To understand the system have a quick look at this video from Redrock Micro:

Redrock microRemote preview from Redrock Micro on Vimeo.

The thing that impressed me most about this system was the responsiveness of the finger control for focusing.  There was no visible latency in the system at all, even the smallest movement of your finger resulted in an immediate adjustment of focus on the lens.  It was really very impressive and for a run and gun rig it would keep you so much more stable as you are able to grip the rig with two hands instead of having one hand on a handle and one on a follow focus.  The little focus knob is easily useable with a single finger.  Brian Valente from Redrock Micro told me that all new parts will be available for shipping on June 15th except for the Redrock motor.  Instead you will be able to purchase Heden motor , until the new Redrock Motor is available.  No timeline on the Redrock motor though and the Heden motor is quite a bit more expensive than the target price for the Redrock one.  On the wireless side of things the display on the iPhone or iPod is intuitive and informative.  Not only can you have it display marks as you would use hard stops on a follow focus, but you can also have it display depth of field for your lens, and where you are withing that field.

Redrock microTape tells you your distance to subject.

microRemote basestation

Finger control for wired focusing.

Heden motor controling focus.

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Zeiss E-mount for SONY

Zeiss CP.2 on a Panasonic AF100 with m4/3 mount

Zeiss E-Mount for Sony on NXCAM 35

Canon 7d and Zeiss LWZ.2

Canon 7d and Zeiss LWZ.2

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Sony kicks off the big NAB 2011 announcements with the unveiling of their new F65 8K video camera.  Whilst 4k is expected to be the next standard Sony is clearly already thinking towards even bigger things!  For now things top out at 4k but Sony says that updates in the future will allow much more.  Read on for full release and more info.

Press Release

LAS VEGAS, April 10, 2011 – Sony is revolutionizing digital cinematography with the official unveiling of its much-anticipated next-generation CineAlta camera. The F65 raises the bar in the quest for the “look” of 65mm film, and delivers on its promise to derive true 4K resolution and beyond – at the point of image capture.

Sony’s unique 8K image sensor, with approximately 20 megapixels, offers higher image fidelity than any other camera. With 16-bit RAW output, the F65 establishes the gateway to a complete, end-to- end 4K mastering workflow.

“Sony’s new F65 digital motion picture camera combines true 4K resolution with an expansive dynamic range that enables a more nuanced reproduction of fine textural and tonal details,” said Curtis Clark, ASC. “Along with excellent contrast and exceptional color reproduction the F65 produces images that have a rich filmic look and feel, providing filmmakers with significantly enhanced creative photographic possibilities.”

At the heart of the F65 camera is Sony’s newly developed 8K sensor, which will deliver pristine HD, 2K, and true 4K resolution today — and will go far beyond 4K in the future, as industry needs evolve. The Sony imager is also the first to provide a dedicated green photosite
for each pixel in the 4K output image. This is twice the amount of green resolution compared with traditional 4K Bayer pattern sensors, providing a significant improvement in image resolution that is ideal for VFX processing.

“Sony already has a successful track record in developing 4K technology, with our 4K digital cinema projection system re-defining the movie-going experience,” said Alec Shapiro, senior vice president, Professional Solutions of America, Sony Electronics. “However, Sony is committed to driving every aspect of a 4K workflow – starting with acquisition. This camera is the pinnacle of 30-plus years of research, experience and engineering breakthroughs and is the latest example of Sony’s ongoing pursuit of the highest quality content creation and production.”

The 8K CMOS sensor can run up to maximum 120Fps. This sensor performance combined with 16-bit RAW output makes the F65 the first image capture system designed from the ground up to support the Academy IIF-ACES, Image Interchange Framework, Academy Color Encoding Specification.

The F65 has also been designed for multiple production applications, including 3D rigs and Steadicam, and will offer a compact and lightweight detachable camera T-head for these configurations. In addition, an optional mechanical rotary shutter will be available for eliminating motion artifacts that are inherent with other CMOS sensor technology.

A dockable SR memory recorder – model SR-R4 – attaches to the camera to record directly on to an SR memory card of 256 GB, 512 GB or 1TB capacity with data security and sustained throughput of 5 Gbps. The recorder will enable ultra high speed recording of16-bit RAW data.
A 1TB memory card recording at 24 fps will store 50 minutes of footage in 4K 16 bit RAW. As with previous generations of CineAlta systems, Sony continues to work closely with the industry to develop this next generation digital motion picture camera technology and storage, workflow system.

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All the items are in located in Whistler, BC and anyone in the area is more than welcome to pick thing up from me or come and check something out. All sales are final, if you need more photos of the product than I have posted then let me know. Payment needs to be via paypal.

Canon 1.4X Teleconverter II – Excellent condition – $350 including free shipping.

Great condition, no scratches on the lens or the body. They sell for $470 + tax s0 you can save a decent amount. It is in as-new condition, comes with the little canon protective pouch. Will ship for free to anywhere in continental N.America, all other locations will require an extra charge.

Pelican 1610 rolling hardcase $140 – SOLD

This thing is big but it has wheels! Awesome for carrying lighting gear around in. And it comes with the camera padded insert too to give some extra protection. This is great if you need to ship a lot of gear on the plane. Due to its size it would be best to sell this to someone locally…. but if you are really interested then let me know and I will figure out shipping cost to your location. These sell for more than $230 plus taxes normally so you can get a good saving on this one. Obviously it shows signs of usage on the outside but these things are built to last and it has years and years left in it! Pelican products are also guaranteed for life.

Interior Dimensions:
21.78″ x 16.69″ x 10.62″ (55.3 x 42.4 x 27 cm)

Think Tank Airport Acceleration bag & laptop case $150 including free shipping

I used to use this bag when I was flying with my gear. Its a great carry on bag and comes with a removable laptop case too. The bag has no major faults , no tears or anything nasty like that. It obviously shows some signs of usage but still has a lot of life in it. The laptop bag was not used so much and that is basically as new. The laptop case itself sells for about $40 on its own and the bag is $279 plus taxes and shipping on the Think Tank site. As with all Think Tank gear it is made to the highest standards so it has a long life ahead of it. Other great features include backpack straps that hide away for easier stowage in overhead bins on the plane and a full rain cover as well as tripod straps on the side of the bag. I will include free shipping to anywhere in continental N.America.

Think Tank Change Up – Nearly new, great condition. $100 including free shipping

This cool little bag from Think Tank is both a belt pack and shoulder bag all in one. Check out more info on the TT website http://www.thinktankphoto.com/products/change-up-belt-pack.aspx I have had this sitting around for a while and used it a couple of times when shooting photos from out the side of a helicopter. Its useful to have a belt pack like this to stash an extra lens in so that you have it on hand. It comes will all the original shoulder straps, rain cover etc and really it looks pretty much brand new. They sell for $130 + tax and shipping from think tank so again you can save a nice little bit on this. I will include free shipping to anywhere in continental N.America.

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A few times in the last few months I have found myself working in a location that is fairly remote.  No Apple store or computer parts store within a thousand miles, and not somewhere that gets any kind of speedy mail-order servicing either. So what would happen if one of my laptop hard drives had failed in one of those locations?  This is mostly relevant to photographers who travel a lot, and especially those who visit remote locations, but the solution is actually fairly simple and remarkably cheap.  A bootable external drive that can run Mac OSX is the answer.  It doesn’t even need to be a 2.5″ hard drive, you can actually boot to Snow Leopard directly off a USB keyring as long as its big enough!

A full install of Apple Snow Leopard needs just a little bit more than 8GB of space so if you have a thumb drive or an old 2.5″ hard drive lying around that is bigger than that then you are good to go.  I did this recently with an old 320GB 2.5″ drive that I had in a draw.  If you have an old hard drive you will need to buy a SATA case for it but the cheap and cheerful ones can be had for about $30 from any good computer store.  Now if you want to try this on a USB memory stick you aren’t going to have much room for things other than the operating system, but at least it would get you back up and running and able to download your memory cards to something.  If you are using an old hard drive (or a new one as they are so cheap these days) then you will be able to install OSX and all your necessary programs on there too.

The first step is to plug the USB device into you computer and open up Disk Utility from the utilities folder in the applications section.  On the left hand side find the drive that you wish to install OSX onto and click it.  Now click on the button labeled partitions which will open the partition configuration menu.  From the drop down box select “1 Partition”.

Now click the options… button at the bottom and make sure that you select GUID Partition table.  This is the really important part!  This is what allows your computer to recognize the disk as a bootable disk on start up. Click OK and then click Apply on the partition screen.  WARNING!!  This WILL erase everything on the disk!  So check the disk before you do it!

Now go ahead and insert your Snow Leopard install disk into your DVD drive.  Click on the option to install, and when prompted, select your newly formatted USB drive as the install destination.  The progress screen will come up and its going to tell you it’ll need some time to install.  Bear in mind that all the data is being transferred through USB now so it’s going to take longer than it normally would.  Part way through the install process your computer will automatically re-boot and boot from the USB device.  Once it’s done you will see the Snow Leopard intro on the screen and you are done!  Now install all the essential programs you need to get your work done like photoshop or lightroom and shut down the computer.

Now here’s the next important thing to remember.  With the USB drive plugged in, when you turn your computer on you need to hold down the OPTION key if you want to boot from the external drive as soon as you see the white screen appear.  If you do this and keep holding it, eventually a screen will appear that will ask you which drive you want to boot from.  Selecting your USB drive will allow you to run OSX from that just as you normally would.  Things might seem a little bit slower running from USB, especially if its on a thumb drive, but I tried it recently and was actually rather surprised at how well it handled things.

So if you have a drive lying around at home, why not do this one day and keep the USB drive hidden in your travel bag.  You never know when it might come in handy!  The second scenario is that your computer stops working entirely while you are away.  Well now you just need to find another Mac somewhere and you can plug in your USB drive and boot from that to have access to all the programs you need !

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For some time though Jim Jannard has been throwing around the November 30th date though as a day when we would learn more info about scheduled release and pricing.  Their motto though is “Everything is subject to change , count on it!” so i’d be very surprised if this information stays the same up to the release date.  None the less, they have provided a little more information about the cameras than usual so this time i thought it would be worth posting about it.  I know that there are still some stills photographers out there that don’t see the point in learning about shooting video, and those guys might want to skip this post.  But i’m still firmly in the camp that believes that convergence is inevitable, and if I keep my finger on the pulse then it won’t be such a shock when it comes!

There are 3 cameras then that we now have more information on.  The Scarlet is to come with 2 sensor variations, 2/3 and full frame.  The 2/3 will ship (hopefully) in may-june 2010 and the FF35 version will be Summer 2010.  The 2/3 version comes in 2 options , either with a fixed 8x zoom lens or as a “brain” with the option of adding components and prime lenses.  Specific details are laid out below in the table.  The FF35 version is only available as the kit which allows you to totally customize the accessories that you attach to it.  The list of accessories and pricing is also laid out below.  My initial thought is that the 8x zoom 2/3 version seems like a good deal and will be very popular for people filming action sports like skiing and snowboarding (a field in which i know many people).

If you are looking to build up a kit with the 2/3 sensor brain then the mini prime lenses are looking great, and very compact.  But the problem I see with that is that if you decide to upgrade to a FF35 brain later…. your lenses won’t work.  If you are looking to build up a rig with the FF35 kit then you’d better be ready to drop some serious cash !  The pricing is not even close to the same league as buying a Canon DSLR and shooting with one of those, so these Scarlets had better be damn good!

A few things jump off the features list at me.  HDR photo mode for one, this could go either way.  Personally i’m not a fan of HDR photos and I hope that this is not a gimmick.  Most camera companies have shied away from adding this so far though i’m sure that they could if they wanted to.  I just hope that its not too over the top and that it is user configurable.  For the most part the camera is really geared for video and not photos.  At the beginning of the development cycle it was touted as a stills camera a lot more but there seems to be less and less mention of this these days.  For one, it looks incredibly un-ergonomic for a stills camera anyway…..  Touch focus tracking is a nice addition though and something that i’m sure we will see on all cameras within 2 years, just like on the iphone, touch the part of the screen you want to focus on.  So simple.  I’ll leave you with a few more photos of the camera and also a rather cool looking ” RED Station” which seems to be a high speed multi-card reader. Cool idea.  I also see that the ” Bomb EVF” has a built in heater for use in extreme cold environments!

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Mike Henitiuk heading into heaven...

Leboe

A couple of days ago I headed up the mountain with Jeff Thomas from Poorboyz, Mike Henitiuk, TJ Schiller and Riley Leboe as they begun filming for the new movie.  Overnight there had been 2ft of snow to add to the already impressive coverage and it continued to fall all day.  This is the 7th winter that I have skied at Whistler Blackcomb but I can honestly say that was as good as it gets. Bottomless powder.  In fact it was almost too much, the alpine is yet to open so we were left skiing mid mountain lines in the Garbanzo zone.  With that amount if snow you need some steep pitches to maintain speed and it was a struggle to keep moving as the snow piles up above your waist.  We hunted around the same zone all day and eventually found some nice pillow lines for the guys though.

Me - Stoked to be back to work!

The long range forecast for this place is equally impressive, looking like we will smash well through the 500cm mark in the near future which would account for half of Whistler’s average annual snowfall in just one month. It’s a pleasant surprise to be back into winter work so early and if this is a sign of things to come this year it’s going to be one to remember.

Riley Leboe all smiles

Big thanks to the Whistler Blackcomb PR guys and girls for hooking our crew of riders up so we could get out there and start to document this crazy weather!

TJ Schiller. Skullcandys workin the pow too!

UPDATE: Here is a sneak peak from Poorboyz with intro from yours truly.

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Max Hill is the man on the cover and the shot was taken last April in Whistler, BC.  I had the idea for this shot about 3 years ago but that year at the time we didn’t have the snow for it.  Last year there was plenty in the spring time so finally got to make it happen.  When I took Max and Leigh Powis to this spot and explained that I wanted them to jump over a railing, hand plant on it AND grab their ski they looked at me as if I was mad.  Once they’d given it a couple of attempts though and built a small jump to pop them over the railing it didn’t take any time at all.  I think this shot was only about the 4th or 5th time that Max hit it.

Shot with a Canon 1dMKIIN , 15mm Fisheye , 1/250th , f7.1, ISO 250.  Lit with 1 Elinchrom Ranger and 4 Nikon speedlights all triggered with pocketwizards.

I have made a quick lighting diagram for those interested in that sort of thing.  Click for larger

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I had mistakenly thought that creating nice slow motion shots with the footage would just be as simple as dropping the 60fps clips into a 30fps timeline in Final Cut Pro.  Actually that’s not the case though.  Doing that just drops every other frame and you end up with regular looking footage and simply setting the clip speed to 50% does not take advantage of all those 60 frames you just shot.  I did a quick search on the net and found a good tutorial by Philip Bloom.  I can only speak for Mac users here I’m afraid but the solution is pretty easy so long as you have Final Cut Studio.

If you have FC Studio you will also have a program called Cinema Tools.  Fire it up and hit command+O to open a clip.  The clip will open in a video viewer and on the right hand side will be a button that says “Conform”.  Clicking on this will bring up a drop down box with various frame rates in it.  Select the one you want (29.97 for example) and then hit “Conform”.  The transformation is instant and requires no rendering, all that is being modified is an internal part of the file that denotes how the video is played.

WARNING:  This process is not reversible.  Once you hit the “Conform” button there is no going back so I highly recommend that you do this process to a copy of the original file.  I created a sub folder called SlowMo inside the folder containing my original files.  Then whenever I found a file that I needed to conform, I copied the original to that folder, Conformed it and then imported it into Final Cut Pro.  Don’t forget that you will also need to transcode the 7d files from H.264 before you do anything.  Make sure you transcode the files before you conform them in Cinema Tools!

I shot about 10 quick shots from my door to have some footage to test this with and the result is below. Winter is nearly back!!  Click though to the vimeo page to watch it in HD.

Winter’s Coming – Whistler, November 7th 09 – 60fps 7d from Dan Carr on Vimeo.

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If you forget to change these settings, when you export the finished product you will be left with video that has been stretched from the default 720p size up to 1080p and it will look terrible!  This took me a while to figure out….which some of you will no doubt find amusing.  But bear in mind I am speaking as a person who only just opened Final Cut Pro for the first time and there’s a lot to take in!

As you now have your timeline set up as an AIC timeline, all the transcoded clips you made will now play and edit in real time.  Once you have that setup its plane sailing.  With a reasonable amount of RAM in your computer (i’d recommend 4gb or more) you will be able to throw clips around and add transitions to them in no time at all.  For me, once I had those steps figure out, it all started to come together.  Video with a 5dMKII is not that daunting after all.

Tomorrow I will post the first video that I made and also some practical information about the physical shooting side of things.  Lens choice, shutter speeds and ND filters.

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