» Posts Tagged ‘hdslr’
Canon recently announced a firmware update for the Canon 5D Mark III, and that led the way for the great folks at Magic Lantern to begin porting their hack. Already a big hit on the Mark II and other Canon cameras, Magic Lantern could open up specific features many believe Canon should have included in the first place. Chuck Westfall has said that the 5D Mark III and the 1D X might never get a full, clean HDMI, mainly because Canon (obviously) puts more money and attention into the video features on their expensive video-centric Cinema EOS line (though he also says they are always listening to consumers). Most of all, they want to keep the two product lines separate, and possibly the only hope for this feature (and others like it) is for something like Magic Lantern to unlock the hidden power of the camera. More »
It’s easy to forget just how liberating shooting with HDSLRs can be — you can follow your characters down a crowded street, get B-roll while your crew is setting up lights, and generally have the flexibility that a small camera allows you. Last year’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, Like Crazy , got a lot of press for the fact that it was shot on a Canon 7D and was acquired by Paramount for $4 million – but less discussed was why it was shot on a 7D and what the challenges and advantages of doing so were. In an interview with HD Magazine, DP John Guleserian delves into these questions and more — revealing how shooting with a HDSLR has impacted his way of shooting in general: More »
Geared what? In case you don’t know, a geared head is a tripod head that lets you perform precision, fluid pans and tilts. It’s the big brother to your more common friction and fluid heads, the kind of head bigger budgeted films will use to achieve their camera moves. Now, these things are usually pretty expensive — they are designed for much heavier cameras. But CPM Camera Rigs has recently started offering a smaller, relatively cheaper, geared head aimed at HDSLR filmmakers — the CPMhead. Want to see one in action? Check this out: More »
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 »
Canon’s EOS Utility software, which includes the ability to edit picture styles on your HDSLR, has not worked on OSX Lion since Apple released the new OS in July. However, Canon has just released version 2.10.4 which remedies this problem. Here’s the deal with this new version: More »
I’ve always thought Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and other crowdfunding platforms are actually “best” suited for gadgets and technology products where you pre-buy something out of self-interest (as opposed to helping someone make something, as you did with me). Despite this, on Kickstarter Film & Video was the largest category in 2011, which is a testament to the generosity and connectivity of the filmmaking community. Here are a couple of filmmaking-friendly products for DSLRs on Kickstarter, both of which are looking to lower the price point for follow focuses and remote-control helicopters: 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 »
Since the official announcement, more details of the Nikon D4‘s video features have emerged. Given Nikon is deeming it a “multimedia DSLR,” how will its features compare to its chief competitor, the Canon 1DX (both camera are high-end DSLRs, priced at $6-7k)? First up is a video by DSLR News Shooter’s Dan Chung, who got a hands-on look from Nikon’s James Banfied: More »
Picture profiles have taken HDSLRs to another level in terms of getting a gradeable image out of our favorite low-cost hybrid cameras. As far as Canon DSLRs are concerned, Technicolor CineStyle is the official “flat” setting and a top user-created choice is Marvels Cine, out of which I’ve had problems getting useable skin tones (but I have not tried the latest version, designed to fix this). Joining the fray is new entrant Similaar Flaat, by NoFilmSchool frequenter Samuel Hurtado, which is designed to offer a similarly flat setting with improved skin tones. There are a number of profiles, so grab them yourself and see if it’s worthy of the extra “a”… 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 »
Is real-time High Dynamic Range imaging, ala RED’s HDRx, coming to Canon DSLRs with the next version of Magic Lantern firmware? Well, yes and no — thus the asterisk. The system they’ve developed splits a 24p stream into two 12FPS exposures, one high and one low, and then interpolates the frames. It’s an interesting hack, demonstrated here: More »
I saw mentioned on a few other blogs that the price of the Canon 5D Mark II — still the only best full frame video camera in the world1 — had dropped to $2k. “Nice,” I thought, thinking back to how I paid $2500 for mine — but I wasn’t sure if that was cause for an entire blog post. Then I saw that, because of a price war, B&H is throwing in a whole bundle of stuff included in that $2k price: a SanDisk 16GB Extreme Pro CompactFlash Card, a Lowepro Adventura 170 Shoulder Bag, and the Red Giant B&H Video Production Software Bundle (reportedly worth $720 collectively). And free US shipping. You’re not going to find a better deal than this — the only question is whether you’d rather wait for the next full frame HDSLR from Canon (which is the 1DX… which will retail for $7k). The 5D Mark III probably won’t be out for quite some time, given Canon needs to give the 1DX room the breathe. One other thing to mention: the Mark II has terrific resale value due in part to its excellence as a still camera.
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 »
There are a couple of USB follow focus controllers out there — the Okii FC1 and Helmsman come to mind — but not all controllers are follow focuses. Instead, some simply let you start/stop recording, adjust exposure, and change settings. Here’s a preview from HD Cam Team of the Okii MC1 USB controller (though at the time of the video the brand had yet to be revealed): More »
Take this rumor the way most rumors should be taken (with a grain, or many grains, of salt), but the Nikon D700′s successor/big brother, the D800, is rumored to debut in Japan this Thursday, November 24th for roughly $3,900. The camera will reportedly have 1080p at 30, 25, and 24p, moves up to 60p at 720p, and is supposed to shoot stills at 36 megapixels (!). If you were thinking about getting a pro HDSLR, you might want to wait a few days to find out if this spec sheet is real: More »
The Panasonic GH2 keeps getting better and better thanks to hacker Vitaliy Kiselev. Recently he enabled a extremely high bitrate, and now he’s bumped the ISO during video mode from 3,200 all the way up to 12,800. While the GH2 had high ISO modes available previously, they were only possible with a Panasonic lens in Shutter Priority mode. Now anyone using hacked firmware can crank up the ISO. Here are some video tests of the GH2 at 12,800 ISO: More »
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