» Posts Tagged ‘cameras’
Is the just-announced Nikon D800 the new Canon 5D Mark II? It’s full frame, it’s of a similar size and it’s of a similar price, but it offers a clean HDMI output, and it does 60p (at 720p). The question, I guess, is not how the D800 will fair against the 5D Mark II but how it will compare the Mark III — whenever we hear about that. Thanks to reader Paul, here’s the first (to my knowledge) short film shot on the new D800: More »
The new Nikon D4 isn’t the only new kid on the block — Nikon will also be releasing a second full-frame DSLR, the Nikon D800. As rumored, the D800 has a whopping 36 megapixel CMOS sensor (7360 x 4912 resolution), which may make the D800 not seem optimal for video (smaller photosites). However, the camera features full 1080p HD video at 30/24fps and 720p at 60fps. Similar to the D4, the D800 will also offer a clean HDMI output — except the D800 is half the price of the D4, coming in at $2,999. More »
Alex Buono, Director of Photography for Saturday Night Live, has been shooting on DSLRs for quite some time (the intro for the show was in fact shot on a Canon 5D Mark II and 7D). Here, he gets his hands on a C300, shoots some spots for the show, and talks about his impressions of the camera (which are quite positive). Here’s the video, courtesy Clint Milby: More »
The mysterious 4K Canon DSLR — or some other widescreen Canon HDSLR — has been spotted in the wild… literally. Stephen Oachs from Aperture Academy was shooting wildlife in Kenya (with a camera, not a gun) and spotted a Japanese cameraman using the unreleased Canon 200-400mm with built-in teleconverter and Canon 600mm lenses. The cameraman was also using the as-yet-unnamed 4K a mysterious DSLR, which has a widescreen LCD and a new “RATE” button. I’ve lightened and blown up Stephen’s image for as much detail as possible: More »
The Canon C300 will begin shipping January 31st for a street price of $16k. It’s not what people were hoping for, given the Sony F3 with S-Log firmware is about the same price ($16,840), and given there were rumors of the C300 coming in at $14k or even $10k without the top handle/monitor/audio inputs — but it’s finally official. Also note that the PL version, at B&H at least, is already backordered an additional month. Despite this slightly higher-than-hoped-for price, the camera is still the best option for many, so here’s a full (and lengthy) presentation by Canon’s Larry Thorpe at Rule Boston Camera, wherein he stresses that the C300 is just “the first” of Canon’s cinema camcorders: More »
As I predicted, RED killed their “3K for $3K” fixed-lens SCARLET camera. If that small-chip, big-resolution camera was something you were interested in, JVC has stepped in with the GY-HMQ10 (rolls right off the tongue!), a 4K (3840×2160, or “Quad HD” in RED parlance) compact camera with a fixed 10x zoom lens, which will land in March for under $5k. Recording to a VBR h.264 codec at up to 144Mpbs, the camera also does 1080p at up to 60 frames per second (something that many cameras at double or triple the price can’t do). Does the new JVC hit a sweet spot or does it put the “K” in “OK” (or something)? Press release and larger picture (it looks like what you’d expect) below. More »
I’m not here to start a camera flame war between the Canon C300, Sony F3, and RED SCARLET. The fact is, with any of these new large-sensor camcorders, you can tell your story effectively, and that’s what’s important. However… these cameras are an investment. And a much more serious investment than a DSLR at that — $15k does not come easily, and that’ll just get you started with each. So I thought I’d share a thought I had the other day when watching Philip Bloom’s latest camera shootout. Bloom didn’t include the RED and I’ll have plenty of thoughts to share on RED going forward (to the chagrin of some of you!), but if I hadn’t gone the RED route I would go with an F3 over the C300. Why? More »
Philip Bloom's Camera Shootout Features the Latest Large Sensor DSLRs and Camcorders
I was waiting for part two to post this, so now that it’s live, here is Philip Bloom’s latest camera shootout pitting the Canon C300, Sony NEX5N, Panasonic AF100, Panasonic GH2, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, Sony FS100, Sony F3, and Nikon D7000 against each other in a variety of real-world situations: More »
So the just-announced Nikon D4 features an uncompressed HDMI output. This means you can take a wonderfully capable still camera, hook it up to an external recorder, and now you have an uncrippled video camera with a full-frame sensor. Pretty damn appealing! I found this 7-minute video on YouTube and haven’t seen any other information about it, so I’m not sure if external recorders were used, but go ahead and click “1080p” and enjoy the first Nikon D4 video: More »
The new full-frame Nikon D4, as rumored, brings with it a bevy of new video features. It will do 1080p at 30/25/24 frames-per-second, and up to 60 FPS at 720p. It will ship with a microphone input and dedicated headphone jack (both with adjustable levels), and supports the new XQD memory card format. And while the h.264 codec is only 24Mbps, to complain about the bitrate would be to ignore the biggest new feature: a clean, uncompressed HDMI output. Nikon has finally gotten serious about video. More »
Supposedly we’re in for an official unveiling in the next couple of days, but that didn’t stop one site from posting the official Nikon D4 spec sheet. The camera will be a competitor to the Canon 1DX, coming in at a similar $6,000 price point, and and it looks like the D4 will actually beat the 1DX to market by a month. The specs, which back up the earlier rumors: More »
Rodney Charters needs no introduction (he’s best known as the DP of 24), and along with Drew Gardner and Lan Bui he recently got his hands on the Canon C300. The camera is absolutely the post-DSLR camera of the moment in the sense that it uses the DSLR form factor in a way that the Sony F3 does not, and also in the sense that it is convenient like a DSLR in a way that the RED SCARLET is not. But “camera of the decade?” Sure, if the decade was 2000-2010. 2010-2020… I’m not so sure. Here are their very informal behind-the-scenes videos: More »
Phil Holland (who gave us some very handy RED crop factor and data rate sheets) shot the following tests on his Al Canon-mount RED SCARLET. Graded in REDCINE-X Pro and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, the tests include low light and 3K/48FPS tests. If you have a high-resolution monitor, you can even view them in 4K resolution (select “Original” if you’ve got the screen real estate): More »
Here’s an excellent test/review of the Canon C300 camcorder by Paul Steinberg. He shoots a number of low light shots with the camera but also manages to “break” the 8-bit codec, in his own words. It’s hard to make out what is C300 compression and what is internet h.264 compression, but in Paul’s words “you can see a ton of quantizing little blocks” — even when viewed on a TV. No matter how good your 8-bit implementation is… it’s still 8 bits. Is this a deal breaker for you? More »
Preproduction Canon C300 cameras have been floating around for a while, and now DSLR/video maestro Philip Bloom has released an excellent video review. As Bloom notes, the camera is a hybrid: the C300 is the answer to the question, “what would happen if a Canon DSLR and Canon XF camcorder had a baby?” Check it out if you’re interested in the C300, which rumor has it will retail stateside for virtually the same price as the Sony F3 (currently $14k), substanitally less than the originally-quoted $20k. Here’s Philip’s review: More »
Cameras have been getting more and more sensitive, so it follows that low light tests are a nice showcase of the latest in camera technology. Here, Sebastian Wiegärtner pits the Canon C300 against the Sony F3 (with S-Log) and Canon 7D: More »
I don’t own or shoot on a Panasonic GH2, but whenever I cover its hacked firmware releases the installation instructions always sound a bit daunting. Now EOSHD has released new patches and “film modes” for the camera, which offer similar functionality to existing GH2 hacks but (possibly?) easier installation. Says EOSHD’s Andrew Reid, “I believe them to be the most optimal patches and film modes for the best image quality currently possible on the GH2.” More »
A 30 minute short film sponsored by Canon and shot on the Canon C300 and 5D Mark II, When You Find Me premiered on YouTube this week and will reportedly go offline tomorrow morning. So I figured I’d share it while it lasts — if the full film has been taken down, the trailer is below. Executive produced by Ron Howard and directed by his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, here it is in full here is the trailer (the full film was taken down according to schedule): More »
Just a rumor… disclaimers apply… etc. The Nikon D4, which should compete with the Canon 1DX, is supposedly landing in January, with “improved” video (read: 1080p) and an uncompressed HDMI output. It’s also slated to be “only” 16 megapixels, which, along with its maximum ISO of 102,400 should make it a low-light beast. Is this the DSLR that has Nikon catching up or surpassing the video capabilities of offerings from Panasonic or Canon? More »
How do the Canon C300 and Sony F3, pictured respectively at left, compare? Mario Feil, director of the just-posted C300 short, has released the following comparison video. There’s also a Canon 1D Mark IV thrown in, which quite frankly looks awful at these high ISO levels: More »
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