» Posts Tagged ‘canon’
How are you transcoding your DSLR video these days? If you’re editing in Premiere Pro CS5, are you even transcoding at all? No matter your NLE, there are several options for transcoding, like Magic Bullet Grinder, the still-in-beta 5DtoRGB, and Canon’s own EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro. It looks like Canon’s going to be adding some interesting features to their free solution: More »
It seems Nikon has finally caught up to Canon. They might even surpass their rival in the entry-level market when their just-announced D3100 debuts in September — that is, if the camera delivers on its specs, which are the most filmmaker-friendly of any Nikon DSLR to date. The $700 prosumer model adds all of the most-requested features missing from Nikon’s previous offerings. The D3100 ups the video resolution from 720p to 1080p, switches from a low-quality MJPEG codec to better h.264-based encoding (no word on bitrate yet), and tosses in a new feature Nikon claims is a “world’s first.” More »
Canon, Panasonic, and other electronics companies are showing “concept” cameras in Shanghai right now as part of World Expo 2010, and Canon has seemingly made the biggest splash with their vision of what a camera will look like in 2030. Camera technology is changing so rapidly these days that it’s hard to imagine what video and still cameras will be capable of in five years, much less twenty. But here’s Canon’s concept — which looks an awful lot like the tip of an otoscope — which they’ve dubbed the “wonder cam:” More »
The 14th annual Cine Gear Expo took place this past weekend in Hollywood, and this year’s event undoubtedly included more low-cost film and DSLR accessories than any of the previous thirteen. I’m combing through all of the excellent event coverage by folks who were actually there, and sharing it here: More »
I like Red Giant Software’s Magic Bullet products — I spent my hard-earned money on Magic Bullet Suite, which is a great cross-platform color-correction tool. But their new plugin, Magic Bullet Grinder, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why? Because there’s already a free tool from Canon that does the same thing. More »
A quick heads-up for 5d Mark II shooters: there’s a new (seemingly minor) firmware update out there. Of the three listed fixes, the only one that piques my interest is the first: More »
Previously I was writing the DSLR Guide offline and then posting a new version once a month. That doesn’t really make much sense anymore, so now I’ll just be updating it on a section-by-section basis whenever I can. I’ll do my best to keep it up-to-date, but please do let me know if I’m missing out on new developments.
While we’re on the topic of DSLRs — and when are we not, these days — check out the most recent winning entry in Vimeo and Canon’s ongoing Story Beyond the Still contest, shot by my Middlebury classmate M. Keegan Uhl on a Canon 7D
Submissions for the next chapter are open until May 3; prizes include a 7D or 5D Mark II — your choice (choose the Mark II!).
If you meet the criteria (Canon DSLR user, Mac user, Final cut user), the newly released EOS Movie Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro from Canon will change your workflow for the better. The free plugin offers the following highly beneficial features:
- Automatic transcoding of clips from H.264 to various Apple codecs
- Transcoding time may be up to 3x faster than previously possible with EOS movie files using Compressor, or similar
- Time Code is added to each clip (based on the camera’s date/time stamp), as well as user-given reel names embedded in the ProRes files, which can then be viewed from FCP throughout the editing process
- With the Log and Transfer function, users can set in and out points to transcode and import only the portion of the clip needed for the project, greatly improving speed and productivity
Once you click through to the download link, be sure to select Mac OS X in order for the plugin to show up. First 24p for the 5d Mark II, now this; Canon is really owning the HDSLR revolution.
This went live Monday, but unless you shot something yesterday, it shouldn’t matter that I’m a couple days late with this. Yes, the Canon 5d Mark II, a wonderful camera previously limited to shooting 30p video with automatic, terrible-sounding audio, is now many, many times more valuable thanks to a free firmware update live on Canon’s site. Kind of a big deal:
- Adds 24p and 25p.
- Adds a function for manually adjusting the sound recording level (64 levels).
- Adds a histogram display (brightness or RGB) for shooting movies in manual exposure.
- Adds shutter-priority AE mode (Tv) and aperture-priority AE (Av) mode to the exposure modes for shooting movies.
- Changes the audio sampling frequency from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz.
UPDATE FROM CANON: We are now introducing the Version 2.0.4 firmware. This firmware corrects the malfunction that occurred in the previous Version 2.0.3 firmware, in which the manual recording level changed and made recording impossible.
Thanks Leighton.
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