Monday, September 15, 2008

QuVis Wraptor to export your own DCI DCP (that’s theatrical digital file package)

$699 Compressor plug-in lets Final Cut Studio users export Digital Cinema Package

QuVis has announced a new product - QuVis Wraptor - a $699 Compressor plug-in for Final Cut Studio that allows independent content producers to create their own DCI DCP. That is a Digital Cinema Initiative’s Digital Cinema Package, which is the digital file format and wrapper used for digital projection, a standard that only came about in the last few years. Why is this such a big deal? Because I’ve heard encoding of even just TRAILERS was about $6K a pop, and features were about $20K. Now you can “roll your own” for about $700. So that’s BIG.

Read on for more about it…

(3) Comments • Most recent comments by: rdeaner, techguy on the silicon prairie, Miles, • Permalink

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Bloggage - I’ve got my own Nikon D90 on the way

I’ve ordered one of the Nikon D90 cameras for myself

Just a simple blog post - I’ve ordered one of the new Nikon D90 cameras for myself - I wanted a DSLR so I could learn more about RAW shooting, I also wanted a Nikon, so I could doodle with the Red One’s Nikon lens mount. BH Photovideo has the D90 with a VR 18-105 lens for $1295, I’d asked for B&H gift certificates for my birthday back in June, so I was able to use those to offset the cost. I got the camera with lens (the body alone is about $1000, but not available until October according to B&H’s site), a coupla 4GB cards, a remote trigger, an extra battery, the big battery pack that lets it do something extra I recall, and a monopod. It should, in theory, all get here Friday, so I’ll let you know how it all turns out. I’m really a post guy at heart, been learning more about what happens in front of the sensor the last few years. My iPhoto has about 20K+ images in it, so I figure it is time to step up to a DSLR and start learning more. Plus, the camera has a nifty 720p video mode which will be fun for doodling/documenting. DPreview mentioned a Nikon GP-1 GPS tagging gadget, BH didn’t list it, but that sounds like the kind of thing I’d definitely want to play with, and could lead to some fun web stuff to doodle with. All in time.

-mike

(3) Comments • Most recent comments by: billS, billS, billS, • Permalink

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Nikon D90 vs Red’s Scarlet - Specdown!

Does the Nikon D90 pose a threat to (the specs only of) Red’s Scarlet?

Nikon is about to ship the D90, a 12MP DSLR that shoots HD movies. Wait a minute, doesn’t that sound a lot like Red’s Scarlet?

If you aren’t familiar with the D90, check out my post on the neat little camera.

And more importantly, what will this trend mean for the industry at large?

Read on to see how the about-to-be-released Nikon D90 stacks up against the current specs for next year’s Red Scarlet.

(5) Comments • Most recent comments by: Evan T. Chen, BCurtis, jorgekarras, David Newman, billS, • Permalink

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Nikon D90 - nice DSLR that also shoots HD video

Nikon’s new stills camera shoots nice 720p movies

Nikon is about to ship their new DX format DSLR, the D90.

So why should you care?

Because it also shoots 720p movies.

Yep, that’s right - 1280x720, progressive frame, nice depth of field (roughly equivalent to Super35mm/Red One), 24 frame per second movies.

With sound.

How much? $1000 for the body, $1300 with an 18-105mm lens.

Read on for the deets.

(5) Comments • Most recent comments by: Jessel, Matt Jeppsen, Mike Curtis, billS, BenR, • Permalink

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

iSee4K - MUST HAVE iPhone/iPod Touch app for Red One users

Perfect little app calculates DoF, FoV, frame rates, storage, etc.

My buddy Paul Alvarado sent me a link to this one - it is a GREAT little app for iPhone/iPod Touch that is a MUST have for anybody working with a Red One camera that can have an iPhone/iPod Touch on set. It is called iSee4K, and it helps you figure out a bunch of the things you need to know both for the cinematography as well as data wrangling aspects of the Red One camera. If you ever saw my post on Red One Geekery: Real World Info on Redcode, you saw the handy charts that showed data rates, maximum frame rates, frame sizes, codecs, etc. It took several charts to contain all that info, there’s lots of variables, and it is too much to keep in your head. So Edward Watkins has turned all that and more into a handy little iPhone App. Read on for the most excellent deets.

(2) Comments • Most recent comments by: Adam Wilt, EdWatkins, • Permalink

Friday, August 29, 2008

HEY! Apple releases ProRes for Windows

Free ProRes Decoder for both Mac & Windows

Poking around looking for some information for a client on workflow, stumbled across this little bon mot - Apple has released a FREE ProRes codec for Mac & Windows - it is mentioned on this page towards the bottom, and there are links for the decoders included:

ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Windows
ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Mac

Analysis follows after the jump.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Red One Geekery: Real World Info on Redcode

Everything you wanted to know about shooting Redcode, but were afraid to ask - Part 1

Shortly after I got my Red One camera, I went out to go play with it. I wanted to do some baseline testing - from my many talks with Graeme Nattress, Red’s codec guru, I knew that Redcode was a variable bitrate codec. That means that the datarate can vary depending on the content of the scene. OK...so how MUCH can it vary? Quite a bit, I found out. Read on for this and other geekery…

(4) Comments • Most recent comments by: Mike Curtis, Jason Rodriguez, Mike Curtis, Jason Rodriguez, • Permalink

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Making Movies Now - bigger, sometimes better, definitely riskier

Why moviemaking is getting bigger, sometimes better, but definitely more dangerous

I opened the LA Times today and the front of the Calendar section was dominated by a picture of Brad Pitt sprawled on a couch with the headline Sparking Curiosity with the subhead “The trailer for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ is everything it should be” and talks about the buzz around the movie. The company where I’ve been working the last 3 months provided the cameras, recording system and workflow, same as was done for Zodiac (I mentioned this in Couple bits of awesomeness the other day).

A fun read about how great the trailer looks to be.

Reading the continuation on page E4, that dovetailed into a minor article entitiled “Indie biz needs more discipline” - which discusses the 99.9% chance of failure of a movie budgeted under $10M.

Hmm...what does this imply? Read on.

(3) Comments • Most recent comments by: Dylan Pank, Dylan Pank, Robogeek, • Permalink

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