Camera Log
Adam Wilt has been working off and on in film and video for the past thirty years, while paying the bills writing software for animation, automation, broadcast graphics, and real-time control for companies including Abekas, Pinnacle, Omneon, CBS, and ABC. Since 1997 his website, adamwilt.com, has been a popular reference for information on the DV formats. He has reviewed cameras for DV Magazine and written its "Technical Difficulties" column, and taught classes and led panels at NAB, IBC, and DV Expo. He co-authored the book,"Optimizing Your Fi...
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"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." Well, mostly.
By Adam Wilt | August 14, 2012
Test rig: 10.7.4 MacBook Air, 10.6.8 MacBook Air, three different kinds of antacids, dual-boot 10.6.8/10.8 Mac mini (display; mini itself hidden behind MacBook Pro), 10.8 MacBook Pro.
With the release of Mac OS X 10.8 (the word "Mac" has been struck from the name of the OS), an increasing number of apps requiring 10.7 or later, and the presumed end of Apple's support for 10.6, it's getting to the point where Mac users have to decide to make the jump, or remain forever on 10.6. I've spent the last two weeks systematically testing 10.8 in real-world scenarios, and I've got both good news and bad news, or, more precisely: the good, the bad, and the ugly... and the just plain "think different" stuff... and how to fix [most of] what's broken.[Updates: 2012-17: contact info added; 2012-8-15: MPEG Streamclip works; Canon XF importers won't install, but there's a workaround.]
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The C300 is a shooter's camera: a large sensor recording pretty pix with a broadcast-ready codec in a thoughtfully designed, highly flexible package.
By Adam Wilt | July 24, 2012
Canon C300 EF with Canon 24-105mm f/4 EF-L IS zoom.
The US$16,000 Canon EOS C300 looks like nothing else, and works like it, too: its ergonomics, controls, and menus are rules unto themselves. It's a fearless re-imagining of how a large-single-sensor camera should be designed, held, and operated, but it doesn't hurt that the C300 inherits the broadcaster-approved, edit-ready XF codec from Canon's 1/3" camcorders along with Canon's usual looks-good-right-out-of-the-box image rendering. The camera renders crisp, clean images with 12+ stops of dynamic range, and the package handholds very well; overall, I'd rate this experiment as a success.
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The FS100's new sibling adds Super Slo-Mo, Cine Gammas, NDs, and a new sensor.
By Adam Wilt | June 30, 2012
The NEX-FS700 (US$8000; $8600 with 18-200mm zoom lens) is an E-mount Large-Single-Sensor camcorder with the back end, user interface, and lens mount of the NEX-FS100, but with an entirely new camera section sandwiched between 'em. The FS700 still takes E-Mount lenses (and other lenses via adapters) and still records AVCHD clips to SDHC cards, Memory Sticks, and an optional 11-hour Flash Memory Unit, but those clips now come from a camera with ND filters, slow-motion options to 960fps, and up to 14 stops of dynamic range with highlight-friendly cine gamma rendering.
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Various interesting sights seen at Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles.
By Adam Wilt | June 23, 2012
Cinoflex power-distro baseplate for the Canon C300, plus accessories. Yes, you can bulk up a C300 to the size of a CineAlta HDCAM!
I attended Cine Gear Expo on the Paramount lot in L.A. earlier this month. When I wasn't busy discussing the FS700, I had a chance to walk around and look at a few of the unusual things on offer...
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Using a mirrorless camera, long lens, and a variable ND for solar event photography.
By Adam Wilt | June 07, 2012
Using a mirrorless still camera (or DSLR with Live View capability) or a video camera in combination with a long lens and heavy neutral density filtration, it's easy to view and photograph solar phenomena like the recent transit of Venus.
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Showing off what the FS700 can do, at Cine Gear Expo 2012 in LA.
By Adam Wilt | June 05, 2012
Sony asked Art Adams and me to talk about our experiences with and impressions of the NEX-FS700 camera at Cine Gear Expo in LA this past weekend. Here's my half of our combined presentation.
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A few cool things I saw at the show that didn't fit into any other articles.
By Adam Wilt | May 08, 2012
I got this fisheye lens, y'see, and by gosh and by golly I'm a-gonna use it.
NAB is too big a show in too short a time to see more than a fraction of it. I've covered a few things in some depth (as have other PVC folks), but there's plenty more that slips by without proper coverage. Here, I have a few photos of interesting things that I saw in passing, with pointers for more info should anything catch your fancy.
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RED's Ted Schilowitz discusses 2012's products, and a photo gallery.
By Adam Wilt | May 07, 2012
RED's "Leader of the Rebellion" Ted Schilowitz held a press conference at NAB on Monday, describing the projects and products RED is working on. Rather than paraphrase him, I've got him on card (well, it's not "on tape" and it's not "on film"; what are we supposed to say these days?) so he can tell you himself. I also have a collection of images shot around the RED booth, for your viewing pleasure.
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A few of the interesting bits 'n' bobs that make cameras usable.
By Adam Wilt | May 05, 2012
At NAB I found support vendors at the affordable end of the spectrum I hadn't seen before, comfy Aaton-style handgrips, F65 tweaks by Carlos Acosta, and a "drive-by demo" of a handy zoom/focusing lever.
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Quadcopters, hexacopters, and octocopters, oh my!
By Adam Wilt | May 04, 2012
It's true: the black helicopters are coming after you.
In the first two days of NAB, I saw five different folks walking through the halls carrying multi-rotor camera copters. In previous years? None. UAVs of all sort were all over the show; here are pix of a few of them.
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2012 marks the return to the rack, only without the tape decks...
By Adam Wilt | May 04, 2012
AJA Ki Pro Quad 4K-capable recorder hooked to a Canon C500.
In the past few years the industry has been moving away from rack-mounted tape decks in favor of small, on-camera or near-camera, portable recorders using CF cards, SSDs, and hard disks. At NAB 2012, we saw a partial reversal of that trend: the recorders are moving back into the racks.
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Two new viewfinders to compete with Zacuto and Cineroid, plus a bizarre prototype from Band Pro.
By Adam Wilt | May 04, 2012
Kinotehnik's LCDVFe showing a semitransparent mask.
Just when you thought you need only decide between Zacuto and Cineroid for add-on EVFs, NAB gave us two new choices. Also, Band Pro showed their own high-end EVF, and it's a weird one.
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A brief sampling of interesting photographic tools at NAB.
By Adam Wilt | May 02, 2012
JVC's 4K tinycam is actively cooled via grilles in front and back.
I've already covered the basics of what Sony and Panasonic announced, as well as looking at Canon's C500 and the BMD Cine Camera, but JVC also had interesting camera announcements worth looking at. And of course that's not all there was to see...
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Canon's Larry Thorpe on the C300's quad-HD sensor and "super green" sampling
By Adam Wilt | May 01, 2012
Canon held a press dinner Monday night at NAB, where Larry Thorpe held forth on the Canon C300's use of a quad-HD sensor (2x HD resolution in both H and V dimensions) and how Canon's "super green" sampling boosts MTF and suppresses aliasing in the camera's 1080p images.
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BMD Cinema Camera specs; video preso from Dan May; unwarranted speculation and wild conjecture.
By Adam Wilt | April 27, 2012
The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera was the surprise of the show. In this second report on the BMDCC, I gather together facts (such as they are at this early stage of the game), informed commentary, crazed guesswork, and pointers to more info. [updated 2012-04-29: CinemaDNG data rate corrected; 2012-05-07: better video embedding.]
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And is EF the new PL? More on the BMD Cine Camera.
By Adam Wilt | April 17, 2012
A few pictures of the $3000 BMD Cine Cam and some infonuggets. [update: added EOSHD's sensor size comparison.]
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Blackmagic Design announces a cine camera for $3000!
By Adam Wilt | April 16, 2012
I'm just passing on a rather astonishing announcement from Blackmagic Design. I'll try to get a look at this puppy later today, but now, I simply bring you the words of BMD's Grant Petty, received in an email...
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More details on the Canon 1D C and C500 digital cine cameras.
By Adam Wilt | April 16, 2012
Canon held a meeting in the Brenden Theater at the Palms, showing off two 4K short films (one shot by Shane Hurlbut with the 1D C, the other by Jeff Cronenweth, using the C500) and turning Larry Thorpe loose with a wealth of technical details.
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What the two big camera companies taked about officially.
By Adam Wilt | April 16, 2012
One of many GH2s being used to record the Panasonic press conference.
When big companies hold press conferences, they're a mix of marketing / sales encomiums from happy customers, and some actual useful information about technologies and products. I'll mostly focus on the tech stuff that Panasonic and Sony announced today (and adding my own snarky commentary in [square brackets]).
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More Super Slow Motion studio tests with Sony's new LSS camcorder.
By Adam Wilt | April 13, 2012
Setting up for ice drops and water pours.
The day after my fun with matches, Art Adams came by. We played with fire a bit more, then turned to water and ice.
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DBA Createasphere