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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Quick Links

Testing the Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Blake | The Martini Shot
You need to use the right camera for each job. And while the BMCC will work in a lot of situations, it wouldn't be ideal in others. I personally feel it's a great fit for medium to low budget commercial work and narrative indie films.  It'll also probably get a lot of work as a B Camera to Alexas on bigger shoots. Documentary or run and gun stuff? Not ideal. 


RED Epic versus Blackmagic Cinema Camera – Part 2 – Resolution and conclusion
| Andrew Reid | EOSHD
At 1080p, the Epic still has an advantage in fine detail and how clean the image is – if you think 5K doesn’t make a difference on the web think again! That amount of oversampling makes for a very sharp image relative to the 1080p workhorse cameras such as the Canon C300. BUT – the false colour streaks become a bit more noticeable.Raw on the Blackmagic looks cleaner at 1080p than native 1080p in ProRes on the camera. This is why I prefer to buy a few extra SSDs and shoot raw before converting it to ProRes in post.


Exploring Issues with Infinity Focus and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera
| Joe Marine | No Film School
Some conversations have been appearing recently talking about infinity focus issues with specific lenses and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. One of the biggest offenders so far has been the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens, which is one of the few faster wide options for the EF mount BMCC. Unfortunately, it seems that many people have replicated these issues, and a recent video posted online shows just how bad the situation can be.


Scoring Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome | Bear McCreary | YouTube
Tonally, “Blood & Chrome” departs from the heavy political and religious subtext of the previous two series and emphasizes action, adventure, sex and aerial dogfights. The visual palette of the film forgoes “BSG’s” gritty documentary approach in favor of a glossier, brighter and more dynamic look, fitting for the depiction of the military at its peak. Even at my first viewing of the film, I knew that my score had to take the audience on a ride, allowing them to get lost in the adventure.


Samyang 35 mm f/1.4 AS UMC | Robert Olech | LensTips.com
If Samyang is able to launch a 540$ lens which, when it comes to the image quality, is only slightly worse than the Canon 35L, which can compete on equal terms with the Nikkor 1.4/35G and leaves far behind the Sony 1.4/35G; if such a lens is able to correct the lateral chromatic aberration, coma and vignetting the best of all instruments in this group and it is not worse when it comes to the distortion and astigmatism correction, what else could be said here?


Shooting Angels with the Panasonic GH3 in Mexico | Joey Daoud
| Filmmaker Magazine
When the Panasonic GH3 was listed on B&H I did something I had never done before. I pre-ordered a camera, sight unseen. And after returning from a shoot from Juarez, Mexico with it, I don’t regret it one bit.A little more than a year ago I bought the GH2. For the longest time I refused to get on the DSLR bandwagon. I was quite satisfied with my Sony EX1 and its XLR inputs and ability to shoot hours on end. However, even a minimal kit was bulky.


RED Takes Civil Action Against Sony Over Camera Patents | Cinescopophilia
RED claim Sony’s alleged infringing sales of the F65, F55, and F5 cameras are likely to cause irreparable harm to RED, which can not be compensated by damages. Accordingly RED seeks a preliminarily and permanent injunction enjoining Sony Corporation of America and Sony Electronics Inc from making, using offering to sell, and selling the Sony F65, F55 and F5 cameras.



How to make money on violating copyrights! | Szymon Masiak | Motion VFX
One of my Twitter friends, Nate B. sent me a question: "Did Pixel Film Studios straight up resell your dust stock as their own "ProDust?" Ironic that they came out with it days after you guys did." I read the message twice, because I couldn't believe in what I was reading and then I got petrified. I nervously went to their website, watched the promo movie and my blood pressure measurements went through the ceiling.The process of creating such elements is characterised by remembering certain unique elements or moments (e.g. one speck of dust blown by the vacuum cleaner moving in a specific way).


Autodesk Releases 123D Creature, A Tool To Design, Paint, And Print Your Own 3D Monsters | John Biggs | Tech Crunch
As a fan of monsters and 3D printing, in that order, I was intrigued by Autodesk’s new iOS app, 123D Creature. Aimed at beginning 3D modelers, the app allows you to build cute (or scary) monsters right on your screen by pinching, grabbing, and rotating a lump of virtual clay hanging on a skeleton.


Mahout Behind the Scenes | Sony Professional USA | Vimeo
Behind the scenes of "Mahout", a short film produced by Sam Nicholson, ASC, and Stargate Studios and shot on the Sony F55.



The Whangarei Quarry Gardens (New Zealand) | Dennis Murphy | Vimeo
Shot with a Sony FS100. Lenses used: Sony 16mm F2.8, Nikon 50mm F1.4, Nikon 135mm F2.8, Tair 300mm F4.5.
I love how a camera lens can view the world in a completely different way as to how the human eye sees it… the different widths/fields of view, depths of field, the way an out of focus area of a shot can become more interesting than that which is in-focus. The never-ending challenge of juggling the different contributing factors to an image: the composition, point of focus, exposure, shutter-speed, frame rate, how the camera moves, how the light is hitting a subject… whether to isolate or draw attention to the subject in the context of its greater environment. 

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