Lytro's Light Field Camera

It's an over-used phrase but the Lytro's Light Field Camera really could be a game changer.  

I've always said that everything can be fixed in post except focus.  With the Light Field camera that's no longer a problem.

http://www.lytro.com/cameras

Zacuto's Camera Shootout 2011 Part One

Here's the link to Zacuto's Camera Shootout 2011: Part One.   This year Robert Primes, ASC compared 12 pro large sensor cameras and part one specifically looks at dynamic range and latitude.  

You don't have to watch the full 30 minutes.  What you really want to see is:
The Shadow Detail Test at 12:16
The Highlight Detail Test at 17:56
Over and Under Exposure Latitude at 21:26.

What's interesting is how the different camera's latitude range is divided between shadow and highlight.  It reminds me of the adage, "Expose for the highlights in video, expose for the shadows in film".

I'll cut to the chase:  The Sony F35, Alexa and Red MX are the big winners and probably in that order, although it's really hard to see noise and detail on a highly compressed web video.

On the other hand, some of the cameras are one tenth the price of the big boys but give 90% of the picture quality... and you can light around that difference.

Unfortunately, they don't rate the ASA of the different cameras.  The test was shot at 320 ASA (maybe so film could be included) but I'd really like to see the same tests at 800 ASA.  

http://www.zacuto.com/the-great-camera-shootout-2011/episode-one

DIY Equipment

Trying to save some money on camera support gear?  Get out your PVC cutter....

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7g7nma/www.abracadabravideos.com/DIY/DIYpage1.htm

Viewfactor

Remember the old America the Beautiful film at Disneyland?  Ever wanted to do Circle-Vision 360 yourself but thought it was too expensive?  Now you can.

Saw this at the Viewfactor booth at CineGear Expo.  There's but nothing about on the website but still... pretty cool.  Now, if they just made something for "bullet time"...

Spintec Rain Deflector

Saw the Spintec Rain Deflector at Cine Gear.  What a great gadget for shooting in rain or mist.

A little expensive at $1725 bucks but I guess if you have to have one, you have to have one.  I think you can rent it for $225 a day.  But $225 bucks buys a lot of Rain X...

http://www.innovision-optics.com/prod/spintec.shtml

Alexa Studio

The Arri Alexa and Alexa Plus is going to be joined by a third model, the Arri Alexa Studio.

The Studio incorporates 2 major differences.  First, it has a 35mm sized 4x3 chip for shooting anamorphic.  And second, the Studio will come with an optical viewfinder for the old school film types.  They were still showing the mock-up at Cine Gear.

Arri claims that it's easier for the operator to judge focus with an optical viewfinder rather than electronic but now that the A/C's have a monitor and people back at video village are watching large HD monitors I think everyone on set can judge focus.

http://www.arri.com/press/press_english/press_release.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=668&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1781&cHash=74419939d9

SpyderCrane Mini Crawler

Creepiest thing I saw at CineGear was the SpyderCrane Mini Crawler.

The SpyderCrane was designed for confined areas, able to get through doorways but it looks really great for getting a lift on uneven ground or slopes.

http://www.spydercrane.com/mini%20crawlers/mini_crawlers.html

Old School TV Cameras

Eyes of a Generation is a great site for those interested in old time TV equipment... and no cracks!  Although I do have to admit I think I ran a TK-47...

Although, I do have to admit I think I ran a TK-47...

http://www.eyesofageneration.com/cameras.php

Sony F65

Sony enters the 4k market with the F65.   They'll give RED a run for the money with this camera with an 8k sensor.  The F65's got a 20 Megapixel Super 35 sized sensor with an active image area of 18.3 Megapixels with a 1.9:1 aspect ratio.

I got my hands on it at CineGear and it basically feels very F35ish.

The battery looking thing is actually a  dockable SRMemory Card recorder.  The capacities available are 256 Gb, 512 Gb 1TB.  This is where the data rates don't add up.  A memory card recording at 24 fps will store about an hour of footage in 4K16bit RAW and up to 8 hours of HD.

http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/ext/digitalcinematography/f65.html

a Sony FS-100

Here's something impressive I saw at CineGear.  I also saw this Sony FS-100.  That chip is the same one as the F3, which is 40% larger than the chip on the Panasonic AF-100.

Is the picture quality as good as the F3?  In a word, no.  But the 100 is $6000 and the F3 $16,000 and the picture difference isn't worth $10,000 grand.

But they did dumb down the FS100 to get you to spend the extra money.  The F3 is 10 bit, the 100 is 8 bit.  The F3 has HDSDI for outboard recording and the 100 only has HDMI.  As an operator, my biggest pet peeve is the 100 doesn't have behind the lens ND filters.  But strangely, the 100 records full 1080 at 60 frames where the F3 can only record slo-mo at 720 lines.

The F3 also has a zoom rocker switch and the 100 doesn't, although the 100 has the e-mount which allows for both auto-focus and auto-iris.  Birger Engineering also showed their  follow focus/lens control which fits between the lens and the camera body which allows yout to control focus and iris thru the lens' electronics  I bet this ends up as an iphone app before long.

Here's an AF100 Overview by Able Cine and a bunch of good stuff at Cinema 5D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ol3Lx2gvo0&feature=related

http://www.cinema5d.com/news/?category_name=fs100

http://www.birger.com/

RED Scarlet/Epic Light

New test footage from the Epic Light renamed back to the Scarlet again.
RED Scarlet Test Footage on reduser.net.

The Scarlet does have the 2/3" chip so depth of field is forever but I do like the way the RED handles the highlights.  Take a look, look takers...

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?59527-Scarlet-8x-internal-120FPS-test

Technicolor CineStyle

Log space comes to the Canon 5D.  Technicolor as been working with Canon USA to create CineStyle which puts the standard H.264 REC709 color space into a log color space.  This includes both video and stills.

What does this mean to you the user?  Like all log space recordings, the image looks very low contrast and washed out on the monitor but all the detail is recorded, especially in the shadows.

This also means that you have to color correct every shot you take.  No wonder Technicolor is giving it away.  And by last Saturday, according to the Technicolor guys at CineGear Expo 35,000 people had downloaded CineStyle.

Even if you were at CineExpo it was easy to miss the sign that directed you to Technicolor where they were showing off CineStyle and what you could do with it, especially using Technicolor's DP Lights on-set color correction system.  Technicolor has a suite of new products, including DP Lights, Share Vue, Your Vue, Movie Slate and CineStyle.

CineStyle will work on any DSLR but it is optimized for the 5D II, which is what they see being used as a second camera in work they are taking in shop.

And check out some examples of log space shooting at Phillip Bloom's blog.

http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/cinema/filmmaking/digital-printer-lights/cinestyle

http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/advertising/commercials/digital-printer-lights

http://philipbloom.net/2011/05/10/various-example-of-technicolor-cinestyle-for-canon-dslrs/