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James Butler

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JVC-4K

JVC GY-HMQ10, 144Mbs ! 4K !

JVC Professional Europe Ltd. today announced the GY-HMQ10, the world’s first handheld 4K camcorder, which captures, records and plays video images at four times the resolution of high definition television. Powered by JVC’s Falconbrid large-scale integration (LSI) chip for high-speed signal processing and a 1/2-inch CMOS imager with 8.3 million active pixels, it delivers real-time 3840×2160 footage at 24p and 50p.

“We’re witnessing the birth of what is destined to become a broad market for full 4K end-to-end production,” said product manager, Gustav Emrich. “The GY-HMQ10 is a breakthrough product that opens up 4K imaging to users who previously wouldn’t have considered it.”

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scarlet_modular

Cinema 5D Review The RED Scarlet

With the innate ability to capture 5K REDCODE RAW stills and 4K motion, resolution sustains itself as a dominant gene in the RED family. Scarlet-X functions as a flexible device, utilizing HDRx and interchangeable lens mounts to provide you with options in a world that’s always changing. 5K burst modes snap up to 12 fps with 4K reaching up to 30 fps—helping you capture every perfect moment. All of the finest qualities of cinema and photography have now aligned, letting you take advantage of the best of both worlds with Scarlet-X.

 

Part 1/2 Touch it, feel it, a quick look at the exterior of a basic Scarlet-X shooting package.

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LeftSide

Fix Unwanted lens flare with Flex Lens Shade

Just found this, looks like a great solution for travel photographers and videographers working on a budget.

I will pick up one as a alternative for carrying a massive matte-box around with me, I will let you know what I think.

You can find the Flex Lens Shade at B&H 

 

The Flex Lens Shade

The Flex Lens Shade is a flexible lens shade that can be easily attached to any lens to block unwanted light from the lens. This large (7 x 11″/17.78 x 27.94 cm) lens shade attaches to a lens or lens hood using the included touch-tab strap, and can be bent into whatever shape you need to prevent lens flare–the shade keeps the shape you bend it into. It will also block rain from your lens (the lens shade is made from waterproof ballistic nylon with double-stitch sewing and finished edges). The Flex Lens Shade weighs just 1.2 oz (34 g) and lies flat for easy storage and transport.

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Nikon D4

Nikon’s D4 Outed Officially

Nikon’s D4 has been confirmed. It looks very impressive on the spec sheet.

Looks like it will be packed with some great Video features ! I just hope someone at Nikon has thought about audio.

 

Here are the specs:
- Nikon D4 will have substantially lighter body
- Available in February
- Suggested retail price: $6,000
- The ISO range is listed again as 100 to 102,400, expandable to 50 to 204,800.
- 91,000-pixel RGB metering sensor
- Face detection/recognition
- 100% viewfinder coverage (obviously)
- Illuminated function buttons
- Dedicated video button
- Includes H.264 B frame compression
- Contrast detect AF in movie recording
- Low-pass filter for video recording
- Smooth aperture feature for video recording
- Nikon D4 is not produced in Thailand

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Magic SLR announce new HyperPrime lens

Magic SLR have just announced a super-wide aperture lens for leica M mount.The lens is a true 50mm F0.95, the same specs as the infamous Leica Noctilux. The lens has also been developed for use with the new large sensor digital film cameras, such as the RED EPIC and ARRI ALEXA. With the RED Scarlet on the way and RED developing there new “Ti Interchangeable Mounts” with a M mount version in the works this will make for one great CINE lens.

• The lens is bigger than the initial prototype and it’s a true 50mm focal length. The f/0.95 is also a true aperture and not a theoretical f value

• Some changes were done in order to use the lens on RED Epic and ARRI Alexa cameras

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Magic Lantern releases new Firmware for Canon DSLR

Magic Lantern have just launched a new firmware for the Canon DLSR cameras. Aimed at filmmakers who use cameras such as the Canon 5D and 500D the new firmware vastly improves the camera handling of video and audio. The new firmware lets users monitor audio levels on-screen, adjust gain manually  with no AGC, use zebra stripes for exposure control and  use custom cropmarks for 16:9, 2.35:1, 4:3 and any other format.

This update also included some cool features such as HDR Video, you will get two streams at half frame rate. For example, if you record 25p, you will get two 12.5fps streams. Interpolate them to 25fps and use your favorite HDR software to blend the frames. Magic lantern is not a hack it runs side by side with Canons own firmware, booting from the card.

The Firmware is currently available for: Canon 5D Mark II, 500D, 550D, 600D, 50D and 60D

Unfortunately they have not been able to port the firmware onto the Canon 7D, but they are working on it.

Click here to go to their website.

Introduction to Magic Lantern

 

Example of HDR video with Magic Lantern

 

 

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Canon C300

Cheres been a lot of hype recently about the new Canon C300, but there also the question, How does it stack up against the Sony F3 ? And it might have 50Mbs internal recording, but no 10bit uncompressed output or 4:4:4 pulldown. The one big selling point is the EF lens mount letting us use all the great Canon glass on the camera with full control over the iris. The C300 is also available with a PL mount.

Following up on Canons announcement, RED announced their new camera, the RED Scarlet that boasts a 4K sensor and a choice of EF or PL lens mounts which are interchangeable. Can’t wait to see how the two compare.

One of the great things with the C300 is its low light capabilities, the camera can be pushed to 20 000 ISO. Noise is apparent at 20 000ISO but has more of an organic grain look instead horrible digital noise. The camera also has impressive dynamic range with canons new C-LOG Profile.

Here is a video made by Philip Bloom testing out the Canon C300 and giving his first impressions.

 

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