Review – The New Black Magic Cinema Camera

The new Black Magic Cinema Camera gets reviewed by Vincent LaForet and also Philip Bloom. I’ve been off on other projects and there are only so many hours in the day, so check out the wonderful reviews from Vincent and Philip.

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Revenge of the Great Camera Shoot Out 2012

 

Revenge of the Great Camera Shoot Out 2012

Kudos to Steve Weiss and Jens Bogehegn for Revenge Of The Great Camera Shoot Out 2012. A brilliant documentary and important piece of filmmaking history. What more can I say?  It MUST be seen.

Revenge Of The Great Camera Shoot Out 2011

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SDHC Card Failure

Adata SDHC

I’ve been on the road a lot this year, and after returning home from a trip to Austin Texas I discovered one of my memory cards had been fried by the TSA. In going through airport security in Austin TX, the TSA left my carryon bag containing my photo equipment in the scanner for several minutes while they changed the settings and peered deeper into my cameras and lenses. I stood there and watched as the monitor changed colors as they increased the power to peer deeper and deeper into my gear. Like most of you I wasn’t concerned as I had been told by everyone that the X-rays would cause no harm to memory cards and gear. Then, they ran it through again repeating the same process and looking at my bag full of gear from a different angle. When I returned home my 32GB SDHC memory card that was in my Sony A65 was fried. The card was not recognized by the camera and would not mount in my Mac computer. Everything had been working fine before the intense TSA scanning. I tried Rescue Pro, Disk Warrior and several other disk / file recovery programs, but with the card not mounting, none were of any help. So I called several data recovery services who felt confident that the data could be recovered, but their prices were quite expensive. In talking to the data recovery services I found out that this is a fairly common occurrence. Then I noticed that the card has a Lifetime warranty so I decided to call the manufacturer Adata. I was pleasantly surprised to find the people at Adata to be very friendly and helpful. They sent me links to additional recovery programs, and when none of those worked they offered to recover my data and replace the SDHC card, which they promptly did. I’ve been using Adata memory for about 3 years now and with great customer service like this they’ve won me over as a satisfied loyal customer.

I travel a lot and this is the first time I’ve had this problem, but in talking to the data recovery companies and Adata this is more common than we have been previously told. With the falling prices of SDHC cards I have been using them as one of my archival backups. But another lesson that I learned from this experience is that SD cards and probably all sold state memory are only meant for short term storage of a maximum of three years. So I’m still searching for the ideal tapeless work flow.

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NAB Reflections

I’m back from a wonderful trip to NAB in Las Vegas. Technology races along at breakneck speed and conferences like NAB help me stay current and catch a glimpse of the future.

The Post Production Conference at NAB hosted by Future Media Concepts one again exceeded my expectations. The top presenters in production and post shared tips and tricks to make our lives easier; Richard Harrington, Jeff Greenberg, Abba Shapiro, Robbie Carman, Luisa Winters, Steve Audette, Steve Martin, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Alex Lindsay, Elaine Montoya, Christine Steele, Gary Adcock, and Jem Schofield did a great job of sharing their insights on our current workflows.

The Adobe presenters demoed Adobe’s new CS6 suite which Adobe announced a few days before the show. What a treat to learn about all of the new features that are included in Adobe’s CS6 suite. Adobe has lured many FCP users to it’s suite after Apple’s disappointing launch of  FCPX. Adobe continues to listen to its customers adding more requested features to each new version. This suite continues to gain in popularity making CS6 one of the highlights of the show.

And, with the latest round of features being added to FCPX it appears that Apple hasn’t completely abandoned the pro market. Only time will tell.

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Apple’s New iPad

Today Apple announced the new iPad, the iPad 3, even though they’re not calling it that. With an official list of 5 new features and several new Apps like iMove and iPhoto. If you don’t own an iPad then these new features maybe what changes that.

New features:
1.Retina Display @ 2048 X 1536 pixels  @ 264ppi
2.iSight Camera – 5 megapixel sensor  –  with auto focus & auto exposure that can be locked, & with new flesh tone white balance.
3. HD 1080P video – Auto face detection, auto exposure & auto focus which is lockable
4. Voice dictation
5. Next generation wireless 4G LTE – also adds HSPA+ w/a maximum downlink of 21Mbps. DC-HSDPA  w/a maximum downlink of 42Mbps. LTE w/a maximum downlink of 73Mbps.

Check it out, watch the keynote presentation here.http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/123pibhargjknawdconwecown/event/index.html

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Home At Last

I’m finally back after several weeks on the road. Two of the exciting events that I attended were After Effects training with Luisa Winters at the Future Media Concepts Adobe Boot Camp in Orlando Florida,  and The Editor’s Retreat in Austin Tx, which is also an FMC event. I’m home for a few weeks then in April I’m off to NAB, and the Post Production World training, another FMC event.

It’s great to be home at last, to be able to decompress and get some editing done. I like to travel light so I usually travel with a carryon filled with just photo gear, and no computer. But I feel those days are numbered, which raises the NLE debate once again. Just a week ago the choice was simple, sort of. I was going with Premier Pro and the only other decision was Mac or PC. But now with this new release of FCPX the debate is alive again. As I look at my options and decide what is right for me I’ll share my thoughts, which hopefully will be of help to you. Stay tuned. If you have an opinion about this, let us know.

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Onward Into 2012

Sony A65 / Panasonic GH2

2012 is off to a good start. 2011 was bumpy for me – technical and personal issues took a big bite out of what I wanted to accomplish. 2012 looks promising.

Being a cameraman shooting stills and video, and also as an editor, there are just too many exciting things happening on all fronts for me not to use this space to post my comments and share my experiences. So, even though this blog was originally conceived to focus on the Adobe CS Pro Production Premium Suite, which I regularly use. So I will continue to post tips and techniques the for CS Pro Suite. But I’ve decided to also use this space to discuss hardware and software that affect the cameraman and editor. And, as my workflow settles down I’ll also be able to share my experiences with CS Pro. Adobe if you’re listening please add more cameras in multi-cam. You’re forcing me to enact ancient rituals to resurrect FCP7 from the dead to edit large multi-cam projects.

What I’ve been doing and will be discussing here are my experiences with the Adobe’s CS Pro Production Premium Suite, the Panasonic GH2 and Sony A65. I was lucky enough to get one of the first GH2 and A65 that arrived in the USA. I’ve been shooting with several different lenses on both the cameras.  I’ll also be reviewing a new product from Cinevate.

I’ll be attending Future Media Concept’s Adobe Boot Camp, FMC’s Editor’s Retreat and NAB. I’ll also be discussing my photo and video kits, my workflow and more, so stay tuned. There’s so many exciting things on the schedule and we’re only 9 days into January.

An interesting link: A casual discussion with Rodney Charters discussing the new Canon C300, 4K, 10bit and more.

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How To Start A Revolution Wins Best Documentary

Gene Sharp

How To Start A Revolution has won the Best Documentary and Mass Impact Award at at the 27th Boston Film Festival on the 18th of September it then moves on to the Raindance Festival in London on the 2nd and 3rd of October. A documentary on current Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Gene Sharp.
Producer / Director – Ruaridh Arrow
Director of Photography – Philip Bloom

From wikipedia:

Gene Sharp (born 21 January 1928) is known for his extensive writings on nonviolent struggle: he has been called both the “Machiavelli of nonviolence” and the “Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare.”^[1]

Sharp is a political scientist, professor emeritus, and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization which studies and promotes the use of nonviolent action in conflicts around the world.

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IRS vs Documentary Filmmakers

A case now in U.S Tax Court in Arizona is IRS vs. Lee Story. The IRS is being asked by the judge to demonstrate whether or not the primary purpose of documentary filmmaking in general is “to educate and to expose” and is thus “an activity not engaged in for profit.” This is a very serious matter. If the IRS wins their case against Arizona filmmaker Lee Storey (Smile ’Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story), this will set a precedent and possibly effect all documentary filmmakers. Documentary filmmakers may no longer be permitted to deduct expenses associated with making their films from other sources of income. Furthermore, filmmakers who have already deducted these expenses from their taxes may be faced with potentially devastating audits, and may be hit with back taxes, penalties and fines.

The IRS has focused on the final one element of the 9 elements that it normally uses to decide these cases, “elements of personal pleasure or recreation.” It’s reported that the IRS is using video clips against Lee Storey where she states that she enjoys her work. The reasoning appears to be if she enjoys her work, it therefore can’t be work, it’s a hobby. And if documentary filmmaking is declared a hobby, you wouldn’t be allowed the tax deductions.

Is this just a case of the government picking on the little guy or a stronger deliberate suppression of the media, and a deliberate suppression of opposing thought. Projects of passion and truth will no longer be made unless they will make a profit. And profit can really only be guaranteed if we are on the side of big business, power and money.  To read the full story.

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2011/07/why-filmmaking-cannot-be-a-hobby/

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Thunderbolt Is Here

Every so often an invention comes along and it’s a game changer. I think that Thunderbolt is one of those game changers. Yesterday Apple announced a 27 in. Display, “Apple Thunderbolt Display”, New MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini models with Thunderbolt ports. Thunderbolt technology, was co-developed by Apple and Intel, it adds two bidirectional 10-Gbps channels. Thunderbolt is a dual-protocol technology that combines PCI Express and DisplayPort in a single connection, with full backward compatibility to existing DisplayPort devices. Apple has pointed out that that there is a theoretical potential for a total of 40 Gbps of throughput in both directions under ideal conditions.

Several hard drive manufactures are now shipping Thunderbolt HDs, and Thunderbolt cables are also finally available. Promise Technology. Inc. and LaCie Products.

The TB cables are expensive, Apple is charging $50 for their new Thunderbolt cable. It turns out that the cable comes with 2 on-board chips, which allow for “active cabling”, rather than “passive cabling”. Active cabling is required for high speed data transfer, as it greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the cable.

According to Apple, each Thunderbolt peripheral will support daisy-chaining up to six devices. Apple’s initial implementation of Thunderbolt uses copper-wire cables limited to three meters in length; an eventual fibre version will offer longer runs and more bandwidth.

The speed of TB offers a very promising future for the office as well as the traveling professional.

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