Marty Stalker is an Belfast based documentary shooter, who worked on a production in Palestine a while ago. Read what he thinks about it and why you shouldn't shoot during Ramadan!

Hello Marty! Thanks for the time to talk about your latest project!

Marty: no problem

First of all Congrats to the really nice TV spot for Palestine, but let's talk about your primary work first. You're a filmmaker from Belfast, right?

Marty: I'm originally from Liverpool, UK but moved to Belfast 5 years ago with my wife and started a family. Run an Independent production company in Belfast

Which camera and acessories do you mainly use for your work?

Marty: Full frame DSLRs- 5D Mark II for the last 3 years, Shoot35, Zacuto and Switronix accessories (Basically companies that make products that last in the field). Zeiss Compact Prime Lenses too.

You recently shot a documentary and an advertisment for "the new Palestine" (see the video below this article). Please tell us what your task was on those films!

Marty: I was contracted by a PR company from Washington DC to help promote Palestine in a more postive nature through a doc, 2 TV commercials and a radio commercial in conjunction with their bid for statehood. I'm a self shooting director who specialises in the Middle East

How was the process for creating the story for the advertisment?

Marty: The concept for the 'What Makes A Country' advert actually came to me in my hotel room half way through the production whilst listening to music. I wasn't really happy with my progress so far and the production was proving diffcult as it was smack bang in the middle of Ramadan so most people were fasting and sleeping as much during the day. However the PR company approved of the second concept and we shot it over three days. The main emphasis of that advert was to show the old Palestine moving into the new Palestine- technology enhancements, cultural and tourist attractions etc

Which problems did you have during the shoot?

Marty: Technical: harsh, bright conditions during the early parts of the day so we decided to film the majority of the scenes towards the end of the day when lighting conditions were usuable. Directing: language barriers beween arab crew members, extras and actors can be very frustrating. I should really learn the language

Beside the bright conditions, how well did the 5D work? Would you have prefered another camera afterwards, for example a C300, F3, Scarlet or similar?

Marty: I think its important to respect the limitations of DSLRs - they have served me well over the last few years. It was in Jerusalem that I experienced my first issues with moire and anti-aliaising after climbing to the top of a building - the camera did not like the tiled roof tops one bit and the wide shot had to be binned. Each camera that has come out recently has its pros and cons - I find it very difficult to choose a body at the moment because I don't specialise in one field - I suppose I'm just waiting for the cameras to be thoroughly tested in the field before I make a big decision. The image from the 5D still blows me away each time and my clients so far have been extremely happy with the results. I't's great seeing the commercials on TV and a good friend of mine has always said "why change if it works". If it wasn't for DSLRs I wouldn't have got half the shots in my documentaries over the last few years

The quote is cool! Is there anything you have learned during the shoot, which you'd do different afterwards?

Marty: Don't shoot during Ramadan Bring more filters even if you think you have enough!

Thanks Marty for your time and the answers!

Visit his website at scatteredimages.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @ScatteredImages!

His Advertisment: What Makes A Country?

Schiebel's CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS integrated with CINEFLEX® is the ultimate gyro-stabilized solution for aerial cinematography. The CINEFLEX® is a multi-axis coordinated gimbal control system that provides layered isolation, steering, and fine correctional movements to stabilize a wide selection of precision optics to a sub-pixel level. The S-100 navigates via pre-programmed GPS waypoints or is operated with a pilot control unit. Missions are planned and controlled via a simple point-and-click graphical user interface. The pair of these two high advanced systems gives us the ability to capture fully stabilized high quality images with ease.

You can like Brainfarm on Facebook: facebook.com/brainfarmcinema and find more info here: brainfarmcinema.com and snaprollmedia.com

Wally Pfister, who is the cinematographer of Inception talks about his work, the tools for a film and why he stills likes (analog) film. My favorite quote of this interview is "You get less interested in Stedicams, Cranes and all this stuff and you really have to make it about what's appropriate for the story".

Several years ago Leica was economically depressed. The analog cameras weren't selling as good as the years before. Then they introduced the Leica M9, and later the M9-P and joined the digital world. The company got tremendously popular again and long waiting lists existed for that camera.

On May 10th 2012 Leica made several new product announcements in Berlin (Germany). The actually interesting thing happened during an interview afterwards. Several UK-based journalists, including one of the BJP (British Journal of Photography) talked with Leica's head of supervisory board Dr. Andreas Kaufmann and asked whether the new camera might include high-definition video recording features. He responded and said "theoretically, yes".

Furthermore he added several issues "the data rate, the heat, and the battery lifecycle, but I think we solved that. No comment until we show it on existing and new models. [...] HD video is interesting, and a lot of photographers would love to have it [in an M body]."

It is expected that Leica will introduce the next model of its M-series, called M10, during this year's Photokina in Cologne (Germany). They have taken the complete (!!!) Hall 1 of the exhibition, so I think this rumor won't be proven wrong.

With these news Leica not only continues the battle in the photography business again, but might also join the video world opening up the possibilities for photographers to capture HD video footage (as Canon did before as well). We'll see in September during Photokina whether any of this is actually true...

Photograph by Leica/ Source of quotes: BJP

Hello Enrique, thanks for your time!
Let's talk first about your career. How did you came into filmmaking?

Enrique: I come from the photography world, I studied photography in Madrid when I was just 19, I knew very soon that creating images was my goal, and didn`t doubt on putting all my time and effort to become a professional. But soon I started to feel very much attracted by film documentaries, since I was mostly doing documentary photography. So I went to study documentary direction in a private school, and very soon I shot my first doc, which was related to my second interest in life, environment and conservationism.

A while ago I saw your documentary "Vatn", which deals with the environment and especially water in Iceland. Why did you choose water as your topic of a documentary?

Enrique: The water is the most important element of nature, is source of life, and sometimes we forget that, assuming that is gave to us as a endless resource. Iceland is a great example to illustrate what is happening all over the world, with a pristine environment that is being threatened by huge corporations that just think about make their business more profitable. They don`t care about nature, sustainability, or the future of the people that live in these countries. They go where they can buy the cheapest resource they need for their business. In the case of Iceland, is water, cause this country has the biggest resource of clean water of Europe, and corporations need this to create cheap electricity to feed their aluminum factories. Cheap water means cheap energy, and they need lots of it. They even bring the raw aluminum all the way from Australia to melt it in Iceland just because the price of the energy they can get here.

Wow, that's really amazing! Which equipment did you use to shoot this film?

Enrique: I used Canon DSLR cameras, mostly 5D MarkII for the time-lapses and a 600D for the slow motion shots. For some of the clips I used a DIY motorized slider and that´s all. What I learned in the last years is that the more simple is your equipment the better, even more if you have to shoot in the raw Icelandic landscape, where the light change every minute and sometimes you have to walk hours to get to the best spot. What you want is a light, easy and small equipment that you can set up in seconds to don`t miss the shot. I also went crazy about buying the latest equipment, now I just want what I can fit in my backpack and set up in a couple of minutes.

From the 5th to 11th July this year, you'll host a Timelapse workshop with Dustin Farrell in Iceland. How did you come up with this idea?

Enrique: I`ve been conducting workshops in Iceland since 2009, when I moved there to live. I spent almost 3 years in Iceland, traveling and discovering every corner of the country. I got so much knowledge on that landscape and culture, that became easy to me to guide other people around,  showing them the best spots to shoot and the hidden places, and sharing my experience on filmmaking and time-lapse at the same time. I do up to 5 of this workshops every year, and I like to share at least one of them with a renamed filmmaker. I`ve been in contact with Dustin since he released his first time-lapse video, I was impressed by his technique and amazing skills, and I thought it would be awesome to travel with him around Iceland. He loved the idea of coming and rapidly we arranged a date for the workshop.

Are there still places left for this upcoming workshop?

Enrique: Yes, we strictly limited the participation to 14 people, and we are happy to see that is filling up quickly, but there are still a few spots available.

Click here to get more information!

You're not only a great filmmaker, but you also created an app for Timelapse photographers, which I already covered on this blog. What do you plan for the future?

Enrique: I think now more than ever we have to be multitasking, the times of being just cameraman are over, we have to know about many other disciplines, as internet, writing, editing, publishing and selling. I understood this quite early, that´s cause I created a DSLR forum for the Spanish community "hdslr.es", started working on apps, writing in several publications, etc. But I still believe on more traditional ways of reaching the public, as film festivals, where my films are still being selected. Right now I`m working on a documentary that will involve both social and nature topics, taking place in Iceland as well. For this project we decided to go on Kickstarter, since it´s a bigger project and we need more budget, we strongly believe in the crowdfunding and we are sure that this experience will be a succeed.

All the best for your Kickstarter project and thanks for your time!

Enrique: No problem! My pleasure!

I bet you know some camera models in this nice animation!

animation
antonio vicentini // boobiesareawesome.tv

illustration
billy brown // robobilly.com

music
ben hantoot // benhantoot.com

In the meantime there are dozens of social networks available on the internet. Every single one has a different principle. Some are successful, some not.

When I first discovered Path through @appinator, I really liked its concept and design. It was simple, usable and competitive to the existing networks. Kinda like the better version of Facebook. Even though of its super features, not many friends joined it. It was (and still is) iPhone and Android only and has no real web interface, which is a handicap for many.

Nevertheless, I found a super awesome usage for it: FOOTSTEPSAPP

What is this thing?

FootstepsApp is a service, which I built within a few days with the use of an (unofficial) Path API. It loads your complete Path and packs it into a nice HTML page.

How does it look like?

You can view two example on the website of Marc Leyendecker (who also helped me during the beta phase) and on my Path page.

Why should I use it?

Marc and I use it as a simple way to document certain events, shoots, gigs, etc. in order to present them on our websites.

What are the features?

FootstepsApp can display Photos, Text messages, Check-Ins and audio posts. Once you registered, you'll be given a short code, which you embed into your website and your done! The complete content also gets cached, to reduce the loading speed.

Interested?

Simply go to http://footstepsapp.freytag-film.com/ click Register and enter your login details. That's all you have to do!

Please contact @FreytagFilm or send me an email if you have any questions!

Wonder what Path is?

Have a look:

The National Association of Broadcasters today released preliminary figures for the 2012 NAB Show, the world's largest electronic media event covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all mediums.

NAB reported an uptick in exhibitor participation and an almost 10 percent increase in size. The event comprised 1,600 exhibitors spanning 815,000 net square feet of exhibit space, up from 1,550 exhibitors occupying 745,000 net square feet in 2011.

TOTAL REGISTERED ATTENDEES: 92,112

INTERNATIONAL ATTENDEES: 24,928

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED: 151

NEWS MEDIA ATTENDEES: 1,652

The 2011 NAB Show final attendance was 91,932.

International and news media attendance figures are included in the overall registration number. All numbers are based on pre-show and onsite registration and subject to an ongoing audit.

If you are someone who does timelapse with DSLR and has to do calculations to determine the appropriate interval or duration of your event, then this application will certainly interest you. It's called time-lapse Toolkit and it is now available for both iPhone, iPad and Android.

The creator Enrique Pacheco is a filmmaker and timelapse photographer himself and this is really noticable in the app. It has a simple and working structure, which has all the necessary features for a photographer. With a scroll wheel, which reminds me to the iPod or Canon wheel, you can navigate through the app with just one hand. I personally like the idea of the app and will use it for my next timelapse shoots!

Within the app you can...

• ...use a calculator for all the values you need to know when doing a time-lapse (interval, duration, shots, length)
• ...use the iPhone as a flashlight for working at night (Red or White).
• ...keep track of the rising and setting times of the Sun and Moon, to plan the shooting.
• ...read tips about shooting timelapses.

Download

iPhone: itunes.apple.com/timelapse-toolkit/... ($2.99)
Android: play.google.com/store/apps/... ($2.99)

Video

I recently had the chance to talk with John Brawley, who is an award-winning cinematographer. He tested the new Black Magic Design Camera during the development process, but he is not employed by them.

Hello John, thanks for your time! Could you tell us a little bit how you got your hands on the new camera?

John: I've known the BMD guys since they started. But they were post. And I was interested in their progress especially when they acquired Davinci. I was asking them to make a cheaper ArriRAW recorder for the Alexa. They invited me to a presentation and showed me a camera instead!!

They wanted to get my feedback on how the pictures looked and also on the interface. They didn't have any internal experience with production environments and wanted my feedback on the camera and its pictures. I guess I was "trusted" having known them for a long time. They wanted to surprise everyone. I had to put a special disguise on the camera when I went out in public with it.

Was that camera already similar to the final product?

John: The same in mechanics except they added the hd-SDI. Also the software hadn't been done

How was your inital experience with camera and is it still the same after working a while with it?

John: It was very impressive from the first time I used it. It's gotten better, literally week by week as they improved things. The main thing that just made me happy was to see so much DR and resolution from such a low cost camera. I've shot a fair bit with 5ds and the like. they have a great look, but they are inherently soft and lack DR. They are soft beside of their line skipping approach which also introduces other errors. This camera was sharp and with lots of resolution from the start. AND plenty of DR after that. The ergonomics were a challenge at first and I'm sure it won't be for everyone. But at its heart it's very simple and can be easily built up.

Many people complain that the chip is smaller than the S35 chip in most new cameras, which results in a big crop factor. What do you think about this?

John: Well S35 would have been nice but they tell me they are very expensive sensors. BMD were chasing the best they could for DR and low cost. This sensor was a good choice for this. The so called crop factor shouldn't really be an issue for for most unless you want ultra wide angle Or are chasing ultra low dof.  You can still put very fast primes on an get most of the way there.

You already talked about the RAW image a bit. How did you experienced working with these files in terms of editing, storing and grading?

John: My jaw dropped when I mounted the first ssd drive from the camera. Each frame is a single file that opens in photoshop. I already had experience shooting RAW for stills and with RED and was aware of the advantages. I was working on a laptop and transcoding through resolve to FCP. I think people will need to think about their workflows. RAW is great but it demands a lot more in storage, and also hardware to make the most of it. If you choose to shoot RAW then you need to allow for that workflow. Which is why they introduced ProRes and DnX for those that need to shoot to edit. But even then, you can choose a 709 flavor or a log flavour

I really like the opportunity to choose the codec and log! Compared to RED cameras, what do you think of the Dynamic Range of the BMDCC?

John: You'll really struggle to "break" the image in the grade. It's a revelation. I could say really because they are still working on the sensor calibration and that affects noise which affects DR but id say it's getting close to an Alexa. I think even BMD were surprised at how much DR they are getting.

The camera seems only to have an internal battery. Was that a minus for you or is it generally recommended to use an external power source like with professional cameras?

John: Loom I would have preferred a replaceable battery. But that would have added a lot to the cost. The body is made from a single piece of aluminium. But I'm used to running cameras from an external battery. Alexa an RED work in this way. When you plug in an external battery it also recharges the internal battery. So you can think of this as a camera that has external batteries plus an emergency internal battery.

Do you think the BMD camera is a real competitor to the 5D or C300?

John: To be honest the only advantage I see for a 5dmk3 or a c300 is for very low light work. The c300 probably has better skew performance too. But it's a lot more expensive. You can get a Blackmagic for a fraction of the cost of a c300. You can then spend more money on lenses, or even other accessories.

Will you use one of those on your own projects as well?

John: I've already been using the camera in my own work. It's complimented the Alexa's I've been using on a TV series I'm doing now very nicely. And that's the way to think of this camera. It compliments cameras like RED and Alexa.

Whom do you recommend to buy one of these?

John: Anyone who's thinking of a 5dmk3 or and upgrade from a 5d/7d then you should really look at this camera. Awesome pictures and bang for your buck. Plus don't forget you get the best color correction software made on the market included ! That's pretty amazing value. Sure it's not a perfect camera but you can't deny it's appeal for the price.

The BMD will appeal to pros like myself, but probably more so to low budget filmmakers who are frustrated by compressed and soft line skipped dslr footage.

What do you think of the new camera in general?

John: I think it's amazing what BMD have done considering this is their first attempt at making a camera. This is only the beginning. 

Thanks a lot for your time, John!

If you have any more questions about the camera, feel free to post them in the comments and we'll try to find an answer!

All the major product releases are sufficiently covered by several news websites like DSLR News Shooter, planet5d, Wideopencamera, etc. (I collect the best articles on the NAB 2012 sub-page!). But I also found several nice products, which I personally like best.

SmallHD HDMI clamp

SmallHD is currently handing out several "beta-products" of the new HDMI clamp. This little product prevents the HDMI plug in the camera from breaking. In comparison to the LockPort clamp (Review here), the SmallHD product needs no baseplate. It easily gets attached to the metal-pin, which normally attaches the shoulder strap. Unfortunately this product will only be available for the Canon 5D cameras at first. They are awaiting the feedback from the beta-users and will start the batch production then. The price is estimated to be as low as $49.

Bebob Rigs

You probably already know the extremely powerful Bebob batteries. They are now entering a new market and release a series of rigs. Those are specifically designed for the Canon EOS and EOS C series, but might also be used in combination with Sony NEX cameras. To me those rigs looked promising, because they are extremely lightweight and have lots of mounting options. More information will be released soon and shipping should start in 2 months.

Livestream broadcaster

The livestream broadcaster is just a tiny little red box, which has an HDMI input. It allows you to stream any content from your camera or live program provided by a Tricaster, DataVideo, BlackMagic or more. The ultimate advantage with this box is the fact that you can operate without any PC. This gives you much more flexibility. The broadcaster can either be used with Ethernet or a mobile 3G USB stick. The price of $495 is also very reasonable.

Another cool thing is "New Livestream". This update to the previous livestream service provides you with the possibility to post photos or text messages from the iPhone and iPad app. This makes it a great device for live perfomances, which also want to provide additional content. This is not a big new product for DSLR or S35 shooters, but it'll be great for livecasts, news, or various other uses.

SmallHD DP7

Yes, there was another product from SmallHD, which I really liked today. It is a new 7" OLED monitor with an unbelievable picture. It is quite hard to describe, but despite it is only a 720p it looks fantastic! It is also supposed to be this good, because it costs twice as much as a DP6 ($2,699).

More NAB 2012 News articles are on the NAB sub page! freytag-film.com/nab/

Beside the presentation of the Canon EOS C500, Canon also released the details of the new EOS-1D C.

Equipped with an 18.1-megapixel full-frame 24mm x 36mm Canon CMOS sensor, the camera records 8-bit 4:2:2 Motion JPEG 4K video to the camera's CF memory card at 24 frames-per-second (fps) or Full HD 1920 x 1080 video at selectable frame rates from 24p to 60p. 

4K video is captured by an approximately APS-H-sized portion of the full image sensor (which means a crop factor of 1.3x), while Full HD video can be captured either using the complete full-frame sensor or using the area equivalent to the Super 35 sensor crop (factor 1.7x). This is especially usefull, when using the camera along with a C300 (or 7D, etc...) for multi-camera shooting.

“The EOS-1D C is a fantastic addition to the Cinema EOS System,” said Kieran Magee, Marketing Director, Professional Imaging, Canon Europe. 

The built-in headphone jack enables real-time audio monitoring, a feature which we know from the new Canon 5D mark III. A great improvement as well is the ability to view the camera's LCD even when the HDMI port is connected to an external monitor!

Realizing the same exceptional still-image performance as the recently introduced Canon EOS-1D X digital SLR camera, the camera provides a sensitivity range of ISO 100-51200 for outstanding still-image results with reduced noise.

Using the high-performance Canon Dual DIGIC 5+ image processors, the EOS-1D C delivers high-precision AF and AE performance while also enabling high-speed continuous shooting of up to approximately 12 fps. In the ultra-fast continuous shooting mode, the EOS-1D C provides a continuous shooting speed of up to approximately 14 fps (mirror remains raised during shooting; JPEG images only).

The Canon EOS-1D C digital SLR camera is scheduled to be available within 2012 at a suggested retail price of $15,000.

Please have a look at the new Canon EOS C500 article as well!

My opinion:

The Canon 1D C seems to have everything we need right now. It has 4K recording, a decent audio recording, options for great Full-HD recording at different frame rates and the same awesome high ISO capabilities the 1D-X has. That sound like a great cam, but $15,000 is quite a lot and until know it is only said that is has 24fps 4K recording, which makes it unsuable for the European market. At the moment we don't know whether that fact is right or wrong.

But so far the 1D c looks like "professional" DSLR, it has the same form factor like the 1D series with an even better image quality. It might be a solution for those who prefer the small size but need the higher quality.

What do you think of this new camera? Please leave a comment!!

Pictures owned by Canon/ Text extracts from Canon press release

Just a few days before NAB, Canon released the anticipated new 4K camera. It is called C500, which means it is the big brother to the C300, which was released November 2011.

The camera can record full 4K (4096 x 2160-pixel) resolution digital motion imagery with uncompressed RAW output for external recording.

More features are:

• Both EF and PL mount versions will be available
• The cameras offer the additional versatility of being able to output quad full-HD (3840 x 2160), 2K (2048 x 1080), full HD (1920 x 1080), and other imaging options.
• The cameras employ a 12-bit RGB 4:4:4 signal format during 2K output, which can be selected to operate from one to 60 frames-per-second (fps) as well.
• If switched to a 10-bit YCrCb 4:2:2 mode, the camera can operate up to 120 fps.
• The Cinema EOS C500 simultaneously records in-camera a 50 Mbps HD proxy video to a CF card that is immediately available to support offline editing.
• uses a Super 35mm-equivalent approximately 8.85-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Provides all of the same ergonomic features, like with the C300, except for the rotating hand grip.

Engadget is reporting that the C500 will ship in the end of 2012.

Canon will display a prototype of the Cinema EOS C500/C500 PL digital cinematography camera at the 2012 NAB Show in booth C4325 at the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 16 to 19.

Please have a look at the new Canon EOS 1D C article as well!

Pictures owned by Canon/ Text extracts from Canon press release

The guys from Kessler Crane are going to release a few more really handy products for your sliders.

The first one is Low Profile Ball Head, which is basically a ultra-low profile ball head system with 62 degrees of total adjustability. The next one is a Multi-Angle Mounting Plate, which allows a 45 or 90 degrees rotated mounting. The third product is a Multi-Angle Cheese Plate. It can be easily attached to the Mounting Plate. The new Kwik Release System is a one hand mounting system.

Last but not least Kessler is going to launch the ION Battery System. It will be the most powerful and longest lasting battery on the market for the weight. Made of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) it gives you 4 times the life of other conventional battery systems.

A detailed list is available on the Kessler website: kessleru.com/nab-countdown...

You can also check out this relly great video, which features all the new products:

In less than 3 days I'll board my plane to Las Vegas. It's my first NAB visit and I expect several really great days! I hope to meet as many of my Twitter friends as possible to learn the people behind the avatars in real life! Beside all the product releases, gear demonstrations, talks and more this was probably the most important reason for me to go there.

There will also be some other cool things coming up in Vegas! Some are for example:...

NAB Live Stream

In collaboration with The Pulse Network the NAB Show is hosting an official live stream, which features 30 minutes talks. On Tuesday, April 17th at 11:30am (Las Vegas time) I'll be live as guest on their show, which is really exciting for me!

Video series

For a long time I have an idea for a nice video series. In that series I plan to show the life/ work of several people, organisations etc., who did either something new or outstanding in the media business. During NAB I'll shoot the first video with two really great guys: Dan Chung and Matthew Allard. Both agreed to talk about a really great topic.

I plan to carry on this series whenever I come across somebody, who might fit into it. 

Article collection

If there is a groundbreaking new product at NAB, I'll probably also blog about it here. Otherwise I'll focus and the Networking part and only collect my favorite article in the special NAB 2012 section of this website. 
Check it out now!

Show floor rules

This is pretty funny topic several people blogged about [1], [2]. Benjamin took it a new level and proclaimed the three "Twitter rules for NAB":

Twitter rules for NAB: 1. Spend more time tweeting than talking with the people you are finally meeting in real life.

— Benjamin Eckstein (@BenjEckstein) April 10, 2012

Twitter rules for NAB: 2. Post enough pics and tweets to make all the people who couldn't go to NAB really jealous.

— Benjamin Eckstein (@BenjEckstein) April 10, 2012

Twitter Rule for NAB #3 (via @jordy_wax): Tweet pictures of things to make people think you're going to buy them.

— Benjamin Eckstein (@BenjEckstein) April 10, 2012

In this sense: Have fun at NAB and hopefully we'll meet each other!

Give me a shout on Twitter @FreytagFilm, email me or call me (DM me for #).

This is the second page of the blog post "dynamic range test between Alexa, RED MX and Super 16". Click here to see the first page!

Video

Click here to see the first page of this blog article!

Cinematographer John Brawley made a test video of the dynamic range between Alexa, RED MX and Super 16 cameras. All three cameras are used on high-end productions.

On Vimeo he wrote that all lenses were cooke S4's. The blalancing grade was done in Lustre from grey card for each setup.

Alexa was shot in LOG mode, recorded to PRO RES 4:4:4.
RED MX processed via R3D's natively in Lustre.
Super 16 was transferred to 2K DPX via Spirit. First setup was KODAK 250D and subsequent setups were KODAK 500T. NO noise reduction was used (though this would normally be applied)

John kindly allowed me to publish some screenshots on this blog. Thanks a lot for this permission! Make sure to check out his outstanding work on Vimeo!

I divided the screenshot in two pages. The first one contains one outdoor and one indoor scene from his video. On the second page there are a few more low light situations and his full video. More over you can click on all of the Images to see a larger resolution. Click here to view page 2.

Part I - Outdoor and Indoor

Click here to view page 2

I bet you also lost some screws or forgot to remove your camera plate from a rental camera!?!? Sachtler now launches an online shop for spare parts! You can now buy screws, plates, pan bars, handles, knobs and all the other smaller parts of your tripod!

The now online shop is available for Germany, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. This is complete your equipment with missing parts.

store.sachtler.de German Shop
store.sachtler.co.uk UK Shop
store.sachtler.eu European Shop

The guys from Stillmotion launched a really cool app called SMAPP. They say:

SMAPP is a tool for filmmakers created by a team of artists that are filmmakers, photographers, designers, and educators. it features tutorials, filmmaking tools, reviews, and more.
Every Tuesday we'll feature a weekly update on SMAPP right on the stillmotionblog.com. check back this coming Tuesday for an overview of all of the features you can expect to find in SMAPP when it launches this April

Please take a minute to fill out this poll! Thank you!

You might also visit j.mp/GG9Mev for a better view on mobile devices!

See Mattias Klum's speech about his meeting with a LION. Actually he told it in a humoristic way  

Kinotehnik, the producer of photo and video accessories from Europe, is launching the universal Electronic Viewfinder LCDVFE at NAB Show in Las Vegas. You may already know the LCDVF, which is a great viewfinder for the camera display of most DSLRs.

The Electronic Viewfinder, turns the camera into a professional, convenient filming gear. 

„After the success with our non-electronic viewfinder LCDVF, we identified a clear market demand to develop a reliable electronic system in addition to it, closely following the same principles that have proven to be crucial to the film-makers community: unparalleled design and usability, excellent feature set, durability and last but not least -- justified pricing“, said Tõnis Liivamägi, who is the CEO and founder of Kinotehnik.

With an ultra powerful chip inside, the new device has latency-free image processing. More features are:

• a super-crisp 3-inch display with 800x480 resolution
• focus and exposure assist features
• 1:1 pixel zoom feature with positional recall
• HDMI loop through
• high-end optics including diopter correction

The price is set to be as low as $980 (excl. tax) and it will be on sale immidiately after NAB.

Image by Kinotehnik

With the 2012 NAB Show app you can stay organized and cut back on the amount of paper you need to carry! The features include an exchange of contact information, interactive floor plans, instant alerts with schedules, updated, news, videos and more!

It also allows you to search and save Exhibitors into a favorite list!

If you connect the app to your myNABshow account, you can also sync your favorite booths with online version. After you logged into the online portal, you can download and print your individual NAB floor plan!

Mitch Jacobson, a Director, Editor and Author wrote

This is my new favorite app! I have been using it to schedule and coordinate my Post|Production World keynote presentation, workshops and show research for a series of webcasts for the Motion Picture Editors Guild website and magazine. I will be able to cover a lot of ground in a short period thanks to you guys. Your app rocks and I am sure it will prove to be a lifesaver at the NAB Show!

Download

Download the NAB app for the iPhone and iPad from the AppStore: j.mp/nab-app
Download it for your Android device from Google Play: j.mp/nab-app-android

Quote source: NAB website/ Images: iPad screenshots

A while ago I built an iPhone and iPad app called OMM! - the Open Media Magazine. It contained a couple of very great articles by talented filmmakers. Unfortunately the magazine was only available for iPhone and iPad users at that time. Now everyone can read in a web version! You won't have the ability to read it offline or to swipe between the articles, but it is still worth a look!

Here is the link to the first episode: freytag-film.com/omm.episodes/1

Bolex International has leveled the digital cinema playing field with the announcement of the Bolex D16, the first digital camera from the 200 year-old Swiss company whose 16mm and 8mm cameras dominated the international consumer marketplace from the 40’s to the 70’s.

The D16 is an interchangeable-lens digital cinema camera that features a Kodak CCD sensor and produces images with a frame size equivalent to Super 16mm. The D16 remarkably captures the look and feel of film at a price that finally makes digital cinema available to filmmakers on any budget. The D16 shoots RAW image sequences at true 2K (2048x1152), without the rolling shutter or line scan effects found with CMOS sensors. The camera’s large pixel size contributes to better light reception without any need to artificially boost the signal.

How to order one?

The makers are financing their new camera through a Kickstarter campaign. If you donate at least $2,500, you'll get one of the first cameras with a serial number between 1-100!

Their Trailer:

This is how a final Still looks like (from the film One Small Step):

All the Specs:

Did you also sometimes worried about the GoPro housings? Jim L Clark from Portland has the solution for you: HEADCASEpro and and HEADGEAR. Both are completely redesigned housing for the Hero1 and Hero2.

The HEADCASEpro is an ultra lightweight case machined from a single piece of billet aluminum with a rock-solid stainless steel door latch, rubber buttons & cable port inserts, front & rear windows, and removable screw-on protective lens rings with a rubber cap and filter threads.

He is creating those thing using a KickStarter project. For a pledge of $328 or more you'll get a HEADCASEpro unit. For $100 you'll also get a HEADGEAR.

It seems to be a quite nice thing to mount the GoPro in a much saver way!

   ;

GoPros are versatile

I think there is absolutely no situation, where you can't use a GoPro. The various mounting options offer a wide range of possibilities! For the exceptional cases there is still gaffer tape!

GoPros are lightweight

It doesn't matter, whether you pack your GoPro or not. You can carry them everywhere and when you need it, you have it right there!

GoPros are cheap

Around $300 isn't too much for a camera, which you can even use for professional films!

GoPros are usable for TV

As Tom Guilmette already described on his blog, you can use GoPros for (live) TV broadcasting as well as for normal videos. You can read his tutorial on tomguilmette.com/...

GoPros are fun

No BTS-shooter available? No problem: During our feature film we used my GoPro to record nice timelapse shots of our setups or the crew.

GoPros are great for docu and adventure

As already described GoPros aren't very expensive, so it won't kill you if you loose it, or it gets damaged. This allows you to mount it everywhere: To an airplane wing, on helmets, on racing cars, etc…

GoPros are usable for timelapse

You can use a GoPro not only in the video mode but it also has a simple picture interval mode, which shoots an image every couple of seconds (it's adjustable in the menu). This is quite usable for outdoor or rainy shoots!

GoPros are wide-angle

GoPros are great for interiour car shot. You have probably seen those shots in TV docus or similar. Due to their small size and the wide-angle lens it is possible to mount them to the windshield of a car and shoot e.g. the driver.

GoPros are waterprotected

A GoPro is probably the cheapest way to get stunning underwater footage! All other high-end underwater housings are quite expensive…

GoPros are … what you make of them!

I could continue this list but I'd say that a camera is just as good as its operator. You can shoot great films with a C300 ($16k) as well as with a GoPro ($300). Some may say that this is exaggerated. And it is. Of course the C300 shoots better images, but a GoPro is as valuable for certain situations!

In this sense: Go out and shoot!

My GoPro professionally taped to a glider!

In the last few weeks, several companies introduced some really cool apps for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and more.

The guys from Tapbots, who already made several great apps, just launched the iPad version of their famous Twitter app for iPhone called Tweetbot. Download from the App Store for $2.99.

This great app was introduced a few weeks ago and is now finally available from the App Store. It is a simple ToDo app, which they call Clear. It is innovative, because you can control the complete app with just one finger. They made a really good job! Download from the App Store for only $0.99 or watch a demo video on Vimeo. It is worth the money!!!

This is probably the most important release of the last few weeks: Apple OSX Mountain Lion. It will be available this summer and includes many great features from the iPad! Learn more on the Apple website.

Osfoora for Mac is the latest product and was launched this morning! It is finally a great Twitter client for the Mac! Osfoora runs solid, has Growl integration and all the necessary features. More over that, they integrated TweetMarker, which is a service to sync the last tweet you read between multiple apps/ devices. Download from the Mac App Store for only $4.99!