» Posts Tagged ‘sony’
How to Shoot Slow-Motion Aerial Footage on the Sony F55 with Andrew Wonder
Great aerial footage seems simple enough to capture in theory, but there is often a team of people or years of experience backing up the terrific shots. In the post below, we have Andrew Wonder to take us through his process of capturing aerial footage of a female rugby team on the Sony F55.
This is a guest post by Director/Cinematographer Andrew Wonder.
If you were at NAB, then you already know that 2013 was the year of the drone. You could barely walk around the convention floor without the risk of getting a haircut by someone’s spin on the aerial rig. Though they look like toys, it’s easy to forget that operating a drone is an art that should be carried out by professionals. Like a Steadicam, you can’t just pick one up and expect cinematic results. Understanding how to balance and control these crafts is the difference between that perfect shot and ending up in the river. More »
Extended Behind the Scenes & the Sound Design of the Sony F65-Shot Sci-Fi Film 'Oblivion'
Oblivion, the new film starring Tom Cruise and shot on the Sony F65 by Claudio Miranda (with some RED EPIC for one of their practical effects), has only just launched into theaters, but we’ve got a tremendous amount of behind the scenes material already available online. The director, Joseph Kosinski, who was also at the helm for Tron: Legacy, wanted to use as many practical effects as possible for the film, and it certainly shows in many of the clips and videos available online. Check out the extensive BTS as well as an in-depth look at the sound design for the film courtesy of Michael Coleman and SoundWorks Collection. More »
While Sony didn’t announce any large sensor cameras at NAB 2013 as some had speculated, they did show off some concept 4K DSLR-type cameras with heavy-duty positive lock mounts (only one of the cameras actually takes standard PL lenses, the other is an A-mount) that may or may not find their way into the hands of shooters. Even though they are far from completed cameras, they do speak to where Sony may be looking for the future. Check out this video below from Engadget, who was at the Sony event where these were being shown: More »
Sony’s tight cluster of NAB 2013 4K-centric announcements featured some of the most affordably priced UHD TVs yet seen all the way over to the external recorder-enabled 4K shooting capabilities of its FS700. The latter announcement also made it clear that Sony is looking to put a wide variety of encoding and format options into the hands of shooters — and beyond, potentially. Aside from external and third-party recording expansion, Sony is opening up its efficient 4K XAVC codec — native to the F5 family — to the consumer as well as the prosumer. Read on for some details regarding these new ‘lite’ encoding/wrapper options, dubbed XAVC S. More »
Since its release last year, we’ve know that Sony’s FS700 — the high-speed ‘little brother to-be’ of the F5 and F55 — had 4K capabilities awaiting in its future. This option, with 4K RAW speeds up to 120fps burst shooting and 2K RAW up to 240fps (continuous) is made possible by a ‘middle-man’ interface/adapter module, the HXR-IF5 along with the AXS-R5 recorder. What we probably didn’t expect was support for 2K CinemaDNG at up to 240fps, or even 4K DPX at a more modest 30fps (still — it’s DPX) by way of another external recorder, the Convergent Design Odyssey7Q. Click through for further details from Sony, some speculative pricing on the R5, and a quick look at these beastly additions to the FS700 system. More »
Until more recently, the home theater/consumer side of 4K has been a bit beyond the reach of the average consumer. The $25,000 pricing of Sony’s 84-inch Bravia 4K TV, for instance, is simply prohibitive to all but the most enthusiastic home viewers — but Sony’s newly price-pointed 55 and 65-inch screens are poised to address that point, set to go for $5,000 and $7,000, respectively. And just in case you were wondering what (and how) Sony expects you to actually watch on such a thing, the company’s also unveiled its $699 FMP-X1 4K media player, plus an eventual distribution service, to go along with them cheap(er) UHD TV screens. Check out some more details below. More »
Blender Foundation Releases 4TB of 'Tears of Steel' Sony F65 4K Footage & Demonstrates Post Workflow
The Blender Foundation is constantly pushing the boundaries of availability, openness, and access to the raw materials it uses to create its ‘proof-of-Blender’ animated shorts. This type of access is usually more associated with open source software than filmmaking, but especially since the Project Mango live-action CGI/VFX-heavy Tears of Steel was realized, that distinction has become increasingly blurred. Now filmmakers, animators, or compositors looking to cut their teeth on professional-grade material have access to the entirety of Tears of Steel‘s footage, in 4k OpenEXR (in the ACES color space), courtesy Xiph.org. In the meantime, the Foundation has also made available a number of resources concerning their post-production pipeline, which allowed them to transcode 4K Sony F65 footage to those Linux-workable OpenEXR frames. Check below for more details. More »
Hot on the heels of the unscheduled recent firmare update, V1.03, Sony has issued V1.10 for the F5 and F55, which addresses a number of issues. Since the AXS-R5 recorder has its own internal processing and is considered part of the camera, it also needs the same firmware update to be applied separately. We’ve also got a recent 4K test done by the guys over at cinema5D that intercuts Canon’s 1D C with the Sony F55. Click through for more on both. More »
In the midst of some tension and even some quite literal (and legal) contention, Sony’s RED/Alexa-aimed F55 and its less feature-rich sibling the F5 are in-stock at B&H and shipping out order to order. We’ve previously mentioned the comprehensive firmware update timeline released by Sony for the F5/F55 family, which also sees eldest little brother the FS700 rejuvenated with RAW support using Sony’s R5 recorder in July. Meanwhile, Sony is urging F5/F55 owners to update their cameras to firmware release 1.03, a previously unscheduled update which corrects a “black edge on highlights issue” in S-Log2 or HyperGamma modes. More »
It’s a safe bet Sony will not be left behind in the 4K home media arms race, but that’s about the only thing clear regarding the topic at this point, because Sony does not yet seem to have a clear strategy for 4K home delivery. Do you need Sony’s 4K TV to access it, or don’t you? It’s now looking like either will be answered “yes.” This is because another platform for a 4K delivery service will be the upcoming Playstation 4 video game console (which was strangely left out of their PS4 announcement, probably because 4K is only planned for video, not games, at the moment). While we don’t know too much about their 4K home delivery service yet, there’s talk about downloads up to 100 gigabytes or greater. But will this really happen, and more to the point, are 100GB downloads the only option for 4K? More »
A lawsuit from rival RED hasn’t stopped the Sony F5 and F55 cameras from shipping on-time, and now we’ve got some more concrete information about what is currently enabled and when we can expect future features to be implemented. For FS700 owners, we also have a pretty good idea of when you can expect full 4K support from Sony with their AXS-R5 recorder, which needs a separate piece, the HXR-IFR5, to interface with the camera. Click through for all of the currently supported frame rates and resolutions, and when you can expect them to be updated. More »
Sony isn’t about to be left behind in any facet of video technology, be it camera, console, or display. They’ve got a model at every conceivable price point for every person out there. There have been some leaks of a new budget mirrorless camera, and now we finally have our first glimpse. Sony has unveiled the A58, a digital SLT (single lens translucent mirror), and the least expensive E-mount mirrorless camera in their lineup, the NEX-3N. They’re cheap, they’re light, and they’ll render “vivid, ultra-realistic colors” on special OLED displays. Read on for some details and beauty shots. More »
While I’m sure many would like to move on from this situation, there have been a few major details released since the last post that bring much more clarity to the lawsuit against Sony claiming patent infringement. If you haven’t seen any of the details yet, be sure to check out the previous posts that detail the lawsuit document and some of the patents involved in the case. Basically, RED is suing Sony because of the way RAW is being compressed in their F65, F55, and F5 cameras, and it is their belief that this method infringes on specific patents related to REDCODE RAW. There is also an important bit about patents that has been brought to my attention that makes it in their best interest to defend the patent in court as quickly as possible. More »
I mentioned that we might see a response on REDUser from the CEO of RED regarding the recent lawsuit against Sony, and that’s exactly what we got earlier this morning. In the lawsuit, RED is claiming that Sony is infringing on patents related to REDCODE RAW compression, since Sony is also using RAW compression with their F65, F55, and F5 cameras. If you haven’t read it yet (and you’ve got an opinion on the matter), I’ve embedded the document in the previous post, and I am also embedding the patents that apply below. Click through for those documents as well as the response from Mr. Jannard. More »
A litte over a year ago, there was an email hacking incident involving Arri, Band Pro, and RED; Jannard and RED have since dropped their lawsuit to the best of our understanding, since as of a few days ago that case was agreed to be dismissed by all parties involved (everyone comes out a loser having to pay all legal fees and expenses). Now we have word that a brand new legal suit has appeared against Sony, alleging patent infringement related to their F65, F55, and F5 cameras. More »
The FOR-A 4K high-speed camera from FT-ONE didn’t get all that much attention when it was first announced, due in part to the fact that it’s probably going to be a rental only, but also because the name of both the company and the camera are easily confused and/or forgettable. No worries though, the camera does exist, and it’s capable of some pretty astounding frame rates at extremely high-resolution. It’s a specialty device for sure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fantasize about using one, right? A Swiss company, Kamerawerk GmbH, put one to use in their recent No Sleep 4K music video (which they will be releasing as a 4K download), and they’ve posted a behind-the-scenes video showing the camera recording 4K at an astounding 860 frames per second, as well as another video showing off the rest of the production which is utilizing the Sony F65 as well. More »
Kevin Good and the Weapons of Mass Production team are on a sleepless mission to determine the best bang for your buck, and weed out all the rest. Each contender will get its due where it excels, but a clear winner will emerge from the settling dust just about every time — and WOMP will suffer no runners-up, all on behalf of the budget shooter. You know this from the show’s 24-70mm lens shootout — you also know how to shoot with an iPhone, or how others measure up to GoPro as action cameras. Now, WOMP sets out to answer the question of questions in today’s camera market: what’s the best you can do for under a thousand dollars? (Runners-up, beware). More »
This camera seems to be getting as much vitriol in the comments on this website as the Canon 1D C, but the Canon C100 also has its share of defenders. It might not be priced perfectly considering the features, but it’s a camera that should just work out the box without much fuss, and Canon has made some key changes compared to the C300 that might be a deal-breaker for some, but well worth the cost-savings for others. I’ve said quite a bit about where I think this camera can fit in, but don’t take my word for it, here is Philip Johnston with his review (which is also available for download): More »
We have seen a few examples of what the new Sony F55 is capable of, but there aren’t really many samples showing what its similar-looking sibling, the F5, can do. A group of students over at USC produced a recent project called The Contract that was shot exclusively with the new camera, and they wanted to explore just how - the camera was and how it would perform in mixed-light situations. Check out the movie, written and directed by Rodney Hooks, below. More »
JVC was first out of the gate with an affordable consumer 4K camera, but it was inevitable that competitors would follow suit. At this year’s CES, Sony is showing off a 4K “handycam” prototype that may or may not be built around the ’60fps at 4K’ sensor that surfaced a few months ago. Engadget has some eyes-on (and these images are courtesy their CES coverage), so check out what we know so far below. More »
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