Mike Curtis

Mike Curtis writes and runs HD for Indies, a consultancy and website dedicated to using affordable digital technology for independent filmmaking. Mike started HD for Indies after a 15 year digital media career making content for everything from cell phones to cinema screens for clients such as Ford, Dell, Compaq, etc.. As a consultant, he focuses on production and post production hardware, software, and workflows to achieve maximum results at a variety of budget levels.

Red (finally) takes the wraps off new camera - Scarlet-X
Canon’s new EOS C300 digital cinema line - competition for Red or Sony?
Single Chip Camera Evaluation screening tomorrow morning at CineGear
Come see my footage from F3 S-log & Leica Summilux-C lenses TONIGHT at CineGear
Mike finally gets to play with an Epic-M and HDRx
Mike’s NAB 2011 Day One Part One
Coming to NAB? Come see results of our 12 camera test Tuesday night
Yo, Creative Pros—Apple Doesn’t Love You Any More. Here’s why.
Did Apple actually lame out on the new Mac Pros?
New Quad Cores: iMac or Mac Pro?
Apple Releases New iMacs - good enough for video editing?
Apple Announces New 12 core Macs….for $5000
I went and saw nitrate prints and Soderbergh on the same evening…
Arri Alexa - look out Red!
Mike’s iPad rant-good device, bogus marketing
The Return of Blogwad
Aperture 3.01 update released, update on my iPhoto ‘09 migration
Another good article on color correction from Stu
On iPhoto to Aperture 3 migration difficulties and new hard drives
Great new blog to read - PostWorld
Giz Explains: Why ISO Is the New Megapixel
Aperture 3 announced - time to upgrade from iPhoto ‘09?
WOW! Here’s why to go cheap/fast/light!
iPad Follow-up Thoughts - thoughts on v2 hardware and v1.5 software
Apple’s iPad - All the Details, What It Means For Us
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Complete Archives
Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Aperture 3.01 update released, update on my iPhoto ‘09 migration

New Aperture addresses many known issues, doesn’t fix my colossal mistake

Two things:

1.) Apple today released Aperture 3.0.1, addressing many of the issues I raised with version 3.0

2.) I’ve been busy on my iPhoto ‘09 to Aperture 3.0 upgrade saga, but did something incredibly dumb, losing me hundreds of hours of effort.

Details on both after the jump.

more »
(5) Comments • Most recent comments by: Mike Curtis, Ben Richardson, Mike Curtis, Mike Curtis, Ben Richardson, Permalink


Sunday, February 21, 2010

Another good article on color correction from Stu

Memory colors. Read it.

Stu posts up another great article on color correction, and it boils down to making certain things look the way they are EXPECTED to look, rather than what they DO look like.

ProLost - Memory Colors: “The truth is, skin tones are just one of a small handful of what I call “memory colors.” Memory colors are colors that are, in the minds of your audience, inseparable from certain common objects or events. For example, the sky is so associated with blue that you might feel that you see those two words together as often as you see them individually. The same goes for green and grass.

The most basic idea of color correcting is that you are making colors correct, which is to say that you are making objects on the screen appear to be the colors that we know them to be.

The funny thing about this seemingly simple task is that it can be quite difficult. And it’s difficult for exactly the reason that it’s important.”

(0) Comments • • Permalink


Sunday, February 21, 2010

On iPhoto to Aperture 3 migration difficulties and new hard drives

migration bumps in the road, and new drives are “wicked fast”

Just a few quick notes as a follow up to the article I wrote last week entitled Aperture 3 announced - time to upgrade from iPhoto ‘09?:
1.) migration not so easy
2.) damn, modern hard drives are fast

Explained after the break.

more »
(4) Comments • Most recent comments by: Mike Curtis, Adam Wilt, Mike Curtis, Mike Curtis, Permalink


Monday, February 15, 2010

Great new blog to read - PostWorld

Mike Most’s blog on post and cameras worth reading

Postworld - post production in the file based age

Another great blog to read. Mike Most and I have politely quibbled on CML for years,  I come at things from a more DIY/small shop/indie perspective, Mr. Most from a more established (read: professionally paid) perspective. I have tremendous respect for the man.

He has a new blog that I really like, his experience and expertise are worth paying attention to.

He doesn’t post as often as I’d like, but when he does, it is worth reading. Some good posts of late:

Another Red Day - Postworld
iPad – Give it Time - Postworld
2010: Fearless Forecast - Postworld
Scarlet Rays - Postworld

(0) Comments • • Permalink



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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Giz Explains: Why ISO Is the New Megapixel

Light sensitivity is more important than megapixels. Really.

Giz Explains: Why ISO Is the New Megapixel - Digital Cameras - Gizmodo

BOOM.

And THAT is why I’d rather have a 12MP Nikon D3S than a 24MP most anything else - because the D3S has a sufficient but not overly large # of pixels spread across a BIG HONKIN sensor.

This is why I was vexed to see Red spec out Scarlet at 5K for S35 sized sensor - I’d MUCH rather have 3K Bayer (to generate a sharp 1080p) with more dynamic range, better low light performance, and less rolling shutter (aka image skew when panning) than a 5K similar sensor.

EDIT - see Graeme’s response in the comments - it is more subtle than just these issues. Rolling shutter is read/reset, not total pixel count. More pixels may make it more difficult to reduce the read/reset time (I am GUESSING), but higher resolution doesn’t HAVE to mean lower read/reset. My bad. Higher resolution also offers the benefit of reduced aliasing, and cleaner signal/noise once scale back down to target size.

I’d been meaning to write an article about this, but like most things, if you wait a bit, somebody will write a better one than you were going to.

I am, apparently, quite the lazy writer.

My backup on this? Arri went with 3K for their next gen digital camera - dynamic range and better high ISO performance beats “high resolution” any day. EDIT - again, see the comments.

-mike

The human eye sees contrast and color before it sees detail. That’s why I’d rather have better dynamic range and high ISO performance (with low noise, please) rather than a massive megapixel count on my cameras, be they still or motion. EDIT - results vary - see comments again.

(3) Comments • Most recent comments by: Sebastian, Graeme Nattress, Brett802, Permalink


Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Aperture 3 announced - time to upgrade from iPhoto ‘09?

With a 75,000 image iPhoto library, is it time to migrate to the new Aperture 3?

This one’s a two-parter - first, Apple unveiled and made available Aperture 3 today, with a TON of new features. Secondly, for those of you who might be in a similar position to me with a bursting iPhoto library of 75,000 images, is it time to Move It On Up To The East Side with Aperture 3? I go over some of the questions and concerns I have about moving 10 years worth of personal pictures and videos from its safe but slow home in iPhoto over to the more professional Aperture 3.

more »

Software • (7) Comments • Most recent comments by: Nick WB, Mike Curtis, Mike Curtis, Mike Curtis, Nick WB, Mike Curtis, Nick WB, Permalink


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