jeromy Young states in the video, at the time they developed their first HDR capable monitors/recorders, there simply was no industry standard which determined how to deal with different HDR modes for different delivery scenarios. But now there are and that’s the reason the company decided to replace the HDR slider with 4 different buttons, each reflecting a dedicated standard: Native -> just the plain, unprocessed Log image from your given camera is being displayed Rec.709 -> a basic LOG to Rec.709 curve is being applied to the image (a.k.a. SDR – Standard Dynamic Range) HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) -> a HDR standard which is also compatible SDR displays, a good compromise so to say PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) -> a higher HDR standard which allows for HDR video with a very high luminance level (up to 10,000 cd/m2). It also supports Rec. 2020 color space. The introduction of these fixed standards allow for a much more precise preview of the actual result once the recorded Log footage went through post-production. Remember: Everything which is displayed on the Atomos Ninja V’s screen is just a representation of the actual Log footage which is being recorded. Think of it as a kind of preview. Nothing is being baked into the actual recording, so even if you’re switching from beautiful looking HLG to awfully blown-out Rec.709 while you’re recording, nothing is lost! It’s just a preview which helps you (and your client, of course) getting the most out of your given camera and Log profile. Conclusion All in all the features and improvements found in AtomOS 10 really make the new Atomos Ninja V shine. The new layout of the menus improve the usability and are way less distracting. The less saturated buttons are a nice touch, too. Even if the old HDR slider seemed cool, the new standardized buttons are much more accurate in order to nail your exposure for a certain delivery format. So I think this new firmware is really a no-brainer and you definitely should give it a try! Atomos Ninja V with some (but not all) of the most popular recent mirrorless cameras. Links: Atomos.com Do you already use the new firmware? What do you think of these changes? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!