Category Archives: equipment

This was posted by Mitch over at Planet 5D

common twitter hashtag for HDSLR at NAB = #NABhdslr
Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by planetMitch in Other

If you’re going to NAB and are posting about HDSLR, please use the #NABhdslr hashtag! We’ve contacted other bloggers and twitter friends and proposed using this tag for the benefit of everyone who is interested in HDSLR gear.
For those who can’t go to NAB, NAB is an insanely big show and if you only look for the ‘official’ #nabshow tag, you’ll also be flooded with broadcast stuff you may not be interested in! Having a specific HDSLR hashtag (#NABhdslr) should make it easy for readers to find NAB HDSLR posts.

After many years of not going to the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, it is time to go again. This is the biggest media show of the year and even though it has the name broadcaster in it, this show has evolved into the biggest media equipment show.

The HDSLR revolution is well represented at this convention now. All the manufactures will be there as well a lot small guys who do speciality equipment and software. These are the booths I like to find. The majors are coming around to make things for us frugal filmmakers as well. I will report on what I find.

If you can make it there are free passes to the trade show, which is the best part of the convention. (Warning: your feet will be exhausted at the end of the day.)

There will be a free HDSLR Meetup at the Hard Rock Cafe on Monday at 5pm right after the trade show closes.

Also on Tuesday, April 12, there will be the Final Cut Pro Supermeet at Bally's Hotel Event Center. Doors open 4:30PM for SuperMeet Digital Showcase featuring 35 vendors and Plenty of networking. How Much? $15.00 per person plus ticket fee. $10.00 for Students with valid ID plus ticket fee. $20.00 at the door. (Ticket will include 2 raffle tickets)

This will be very good for video editors.  We are talking 4 streams of uncompressed HD video playing at once on a laptop.  Major throughput.

Intel Press Release:

Blazingly Fast Data Transfer Combines with HD Display Connectivity to Enable New Usages and Peripheral Devices

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Thunderbolt™ technology is a new high-speed PC connection technology that runs at 10Gbps.
Thunderbolt technology supports both data and display on a single cable, enabling greater simplicity, flexibility and new and exciting ways to use a PC.
Apple* is the first customer to offer Thunderbolt technology, coming first on its new line of MacBook* Pro laptops.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 24, 2011 – Intel Corporation today announced the availability of Thunderbolt™ technology, a new high-speed PC connection technology that brings together high-speed data transfer and high-definition (HD) display on to a single cable. Running at 10Gbps, Thunderbolt technology can transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds. This Intel-developed technology is coming to market through a technical collaboration with Apple, and is available first on Apple's new line of MacBook Pro laptop computers.

Wait Less. Do More.
The vision for Thunderbolt technology (formerly codenamed “Light Peak”) is to move media faster, simplify connections between devices, and foster new and exciting ways to build and use PCs. Combining high-speed data and HD video connections together onto a single cable is instrumental to achieving that vision. Thunderbolt technology delivers this via two communications methods, or protocols — PCI Express* for data transfer and DisplayPort* for displays. PCI Express has the flexibility to connect to almost any type of device, and DisplayPort can drive greater than 1080p resolution displays and up to eight channels of audio simultaneously. Thunderbolt technology is compatible with existing DisplayPort displays and adapters. All Thunderbolt technology devices share a common connector, and let individuals simply daisy-chain their devices one after another, connected by electrical or optical cables.

Thunderbolt technology is designed to meet the demands of serious HD media creators. For example, videographers can unleash their creativity using high-bandwidth audio and video capture/mixing devices, and get both low latency and highly-accurate time synchronization for real-time processing. At 10Gbps, larger media files are transferred faster so there's less time spent waiting to watch and edit videos. Data can be backed up and restored quicker, so there's less waiting for archived content. For mobile PC users, it means having a single connector on their ultra-thin laptop that extends their high-speed media and HD display capabilities at home or in the office. Thunderbolt technology is complementary to other I/O technologies that Intel continues to support.

“Working with HD media is one of the most demanding things people do with their PCs,” said Mooly Eden, general manager, PC Client Group, Intel. “With Thunderbolt technology, Intel has delivered innovative technology to help professionals and consumers work faster and more easily with their growing collection of media content, from music to HD movies. We've taken the vision of simple, fast transfer of content between PCs and devices, and made it a reality.”

“We're thrilled to collaborate with Intel to bring the groundbreaking Thunderbolt technology to Mac users,” said Bob Mansfield, Apple's senior vice president of Mac Hardware Engineering. “With ultra-fast transfer speeds, support for high-resolution displays and compatibility with existing I/O technologies, Thunderbolt is a breakthrough for the entire industry and we think developers are going to have a blast with it.”

Thunderbolt technology is powered by an Intel controller chip, and uses a small connector suitable for mobile devices that will be included in products supporting the technology. Several innovative companies have announced Thunderbolt technology-based products, or currently plan to support Thunderbolt technology in upcoming products, including Aja*, Apogee*, Avid*, Blackmagic*, LaCie*, Promise*, and Western Digital*. Intel is working with the industry on a range of Thunderbolt technology-enabled products including computers, displays, storage devices, audio/video devices, cameras, docking stations and more.

My Canon 60D has a swivel LCD little brother.

Canon UK Press Release

Capture every moment of your adventure with the new EOS 600D

United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 7th February 2011 – Canon today announces the launch of the EOS 600D – a compact, lightweight Digital SLR (DSLR) that makes capturing exciting, fun and creative images easier than ever. The perfect choice for aspiring photographers looking for a combination of outstanding image quality and ease-of-use, the EOS 600D sits at the top of Canon’s entry-level EOS line-up, above the existing EOS 550D and the new EOS 1100D.

Capturing stunning images and Full HD video has never been easier, thanks to a range of automatic shooting modes that beginners can use to instantly express their creativity. A Feature Guide has been added to the user interface to help you learn about the camera as you use it, helping to develop your photography skills. With an unrivalled range of EF lenses, Speedlites and other accessories to enhance your shooting, the EOS system holds the key to the perfect shot – wherever your journey takes you, and whatever the scene before you.

First-class image quality
The EOS 600D provides all the tools to capture beautiful stills and HD movies. Amazing picture detail is provided by a high-resolution 18 Megapixel (MP) APS-C CMOS sensor, which combines with 14-bit DIGIC 4 processing so you can capture the wonder of a beautiful blue sky and enjoy exceptionally smooth gradients between colours. The camera’s low light shooting capability enables you to achieve clear, natural images in darker conditions, with an ISO range of 100-6400 that can be further expanded to 12800.

Great for shooting pets, children or wildlife, the EOS 600D allows high-speed shooting at 3.7 frames per second (fps), enabling you to capture fast-moving action. Each shot will be captured in sharp detail thanks to the 9-point Auto Focus system, which can track subjects using the auto focus points across the frame. Even more accurate focusing is providing by an extra-sensitive central AF Sensor, while the iFCL Metering system from the semi-professional EOS 7D features a 63-zone Dual-layer metering sensor, helping you to ensure your shot is correctly exposed, even in difficult lighting conditions.

Easy shooting, amazing results
New fully-automatic Scene Intelligent Auto mode makes it easy for you to capture outstanding quality shots with almost no effort. Allowing you to focus exclusively on framing your picture, Scene Intelligent Auto analyses the scene for you and automatically picks the best settings to capture it. Your images will look better than ever thanks to a new ‘Auto’ Picture Style, which automatically makes fine adjustments to colours while you focus on capturing the scene you want.

The EOS 600D also makes it easy for you to instantly add creativity to your pictures. Change the atmosphere of a scene with Basic +, which allows you to pick the mood you want to achieve from one of eight options, including ‘Warm’, ‘Cool’ or ‘Intense’. Whether you’re shooting landscapes, portraits, or close-up macro shots, Basic + makes it easy to capture the perfect image.

Simple, flexible, artistic
Ideal for beginners, a Feature Guide has been added to the EOS 600D’s menu system, offering a brief description of each key setting and its effect, helping you learn more about the camera as you use it.

You can also shoot overhead, at ground level or around corners with the EOS 600D’s Vari-angle 7.7cm (3”) 3:2 ratio ClearView LCD. Rich on-screen detail is provided in 1.04 million-dot resolution, and the side-mounted hinge allows users to comfortably and creatively shoot from a range of unusual angles, or when using a tripod. A smudge-resistant fluorine coating and three anti-reflection coatings also ensure you can see the LCD in clear detail, wherever you are.

Allowing you to apply your own stamp to your shots, the EOS 600D is perfect for experimenting with different Creative Filters. Fish-eye-Effect creates a barrel-shaped distortion similar to a fish-eye lens, and you can instantly turn a scene into a small-scale model with Miniature Effect. Toy Camera Effect, Grainy B/W and Soft Focus offer additional options, allowing you to experiment with your images in a number of different ways.

Capture stunning detail with EOS movie
Capture your memories in superb clarity with Full HD (1080p) movie mode, while a dedicated movie shooting mode means you can switch between stills and HD video instantly. You can also reach distant subjects using new Movie Digital Zoom function, which crops the centre of the sensor from 3x to 10x while still maintaining Full HD quality – great for capturing wildlife on a safari holiday.

Enabling you to capture more engaging videos, Video Snapshot mode shoots video in two, four, or eight second segments, creating clips that are short, easy to edit and of similar lengths to clips used in most TV programmes. As they are recorded, the clips are saved to a Video Snapshot Album and combined into one movie. A soundtrack can be added by choosing from tracks uploaded to the camera and the result viewed on the camera’s LCD, or on an HDTV via the built-in mini HDMI connection.

The EOS system – unrestricted creativity
As your skills develop, the EOS 600D grows with you. As part of Canon’s EOS range, the camera is compatible with the unrivalled selection of EF lenses and a range of accessories, so you can add to your kitbag as your ability and style develops. Over 60 lenses provide you with unlimited creative possibilities: wide-angle lenses capture sweeping landscapes, macro lenses capture the most intricate beauty of the tiniest creatures, and telephoto lenses make distant scenes appear as if they are right in front of you.

Using Canon’s range of Speedlite flashes and the EOS 600D’s Integrated Speedlite Transmitter, you can also experiment with different lighting techniques, or use your flash off-camera, to give your subject or scene a completely different look and feel. With the Easy Wireless function, the camera will also take care of the complicated settings whilst you focus on framing and lighting your scene as you wish.

Introducing the new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Launching with the EOS 600D is the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II – a new kit lens that provides excellent performance for beginners. A lightweight construction makes it easy to carry, and Canon’s acclaimed optical Image Stabilization also minimises the risk of blur, allowing photographers to use shutter speeds 4 stops slower while still maintaining a blur-free shot. The EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II will succeed the existing EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS in Canon’s lens line-up.

EOS 600D – key features:
• 18-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Scene Intelligent Auto mode
• Full-HD EOS Movie
• On-screen Feature Guide
• 3.7fps continuous shooting
• Wide-area 9-point AF
• 1,040k-dot vari-angle 7.7cm (3.0”) screen
• Basic+ and Creative Filters
• Built-in wireless flash control

Pricing and Availability
• Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and DIGIC 4 Imaging (Body Only)
is available from early April 2011, priced at $799 US £679.00/€819.00 RRP incl. VAT.
• Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera and DIGIC 4 Imaging with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
is available from early April 2011, priced at $899 US, £769.00/€929.00 RRP incl. VAT.

Preview @ DPreview

You Panasonic AF-100 & GH series owners can now directly mount Carl Zeiss and Schneider-Kreuznach lenses.

Olympus Press Release

Carl Zeiss AG joins the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group

Announced jointly by Olympus Imaging Corp. (President : Masaharu Okubo) and Panasonic Corporation in 2008, the Micro Four Thirds System standard has rapidly grown in popularity. Now, support for the standard is expanding with the decision of Carl Zeiss AG to join the Micro Four Thirds System standard, and the company is releasing lenses compliant with the standard.

For more than 160 years, the lenses of Carl Zeiss AG have been defining the state-of-the-art in optical technology. Now, as Carl Zeiss AG joins the Micro Four Thirds System group, ZEISS HD Video lenses will be available to users of Micro Four Thirds cameras, contributing to a vastly expanded product line and enhancing the joys of digital imaging with the Micro Four Thirds System.

As the originator of the Four Thirds System and Micro Four Thirds System standards, Olympus Imaging Corp. will continue to develop and enhance the product lineup for both standards to meet the diverse needs of our customers.

Carl Zeiss AG
A long-established optical systems manufacturer based in Germany, founded in 1846 by Carl Zeiss. It develops and manufactures a large variety of optical products such as astronomical telescopes, microscopes, eyeglasses and optical sight devices as well as high-class camera lenses.

Carl Ziess website.

Schneider-Kreuznach Press Release

SCHNEIDER KREUZNACH now a member of the “Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group”

BAD KREUZNACH, 4 February 2011.
Schneider-Kreuznach has joined the “Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group” – a consortium of companies with the objective of improving the possibilities and quality of compact digital cameras.

Developed by Olympus and Panasonic, “Micro Four Thirds” is a standard for lens mounts that is tailored to digital system cameras. “This standard has great potential. It simplifies and improves the options for compact digital cameras and offers an excellent opportunity for the industry as a whole, as well as for us as a lens manufacturer. We are working intensively on a corresponding series of lenses,” says Dr. Josef Staub, CEO of the Schneider Group.

The standard defines the sensor size, the lens mount together with the communication protocol, the aspect ratio and the flange back distance, as well as the optical requirements for production and construction. The
industry standard has been developed deliberately without taking into account conventional lenses, cameras or sensor sizes. In this way, compatibility problems with older components are avoided as is the need to compromise when designing new components.

The forum standard policy means that any member company can make and distribute accessories for the system that meet the standard. It is therefore possible to combine components from different manufacturers.

About the Schneider Group
The Schneider Group specializes in developing and producing high-performance photographic lenses, cinema projection lenses, as well as industrial optics and precision mechanics. The group comprises Jos. Schneider Optische Werke, founded in Bad Kreuznach in 1913, and its subsidiaries Pentacon (Dresden), Schneider Kreuznach Isco Division (Göttingen), Schneider-Optics (New York, Los Angeles), Schneider Bando (Seoul), Schneider Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) and Schneider Optical Technologies (Shenzhen). The company’s main brand is “Schneider-Kreuznach”. It has around 620 employees worldwide, with 330 based in its German headquarters. For years now the group has been a world market leader in the area of high-performance lenses.

Schneider-Kreuznach website

I just posted this to an article on EOS HD. It was about the form factors of HDSLR's vs Video cameras.  I agree for the most part.

This is what I wrote:

Long Live The HDSLR. I don't use all that extra rigs and gear on my Canon 60D. Just did a professional shoot with my 60D with a JuicedLink 454 on the bottom for audio. I mount my Hoodman Hoodloupe on the swivel LCD. (http://halfmac.wordpress.com/2…/) I am ready to go. I have headphone monitoring, XLR's and a video style viewfinder for $500. I Then mount a wireless receiver on the hot shoe of the camera if I am doing interviews.

My secret to handheld? IS lenses. Solves most of the rolling shutter problem and gives me a steady shot. Small lightweight kit. If I have to do a lot of handheld I use a very inexpensive shoulder brace that cost less than $100.

On a recent trip to England a friend forgot his adapter to plug his USA Mac Book power supply into an outlet in the U.K. The solution? He removed the sliding unit with the USA prongs on it and then inserted a standard two hole power connector into the space on the Apple charger. Like the two hole units on many TVs and other electronic units in the USA the U.K. [and many European] power supplies use the same hole configuration, connected at the other end to their particular power plug ins. I can't say for sure but I think this same idea will work with most camera chargers as well.

THE BENEFIT: The cords are cheap and you get a firm connection into local power, something not always possible with adapters plugged into wall outlets. They can fall out or hang loosely and stop charging.

European Plug fits USA Power Adapter