Browsing: News

Blackmagic firmware Version 1.8 is set to be released for all cameras simultaneously. The good news is that the work to create a unified firmware seems to be done. This was the work which for so long was getting in the way of Blackmagic adding new features to their cameras (like histograms). From now on we could be seeing some more regular and more exciting updates. Straight off the bat with 1.8 there’s a lot…

Along with Philip Bloom and James Miller I have been testing a beta of the first Micro Four Thirds mount Smart EF adapter with Speed Booster from Metabones. Now the final version is available and it will start shipping end of June for $659 at the Metabones site. This version to be released imminently is designed ONLY to fit the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. This has the lovely 0.58x glass…

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/98747386[/vimeo] I’m working with two musicians, Hauptman & Friendly in Berlin. They are composing sound tracks for filmmakers which you can license for your own work and avoid the dreaded Copyright Match on Vimeo. Pricing will start at just $19.99. The cinematography reel I have edited above showcases some of my cinematography along with the score “Chains” written by Ofer Hauptman. This is in the early stages… I’d love to hear your…

Photo by EOSHD The relationship between record labels and the internet is in a tense state of affairs. On one hand large record companies such as EMI are suing Vimeo for copyright infringement, hence we have Copyright Match. YouTube on the other hand pays a minuscule royalty fee to record labels where uploaded content contains their music. YouTube plans to launch a new subscription based music service to rival Apple iTunes where content can be downloaded and played…

DXOMark have tested the raw sensor output of the GH4. Raw stills have 12.8 stop dynamic range vs 11.7 stops on the 5D Mark III, illustrating just how far ahead almost everyone is on sensor performance over Canon.

All the high ISO footage from the Sony A7S so far have been highly compressed and streamed on YouTube. Here we have not one but two stages of very aggressive noise reduction being applied to the images. If you want to see it without the heavy compression removing all trace of noise, here’s a full resolution JPEG shot at ISO 12,800 from the camera courtesy of DCFever… You can download…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm3ULX-v04A[/youtube] View the FZ1000 at B&H or at Adorama The Panasonic FZ1000 looks like a very handy alternative to the Sony AX100 camcorder and RX10 bridge camera. It’s also the world’s first 4K camera (25p,30p) under $1k. At this price some compromises are bound to come into play and we’ll get to those in a moment. First let’s take in the rather lovely view… A 25-400mm Leica lens, 100Mbit/s codec for 4K, 120fps…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYq1cwhk2Tc[/youtube] The Sony A7S is the camera I am most looking forward to in the coming months and although it is a shame it lacks an internal 4K codec, it does promise much improved internal 1080p and 4K HDMI output. Here Yosh Enatsu has used the Blackmagic HDMI to SDI Ultra HD converter to a Hyperdeck Studio deck to record this test shoot in the dead of night.