Day TWO, Ricoh Arena, Coventry…Times are hard but in the video production world there seems to be a underlying current of work that keeps us all in business and the ability to buy new camcorders at least every two years. There was for the first time a growing number of DSLR products for sale and Canon were here showing off the XF305 and the new EOS 60D with swivel viewfinder…at last. The IOV (Institute of Videography) has an unfair image of being full of wedding videographers not that that’s a problem in itself it’s the pre conception by others in the industry that the show is for amateurs when the opposite is in fact the truth, the calibre of professional stands alone should dispel this myth.

The pictures from the XF305 were truly stunning, indeed I would say the quality matched high end camcorders from Sony and Panasonic costing twice the price.

Good to see a full turnout from Sony Professional and Bill Drummond, Marketing Manager on hand to talk about various Sony camcorders. I quizzed Bill about the new FilmLike camcorder but he was tight lipped and giving nothing away so we will have to wait till December for any news on that front.

Everyone without exception was taken with 3D at ProVideo 2010, Preston Media had a 65″ Panasonic 3D TV and a fancy pair of 3D glasses on a retractable stand for customers to view and all but none were taken with my 3D wedding footage. The camcorder that did it for me was the Panasonic AG-3DA1, Holdan were showing footage shot at Brighton Pier and it’s the first time true 3D footage has blown me away, the depth was like looking at Photoshop layers it was fantastic, until ProVideo 2010 I had not taken this camcorder seriously but if you want to shoot stunning 3D footage without all the Meccano and 45˚ mirrors etc. this is your tool …and you can use the zoom as well.

The ProVideo 2010 show had all the ingredients, seminars from Adobe, Holdan…exhibitors like Sony, Rycote, Canon, Hague, AKM music etc. and sales teams from H Preston Media, CVP and Planet Video the one missing ingredient was Panasonics AF101 camcorder, that would have doubled the gate in my opinion and in these hard times of deep recession Panasonic need to take a good hard look at themselves.

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

During ProVideo 2010 we got the news that Panasonic were launching the AG-AF101 FilmLike camcorder at Wild Screen in Bristol, which is a charity working globally to promote an appreciation of biodiversity and nature through the power of wildlife imagery. That said, 79 miles up in Coventry was the jewel in the crown of video shows ProVideo 2010 where a huge number of professional video producers and Panasonic dealers, H Preston Media, Creative Video and their main distributer Holdan Limited were all at the show hosted by the Institute of Videography.

No disrespect to Wild Screen but Panasonic must have had only two choices during October to launch the AF-101 at a big event in the UK and they chose a charity event over a major marketing coo, Pro Video 2010 which had all the correct people attending this decision does not make any sense.

We all know the camcorder is a production demo which is 75% working so there was no problem here and amazingly Panasonics General Manager of Broadcast AV Systems Europe, Mr Takashi Uchida attended ProVideo 2010 personally, a lovely, very polite man.

I was informed by a chap from Holdan that the SDI socket was 4:2:0 so I put my concerns to Mr Uchida, I told him that professionals would not be happy with the HD SDI outputing 4:2:0 and would prefer 4:2:2 as comes out of the HDMI socket, Mr Uchida took notes so I hope this can be added before we see production models in December, to be fair to Mr Uchida my Scottish accent may have confused the issue. I have since been informed that the SDI socket does indeed have 4:2:2 so that is good news for NanoFlash users.

I also told him that a lot of DPs were sitting on the sidelines waiting for the AF101 and to expect a large order from Preston Media and CVP, though a chap from Holdan told me that the first cameras were being individually checked before they leave the factory so European orders will be limited as first. Mr Uchida knew about HD Warrior which I was delighted to hear, we exchanged business cards and he went on his way.

I spoke to a Panasonic representative about the decision to launch the AF101 at Wild Screen and he told me that “The camcorder is only 75% ready and was not appropriate for public viewing”.  I don’t agree with this so called  “public viewing” no matter where you show the camera everyone is public and I would suggest more companies and DPs were attending ProVideo 2010 than attended Wild Screen.

My take on this is Panasonic were only to happy to show this camera off at IBC to all and sundry and made a very poor marketing decision to launch this camera at Wild Screen when ProVideo was on at the same time. Pro Video would have been boosted in attendance with the launch of the AF101 and more importantly the camera would have been seen by the correct audience. Preston’s alone had major interest during ProVideo 2010 and took pre orders for the AF101, I spoke to a lady at Holdan four weeks ago asking if the AF101 would be at the show and she told me that Panasonic had told her that “It was not available “.

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

When you are looking for video equipment who do you call…the boys at H Preston Media, John and the boys were at ProVideo 2010 day one wheeling and dealing from 9 till 5pm.

There were bargains to be had from dead cat microphone wind muffs to 500W “V” lock LED lights for £330. Canon are here with DSLRs, Canon glass and XF305 4:2:2 50Mbs camcorder which produces very punchy sexy pictures. Canon have agreed to send me a model for review and I look forward to looking over the camcorder soon.

3D was very apparent and a frenzy of IOV members were very excited by the 3D wedding footage I shot last weekend with the Panasonic SDT750. The SDT750 is selling for £1299 including vat. Most people are very surprised at the quality of the 3D footage viewed on a new Panasonic 65″ plasma 3D TV.

The SDT750 is a domestic product in fact it’s two cameras in one package with the conversion lens (CL) attached it’s a 3D camcorder and take off the CL and you have a very capable top end domestic HD camcorder that can produce the worlds first 1080 50p pictures which are stunning.

If you are wondering what’s the difference between the Pro and domestic models it’s almost down to the front ends, the AG 3DA1 can change it’s focal length ie. zoom and the SDT750 is set on a wide shot with it’s zoom disabled.

The ProVideo show was reasonably busy for a first day though there is a strange stand that has one person handing out brochures claiming “we ship worldwide” well in my opinion it’s a sad day when the best you can do is hand out brochures when people like Preston’s and CVP have sales teams selling to customers on the shop floor and giving that all important personal touch.

Good to see Sony Professional out in force and Holdan representing Panasonic, Hague camera supports were swamped with customers looking at everything from stabilizers to full blown professional Jibs.

Manfrotto were showing off their HD504 tripod reviewed by HD Warrior, “one of the best heads to come out of Manfrotto for years”. AKM music were busy with customers listening intently to the latest copyright free music and Hireacamera were new to me, they hire HDV, AVCHD and XDCAM EX camcorders for delivery nationwide and they deliver your camcorder the day before and day after your hire.

More about ProVideo 2010 tomorrow.

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

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

Is VDSLR really about to extinct? I think so.

As an answer on my last article VDSLR – R.I.P. Phillip Bloom wrote an interesting response:

I cannot disagree more and I am someone who will most likely buy the new Panny.
I have written a long blog about this called Future of DSLRs
There will always be a market. The price point won’t compare. He Canon most likely won’t be cheap either. There is room for both. I guarantee it.

Since Philip is THE GO TO guy when it comes down to VDSLRs – and there is probably no one out there, who knows more about shooting video on still cameras – I looked at my article again and at his commend, to see if I was on the wrong track.
I also checked Philip´s article “The future of video DSLRs” again.

Is VDSLR really about to extinct? I still think so.
Not for the mass market but for the filmmakers.

Philip, nobody preached the gospel of VDSLR more than you and god knows, I really love, admire and respect your work. But – as I said – I believe it was only the beginning, like the beginning of the revolution was the DVX. Sure it´s still around, but who would buy a new one today (if you can find one) when you get a much better tool for the same price.

As some guy on Stu´s Prolost blog said:

“The problem we feel: Canon doesn’t seem to target film/video makers (like Us) with its stills camera, nor listen to Our expectations (i trully share the frustration)… but why should they listen? People easily forget that the video mode of the DSLR is just an option. Canon is not selling 5Ds saying: “The camera you need for your pro-video work”…Instead, they’d better come up with a real pro-video-camera…..via their well established video/broadcast department dedicated to TV & video professionals.”

Of course there will be more HD VDSLRs in the future. (The new GH2 is a good example) In 5 years probably every still camera will be able to do what the 5D does today. But they will not be used by filmmakers. Why should they?

Moire will still be a problem because of OLP Filters made for stills. Same goes to aliasing (thou maybe they can fix that with faster processing and real downscaling in the future). But at the same time there will be tons of real video cameras, with the same or even better imagers, better quality (Panasonic is only the first) and with all the bells and whistles you have to ether add (like extra boxes for decent sound,) or have to work around on DSLRs.

Barry Green is not working with the DVX anymore and so will Shane Hurlbut not be working with a 5D (or the next, better DSLR mouse trap) n 5 years.

The AF-100 is officially listed at $4,995. In a year from now you can get it for a street price of $4500 or even less. This is way cheaper as the original DVX or HVX200 was.
For that you get a camera with XLR, phantom power, ND-Filters, SDI, full HD HDMI out for monitoring (while recording), Zebras, viewfinder, andwhatnot.

So $1500 for a 5D body
+BeachTek DXA SLR $400
+three ND filters $300
+Black Magic HDMI to SDI converter $500
+Viewfinder/Loupe $300
+Full HD HDMI out (priceless)

Almost $3000 – and you come not close to the features of a AF-100

Focus in red Assist – while recording
Line/Mic selectable
Variable frame rates in 20 steps,
P2/AVCCAM Metadata
Two card slots
Professional image controls
Filmlike Cinegamma gamma curves
Color-matched with other Panasonic professional cameras, such as the VariCams
Pre-record,
Continuous recording capacity of over 12 hours in economy mode, and continuous recording of six hours in best-quality mode on a single card
Complete freedom from overheating
Colored Focus Assist that can be used while recording
Face-detection autofocus that can track focus on a moving face
Peaking/EVF DTL
Waveform Monitor
Vectorscope
Spotmeter
aspect ratio markings – 16:9, 4:3, 14:9, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1
Film-style variable shutter angles from 1 to 360 degrees, which track automatically with the variable frame rates to always provide consistent motion blur
SMPTE color bar generator
A much more robust recording format (AVCCAM PH mode) which is more resilient and better than the h.264 on the DSLRs
Greatly improved rolling shutter performance
Ability to take any PL-mount lens
Ability to take c-mount cinema lenses
Remote iris/focus/start/stop controller sockets
manual black balance

And this is only the AF-100 – others will follow.

This market is changing faster than we are able to save money for our gear. In 5 years there will be a new generation of cameras at Scarlet form factor – something between a DSLR and a HVX. Fast and light wight like a DSLR, but without all the workarounds and limitations. So why on earth should someone still use a limited DSLR (besides of money or stealth reasons)?

One doesn´t need a crystal ball to see that coming.

Having said that – I´m gonna shooting a commercial tomorrow – with a 5D.

Frank Glencairn

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

Today I filmed my first Wedding Highlights in 3D using the Panasonic SDT750. This was indeed a challenge as I have little to no knowledge of 3D and how it works…which on reflection may have been a good thing, here’s why. Sometimes when you are too knowledgeable about the camera you are using you can waste a lot of time changing switches, being generally pernickety and loosing as many shots in the process.

When you use the domestic SDT750 the first and most important job is to set up the 3D Conversion lens. This is done by rotating three dials within the Conversion lens itself, the camcorder walks you through the easy 3 steps to ensure you get a clean, crisp, correctly aligned 3D picture.

As you can see from the front of the Conversion lens it has 2 rectangular holes, these produce the precise double image needed to make 3D pictures. This is why you cannot use the 10x zoom lens as by the action of zooming would drastically change the parallax.

Not one person at the wedding questioned the size of the 3D camcorder nor it’s strange looks but these ghosts remain fixed in some videographers heads who insist on using shoulder mount camcorders. George was using a relatively new Sony NX5 camcorder which he is delighted with and produces an HD wedding package that if requested gets burned onto Blu-ray.

The Sony NX5 is becoming the de-facto wedding camcorder as it produces clean pictures onto SDHC solid state memory cards. George was fascinated with the Panasonic SDT750 3D camcorder and can see the extra dimension that such a tool could enhance to his wedding armoury.

When filming with the SDT750 it’s important to remember…

Firstly it’s a domestic 3D camcorder so you don’t get full manual control of the camera while filming.

You only get a wide shot as the 10x zoom is disabled.

Get yourself a stick on Rycote patch for the 5.1 mic on top of the camcorder to prevent wind noise.

Use a pair of headphones firstly to listen to the sound and secondly to prevent camera noises as the camcorder is plastic and can produce handling noise.

Get at least 1 extra spare battery.

Editing…there is a short supply of editing packages for 3D at the moment but you can do some minor editing “in-camera”. Panasonic also supply basic PC editing software and Sony Vegas Pro 10 now ships with 3D editing as standard but once again PC only.
If you are a Mac person like myself you could install Windows 7 via boot camp that would at lease get Vegas on your system.

I had a lot of fun using the Panasonic SDT750 and the 3D effect is truly stunning, this camcorder can produce an amazing picture on a 50″ 3D plasma and is the way forward for domestic 3D. I will be showing my 26 minutes of 3D footage at the ProVideo show in Coventry on the 13-14th October just behind the IOV membership stand. My thanks to George and Maurine of GMW Wedding Productions for letting me hook onto their wedding.

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

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

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

In case you are far to lazy… you can access Noise Industries by clicking on this link… http://www.noiseindustries.com

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

The microEVF is the first electronic viewfinder designed from the ground up specifically for HDSLR cameras. The microEVF is not just a bulky repurposed LCD monitor: It is designed specifically for the needs of HDSLR emphasizing compact lightweight design, superior power consumption, and incredible affordability.

The popularity of HDSLRs such as the Canon 5D MKII for video and motion photography has skyrocketed in recent years, but the camera body is not ideal for video. The first generation of solutions for monitoring currently available –attaching an optical viewfinder to the back of the camera’s LCD screen –severely limit placement of the viewfinder and camera body and eliminate possibility of using additional monitors for camera assistants or directors. The new Redrock microEVF is an external electronic viewfinder that connects to the camera body and can be placed anywhere for maximum comfort and stability, and can be part of a multi-monitoring solution. The microEVF uses a custom made state-of-the-art backlit LED fitted in an attractive, ergonomic housing.

The microEVF is not limited to HDSLR cameras: it can be used on any video camera that provides HDMI output.

microEVF Features

Compact, lightweight electronic viewfinder
High resolution full-color display – greater resolution than the rear LCD on Canon EOS camera bodies
Fully coated optics
Adjustable focusing diopter
Built-in HDMI passthrough for supporting additional monitors
Oversized soft rubber cinema-style eyecup
standard HDMI input connector
Industry-standard 15mm rod pin: Viewfinder positioning infinitely configurable with Redrock support accessories
Lightweight design requires minimal support – can be mounted from lower rails, top rails, or shoe-mounted rails
Compatible with any HDSLR or videocamera that provides HDMI out (5D MKII, 7D, T2i, 1D MKIV, Nikon D3s, Nikon D3100, Nikon D7000, Panasonic AF100, etc.)
microEVF Advanced Electronic Assist Features*

additional features to be announced
microEVF Technical Specifications*

HDMI connection
1.2m total dots
Backlit LED, very low power requirements
Internal battery lasts 10+ continuous hours of operation
Weight: less than 6 ounces
Pricing and availability

Estimated $595 for the complete EVF – unlike other solutions with hidden costs, does not require additional viewfinder loupe.
Availability to be announced

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