BURST CITY

Canon 1D Mk IV Launches, good lord!

burstcity — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:58:45 +0000

So, the specs have been announced as well as a video produced by internet DSLR superstars Vincent Laforet and Stu Maschwitz. All I can say is that this thing is pretty remarkable with what it can do in low light. I think I will choose Minblowing as my term of choice.

And the video can be found at :
http://vincentlaforet.smugmug.com/Laforet-Videos/Nocturne-Canon-1DMKIV-Video/10024122_sqhwE#686345820_EeDCa-X2-LB

New Features include:

New 45-point Area AF sensor including 39 cross-type AF points with f/2.8 support plus new AI Servo II AF with improved algorithm.

ISO 100 – 12800 (expandable to L: 50, H1: 25600, H2: 51200, H3: 102400) for shooting from bright to dim light with low noise levels.

EOS HD movie with manual exposure control and multiple frame rates (1080: 30p (29.97) / 24p (23.976) / 25p, 720: 60p (59.94) / 50p, 480: 60p (59.94) / 50p).

16.1 Megapixel APS-H CMOS sensor and Dual DIGIC 4 Image Processors for high image quality and speed.

10.0 fps continuous shooting up to 121 Large JPEGS or 28 RAW using a UDMA CF card.

3.0-inch ClearView II LCD monitor, 160° viewing angle, 920,000-dot VGA, reflection resistance with multi coating and high-transparency materials for bright and clear viewing.

Magnesium alloy body with shutter durability up to 300,000 cycles and exclusive dust- and weather-resistance.

Fully compatible with over 50 EF lenses and a wide range of EOS System accessories.

Cinevate Introduces a New Heavy Duty Linear Tracking System

burstcity — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:06:18 +0000

Like I said before, I love the new generation of upstart gear makers. One of my favorites is the Canadian company Cinevate who got their start building 35mm adapters but now are manufacturing everything from Dollies to Follow Focus Units and Matte Boxes. A while back they introduced their Linear Tracking System, Pegasus, and it was a thing of beauty. But now users of larger camera rigs have been pushing them to come up with a solution for them. Here it is, a teaser for the new Cinevate Atlas System. I want one!

more about "Cinevate Introduces a New Heavy Duty …", posted with vodpod

Animated Feature Created Entirely in After Effects

burstcity — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:44:08 +0000

This is cool in so may ways that I don’t know where to begin.

So, i’ll just let you watch the trailer for METROPIA;

Not bad for a “desktop” tool.

Sensor Sizes

burstcity — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:32:11 +0000

Stu over at www.prolost.com has posted a nice chart that covers the current sensor sizes for cinema cameras. This one omits the smaller ones (Micro 4/3, 2/3″, 16mm, etc) for the sake of 35mm comparison. As you can see the Red and the APS-C Sensor of the 7d are extremely close to Super 35mm. That is fantastic for anyone needing that big screen cinematic look. Which I assume is most everybody that has ever wanted to pick up a camera.

Red One, Canon 5D Mk II, and Panasonic Lumix GH1 Footage Comparison on Vimeo

burstcity — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:46:39 +0000

he guys at Birns and Sawyer have put together this short which intercuts footage from the Red One, 5D Mkii and Gh-1. All of them look pretty convincing to me. I just wish I had a purchasing budget.

more about “Red One, Canon 5D Mk II, and Panasoni…“, posted with vodpod

Keep ‘Em Coming

burstcity — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:02:24 +0000

In this day of Red Camera and the like it’s nice to know there are folks out there who understand that the camera is not solely responsible for quality imaging. The recent rise in DIY gearmakers for me is news just as important as the new Red. As it should be for anyone who has tried to shoot anything without proper supports, lighting, etc.
So, here is an item that i find every bit as drool inducing as the Scarlet;

This is the Gearnex geared head. Here is what the company that created it has to say about it.
“GearNexTM Geared head was designed to provide anyone access to expensive Hollywood geared heads at an affordable price. Our geared head is priced with the everday camera user in mind. Whether you may be shooting a motion picture, music video, short film, commercial, corporate video or even a wedding, the GearNexTM geared head was created for you.”

Considering getting your hands on a geared head from any other source will cost you in the neighborhood of $60k, this little beauty at $6k is a steal for small production houses. Now it is not intended as a replacement for good old fluid heads, but more as a nice addition to your bag of tricks.

RED OCTOBER

burstcity — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:57:29 +0000

In a posting this weekend Jim Jannard presented a few new renderings and set next month as his target for releasing final specs, pricing and delivery dates.
OH MY.

The Running Rig

burstcity — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:05:49 +0000

Just when you think the DIY gear scene has hit a wall on new ideas it comes up with something pretty awesome.
THE RUNNING RIG

From what I gather this thing lives in a kind of grey area between a handheld rig and a steadicam.
It offers better handheld stabilization for run and gun but it’s key feature is it’s ability to rotate the camera 270 degrees on the fly.

I do a lot of run and gun shooting so I am pretty keen to try one of these out.
The idea that I can walk past, or even beside, my subject while keeping the camera trained on them without having to awkwardly sidestep or trip over my own feet turning sounds like a godsend. I have been waiting a long time for something like this. I foresee great things in the future for the rig and its manufacturers.

If you go to the website(www.the-running-rig.com) you can see more of the rig in action. They have a photo gallery and several videos that include footage shot with the rig and how to use it. It seems a little complicated but not impossible to learn. A very promising note is that they have the rig outfitted with everything from a DSLR to a Red One. Seems all currently available cameras will do just fine on this piece of kit. Although, i for one am not so sure i would want a fully-rigged Red One resting on my arms and shoulder.

One question, how would one pull focus on that thing?

Spheron HDR Cinema Camera

burstcity — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:44:01 +0000

OH MY GOD. Now, i could never affor one of these but this is pretty amazing news.
Spheron, makers of high end HDR stills cameras have created a cine version of their HDR tech.
here are some specs:

- HDR video capture
- 20 f stops of dynamic range
- full HD resolution 1920 x1080
- Up to 30 frames per second
- fiber coupled storage unit
- It records 5 hours of uncompressed video data

Lord. 20 stops of latitude. You can pretty much throw your light meter away.
Here is a link to a deeper article from the guys at Fxguide:
http://www.fxguide.com/article556.html

Tangent “Wave” Surface Reviewed at Coloruser.net

burstcity — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:36:24 +0000

A fella by the name of AmazingGrades has reviewed Tangent Devices “Wave” low-cost color control surface here:
http://www.coloruser.net/forums/3/topics/157

The kit sounds nice but after reading the review I think i will keep my dollars in the bank until the Euphonix unit is released.