CAMERAS: Food Fights with the FS700

When Adam Wilt and I shot “Fire and Ice” together on a prototype FS700 we had no idea that it would be shown at NAB… and that it would be hit. We wanted to do more, so we pitched Sony a commercial concept for a local company that involved high speed “veggie baseball.” Guess what: they sent us an FS700 again. Edible baseball never looked so good.

How the Blackmagic Cinema Camera will indirectly take sales from AJA, Matrox, and MOTU

What are you talking about Allan? AJA, Matrox, and MOTU don’t manufacturer or sell cameras! How will the Blackmagic Cinema Camera take sales from AJA, Matrox, and MOTU? The reason is related to the DaVinci Resolve grading software that Blackmagic is including with the camera at no extra cost. Even though Apple bundled Color (which was an updated version of Final Touch) with Final Cut Pro 7, very few people I know actually used it, and it is effectively dead since Final Cut Pro 7 is no longer available for sale, and Apple doesn’t supply Color with Final Cut Pro X. Things will be different with Blackmagic’s inclusion of DaVinci Resolve with the camera, because almost all users (i.e. anybody who shoots in RAW mode) will need to grade their footage. Given DaVinci Resolve’s excellent historical reputation and the fact that purchasers of the camera will get a free license, many of them will likely want to invest in learning to grade with it, rather than spending cash on some other grading application. In this article, I’ll explore why this situation will mean less sales for AJA, Matrox, and MOTU.

AbelCine updates its free Field Of View Comparator for Blackmagic Cinema Camera

We applaud AbelCine for updating its unique interactive Field of View Comparator to include the recently announced Blackmagic Cinema Camera. This camera’s sensor size joins many other sizes and even some specific camera models from manufacturers and brands like Arri, Canon, Panasonic, Panavision, Phantom, RED, and Sony. Of course, the AbelCine Comparator continues to include standard HD sensors including 2/3“, 1/2”, 1/3“, and 1/4” used by several manufacturers. Just select one sensor size or camera model on the left side, another on the right, and select the lens’s native focal length in the middle, and voilà… Ahead in this article, you’ll see some examples which compare the field of view of a Super35mm sensor, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera sensor, a 1/2” HD sensor, and a 1/3” sensor.

NAB 2012: Assorted Snapshots

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.

Sony quietly announces the NX30 camcorder, a little sister to the NX70

Although during the past year I’ve written quite a bit about the Sony NX70 (officially, the HXR-NX70) here in ProVideo Coalition magazine, I haven’t yet published my review on it because I only received the NX70 loaner unit yesterday. While I prepare the review of the NX70 in the next couple of weeks, I feel compelled to let you know that at NAB 2012, Sony quietly announced the NX30 (HXR-NX30), a little sister (i.e. smaller and lower cost) to the NX70 which apparently shares the same sensor and almost identical specs on its lens. From my perspective, the NX30 is clearly focused by Sony to overtake the market space currently occupied by the Canon XA10 and the Panasonic AG-HMC40 (price/size/progressive/electric zoom/balanced audio inputs), about which I’ve already written a few times. In this first look at the NX30, I’ll highlight the NX30’s unique characteristics, make some initial observations & comparisons, and include some videos about it.

NAB 2012: RED

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.

NAB 2012: Camera Support

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.

NAB 2012: Recorders

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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