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Entries in Technology (58)

12:13PM

The Free Production Slate

"Everyone needs to be slating during their production, no matter how inexpensive. To the unaware, slating is the practice of recording basic scene information at the beginning or end of each take. We have all seen clapperboard type slates that slap two wooden sticks together for an audio marker, even if we've never been on a film set.

Those sticks are great for syncing sound, but most of us just need a simple marking system, so we can identify our footage in post. Writing a on a sheet of paper works (and is very microbudget), but is a little TOO ghetto. Dry erase slates are the nicest, and an a nice acrylic one can be found at B&H for 8 bucks. Not bad.

A slightly better and more informative slate is the EasySlate, which comes with an interview and production version, a back focus chart, and a version for notes. Throw in markers, an eraser and a nice bag and you have it all. Sadly, the EasySlate will set you back 60 clams, which is way too much for a laminated card with no clapper sticks."

So, what about the FREE SLATE? Click Here to read the full article and find out!

12:59PM

Watch the 2010 Olympics Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics were stunning! I highly recommend watching at least the very opening sequence of the night and also the amazing climax!

Click Here and watch the first 4.5 minutes of the opening sequence!

Click Here and watch from 35:15 to 46:45 for the climax of the evening!

To see the lighting of the cauldron click the link above and start from 1:18:40

The Ceremonies are also available via iTunes here.

1:22PM

"Works in Progress" Works with the RED One Camera

"Clearly, if the hype was at all true, the RED One was going to be a camera to be reckoned with. So, we took a deep breath, plunked down our deposit, and sat back and waited. Indeed, we waited so long that we became very concerned that our camera would not arrive in time to begin shooting in May 2008. But arrive it did. “Lewis” (RED One #791) became the very first RED One camera out here on the Kansas prairie. Shockingly, when Mary saw the quality of the footage we were capturing with “Lewis,” she immediately suggested we buy a second camera (which we named “Clark”), as well!

Let me cut to the chase: The RED One camera is everything we had hoped it was going to be. Properly lighted scenes really do look almost completely indistinguishable from the finest footage shot on 35mm film. Noise (except in improperly lighted scenes) is almost nonexistent.

As you might imagine, the resolution is extraordinary. Although, sadly, we do not have a monitor capable of actually letting us watch our footage in 4K (4K displays have yet to appear on the market, although 4K projectors do exist), even watching 2K proxy files pulled from the 4K RAW originals is a revelation. And artistic control over depth-of-field remains as bewitching as ever.

The ability to use completely different types of lenses on the front of the otherwise lenseless RED One camera is one of its great advantages. We shot our movie using Nikon manual-focus primes (single focal-length lenses) and controlled focus using the relatively inexpensive Redrock Micro follow-focus, since we cannot afford the PL-mount lenses and Arri follow-focus units typically used on Hollywood sets. The lenses were superb. The look was, well, just like film. Optically, this camera is a winner! (We have since changed out the front-end of the camera, and now use Canon L-series electronic lenses with a just released — and truly revolutionary — wireless follow-focus system developed by Birger Engineering.)

Is the RED One a perfect camera? No. Is it for you? Maybe, but it’s definitely not for everyone. If you are used to shooting with a fast-paced “run and gun” shooting style, the RED One camera is not likely to be your camera of choice. The RED One is a digital cinema camera — not a quick-as-lightning ENG system. It was designed primarily for set shots (“Lights! Camera! Action!”). It does not come with a lens and does not offer either auto-focus or zoom options. It has no internal microphone (but it is almost impossible to capture good cinema-quality audio with an on-camera microphone anyway).

The RED One camera is a bit bulky and heavy, as well. Our fully-equipped cinema set-up, which includes an LCD monitor, an electronic viewfinder, a typical lens, a follow-focus, hard-drive, audio connections, battery, carbon fiber rails, shoulder mount, front handles, remote camera trigger, and a swing-away mattebox, weighs in at about 27 pounds. That might not sound like much, but as anyone who has actually tried to use a RED One camera in hand-held mode can tell you, it gets very heavy in a hurry. Indeed, it is so heavy that we ended up investing in a special hand-held rig known as the Easyrig 3.0, to take the weight off our poor DP’s shoulder (a $2,500 accessory that we highly recommend to all hand-held shooters).... ~Stephen Pruitt

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 You can read the full article/review and see more pictures of the camera and crew by visiting the Source Article.

4:05PM

Canon Rebel T2i, AKA the 550D

"It’s an 18 megapixel entry-level DSLR for $800. It features all of the video modes of the Canon 7D and 1D Mark IV: 29.97, 23.976, and 25 fps at 1080p, along with 50 and 60 fps at 720p.

In fact, depending on how it performs, the Rebel may just be the new sweet spot. In the same way that the 1D Mark IV’s $5,000 price tag accounts for a bunch of pro stills features that don’t net much for the filmmaker, the shortcomings that put the Rebel at half the 7D’s price are most likely all in the stills department as well. If video is your primry interest in a DSLR, the Rebel could well represent the most bang for the buck." ~Stu Maschwitz

Amazon's pre-order price is listed at $799.

- You can read more info on the ProLost blog.

- Also, here is another take on the new camera by The Frugal Filmmaker.

11:55AM

FW800 vs. eSATA

It's an established fact that SATA is faster than FW800. I know a lot of editors who own external drives like G-RAIDs but never use the e-SATA connection, sticking to FW800 instead. I recently purchased a SATA card for my Mac Pro and connected my G-RAID up via eSATA. Here are the speed differences:

G-RAID via FW800

 

Via eSATA:

A $40 or so internal card and a different cable and you get a pretty decent speed increase. So if you own a G-RAID or another external drive that includes an e-SATA port, you should definitely consider getting the most out the drive as you can.
2:00PM

How the BBC made one of those amazing plant growing shots.

For those that aren’t on Twitter I wanted to post this amazing video that shows how the BBC series Life was able to achieve an amazing plant growing shots for the episode “Plants.” It involves multiple time-lapse tracking shots in the wild as well as the same shots recreated on blue-screen in the studio. All shot with a DSLR and brought together in the all-powerful After Effects.

Source Article

1:37PM

Apple iPad

Visit the Apple website!

Safari, Mail, Photos, Video, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, iBooks, Maps, Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Homescreen, Spotlight...and more!

12:11PM

Apple iPad Announced!

"It's very thin -- you can change the homescreen to whatever you want. And it's awesome to watch movies and TVs... let's take a look at the device. - Using this thing is remarkable. It's so much more intimate than a laptop, and it's so much more capable than a smartphone," ~ Steve Jobs

iPad Specifications

  • 9.7 inch IPS display
  • 0.5 inches thin
  • 1.5 pounds
  • Full capacitive multi-touch interface
  • 16-64GB of Flash memory storage
  • 1 GHz Apple-branded A4 chip (developed in-house)
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  • 802.11n WiFi
  • Built-in Speaker
  • Built-in Microphone
  • Accelerometer & Compass
  • 30-pin Dock connector (same as iPod and iPhone)
  • 10-hours of battery life (Over one month standby time)
  • Runs all iPhone apps
  • App Store application included

"What is the battery life like? We've been able to achieve 10 hours of battery life. I can take a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole time. And it has over a month of standby time."

Handles all your old Apps

NEW APP! - iBook

NEW! - iWork compatible

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