Rarevision 5DtoRGB vs MPEG Streamclip for transcoding

There’s a new transcoding tool making the rounds on that newfangled Twitter thingy the kids are using these days, it’s called Rarevision 5DtoRGB. It’s a free app for Mac users that they claim offers a much higher quality conversion from H.264 DSLR raw footage to an editing codec (ProRes is a common choice, in one of several flavors and bitrates). Two blogs have done some comparison testing between this new tool and MPEG Streamclip (another popular free option), and I wanted to point them out here for your pixel-peeping enjoyment…

(7) Comments: • Most recent comments by: scottieb, Richard Reay, trevormcpherson, scottieb, Matt Jeppsen, trevormcpherson, cowpunk52,

Canon 5D: How much dynamic range does it have, really?

The Canon 5D does a remarkable job of making HD images, considering that it was originally never intended to do so. So how much dynamic range can it really capture? Thanks to the DSC 102db (17-stop) latitude chart, we now have an objective answer.

(14) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Art Adams, Burn-E, Art Adams, Adam Wilt, Art Adams, Nick WB, Adam Wilt, Art Adams, Jay Farrington, Art Adams,

Low Light: Do HDSLRs Really Rule?

The blogosphere is all a-twitter (and the twitterers are all blogging) about how good HDSLRs are in low light. I thought it would be interesting to compare the Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 7D with a couple of video cameras as well the RED ONE M and M-X, and see just how well they all perform at high ISO settings.

(6) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Adam Wilt, IEBA, Adam Wilt, Burn-E, Adam Wilt, Charles Angus,

Review: Get - Phonetic searching for Final Cut Pro

One of the big hits at NAB 2010 was a little program set up in a tiny booth at the plug-in pavilion called ‘Get’, from a company called AV3 Software. Get isn’t really a plug-in at all but rather a stand alone application that works in conjunction with Final Cut Pro to phonetically index media and allow the editor to search for words within that indexed media. In its simplest terms, if you have an interview with a subject that’s talking about resumes, you can search for the word “resume” and Get will return results… more »

The Best of Stunning Good Looks

This entry is a guide to my best articles, sorted by topic. Enjoy!

Add eSATA to a 27” iMac and untap RAID speeds of 3.3 times faster than FireWire 800

Although it has been in existence for many years and is known to be among the best and fastest ways to connect local external hard drives or disk arrays to a computer, Apple strangely has been the only computer manufacturer to my knowledge which has not yet offered a direct eSATA port on any of its computers. Even way back in the Apple G5 tower era, I used to add eSATA ports to high-end video editing systems I integrated, and this of course has continued with the MacPro (Intel) era of Apple towers. The lack of direct eSATA port on all other Macs Mac, MacBook(Pro), and Mac Mini] has sadly meant that video editors have had to settle for slower FireWire 800 speeds… until now. The highly… more »

(9) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Allan Tépper, harryllama, Allan Tépper, June, Allan Tépper, evandroc, Jim Hines, Allan Tépper, victor264,

XDCAM® HD decks and Closed Captions

Concern for the hearing impaired initially led Congress to mandate closed captions.  But captions have also become valuable to English language learners, barkeepers and restaurateurs.  Now Sony XDCAM® HD studio decks make closed captioning infrastructure a little bit easier.

Modern R&B Music Construction Kits

One side effect of the maturation of desktop tools has been that our clients and employers expect us to do more - for example, an editor is often expected to also do some motion graphics and sound editing; a motion graphics artist may be expected to come up with the soundtrack as well. Fortunately, several desktop-based sound tools - such as Apple’s GarageBand and Soundtrack Pro, Adobe’s Audition and Soundbooth, Propellerhead’s Recycle and Reason, Ableton’s Live (my weapon of choice), and Sony’s ACID Pro (the pioneer of them all) - make it easier for a doodler with a good ear to create a soundtrack out of a box full of sound snippets. These snippets usually consist of musical phrases that may be repeated… more »

Sony NEX-VG10 interchangeable lens camcorder announced

Some time back, we mentioned a Sony teaser about an upcoming HD camcorder model that would feature interchangeable lenses and be compatible with Sony’s line of Alpha lenses. Since then, Sony has showed off a soon-to-ship point and shoot DSLR with similar capabilities, the NEX-5 (and it’s little brother, the NEX-3). I’ve had the opportunity to shoot extensively with pre-production and production versions of the NEX-5, and it’s a sweet little camera, though clearly… more »

(28) Comments: • Most recent comments by: deepfreezevideo, Matt Jeppsen, deepfreezevideo, speciallens, babayhakim, شات ماشى, IEBA, Videoacademy, Burn-E, Zen Violence Films,

Canon EOS 7D—Studio Version

News of a new Canon 7D hit the net last Friday sending everyone into an absolute tizzy. If you listened closely you could hear the sound of a collective gasp from all the current 7D owners (self included) who thought their camera was now obsolete. 

(2) Comments: • Most recent comments by: pop121, larryfine451,