Canon 5D Mark II + 2010 = 24, 25 fps

I like my Canon 5D Mark II - it shoots great stills, and it also shoots more than passable HD video. I’m personally a fan of working at frame rate of 30p, so I didn’t even mind this limitation all that much, but I have to admit I was irked when the 7D - and then the 1D Mark IV - were announced with a much wider range of frame rates (and frame sizes). So I was feeling considerably better about my purchase after Canon Europe, UK, and Australia announced a firmware update for the 5D that will support 24 and 25 fps HD capture (as of the time I write this, a search does not turn up a similar announcement on the Canon USA site - thus my delay in learning about it).

(3) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Chris Meyer, Pheobehall85, Eugenia,

Increase your Canon 7D or 5D dynamic range

Stockholm-based Canon 7D shooter Luka has posted a wonderful tutorial on Vimeo on maximizing the dynamic range of your DSLR video. As he states in the video, the tutorial is not aimed at making pretty pictures directly from the camera...it is intended to give you more information to work with later in post and color correction. It’s a very well done tutorial, and applies equally well to Canon 5D MKII Picture Styles. It’s also rather funny. Check it out below.

(1) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Chris Meyer,

Red Update - revised specs for Epic-X camera

Red made a slew of new announcements on Friday (Oct 30), and I’m going to be picking through it all. The most significant and detailed new announcement had to do with the specifications for the Epic/Epic-X camera, the closest successor that Red has to the Red One.

They made announcements about details nearly a year ago on December 3, 2008, and I covered it extensively here)

Article continues after the jump - pictured above is one of the millions of possible configurations of the Epic & Epic-X camera...

Specdown: Red One vs Epic-X announced features

In case you missed it, Red announced some pretty detailed specs about the new Red Epic-X camera on Friday, October 30th. Details about it are here. This is a quicky, off the cuff list comparing the specifications of the existing Red One to the proposed, but still unshipped, Epic-X 35 camera (same thing as the Epic S35, just slightly goosed).  Covers things like form factor, frame rates, resolution, codecs, accessories, etc. If I get something wrong or omit, please say so in the comments and I’ll amend ASAP. If wrong is by accident not avarice....(continues after the jump)

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Painting with Light

This past week, I was back in Los Angeles briefly on business, and spent what little free time I had getting my art fix at LACMA. While there, I was enthralled to encounter Thomas Wilfred‘s last piece, Luccata - Opus 162. Unlike the normal still artwork you would expect to find in an art museum, Opus 162 is a “Lumia” - an animated light display created by a complex mechanism of lights, painted glass, mirrors, and the such, which plays back a long, slowly evolving composition… more »

(1) Comments: • Most recent comments by: FlashSolid8,

Review: Apple Magic Mouse and Final Cut Studio

I’m on a constant search for the ultimate input device for editing. Look at my editing desk on any given day and there may be some mad combination of an Apple Mighty Mouse, a Kensington Expert Mouse (which is just a trackball), a Contour Shuttle Pro, a Wacom graphics tablet, a Poker Mouse and of course the keyboard. While the absolute best input device for editing is a keyboard it’s inevitable that… more »

(6) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Guru, Simon Wyndham, Guru, Mark Spencer, Scott Simmons, twizz,

Review: The Tangent Wave control surface

I had a small wave of sadness come over me the other day as I boxed up the Tangent Wave control surface in order to return it back home to Tangent Devices in the UK. As I saw Color’s dark gray interface and colorful video scopes shinning in the back of the room I thought to myself ... “I’ve had my problems with you Color, I’ve said some pretty mean… more »

(4) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Scott Simmons, Synaptic Light, Scott Simmons, Mezigue,

Kensington trackball as a poor man’s control surface

You may have never thought of using a trackball as a cheap substitute for a control surface when color correcting in Final Cut Pro but you can. At least you can use the functionality of a Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball to make using Colorista or the stock FCP 3-way color corrector to keep you hands off of the mouse. I wrote a little piece over at Studio Daily called Poor Man’s Control Surface that… more »

(7) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Scott Simmons, Rob, Rob, Scott Simmons, larsonian, Scott Simmons, Ben Richardson,

Review: After Effects Camera Training

Motion graphics artists used to animating in 2D in After Effects will find that working in 3D space takes a lot more patience. You need to consider how to set up the 3D views, move layers in 3D, and animate cameras and lights. Rob Birnholz’ training series tackles the camera portion of the equation (watch a free sample and the Table of Contents here). (If you’ve already purchased this training series, don’t go just yet; I promise to share some personal tips and advice as I go...)

(1) Comments: • Most recent comments by: Crish,

So You Want to Work with Cameras

I get a lot of e-mail from film and video students asking how they can break into the film or television industries. I can’t afford the luxury of answering everyone’s questions individually so I decided to put my advice in writing. I hope it’s helpful.

(3) Comments: • Most recent comments by: DanConklin, Simon Howes, WestwoodCreek,