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Showing posts with label Gear and Accessories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gear and Accessories. Show all posts

Control Your DSLR or Camera with iPhone or iPad

6.04.2010


Thanks to Jordan Hayman for the scoop.

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iPad controls Final Cut Pro audio automation with Air Display app

5.27.2010

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Stabilizing Your DSLR

5.23.2010

I apologizing for not posting in a while... It's been quite busy and, believe it or not, this is the calm before the storm :)

So I visited the site and noticed the new poll Jon posted, what do you stabilize your DSLR with? I'm glad to see the tripod rules but a little surprised by how few people are using sliders + glidecams/stedicams. Personally, tripod and monopod come first but I love using the glidecam and slider to enhance the story through motion.
What is it about these tools that keep so many from using them, is it cost, setup difficulties, or lack of understanding how to use it?
You may be wondering why so many questions... As our free time slowly starts to diminish, we'd like to post a few video tutorials/gear reviews on our favorite gear but what would you like to see first?
Glidecam vs. Sliders?

Here's a short promo we shot for a local beer distributor where we utilized a tripod, glidecam, and slider:




Thanks for your feedback!

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5d Resurrected

4.16.2010

Last week I had a huge shoot and had my 5d and Jon's 7d with me. We were filming inside and I tried to go into live mode on my 5d and it wouldn't budge. Nothing. No click, No image, nothing. I tried to turn it off and on a few times but it wouldn't budge. I tried to change the battery and nothing. By this point I HAD TO start shooting so I just grabbed another camera. Probably no less than a minute later, my colleague was able to turn it on and go into video mode and record.
What gives? I've actually read on a few other sites that people have had similar issues but should we find it ironic that all of a sudden, after the much needed firmware was released, that there are rare occurrences of the 5d just freezing up?
Lesson learned. Bought the new Canon T2i as a backup.
Alright... the title was a little dramatic but I'm a little worried and curious if anyone else has experienced this.

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Adobe CS5 to Support Native Editing Of DSLR Footage

4.12.2010

Adobe CS5 Native Editing of DSLR Footage
The Question is how does FCP respond? I really don't want to have to go back to Adobe just because of this. FCP in my opinion is far superior in many other apects. Thoughts?

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Canon 5D MKII Firmware is Here...

3.17.2010

Everyone has been waiting forever and it's finally here the firmware that adds 24p for the 5DMKII !!
Also adds some audio control and a histogram.
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html

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DIY: Protecting Your Camera From Mother Nature

3.06.2010

"When it comes to protecting your camera from the elements we already know that a condom will go a great way. However, sometimes a more subtle approach is needed. Especially if all you are seeking is to protect your camera from a bit of rain..."
Read more here..

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Canon 5D MK II Firmware announced for Mid-March

3.02.2010

London, 2nd March 2010 – Canon today pre-announces the release of a firmware update for the multiple award-winning EOS 5D Mark II. Originally announced in late 2009, the update adds 24* and 25 frames per second (fps) recording to the camera’s EOS MOVIE video function, and will be available as a free download from the middle of March.



Developed following feedback from photographers and cinematographers, Firmware 2.0.3 further enhances the EOS 5D Mark II’s excellent video performance. The addition of new frame rates expands the camera’s video potential, providing filmmakers with the ability to shoot 1080p Full HD footage at 24fps (actual 23.976fps) – the optimum frame rate for cinematic video. 25fps support at both 1920×1080 and 640×480 resolutions will allow users to film at the frame rate required for the PAL broadcast standard, while the new firmware will also change the 30fps option to the NTSC video standard of 29.97fps.

A new histogram display for shooting movies in manual exposure, shutter-priority (Tv) and aperture-priority (Av) have been added, and exposure modes will also be available in movie mode. Improved audio functionality will allow users to set sound record levels manually using a sound-level meter displayed on the LCD screen. The audio sampling frequency has also been increased from 44.1KHz to 48KHz, providing the optimum audio signal typically required for professional or broadcast material.

With its full frame CMOS sensor and compatibility with Canon’s wide range of premium lenses, the EOS 5D Mark II is already recognised for its outstanding HD video performance. Launched in September 2008, the camera immediately created a wide range of new possibilities for photographers and videographers, and the addition of new frame rates and manual audio levels extends those possibilities even further – allowing movie makers to shoot stunning movies to suit practically any creative purpose.

Extreme sports photographer Richard Walch was one of the first to be given the chance to use the newly updated EOS 5D Mark II to shoot the snowboarding movie “I Love My Friends”. Commenting on the EOS 5D Mark II’s video performance, Richard said: “The addition of the new frame rates opens up a whole new range of possibilities. If you’re a cinematographer, independent film maker or just enthusiastic about making your own movies, get out there and give it a try”.

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To 7D or Not to 7D That is The Question...

2.26.2010

Honestly I haven't had a chance to sit down and watch this video, but I had the good fortune of meeting JJ Kim, at InFocus in Austin, and he's a stand up guy. He did this because he's cool. Read below for my take on the 7D vs. T2i so far. I have only had the camera for a day and I am slightly biased, as I paid good hard earned money for my 7D, and it hasn't failed me but has never failed to impress me.

7D vs. T2i Comparison Video from Orange Wedding Films on Vimeo.
If you own a 7D should you dump it and grab a T2i and a lens.
In good conscience I could not advise that.
If you don't have enough for 7d + lens and cards,and batteries. Yes. You can always keep your lenses just don't buy crop lenses, get full frame lenses.
If you want a B-Roll camera and already own the 7D and can't afford another one. Yes. However you will have to buy all new batteries and cards,and a card reader that reads SDHC cards so calculate the difference between T2i and 7D. Then add new cards and batteries/reader to price of T2i.  If you already have a decent supply of cards/batteries stocked up for 7D and it will cover both cameras on most shoots. Get another 7D that camera is still a massive steal at $1600.
If your on the fence and can afford it or are close to affording it, get the Canon 7D or 5D. Depending on the body of work that you will do.
Advantages of T2i much crisper LCD. Cheaper.
Disadvantage
 Loss of a LOT of ISO's that I use. A LOT. You have to jump from 100 to 200 to 400 to 800 to 1600. You completely skip ISO 1250, which I use a lot in fairly dark rooms.
 If you have a 7D, and have to,then, get another one for B-Roll. If your strapped for cash,and want to shoot DSLR,well then jump in my friends, the water is warm.

Disclaimer: This camera just arrived. If anything bad happens a month from now contact Canon. I receive nothing from them. I'm not a fanboy. I'm a blue collar guy, trying to help if I can. If you have specific questions, let me know, I'll do my best to get back to you as fast as possible. Stay tuned! Footage is on it's way. Loads more reviewing to come before I make any definitive conclusions. This is just a real-time spewing of my impressions thus far. I just hope I can help people make educated decisions regarding camera purchases. I have learned a lot from people like David Perry, stillmotion, Philip Bloom and many others over the last year plus about giving out information and help just to do it. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback thus far. For that I thank you all. Oh yeah. Keep on rocking in the free world. We are lucky to be alive in the greatest Renaissance independent filmmaking has seen in a long, long,time. Never forget that.

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Canon T2i Compared to Canon 7D: First Thoughts

The body of the 7D is way better. More rugged build. When you hold the T2i (if you are used to the 7D it feels like a toy. This is a very stupid thing I guess but I prefer my 7D a lot in this way.
I still have to get used to the button configuration/controls which I found to be a bit harder to figure out where the 7D it just makes sense. A few interesting things I will explore further is that while in Movie Mode you can very easily switch between a variety of White Balance presets as well as a custom one you can set yourself. Another feature I do prefer in the T2i is the ability to switch the framerate you are shooting in without ever leaving Live View. There is a setting in the Menu as well for Automatic focus while in Movie Mode. I would never shoot in Auto and I am not sure if that actually works or I am a fool but found that interesting. I plan on shooting a bit tonight when we go out for dinner to see how it holds up in a real life situation. Here's another odd thing I noticed
The ISO for the T2i in Movie Mode
100
200
400
800
1600
3200
6400

There seems to be quite a few ISO settings missing that are available in the Canon 7D .
If you own a 7D I wouldn't feel bad about your purchase. I am certainly still very happy with mine. I absolutely love it and it definitely seems to have a much better build, as I would assume. Now for $800 I think it may be a great camera for someone who wants to get there feet wet in the DSLR video world. I plan on shooting more as I said and hope to have various videos up tomorrow. Two other things of note if you already own Canon DSLR's you will need new batteries and you will need new cards. The T2i  takes SDHC not CF cards.

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Canon T2i First Look

T2i Unwrapping! from Cristina Valdivieso + Jon Connor on Vimeo.

More to come...

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Canon T2i Has Arrived

It's in a box sitting on my couch. My better half is on the phone. I can't open it until she gets off of the phone and I am dying right now. I feel giddy like a little school girl. It's snowing like mad outside and i literally just caught the UPS guy thanks to the supreme intelligence of our bulldog Bruiser. The guy went to the wrong door and Bruiser was kind enough to alert the entire neighborhood by barking like a maniac. Stay tuned as we work this camera out and see what exactly we have on our hands here. I am very excited to put this thing to the test. Too bad I can't really go outside because of snow but I am definitely not complaining.

Update: It's out of the box. If you are already sold on the Canon T2i
and you already own the Canon 7D or 5D MK II make sure to buy extra batteries because the T2i doesn't use the same batteries.

From T2i

From T2i

From T2i

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Canon 5D MKII Firmware Update

2.25.2010

This is all 100 percent true! It will include:
Full HD monitoring with active LiveView, peaking & the ability to jam the frequency of all nearby iPhones.
A coffee maker
The ability to shoot in X-Ray mode. In 3D!!!
A built in tripod
A neural connection
If we missed anything you know of comment below...

Thanks to (on Twitter )@HumanGobo @Matt_Jasper @BenJEckstein @VisualEdgeChris @DeFrees!

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Jerry Seinfeld Uses Canon 5D MK II to Shoot "Marriage Ref" Promo


You will notice the Canon 5D MKII in the second or third shot. Thanks to Anthony Quintano for the heads up on this one. Further proof that DSLR's are making a huge impact in mainstream television, music videos, and movies.

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Canon 1D MKIV, Canon 5D MKII, Canon 7D vs. T2i and T1i

2.24.2010


                       1D MK IV                 5DMKII                  7D                            T2i                    T1i


















Sensor size
27.9 × 18.6mm
Approximately 36.0 × 24.0mm
22.3 × 14.9mm
22.3 × 14.9mm
22.3 × 14.9mm
APS-H size
35mm full
APS-C size
APS-C size
APS-C size
Shooting angle effect [about]
× 1.3 times lens focal length equivalent
× 1.0 times lens focal length equivalent
× 1.6 times lens focal length equivalent
× 1.6 times lens focal length equivalent
× 1.6 times lens focal length equivalent
Record Size / 
Frame rate
1920 × 1080 29.97/25/23.976fps
1920 × 1080 30.00fps ※ 1
1920 × 1080 29.97/25/23.976fps
1920 × 1080 29.97/25/23.976fps
1920 × 1080 20.00fps
1280 × 720 59.94/50.00fps

1280 × 720 59.94/50.00fps
1280 × 720 59.94/50.00fps
1280 × 720 30.00fps
640 × 480 59.94/50.00fps
640 × 480 30.00fps
640 × 480 59.94/50.00fps
640 × 480 59.94/50.00fps
640 × 480 30.00fps
Size
1920 × 1080 
About 330MB / minute
1920 × 1080 
About 330MB / minute
1920 × 1080 
About 330MB / minute
1920 × 1080 
About 330MB / minute
1920 × 1080 
About 330MB / minute
1280 × 720 
About 330MB / minute

1280 × 720 
About 330MB / minute
1280 × 720 
About 330MB / minute
1280 × 720 
About 222MB / minute
640 × 480 
About 165MB / minute
640 × 480 
About 165MB / minute
640 × 480 
About 165MB / minute
640 × 480 
About 165MB / minute
640 × 480 
About 165MB / minute
Manual exposure
○
○ (farm Ver1.1.0 more)
○
○
×
Emergency ISO sensitivity
100-12800
100-6400
100-6400
100-6400
100-1600 ※ 2
Extended ISO sensitivity ※ 3
H1: 25600, H2: 51200, H3: 102400
H1: 12800
H1: 12800 ※ 4

--
Shutter speed
30/25/24p 
1 / 30 to 1 / 4000 sec
30p 
1 / 30 to 1 / 4000 sec
30/25/24p 
1 / 30 to 1 / 4000 sec
30/25/24p 
1 / 30 to 1 / 4000 sec
30/20p 
1 / 30 to 1 / 4000 sec
60/50p 
1 / 60 to 1 / 4000 sec

60/50p 
1 / 60 to 1 / 4000 sec
60/50p 
1 / 60 to 1 / 4000 sec

※ 5 shooting time
Room temperature (23 ℃) 
Approximately 2 hours 40 minutes
Room temperature (23 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes
Room temperature (23 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 20 minutes
Room temperature (23 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes
Room temperature (23 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 10 minutes
Temperature (0 ℃) 
Approximately 2 hours 20 minutes
Temperature (0 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 20 minutes
Temperature (0 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 10 minutes
Temperature (0 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour 20 minutes
Temperature (0 ℃) 
Approximately 1 hour
External microphone input
○ (48KHz)
○ (44.1KHz)
○ (48KHz)
○ (48KHz)
×
HDMI output signal ※ 6





1. View Live View
1080/60i, 1080/50i, 480/60p, 576/50p
1080/60i, 1080/50i, 480/60p, 576/50p
1080/60i, 1080/50i, 480/60p, 576/50p
1080/60i, 1080/50i, 480/60p, 576/50p
1080/60i, 1080/50i, 480/60p, 576/50p
2. Playback
3. When recording

480/60p, 576/50p


480/60p, 576/50p

Recording Format
Video compression scheme is "MPEG-4 AVC/H.264", speech compression, "Linear (uncompressed) PCM" is done, "MOV" file format recorded on the card
Gamma value
2.2 based
Bitrate
Variable bit rate. 
Full HD / HD quality about 5.5MByte/sec (44Mbps), 
About SD quality 2.75MByte/sec (22Mbps)
Range Video
Full range (0 to 255)
Video color sampling
YCbCr (YPbPr) 4:2:0
Recording time (4GB card)
About 12 minutes full HD, HD about 12 minutes ※ 7, SD about 24 minutes
※ 1
In the EOS 5D Mark II full HD video, 25p/24p up for 2010 will be supported in the first half of the farm.
※ 2
Control
※ 3
Video shooting
※ 4
M only non-automatic exposure mode shooting
※ 5
When using a fully charged battery pack
※ 6
By connecting the monitor changes the output signal
※ 7
EOS Kiss X3 is about 18 minutes

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Canon 7d vs Canon 5D MK II vs Canon T2i

2.19.2010

From Canon Filmmakers
From

We are going to do a comparison test between the Canon 5D MK II and the Canon 7D. In order to better help you out if there is anything specifically you have questions,concerns or want to see tested please leave a comment below and we will do our best to accomodate everyone we can.
Editors Note:
There has been a lot of interest in the Canon T2i and how this camera will perform versus the Canon 7D. Because of the amount of work this will probably take we are going to wait until we get the Canon T2i then show a comparison between all three cameras. Leave anything below you want to see in the comments and we will still do our best to accomodate.

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Canon(550d) Rebel T2i Release Date and more...

2.17.2010

Canon EOS 550D - Rebel T2i from UrbanFox.TV on Vimeo.

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Did you buy a Canon 7D and are pissed about the T2i?

2.09.2010



Well let me ask you a question. Why? Have you seen this camera put thru the paces yet? Have you seen any real world footage across the full gamut of situations you will encounter in your field of work that you bought the Canon 7D for? Or are you outraged because that just seems like the thing to do. Sure at first glance it looks on paper very identical to the Canon 7D which I purchased as soon as it came out. I am not made of money. That took a lot of hard work and saving and I emptied my bank account when I bought that and you know what? I have absolutely no regrets.
It has been an amazing camera for me and has gotten me paying jobs doing both video and stills. At $1700 it was a steal. At $800 the Canon T2i definitely also looks like a great deal. It offers the same video frame rates as the 7D, the same megapixels. Am i furious? No. Not even close. Why? Because I haven't seen a thing this camera can do yet. It has one Digic IV processor. So that to me indicates it will not be as good in low-light and may have other problems the 7D doesn't. So what happens if the T2i comes out and I'm wrong? What if it matches the 7D stride for stride in video. Then surely I should be outraged. Right? Wrong. The day and age we live in is one where technological strides have turned to leaps and they happen overnight. If I waited and didn't buy the 7D when I did, how would I have shot everything I did between now and then. Plus, what would happen if I bought the T2i and then something else comes out for a little over $1000 and is way better. The point is this. If Canon is releasing a T2i for $800 and it has all of the frame rates of the 7D you should be happy. That means now you can get a second camera for cheap if you are in the market. Or if you haven't been able to afford a DSLR for filming they have now given you the opportunity to get your feet wet. I'm personally extremely excited!
Also what do you think the next camera is going to be like?
So if you're already mad. Take a deep breath. This camera hasn't been tested yet in the real world. Technology will always be forever evolving at a more and more rapid pace. So put it all in perspective and buckle up. DSLR's are going in a very good direction in 2010. But then again that's just my opinion.
Let me know what you think I'm always up for hearing different opinions and view points. As they say variety is the spice of life.
-Jon Connor
Twitter: @jonconnorfilms

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Canon DSLR Plug-In for FCP

This should alleviate a lot of headaches when editing Canon DSLR Footage
in FCP. Sorry PC people.This is HUGE!!

Press Release:
EOS MOVIE plug-in for Final Cut Pro


London, 8th February Month 2010 – Canon today announces the development of a plug-in that will enable quicker and easier editing of EOS MOVIE footage in Final Cut Pro. A free Beta release of the plug-in will be available to download for testing and evaluation in March 2010.



‘EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro’ is being developed to provide an even smoother workflow for EOS MOVIE users who edit using Apple’s Final Cut Pro software suite. The plug-in will enable the ‘log and transfer’ of video footage from Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR cameras – all of which offer full 1080p HD video recording.



The plug-in will convert EOS MOVIE footage to Apple’s high quality ProRes 422 codec at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion. Additionally, users will also be able to add timecode, reel names and metadata to footage quickly and easily – further enhancing the experience of EOS MOVIE users when editing their footage.

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First Look Canon Rebel T2i

2.08.2010


At first glance this thing seems like quite a freaking bargain on the video side. I noticed it seems to only have one Digic processor as opposed to the Canon 7D which has two. However at $800 you could hardly complain. I'm going to get my hands on one to test it so stay tuned for an in depth side by side comparison between this camera,the Canon 5D MKII, and the Canon 7D. Anyway here's a review by someone who got a pre production model.
Canon Rebel T2i Review

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About This Blog

This is a community effort to help further the ongoing education of professionals and hobbyists interested in shooting HD video with Canon's line of professional DSLR's. Namely the Canon 5D MarkII and the recently released Canon 7D. We will also feature work by users of these cameras to give them exposure and to create a place to be inspired by others. This is a friendly effort so if all you bring to the table is negativity kindly go somewhere else. For all suggestions for article topics or if you have an article or film you would like to have published here please send all info to jonjconnor@gmail.com or send me a tweet at @jonconnorfilms

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