Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera

Last year we launched the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and although we had sensor supply issues, the cameras are flowing faster all the time and the people receiving them are doing some stunning work. It’s really amazing watching the work people have done appear on various web sites!

Of course, the big aim of this camera was to get a true film look. We worked hard on the design to do this and the images are stunning! However another one of our design goals was to make a cinema camera that was an extremely small size. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is very small and much smaller than a normal cinema style camera.

What we wanted to do next was see if we could make a cinema camera even smaller!

We have done this, and the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is incredibly tiny. It’s a true digital film camera with a Super 16 size 1080HD sensor with 13 stops of dynamic range. The images look virtually identical to our current camera!

It features a Micro Four Thirds™ lens mount so you can use low cost lenses, but also Super 16 cine lenses via an adapter. If you use a Super 16 cine lens, combined with the Super 16 sensor size and the 13 stops of dynamic range, it’s just like shooting to Super 16 film! Of course you can rig it up with large lenses so it’s perfect for large jobs too!

We have worked incredibly hard to build the smallest camera design we could, while retaining the ability to comfortably use it hand held. It’s an attractive design with built in stereo mic’s, LANC, micro HDMI with overlays for monitoring, solid grip handle that holds a removable battery and built in recorder to SD cards. It records lossless CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes 422 (HQ), so the image quality is amazing.

I feel that the small design lets this camera be used for all kinds of tasks a normal camera would be too large to handle. My feeling is a small camera can always be bigger, but a big camera can never be smaller. I think its going to be very exciting to see what kind of work is done with this camera. For myself, it’s nice to have a camera I can use personally for shooting my family, which gives a timeless film look.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera will be shipping in July for $995.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

Sony’s new PMW-400 shoulder-mount camcorder is the latest addition to its widely used XDCAM HD422 line-up. Ideal for live production or ENG, the new camcorder uses a 2/3-inch Exmor™ Full HD 3CMOS sensor to capture beautiful images with high sensitivity¹ and low noise.

Sony’s PMW-400 XDCAM HD 4:2:2 camcorder

“We designed the PMW-400 to acquire high quality, clean images especially in low-light environments,” said Cyndi Lee, XDCAM marketing manager, Sony Electronics. “It’s ergonomically-balanced, easy to operate and includes features that make it fit seamlessly into various types of productions and workflows. This new camcorder opens the door to a range of new creative possibilities and flexible shooting.”

Higher Picture Quality with HD422 Codec

Capable of MPEG HD422 50Mbps recording, the PMW-400 is unique among the field of 2/3-type camcorders with its noise reduction capabilities and diverse selection of formats. Its 3 Dimensional Noise Reducer (3DNR) technology accurately detects and processes images to reduce noise, achieving a Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio of 60dB — outstanding among 2/3-type camcorders.

The camcorder supports MPEG2 HD422@50Mbps, HD420@35Mbps/25Mbps, MPEG IMX@50Mbps, and DVCAM. The PMW-400 camcorder will also offer future XAVC support for HD.²

Improved Viewfinder

The camcorder’s supplied viewfinder features improved panel resolution of quarter HD 960(H) x 540(V) compared to previous models with resolutions of VGA 640(H) x 480(V). The new viewfinder significantly  improves contrast and viewing angles.

Flash Band Compensation via Internal Processing

The PMW-400 camcorder incorporates a valuable new feature – an internal Flash Band Reducer³that employs a special algorithm to detect and process flash banding inside the camcorder before recording begins. This provides greater flexibility in reducing flash banding across different shooting environments.

Operational Flexibility

The PMW-400 camcorder includes two SDI connections that enable, for example, the director and camera operator to simultaneously check content on two different monitors.

An optional CBK-CE01 50-pin interface lets the PMW-400 connect to two camera adapters for multi-camera operation. By connecting to the CA-FB70 optical fiber and CA-TX70 digital triax camera adapters, the PMW-400 can be used as a studio camera in live productions and also transmit signals over long distances while maintaining high picture quality.

R&D Prototype: Wireless Adapter for 3G/4G/LTE and Wi-Fi Connections

For easy transmission over a network and efficient on-site Wi-Fi operation, a wireless adapter is under development.  The adapter will be directly connectable to the PMW-400 to enable proxy files that can be transmitted via 3G/4G/LTE/Wi-Fi to accelerate the ENG workflow. Using Wi-Fi transmission, the adapter is compatible with mobile applications installed on devices such as tablet PCs and smartphones.

Future enhancements planned for the PMW-400 include file browsing management, proxy file preview, stream viewing of camera signals, proxy and high-resolution file transfer, metadata input and remote camera control.

The PMW-400 camcorder will be available in August 2013.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

Sony keep me up for 1 hour on a Sunday evening to tell me about an F65 that I am not interested in, a cloud system that I am not interested in and a whole load of padding that was boring to say the least to announce ONE new camcorder the PMW-400 and that was so quick I did not get a chance to screen grab it.

They tell us about Oblivion with some interesting shots from the DP to have a blank screen due to copyright…what was the point of this Sony.

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Sony Comments re Patent Suit Filed Against Red Digital Cinema

On April 5, 2013, Sony Corporation (“Sony”) sued Red Digital Cinema (“Red”) for infringing 7 of Sony’s patents in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Sony believes that the Red ONE, EPIC and SCARLET cameras, various digital still and motion camera modules, and various accessories such as the REDMOTE infringe our patents. Sony is seeking both money damages and an injunction to stop the continued sale of Red’s infringing products. Sony makes significant investments into the research & development of technology related to the cinema camera industry and intends to protect those investments against companies that infringe our patents.

HDW : Maybe RED should have left well alone, you don’t fight giants unless your name is David !

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The microP2 cards are available in two capacities the AJ-P2M032A, 32GB and AJ-P2M064A, 64GB. As the name suggests, we’ve miniaturized each component while maintaining all the reliability of the classic P2 card to create the microP2 in a standard SD form factor. We didn’t stop there, by using the latest SD UHS II interface technology, we’ve also drastically increased the read speed to 2GBps. it’s just as user friendly and electronically robust as the P2 cards, just smaller, faster and at a lower cost.

Physically, the microP2 card can hold its own with the use of Panasonic’s Proof5 technology.  The microP2 card is static electricity proof, shock proof (over 200% stronger then SD spec), magnet proof, X-Ray proof and temperature proof (-250C to +850C)

In a world with an ever growing need for speed, flexibility and in-field content management the SD format opens up opportunities to handle content on new devices. With a 2GB transfer rate, you can rip your contents a lot quicker and speed up your workflow significantly.

Content security is of increasing concern to many professionals. The Panasonic microP2 system offers a content protection system (CPS) effectively locking the content with a password, insuring it’s safely. Only P2 equipment with the same password could read the content from that card.  Users benefit from the knowledge that even if their card is lost others can not view their content.
By using a simple adaptor (AJ-P2AD1), you can use Micro P2 with your existing AVC-Intra cameras and benefit from the speed, size and cost benefits.

Key features / benefits
1.    Lower cost
2.    High reliability benefiting from Panasonics proof5 technology
3.    High speed transfer (up to 2Gbps) for faster ingest of content
4.    Content protection system, securing the microP2 cards content

 * The microP2 card and microP2 card adaptor will not support all P2 products. To use the microP2 card adaptor, a firmware upgrade of current P2 hardware is required and a fee maybe charged

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

Andrew Gibney “Myself and four friends are going to walk from Sheffield to Lille. The aim of the walk is to try and raise money for the MS society. The reason behind this decision was inspired by my father-in-law; he was recently diagnosed with MS and after only a few years he struggles with his mobility and coming to face with this first-hand really makes it hit home how difficult this can be for families affected by the disease.

This is the plan. Myself, Scott Johnston, Lewis Skinner, Chris Mayer and Nick Crookes will attempt to walk from Sheffield to Hull, then hop on the ferry to Zeebruge, arrive in Belgium and walk down to France, arriving six days later at Lille’s new Grand Stade Lille Metropole. We plan to leave Sheffield on Friday the 5th of April and arrive in Lille on Thursday the 11th, barring any delays or emergencies.

As we are walking to watch a football game we have decided to use football grounds as points of reference. We will visit Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Rotherham United, Scunthorpe United, Doncaster Rovers, Hull City, Club Brugge, Cercle Brugge, SV Roeslare, KV Kortrijk, Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz, and Lille LOSC. The journey works out at around 127 miles, averaging around 20 miles a day.

Something like this can happen to anyone, and why not try to do something amazing for a great cause when you still have the ability to do so.”

Myself and Scott this morning outside Sheffield United’s football ground, just before heading back up to Glasgow.

Scott is covering the trip with a Sony CX550 (MC50) without the XLR unit. This camera is perfect for documenting such long trips, it has an internal 64GB of memory giving him 6 hours of full HD recording time. He also has 2 FV100 batteries giving him about 12 hours battery time, this allows Scott to forget a battery charger as space is premium.

Scott is documenting the 127 mile walk for his blog www.thefootyblog.net and a video I am producing for the Scottish government about type one diabetes. Scott has had type one diabetes since he was 6 and this is the first trip of this kind   so Scott is keeping a record to allow other younger people with diabetes benefit from his experience. Needless to say I am very proud of Scott and hope he pulls this off with little to no impact on his diabetes.

Please feel free to donate to this very worthy cause here is Scott’s JustGiving page..

http://www.justgiving.com/Scott-Johnston0

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

The XA-25 and XA-20 join the XA compact camcorder range, alongside the XA-10 camera, to increase the proposition of affordable, compact and professional specification video cameras. The XA-25/XA-20 is designed to offer the customer an affordable solution for a video camera that is suitable for broadcast standard Electronic News Gathering (ENG) and also for other applications where the camera’s small size, high image quality, large optical zoom and commonly used CODEC are desirable. Other individuals who use the camera will benefit from high quality imaging and customizable manual control; this will be of particular interest for those who do not need or cannot afford XF models.

XA-25 - Power to Tell Stories Limited Distribution (SDA)

The XA25 camcorder combines outstanding image quality with dual-format recording and HD-SDI output in a compact form factor, making it ideal for professional broadcast and web-based content capture

• 26.8mm, f/1.8-2.8 wide-angle lens with 20x zoom, Dynamic OIS, Hi-UD glass and Canon EMD technology
• 1/2.84” HD CMOS Pro sensor for outstanding dynamic range and low light performance
• 8.77cm (3.5”), 1.23m dot OLED touchscreen panel provides improved contrast and colour reproduction
• Shoot simultaneously in AVCHD and MP4 to 2x SD cards¹
• Connect to a wider broadcast environment via HD-SDI
• 0.61cm (0.24”) 1.56m dot EVF with 45^° tilt operation
• Fast/slow motion MP4 recording
• Built-in IR lamp for night shoots
• Professional audio control, 2x XLR inputs
• Built-in Wi-Fi for file transfer/remote operation; optional GPS [630/650]

¹ Simultaneous MP4 recording not available in 1080/50P recording modes

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FOR-A Corporation of America will showcase its FT-ONE 4K super slow motion camera at the upcoming NAB Convention. This marks the NAB debut of the FT-ONE, which was first introduced last spring at Cine Gear Expo. FOR-A will exhibit in booth C5116 at the show, from April 8-11 in Las Vegas.

“FOR-A strives to stay ahead of the curve,” said Hiro Tanoue, FOR-A Corporation of America’s president. “We’re proud to have been the first to introduce technology that offers the ability to record super slow motion images at full 4K resolution, and look forward to showcasing the FT-ONE to the NAB Show’s broad audience for the first time.”

The FT-ONE can record up to 900 frames per second (fps). Employing FOR-A’s high-sensitivity CMOS color sensor, “FT1-CMOS,” the self-contained unit records and plays back full 4K (4096 x 2160 pixels). One output channel can provide QFHD (four 1080p 3G-SDI) outputs, while the other output channel provides down-converted HD-SDI for live viewing and playback. The FT-ONE captures images as uncompressed raw data on the system’s internal memory, which has a recording capacity of 9.4 seconds. This data is then stored on one of two hot-swappable SSD cartridges, each of which is capable of storing 84 seconds of full 4K resolution images at 900 fps.

Since its introduction, the FT-ONE has received attention as a full 4K super slow motion camera. The camera has received multiple awards, including the TV Technology Europe STAR Award at the 2012 IBC Show and TVBEurope’s Best of IBC 2012 Award. The FT-ONE was used during the football championship game this year in New Orleans, as well as playoff game coverage, where its high-quality 4K imagery was on hand to capture controversial calls for slow-motion playback. The camera has also been used in other professional sporting events, including broadcast of rugby games, automobile racing and this past season of Red Bull Crashed Ice, a series of ice cross downhill competitions. The FT-ONE works for both broadcast and digital cinematography applications.

For all your video production needs in Scotland, get in touch with Small Video Company Ltd

NOW AVAILABLE  DSM 84Wh and 65Wh Direct Fit Replacement BPU-60 Batteries 

Fully compatible with Sony®   PMW-100, 150, 160, 200, EX1, EX1R, EX3, F3, F3K, F3L Cameras

Specifications

Both Batteries are assembled in the UK with Panasonic cells

Both have an IC controlled Battery Safety Circuit, protecting the battery from

Short Circuit, Over Charge, Under Charge, Temperature, Short Circuit,

also Resettable and Overall Fuses.
DSM-U84 Fits directly to the camera ( Without a Cable)
Minutes remaining displays in viewfinder
Capacity: 84Wh 14.8V/5.8Ah
Typical camera run-time: over 4 hours
4 LED Fuel gauge
Dimensions: Depth 78mm – Width 42mm – Height 69mm
Weight: 412g approx

DSM-U65

Fits directly to the camera ( Without a Cable)
Minutes remaining displays in viewfinderCapacity: 65Wh 14.8V/4.5Ah
Typical camera run-time: over 3 hours
4 LED Fuel gauge
Dimensions: Depth 78mm – Width 42mm – Height 69mm
Weight: 388g approx.

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A camera of firsts. It’s the first to feature native AVC-Ultra and built-in microP2 card slots, plus 10-bit 100Mb/s 1080p recording. AVC-LongG is standard and AVC-Intra200 is optional.

Features:

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