At IBC 2019 our own Nino Leitner had an interesting in-depth sit-down with Atomos CEO Jeromy Young, talking about 16bit RAW on the Sony FX9, updates to ProResRAW with regards to support in NLEs, as well as the pending multicam switching software updates to Atomos’ Sumo and Shogun 7. At this year’s IBC Atomos has not announced any new products, but has instead concentrated on consolidating support for its ProResRAW collaboration with Apple, as well as integration into new and already existing cameras like the Sony FX9, Panasonic S1H and Nikon Z series. Additionally there had been some pending updates to the Sumo and Shogun line of products, as well as a rather surprising brightness improvement on the Shogun 7 via software update. State of the union for ProResRAW Atomos has been central in the proliferation of ProResRAW and Apple’s closest ally within the industry regarding the same. Now, where Apple might just advertise ProResRAW as the future of any RAW workflow, Atomos founder and CEO Jeromy Young has a more nuanced view of the niche that ProResRAW might live in in the future. Whereas Hollywood will probably continue using very high-profile resource-heavy RAW workflows that will most likely stay cost-prohibitive for most other parts of the industry, the wide-spread adoption of RAW workflows might just change and improve the way that video is shot in broadcast and independent filmmaking communities. In particular, Atomos CEO Jeromy Young sees a lot of potential for cameras with a more photography-related DNA like the Panasonic S1-H, Nikon Z6 and Z7 being able to be more closely matched with A-cameras in broadcast related contexts, namely the Canon C200 and C300, Panasonic EVA-1, or the new Sony FX9 which is set to take over the FS7’s hold on the broadcast market. Sony FX9 RAW recording While Sony has apparently given up on creating their own RAW recorders to be integrated with the FX9’s XDCA extension unit, there is a solution involving the Atomos NEON line, with a master control unit (which is basically an additional Ninja on the NEON’s backside), giving it the ability to actually process the 16bit RAW that the Sony FX9 outputs. This is not yet a standardised solution, but Atomos is working out how this might look. Jeromy Young mentions that pricing might be somewhere around $ 5000.00, but this still needs to be ironed out. Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro CC adoption During our interview Atomos’ Jeromy Young mentioned the recently announced support of ProResRAW in Avid Media Composer. In addition to the native support of ProResRAW in Final Cut Pro X, Media Composer’s support of the format adds one more widely adopted NLE, which has a particularly dedicated community of supporters in the film and broadcast communities. This adoption of the format might help ProResRAW make inroads into said communities in the near future. Surprisingly after our interview was done Adobe also announced support for ProResRAW in Premiere Pro CC. With Premiere’s very large user base this is a big step for the format and in turn for Atomos, being the principal hardware manufacturer for products supporting it. It also takes ProResRAW one step ahead of Blackmagic RAW, which is only supported via plugin in Premiere Pro CC and Avid Media composer. There is no timeline on when ProResRAW support will be implemented into Premiere Pro CC yet. 3000 nits on the Shogun 7 via firmware update In another surprising update Atomos announced that their Shogun 7 recorder was to receive an update increasing its brightness from 1500 to an incredible 3000 nits. Now this increase in brightness is not supposed to make the Shogun 7 a daylight viewable monitor, but it is meant to better represent the whole dynamic range of the sensor being monitored – meaning if your sensor has a dynamic range of 15 stops, with the updated Shogun 7 your monitor will be able to more closely match that dynamic range on screen. How can brightness be increased via software update? Well apparently Atomos shipped the Shogun 7 with zone-dimmable backlight LEDs already built in. However the software side wasn’t quite ready, so these LEDs were locked to 1500 nits across all zones. Just to recap the problem here: LCD screen produce colored pixels. These pixels then have to be lit to actually be bright enough to be seen on screen. In the past these backlights ran in strips around the edges of the LCD screen, thus causing the problem that blacks were actually never really black on LCDs because they were always lit by the illuminating strips. OLEDs solved these problems by the technological brute force approach of every pixel having its own little backlight – the downside being increased cost and a lower life expectancy for the displays. Zone-dimmable LCDs are something of an in-between solution: these are traditional LCDs, but the backlights are arranged in zones, which means they can be dimmed individually and thus produce much greater dynamic range. The obvious problem is this: to decide which LED-zones have to be dimmed, the image has to be analysed in real time, and then the array of LED backlights has to be coordinated. This is the step that took a little longer for Atomos to implement, but now that it’s done the Shogun 7 can unlock its full brightness potential of up to 3000 nits per backlight zone. Again: this is meant for HDR monitoring only, not for daylight viewability. The Shogun 7 firmware update for this feature will be available to download soon. Multicam switching on Shogun 7 and Sumo Jeromy Young also gave some insight into the status of multicam switching on the Sumo line and the Shogun 7. Apologising to the users who might have thought that the Shogun 7 was to ship with this feature on board he conceded that the development process was far more difficult than expected. That said Atomos seems to be making some progress here, since the Sumo line will receive the software update enabling said feature end of the month with the Shogun 7 following in October. While Atomos might not have announced any new products, it is nice to see them work so hard on consolidating the software side of things and doing the hard work of building partnerships with companies spreading ProResRAW to more environments. We will keep you posted of course, once any new developments arise. What do you think about Atomos updates? Do you own a Shogun 7 and a camera that will allow you to take advantage of the 3000 nits brightness update? Let us know in the comments!

Z CAM E2 newest firmware (0.89) is already available for downloading (see our article by clicking here), and the big news is, it allows internal RAW recording. That made the Z CAM E2 a perfect candidate for our cinema5D latitude test. How does it fare? How does it compete directly with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K? Interested in finding more? Please read on… BMPCC 4K and Z CAM E2. Photo credit: cinema5D For quite a while I have been using the Z CAM E2, a camera made by the Chinese manufacturer Z CAM. I shot a mini documentary with it in India (see my hands-on review here) and currently I am testing the VAZEN Anamorphic 1.8x 40mm T2 lens with it as it offers this nice almost full sensor 3696×2772 mode in ProRes HQ which desqueezes to a 1:2.4 ratio (review is coming soon). Z CAM is constantly improving on the feature set of this camera via firmware upgrades, and just recently they made another important move and released an internal RAW recording option by the name ZRAW. My colleague Jeff elaborated on ZRAW in this article, but in short, ZRAW supports up to 4096×[email protected] recording to the internal CFast card (60fps to come at a later stage). In theory, the new RAW recording feature should put the Z CAM E2 “on par” codec wise with it’s major Micro Four Third sensor size competitor, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC 4K). So we had to put this new feature to the test against the BMPCC 4K in our cinema5D latitude test. The cinema5D latitude test If you are a regular reader of our website, you have already seen some of our latitude tests. Let me quickly recap on what it is: Latitude basically shows the capability of a camera to retain color and detail while over- or underexposing the image and normalize it back thereafter. In this test we have a standard scene which shows Johnnie sitting next to a color checker: Standard studio scene showing the Z CAM E2 at zero exposure level: Johnnie’s face at max. 60% luma, the white sheet of paper at 65% luma level. From the baseline settings (exposing the face at max. 60% luma, the white sheet of paper at max. 65% luma value) we successively underexpose the shot by 1 stop until we have reached 4 or 5 stops of underexposure. Which we then push back to zero in post, by using the respective camera tools like the ZRAW VideoSuite for the Z CAM E2 and the DaVinci Resolve RAW camera tab for the BMPCC 4K. Developing the ZRAW Files – the ZRAW VideoSuite As said above, the ZCAM ZRAW files were developed using the standalone ZRAW VideoSuite which you can download from the Z CAM homepage (Windows 10 only for now). The standalone ZRAW Video Suite from Z CAM (Windows 10 only). It provides all the necessary exposure correction and grading tools that you could wish for to (batch-) develop the ZRAW files and convert them into DNxHR HQX files. However, it currently does not interface with any 3rd party software like Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, hence the workflow is quite cumbersome for now. The color grading and exposure correction tools in the ZRAW Video Suite. For this latitude test I basically only adjusted the exposure settings (shown in 1/3 stops, so the encircled “15” value above means 5 stops of exposure correction for example), and developed the files using the Rec709 color space to avoid any additional grading steps thereafter. The file sizes of ZRAW are about 50% bigger than the corresponding BRAW 3:1 constant bitrate files at the same resolution/frame rate of the BMPCC 4K. I don’t want to spoil the result of this test, but I don’t see any advantage using ZRAW vs. ProRes HQ on the Z CAM E2 for now. But, first thing first… Latitude Test Results for the Z CAM E2 and Comparison to the BMPCC 4K Both cams were set up at their native ISO’s (500 for the ZCAM E2, 400 for the BMPCC 4K), at UltraHD 25 fps. Noise starts to appear already at 2 stops underexposure with the Z CAM E2, and we cannot go much further than that as at 3 stops underexposure horizontal stripes start to appear which cannot be removed by noise reduction (see the NR results further down). Z CAM E2 at 2 stops underexposure, pushed back to zero. Still usable, but noise is already strongly present in the image. Z CAM E2 3 stops underexposed, pushed back to zero. Horizontal stripes start to appear which cannot be removed any longer. The point of no return has been reached. Compared to the BMPCC 4K which we ran side by side to the Z CAM E2, we can clearly see that the BMPCC 4K has about 1 stop better latitude – which is consistent with our Dynamic Range measurements of both cams (Z CAM E2 shows 10.8 stops at SNR = 2, BMPCC 4K shows 11.6 stops at SNR = 2): Z CAM E2 vs. the BMPCC 4K at 3 stops underexposure, pushed back. The Z CAM E2 (Left) has crossed the limit of usability, whereas the BMPCC 4K (Right) still holds up. At 4 stops under, also the BMPCC 4K reaches its limits, showing horizontal stripes which cannot be removed (the same result was found in our BMPCC 4K vs. BMPCC 6K comparison here). Z CAM E2 vs. BMPCC 4K at 4 stops underexposure, pushed back to zero. Both cams are beyond their limits. At 4 stops underexposure, the BMPCC 4K image starts to become pink, whereas the Z CAM E2 image retains the colors – but a lot of pink noise appears. Both not very desirable. By the way, have a look at our recent BMPCC 6K lab article – you can directly compare the results as the studio settings as well as the exposure values were exactly the same. Last question – we are dealing with RAW files on both cams, can noise reduction on the RAW files help to recover the 3 or 4 stop underexposed image? So I used a temporal noise reduction of 3 frames, threshold: 30 and spatial noise reduction with a threshold of 10 in DaVinci Resolve on the files from both cams. Z CAM E2 vs. BMPCC 4K at 3 stops underexposure, pushed back and using noise reduction (temporal and spatial) in Resolve. The Z CAM image cannot be recovered as the stripes don’t go away (have a look at Johnnie’s shirt, for example). Z CAM E2 vs. BMPCC 4K at 4 stops underexposure, pushed back to zero and using temporal and spatial noise reduction in Resolve. Now also the BMPCC4K image cannot be recovered any longer (more easy to see during playback of the video files, not so easy to see in the scaled static images of this article). Now you may ask why I haven’t tried the noise reduction features of the ZRAW Video Suite? ZRAW VideoSuite DeNoise settings I did various tests with the DeNoise settings on the ZRAW files from the Z CAM E2 while developing them, from “Low” to “Highest”. As there is no documentation from Z CAM, you are left to speculate what the individual settings do to the image. I found that leaving the noise reduction settings “off” in the VideoSuite and using the DaVinci Resolve settings described earlier was giving me the best results (I used the same settings for both cams). Conclusion and a Statement from Z CAM I love the image from the Z CAM E2 at the correct exposure settings, and I applaud the efforts of Z CAM to bring the internal raw recording to the E2 camera. But at the end of the day, we have to see what it really offers. In essence, you should not underexpose important areas of your image more than 2 stops, and ZRAW shows rather limited possibilities to bring it back. As things are currently, I do not see an advantage of ZRAW over ProRes for the Z CAM E2, and for the following reasons I cannot recommend using ZRAW: File sizes are about 50% bigger than the corresponding highest quality settings for the BMPCC 4K, BRAW 3:1 constant bitrate (and you have the option to use up to 12:1 for even smaller file sizes in BRAW). I honestly can’t see a difference to the great ProRes options that the Z CAM E2 offers as well. Workflow is cumbersome because you have to use the standalone ZRAW VideoSuite (which is currently only available for Windows 10 computers) and do a conversion step before you can use the files in your standard editing software The ZRAW VideoSuite offers a lot of options to color correct and exposure correct your footage but does not offer a video playback (only frame preview) – which makes it difficult to see the effect of e.g. DeNoise settings on the image In stark contrast to all the shortfalls above, stands the strong competition from Blackmagic RAW: File sizes are comparatively small (with a lot of options to further reduce them while retaining the 12 bit raw character of the image), the workflow in DaVinci Resolve is super easy and even 6K BRAW files run smoothly on my 2014 Laptop … A Statement from Z CAM We want to be fair and give a chance for the camera manufacturers to respond to our findings before publishing such an article, so we approached Kinson Loo (Z CAM’s CEO) and asked for his response. He and Jason Zhang from the technical team were very cooperative and responded immediately, giving us some insights on their motivation for implementing ZRAW and de-noising: “The key point for RAW is the details of the image. … The RAW test should always include detail test. Our ZRAW is designed to achieve a visually lossless image of a complex scene. We suggest that you shoot complex scenes to check the resolution of the ZRAW. … This would explain why you need larger ZRAW files. … If you don’t care about extreme details but care more about noise then ProRes is a much better choice. …ZRAW itself should have a lot more noise than a YUV based format as the noise came from the sensor. YUV based files including ProRes and H265 have the image signal processor involved so it will have a different level of noise reduction which cannot be performed at Bayer level. … In camera noise reduction / curves / color correction are some major components of the image signal processor … We don’t add 2D noise reduction and chroma noise reduction in ZRAW VideoSuite and our Z CAM  DeNoiser adopts full optical flow based 3D noise reduction which does not hurt details. We would consider adding more denoise related features to our image processing pipeline in the future. … Since your test is noise based so we recommend using our denoise software Z CAM DeNoiser to process the video and test again. We could reduce more noise in the camera but some professionals don’t like it and that’s why we introduce ZRAW” What do you think? Have you used the Z CAM E2, do you have experience with ZRAW? Please share your comments in the section below.

Canon just introduced the Canon C500 Mark II, the long-awaited successor to the C500, which takes a much more modular approach than previous cameras in Canon’s Cinema line-up. Let’s take a look! It’s been over 7 years since the introduction of the original Canon C500, which used to be Canon’s flagship cinema camera before the C700 was introduced in 2016. And it’s also already 4 years ago since the C300 Mark II was introduced. So with the competition heating up and new cameras being released left and right, it was definitely time for an update of Canon’s cinema line. And today is the day this is happening.  Before we take a look at the modular design of the camera, let’s look at the tech specs. The bare-bones body of the Canon C500 Mark II – Photo © cinema5D 2019 Canon C500 Mark II – 6K, Full Frame, 17:9 Sensor It comes with a 5.9K Full Frame 17:9 Sensor which Canon claims offer more than 15 stops of dynamic range. It’s remarkable that we have a full-frame sensor here, and it’s the same sensor as in the high-end Canon C700 Full Frame which was only introduced one and a half years ago. Different Approach: 6K in 17:9 Instead of 4:3 Sensor Now, the competition with 6K resolution in Full Frame is Sony with their Venice, and most recently also Panasonic with their S1H – but with both you get the full resolution only when shooting anamorphic with the 4:3 sensor (Venice) and 3:2 sensor (Panasonic) . Canon takes a different approach in their cinema line and uses a 17:9 full-frame sensor to achieve their almost 6K resolution, which means that you effectively will have more resolution when shooting with normal spherical lenses than on the other cameras. You can shoot with anamorphic lenses using a 4:3 image area too, though, just in this case you will lose image resolution on the side with the Canon sensor. The C500 Mark II also offers anamorphic desqueeze options for correct preview of the footage. Straightforward button layout, with the most important features accessible immediately. Photo © cinema5D 2019 DIGIC DV7 – Cinema RAW Light Internally, XF-AVC 4K 4:2:2 in 10-bit Canon for the first time uses a new DIGIC DV7 processor which allows the camera to record Cinema RAW Light internally at up to 5.9K as well as XF-AVC in 4K 4:2:2 10-bit. So this camera finally does what everybody hoped the C200 and the C300 Mark II would eventually do, but even at a higher resolution with a larger sensor, quite impressive from the specs. 5.9K Over Sampling Processing for 4K Credit: Canon Frame Rates in Cinema RAW Light and XF-AVC Cinema RAW Light can be shot at 5.9K and 4K at up to 60 frames per second, and at 2K in up to 120 fps in a cropped mode, unfortunately. Once you switch to the XF-AVC codec in 10-bit 4:2:2, you can shoot 4K DCI, UHD, 2K and HD only, there’s no 5.9K option in this codec. (4K is delivered by 5.9K Oversample processing so no image crop applied). With XF-AVC you can also shoot up to 60 frames in 4K, and 120 frames in 2K and HD – but only cropped. Cinema RAW Light recording formats and frame rates   XF-AVC recording formats and frame rates Dual Pixel AF – Now More Fine-tuned Canon’s undeniably great Dual Pixel autofocus is also included and covers around 80% of the overall image area. This should work just as well as in other current Canon cameras – what’s new is that you can further finetune the autofocus performance by adjusting the autofocus tracking speed and response – which makes, of course, focus ramps easier. Backside of the Canon C500 Mark II, with all the built-in ports on the right-hand side. The long connector at the back is to be used by the EVF, or alternatively, Extension Unit 1 or 2.  Photo © cinema5D 2019 New Modular Design – Small Body, Essentials Inside The bare-bones body of the C500 Mark II itself only weighs 1750 grams or less than 3.9 pounds, and that’s remarkably small for a camera that already has many essential things included. First of all, most essential connectors are already built in: Monitor out, 12-G-SDI OUT as well as HDMI out, both of which support 4K 50p/60p with just one cable, timecode built in, minijack mic in and of course headphone out, and two XLR-ports built right into the body, with full manual controls and at the bottom a12.6V DC in. The camera uses the same batteries as the C200 and C300 Mark II.  It’s great to have Timecode built right into this tiny body without having to use an extension box like for example with the Sony FS7.  The camera has 2 CF Express Card slots, that’s the successor of CFast, and an SD card slot for simultaneous proxy file recording. It also has three fixed NDs at 2, 4 and 6 stops and can be combined to achieve 8 and 10 stops, but there’s no variable ND filter unfortunately.  To switch to slow motion, there’s now a dedicated S&F button for “Slow and Fast” (just like the “S&Q” button on Sony cameras). Manual audio controls on the side of the Canon C500 Mark II, for the two built-in XLR ports. Photo © cinema5D 2019 Included LCD, Removable EVF, Extension Units 1 and 2 The included LCD LM-V2 is a touchscreen which at 4.3” is slightly larger than the one found on the C200, and features a nice robust mechanical mounting system.  Canon now made the EVF user-removable, which is great: that means that the camera can more easily fit onto gimbals and drones. The interface used to connect the EVF to the camera is the same they are using for other optional extension units. The EVF itself is a 0.46” OLED with 1.77Megapixels.  There’s the small Extension Unit 1 which adds Genlock, Remote Connection and Ethernet to the camera.  C500 Mark II – with the small Extension Unit 1 attached at the back. Photo © 2019 cinema5D The much larger Extension Unit 2 adds first of all a V-Mount to the camera, and also a DC Out with 24 Volts, 2 Ampere, a D-Tap, Genlock, Remote, Ethernet, a B4 lens connector, 12-G SDI and additional 2 XLR plugs and the dedicated controls.  Canon C500 Mark II fully rigged up with the Extension Unit 2 and a Canon Sumire Prime in my hands. Photo © 2019 cinema5D All the included and optional components of the Canon C500 Mark II – Photo © 2019 cinema5D C500 Mark II with the removable EVF attached. Photo © 2019 cinema5D Of course it’s a shame that you can’t use the standard EVF anymore once you connect one of the Extension Units, but in general it’s great that Canon made the most modular camera we have yet seen from them (or many others, for that matter). You can even use the C700’s shoulder pad and rails with this camera, and the overall optical axis is lower than it was on the C300 series of cameras, which should make rigging accessories easier.  Dual CF Express and an SD card slot under the hood on the Canon C500 Mark II. Photo © cinema5D 2019 User-Interchangeable Lens Mount – EF Mount, PL Mount, Cine EF Mount What’s super exciting is that the lens mount delivered with the C500 Mark II is user-interchangeable. The standard EF mount can be swapped for an optional PL Mount or for an EF Cine Lock, by simply unscrewing 4 screws with an allen key. This is great because in the past, there were separate EF and PL versions of many Canon Cinema cameras, and the use cases therefore were much more limited. User-interchangeble lens mount on the Canon C500 Mark II – Photo © 2019 cinema5D Electronic Image Stabilizer Canon has also added an image stabilizer for the first time in a cinema camera. They call it a 5-axis image stabilizer, so it’s technically not an IBIS because it’s fully electronic. Conclusion from Personal First Impressions Of course we haven’t been able to shoot with this camera yet, but from what we see, this is the most flexible and modular Cinema camera that Canon ever produced, and it promises to be very attractive to a wide range of shooting scenarios. As someone who owned (and still owns) the original Canon C300 and shot a lot with it over many years, the C500 Mark II feels like a gust of fresh air from Canon in their ability to create really user-friendly and versatile cameras. Granted, the C200 was a big step in the right direction, yet the missing 10-bit 4:2:2 recording made it impossible for many to make the jump. The C500 Mark II, albeit at a different price, fulfils what many were expecting, and actually also a lot more that caught us totally by surprise. I can’t wait to shoot with it and try it out myself. The Canon C500 Mark II will cost around €15,000 without the Extension Units and optional PL Mount, but while that might seem a lot, it’s actually the same price the C300 mark II cost when it first came out. However, the C500 Mark II offers a lot more bang for the buck – internal Cinema RAW Lite at up to 5.9K resolution plus the 10-bit 4:2:2, the interchangeable mount, great autofocus plus all the features you expect from a cinema camera. It’s the first time in a while where it seems like Canon really got it right – but we will only see for sure once we get our hands on this camera to actually produce some images with it. We will try to get one for a full review as soon as possible! Full camera specifications can be found here. What do you think about the newly announced Canon C500 Mark II? Did Canon get the concept right? Let us know in the comments below!

SanDisk officially launched their line of Extreme PRO CFexpress type B cards. They come in four different sizes – 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, reaching speeds up to 1700 MB/s (read) and 1200 MB/s (write). The cards are now available for preorder with an expected ship date sometime later this year. Alongside these new cards SanDisk launched fast CFexpress Card Reader. SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress type B cards. Source: SanDisk It looks like CFexpress will be the standard of future memory cards for internal high resolution RAW video recording, because the theoretical maximum speeds are ridiculously high. Back in April 2018, ProGrade showcased what is possible with CFexpress technology – they demonstrated their 1TB 1400MB/s CFexpress type B card. CFexpress 2.0 In February 2019, CompactFlash association released specifications for the CFexpress 2.0 standard (full press release available here). Memory cards with this new standard will come in three sizes – type A (20 x 28 x 2.8mm), type B (38.5 x 29.8 x 3.8mm), and type C (54 x 74 x 4.8mm). The maximum theoretical performance for CFepxress cards is 4000MB/s for the largest type C, 2000MB/s for the middle type B, and 1000MB/s for the smallest type A cards. CFexpress 2.0 Specifications. Source: CompactFlash Association The new SanDisk memory cards are CFexpress 2.0 type B, which have identical form factor as XQD cards. Sometimes these cards are being referred to as “the next version of XQD”. It seems that CFexpress cards can be supported through firmware update with XQD compatible cameras. Nikon, for example, announced that future support for CFexpress is coming via a firmware update to their Z 6 and Z 7 mirrorless cameras. Other popular cameras with XQD slot are Panasonic S1, S1R, and Sony FS7. We don’t have any information yet whether Panasonic and Sony are also planning to bring CFexpress support for these cameras. SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress Cards The new SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress type B memory cards come in four different capacities – 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. When it comes to speeds, SanDisk has rated the 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB models at 1700 MB/s read and 1200 MB/s write, while the 64GB model hits 1500 MB/s read and 800 MB/s write. SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress type B cards. Source: SanDisk These speeds should be enough for RAW 4K video recording. I am very curious if we will see internal RAW video recording in the Nikon Z6 and Z7, for example. SanDisk CFexpress Card Reader The SanDisk CFexpress type B card reader uses USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C interface and it comes with the USB Type-C cable. Maximum transfer speed will be 1250 MB/s, which will depend on the speed of the card itself and the speed of the computer drive. SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress card reader. Source: SanDisk SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress cards as well as the CFexpress card reader are now available for preorder with an expected shipping date sometime later this year. The prices begin at $150 for the 64GB version and go up to $600 for the largest capacity of 512GB. The card reader is being sold for $50. What do you think of CFexpress standard? Do you find the speed of older standards not sufficient for your work? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Atomos recently announced that they are working closely with Panasonic to enable RAW video output over HDMI (and therefore ProRes RAW recording for the Ninja V) for the Panasonic S1H camera. They will showcase a working prototype during IBC in Amsterdam. Some time ago, Nikon also announced their Z 6 and Z 7 cameras will get RAW video output capability later this year via paid upgrade in a Nikon service center. Nikon also released the official Rec.709 3D LUT for their N-Log color profile. Panasonic S1H will get RAW video output over HDMI soon. Source: Atomos Panasonic S1H gets RAW Output When Panasonic announced the new S1H, their new 6K full-frame mirrorless camera, Atomos added that they are working closely with Panasonic to bring a RAW video output for this camera over HDMI to their Ninja V recorder. That way Ninja V will be able to record the RAW stream as ProRes RAW, same like with the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 cameras. Atomos and Panasonic still did not specify when and how exactly is the S1H going to get that feature, but Atomos said they will showcase a working model during the upcoming IBC show in Amsterdam. The company also added that the RAW update for the Ninja V will be available for free when released by Panasonic. Atomos will be at IBC at booth D25, hall 11, so if you want to see this technology at work, make sure to visit them. Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 Output RAW Over HDMI We have known for a while that Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 full-frame mirrorless cameras are going to get a RAW video output over HDMI. Right after the initial announcement from Atomos in January 2019, my colleague Olaf wrote an article about how Atomos ProRes RAW recording for Nikon Z 7 and Z 6 could change our industry – I recommend to give it a read if you haven’t already. We also further discussed this upcoming feature with Nikon during CP+ in March 2019. Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 will get RAW video output as a paid service upgrade. It seems that Nikon’s and Atomos’ development of the RAW video output is approaching the finish line as Nikon recently announced more details about it. There is still no exact date when this feature will be available, but Nikon says it is coming later this year. Both Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 cameras will be capable of sending 12-bit RAW data stream over HDMI to the 4K HDR recorder Atomos Ninja V, which will then record that stream as ProRes RAW. For more information about this format, please read our ProRes RAW explained article. Also make sure to watch my colleague Nino’s conversation with Atomos CEO Jeromy Young regarding ProRes RAW / Blackmagic RAW here in case you missed it. Now, for the important new part – Nikon says that this feature will require an additional internal upgrade that will need to be performed at a local Nikon service center. This upgrade will incur a service charge. We don’t know yet how much Nikon will charge for this, but we will inform you as soon as we get that information. So you basically can’t do it by yourself. Nikon Rec.709 3D LUT for N-Log Nikon has also introduced a dedicated LUT (lookup table) for N-Log footage from the Nikon Z 7 and Z 6 cameras. Just a reminder, N-Log is Nikon’s flat color profile only available externally with the 10-bit 4:2:2 HDMI output. The new 3D LUT for Nikon’s N-Log is compatible with the Rec. 709 color space. This 3D LUT is a preset of RGB color values, used to transform the appearance of video footage in post-production color grading, and enables adjustment of brightness, saturation and hue. The N-Log 3D LUT is available as a free download under this link. What do you think of the RAW video output via HDMI? Do you use ProRes RAW format and do you like it? Which camera do you think is going to get the update earlier? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Blackmagic just announced the final release of DaVinci Resolve 16.0 and the new Resolve 16.1 public beta, which includes major updates to the new Cut Page, to help create the “world’s fastest editor”. There are new features like smart indicator, cut clip icon, boring detector, sync bin, and more. Blackmagic has also announced the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test – a new performance measurement tool for Mac OS X that tests a computer’s CPU and GPU speeds using full resolution Blackmagic RAW image decoding. Blackmagic releases DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Beta and Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Blackmagic Design shared some exciting news today: Apart from the new Pocket Cinema Camera 6K which we just reported about here, they announced the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, DaVinci Resolve 16.0 final and 16.1 public beta, and a new performance measurement tool, the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test. DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Public Beta DaVinci Resolve version 16 was first announced during this year’s NAB. Since then, Blackmagic’s team has worked on its stability, fixed minor bugs and added some features. Today, they announced the final release of version 16.0. Blackmagic, however, also announced the release of the new Resolve 16.1 public beta, which includes major updates to the new cut page to help create the “world’s fastest editor”, according to the manufacturer. This way, Blackmagic Design offers a stable and well-tested version for large studios using Resolve, while at the same time, the company can develop new ideas with the 16.1 beta. Blackmagic’s goal with the new Cut Page is to allow users to dramatically speed up the turn-around time for even complex work. Blackmagic releases DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Beta Bin Changes, Cut Page, Smart Indicator, Cut Clip, Editor Keyboard, Transition Window Changes in the bin now allow users to place media in various folders and isolate clips from being used when viewing clips in the source tape, sync bin or sync window. Clips will be seen in all folders below the current level and, as customers navigate around the levels in the bin, the source tape will reconfigure in real time. There’s even a menu for directly selecting folders in a customer’s project. The new Cut Page in DaVinci Resolve 16 introduced multiple new smart features, which work by estimating where the editor wants to add an edit or transition and then allowing it to be applied, without “wasting” any time by placing in and out points on the exact locations of the clips. This is fast because the software estimates what the editor wants to do, and simply does it by adding the insert edit, or adding a transition to the edit closest to where the editor has placed the CTI. A new feature added to the public beta in the Cut Page is the Smart Indicator. It provides a small marker in the timeline, so users get constant feedback on where DaVinci Resolve will place edits and transitions. The new Smart Indicator constantly updates live as the editor moves around the timeline. It is supposed to help with automation of complex edits. One of the most common requests was a faster way to cut clips in the timeline, and now DaVinci Resolve 16.1 includes a Cut Clip icon in the user interface. Simply clicking on it will slice the clips in the timeline at the CTI point, then, with one button click, the clips are cut immediately. Multiple changes have also been made to the new DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, including a new adaptive scroll feature on the search dial, which will slow down when editors hunt for an in point, all automatically. The live trimming buttons have been renamed to the same labels as the functions in the Edit Page, and they have been changed to Trim In, Trim Out, Transition Duration, Slip In and Slip Out. The function keys along the top of the keyboard have now been assigned to various editing functions. There are additional edit modes on the function keys, allowing more types of editing directly accessed from dedicated keys on the keyboard. Blackmagic releases DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Beta – improvements to the cut page There’s also a new Transition Window that uses the F4 key, and pressing and rotating the search dial allows instant selection from all the transition types in DaVinci Resolve. Users who need quick picture in picture effects can use F5 and apply them instantly. Boring Detector, Sync Bin, Close-Up Edits DaVinci Resolve 16.1 introduces a new “Boring Detector” that allows the whole timeline to be highlighting any shots that are too long and would be boring for a viewer to watch. The Boring Detector can also show jump cuts, where shots are too short, as well. The analysis is constantly showing which parts of the timeline are boring, so as editors work and add shots to their edit, they can see the remaining parts of the edit which are considered boring. Thanks to the Boring Detector, editors can perform a lot of edits without playing the timeline. It will be interesting to see how well this works in practice. One of the most powerful features of DaVinci Resolve 16.1 is the new Sync Bin. The sync bin is a digital assistant editor who constantly sorts through thousands of clips, finds only the clips users need and displays them synced to the point in the timeline users are on. The Sync Bin will show the clips from the cameras on a shoot all stacked by camera number and the viewer will transform into a multi-view, so users can see what options they have for clips that sync to the shot in the timeline. The Sync Bin uses date and timecode from metadata to find and sync clips. The Sync Bin speeds up multi-camera editing significantly. When scrolling along the timeline, the Sync Bin will display only shots that are related to the timeline clips. When using the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, users can simply hold the camera number and rotate the search dial to “live overwrite” the clip into the timeline, making editing even faster. The Close-Up Edit feature has been enhanced in DaVinci Resolve 16.1 – it now does face detection and analysis, and will zoom the shot based on the positioning of the face of the person in frame. If users are using shots from cameras without a timecode, the new Sync Window lets them sort and sync clips from multiple cameras. The Sync Window supports sync by timecode and can also detect audio and sync clips by sound. All clips that have been synced will display a sync icon in the media pool, so users can tell which clips are synced and ready for use. There are also multiple smaller improvements in editing, color, Fusion and Fairlight audio pages. DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta is available now for download from the Blackmagic Design website. Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Another announcement from today is the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test, a new performance measurement tool for Mac OS X that tests a computer’s CPU and GPU speed, using full resolution Blackmagic RAW image decoding. Multiple CPU cores and GPUs are automatically detected and used during the test, so that users get accurate and realistic results. First, users need to select the Blackmagic RAW constant bitrate 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 or 12:1 and the desired resolution to perform the test. Although the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test will run multiple resolution and frame rate tests on their system, customers can also select a specific test resolution to run on the main meters and the test will continue to run constantly, allowing stress testing of host computers. Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Results are displayed in an easy to read table that shows customers how many frames per second their computer can decode for all supported resolutions. The Blackmagic RAW Speed Test is available now as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website. What do you think of the new DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta? Do you already use Resolve for your work? Are you going to try the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test to benchmark your computer? Let us know in the comments below the article.

Recently, SIGMA Japan held an event in Tokyo during which new lenses were announced, though the highlight of the evening was – with no doubt – the introduction of the new fp camera (fp stands for “Fortissimo Pianissimo” – strong and light at the same time). Yamaki-san presenting the new fp camera Kazuto Yamaki-san of SIGMA was extremely proud to present the newly developed full-frame pocket-sized cinema camera (and when I write “pocket-sized”, you really have to hold the camera in your hands in order to believe and appreciate how compact it is). Please head over to our article, where we’ve covered the launch event of the camera. You can find many more details about it in there. At the factory – Housing for fp cameras A day after the event, cinema5D was invited to travel to Aizu, where the SIGMA factory is situated. A bit over a year ago, I’ve visited this place already (see my factory tour video by clicking here), but, it is always nice to be back. The idea was to see how the new fp camera is being made, and also have the opportunity to test any of the new full-frame E-mount lenses (14-24mm f2.8, 45mm f2.8, 35mm f1.2) “on the way”. As I had the Sony a7 III with me, I chose to film with the new 35mm lens – my reasons being the following: In order to shoot video on a proper shutter speed, and at S-Log 2, the new 14-24mm zoom lens would have to be equipped with an ND filter. Now, the lens has a rear filter holder, but unfortunately, I did not have such a filter (ND) with me so I had to skip using that lens. The 45mm lens is truly compact and nice to hold, but for the scenery I wanted to film, the field of view would have been too narrow. So here I was, left with the SIGMA 35mm f1.2 DG DN Art Lens. All in all, from my quick observation, the lens is nice to work with, and I also like the fact that the aperture ring can be operated smoothly if wanted. (There is a way to choose between smooth and clicked aperture rotation). Maybe the only thing needing some extra attention was the manual focus. It seemed to me, as if there was a “micro drift”  right after stoping the focus ring on the focus point I wanted, so practically, I always had to “go back”  a bit with the focus ring, in oder to achieve perfect focus. As this lens was a pre-production model, it will be interesting to see how the final model will behave. SIGMA new full frame E-mount lenses Back to the factory tour itself – unfortunately, at this time it was not possible to film more than the camera body assembly line. I truly hope to be back in the near future and complete what I have started, being able to document more of this process. The new SIGMA 35mm lens on a Sony a7 III- Image credit: Carey Rose I would like to thank the SIGMA team for having us and supporting the making of this short film. I also want to thank Dave Etchells from Imaging Resource and Carey Rose from DPreview for being great press colleagues to travel with! Music is courtesy of MusicVine. Get 25% off your next music license with code C5D25 (valid for one use per customer). Footage at the Tsuruga-jō Castle was graded with Lutify.me If you would like to see more factory tours like this one, let us know in the comment section below. Full disclosure: Johnnie and other media representatives were guests at SIGMA Japan for the fp camera launch event in Tokyo, Japan, and the Aizu factory tour. SIGMA paid for the transport and accommodation of this trip, but there was no other payment involved whatsoever. Equipment used for making this short documentary: (Support us by buying your goods from our site sponsors) Video shot on FUJIFILM X-T3 (B&H, Amazon UK) Tripod used: Gitzo GT1545T (B&H, CVP) Rhino Evo slider: (B&H) Sennheiser AVX-ME2: (B&H CVP) Sony a7 III: The castle video (B&H, CVP) SIGMA35mm f/1.2 DG DN Art Lens for Sony E (B&H, CVP)

RED digital cinema announced the release of SDK for NVIDIA CUDA R3D decoding as well as new version of the REDCINE-X for Windows. These new updates should significantly improve 8K real-time playback and editing by utilising the power of GPU. The new version of REDCINE-X PRO (for Windows) will decode and debayer 8K RED RAW footage much faster. New Solutions for 8K Workflow. Source: RED Back in August 2018 NVIDIA announced their newly developed GPU architecture called Turing and new NVIDIA Quadro RTX graphic cards. NVIDIA worked closely with RED to optimize and test the results with the REDCODE RAW file format. The new Quadro RTX GPUs with Turing architecture promised editing and playing back 8K footage in full resolution, in real time. Now RED made an announcement in their unique way when Jarred Land posted a short comment on REDuser.net: He announced that RED is releasing the SDK (software development kit) for NVIDIA CUDA R3D decode as well as V. 51.0.47404 of REDCINE-X for Windows. What does this mean? To explain the updates, RED also released a short YouTube video: Generally, the idea behind this whole cooperation is to move the decoding from the CPU to the GPU, thus providing a real-time 8K workflow. The release of the SDK for NVIDIA CUDA R3D decode means that the improved GPU acceleration for R3D RAW files can now be implemented into various applications. It is therefore only a question of time when this technology will be implemented into NLEs like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci. Let’s hope this will happen soon. GPU Acceleration On/Off Comparison. Source: RED RED already incorporated the new technology in the new version of their REDCINE-X PRO software, which now features accelerated decode and debayering of R3D files on NVIDIA CUDA platforms. By offloading the compute-intensive decoding and debayering of RED R3D files onto one or more NVIDIA GPUs, real-time playback, edit and color grade of 8K footage is now possible. Benefits and efficiencies of this new software-hardware combination during the post-production process include: 8K real-time 30 fps or greater playback performance Up to 10x faster transcoding, depending on the format and content Improved efficiencies and quality control within the content review process Creative freedom using flexible R3D files instead of proxy files 8K performance is available with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 and 8000, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and TITAN RTX GPUs when coupled with a moderately configured PC. There are also additional performance improvements with multi-GPU configurations. The GPU acceleration got improved even with older NVIDIA GPUs. GPU does most of the processing. Source: RED There are also already some new laptops with NVIDIA RTX GPU, which will now provide real-time playback at up to 8K. Those are for instance laptops from manufacturers like Razer, Acer, Alienware, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Samsung. Summary In a nutshell, the new announcement from RED is supposed to make the 8K production pipeline accessible to more filmmakers by saving time and cost. (Provided the production is working on a Windows-based system). The download link for the free R3D SDK can be found here. The new version of REDCINE-X PRO for Windows can be downloaded for free from here. Just like in my previous article from last year, I am asking myself once again – how will Apple react to this technological advancement? Are they also going to introduce some kind of powerful GPU acceleration in their new Mac Pro, which should be finally released this year? Are you working with 8K RED RAW files? What do you think of the new RED announcement? Let us know in the comments underneath the article. Source: REDuser.net