Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

SmartSound Releases FCP X Plugin for Customizing Songs to Fit Your Sequence

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Sonicfire Pro Plugin for FCP X

SmartSound.com is a royalty-free audio library featuring tracks that can be customized with length, instruments and intensity using its proprietary Sonicfire Pro software. It’s pretty powerful stuff that offers timing control, mood mapping, custom length, variations on the tracks and the ability to search all of the tracks directly and make purchases without leaving the software application.

I’m a big fan and frequent user of Smartsound. All of the music from my recent short Nerfed and my intro segments from my CES videos were built inside Sonicfire Pro 5.8.3 and, ultimately, ended up in my final sequences in FCP X. Now, the company has extended the power of Sonicfire Pro with a plugin for Final Cut Pro X, which allows you to use a generator to create a custom length audio track and then select a track from Sonicfire Pro to send to a library within FCP X.

[Read more…]

 

Watch Felix Baumgartner’s 24-mile Free Fall from His Body-Mounted GoPro Cameras

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYw4meRWGd4&w=640&h=360]

On October 14, 2012, Felix Baumgartner ascended more than 24 miles above Earth’s surface to the edge of space in a stratospheric balloon. Millions across the globe watched as he opened the door of the capsule, stepped off the platform, and broke the speed of sound while free falling safely back to Earth.

His max speed was over 800MPH – while enduring a violent spin as a result of little resistance at such high altitudes. While several other cameras were mounted the balloon capsule, none of them captured the experience quite like the GoPro cameras mounted on his helmet and body.

Look for a shorter version of this video tonight during the Super Bowl.

[via GoPro]

10 Features That Make the Sony A7 and A7R Excellent Full Frame Video Cameras

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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzxt3JnCmlk&w=640&h=360]

One of the things I wanted to do during my review of the Sony A7 and A7R was to put the video features through their paces. With the help of my uncharacteristically cooperative kids, I shot the above short, Nerfed, in a few hours using only the Sony A7 and A7R (along with a couple of shots with the GoPro Hero3 that were necessary for the plot). After using these cameras for this fun project and in other ways over the past few weeks, Sony makes a great case for its next generation of full frame cameras. [Read more…]

Rode VideoMic GO Review

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Rode VideoMic GO-2

The Rode VideoMic GO is a latest shoe-mounted shotgun mic that is geared toward amateur and enthusiast shooters who want to add better sound quality to their video-capable compact, mirrorless and DSLR cameras.

Unlike other microphones in the VideoMic series, the VideoMic GO does not require batteries to operate and has no external controls to adjust. You don’t even have to turn the VideoMic GO on to use it. Just plug it in and, literally, go. [Read more…]

Coremelt Launches TrackX, a New Motion Tracking Plugin for Final Cut Pro X

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TrackX Tracking in FCP X

Coremelt has launched new motion tracking tools in the TrackX plugin for Final Cut Pro X that leans on Mocha’s Academy Award-winning Planar Tracking technology to track people and objects in moving shots for compositing directly in FCP X. To track an object for compositing, just draw a shape around the object you want to track and the Mocha tracking engine will lock on and allow you to track text, do screen replacements, replace signs and more. It looks pretty freaking amazing. [Read more…]