Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

DaVinci Resolve 15 Now Available

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Unveiled back at NAB 2018, DaVinci Resolve 15 adds an entirely new Fusion page with over 250 tools for compositing, paint, particles, animated titles and more. In addition, DaVinci Resolve 15 includes a major update to Fairlight audio, along with over 300 new features and improvements that professional editors and colorists have asked for.

DaVinci Resolve 15 is available today as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website for all current DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Resolve Studio customers. DaVinci Resolve Studio is available for $299 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. More details and downloads available here on Blackmagic Design’s website.

 

Blackmagic Unveils a New 4K Pocket Cinema Camera

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At its NAB 2018 press conference this morning, Blackmagic announced an update to the wildly popular Pocket Cinema Camera. The new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K captures up to 4K/60p video, as well as windowed HD video at 120p.

It offers 13 stops of dynamic range and uses a full size Micro Four Thirds sensor and lens mount. The body is a new carbon fiber and polycarbon blend for a lightweight design. The new camera features a rethought ergonomics design and a large 5″ touchscreen display. There are dedicated buttons on top of the camera grip for quick access to ISO, shutter speed and white balance. Additionally, the 4K Pocket Cinema Camera offers the ability to capture still images – using a separate, dedicated button apart from the standard video record button on the camera’s grip. [Read more…]

Davinci Resolve 14 Continues to Grow as a Full-Featured NLE

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When Blackmagic Design unveiled Davinci Resolve 12 a couple years ago at NAB 2015, the company raised lots of eyebrows with what it presented as a full-fledged NLE for video editing from start to finish with all the power of Resolve’s color grading tools in it as well. It had a dot-five upgrade last year to give us Resolve 12.5 and this year gets a full version-and-a-half jump with an impressive set of new features. [Read more…]

Blackmagic Updates Video Assist to Version 1.1

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Blackmagic Video Assist-3

Blackmagic has update the Video Assist to version 1.1 to include focus peaking, zebra exposure too, 2x zoom and HDMI timecode. The Video Assist is a $495 HDMI & 6G-SDI recorder and 5″ monitor. It uses SDHC/SDXC memory cards to capture ProRes 10-bit 4:2:2 video and is powered by Canon LP-E6 batteries or AC power.

More details on the original Blackmagic Video Assist announcement.

Fusion 8 VFX Software Free Public Beta Now Available

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Fusion 8

Fusion 8 is a powerful VFX program that is used on tons of Hollywood films like Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Amazing Spider-man 2 and The Hunger Games trilogy, as well as hit TV shows like Battlestar Galactica and Orphan Black.

Before Blackmagic Design purchased Eyeon (the previous developer of Fusion), version 7 was planned to retail for $2500. Version 6 launched at $5000.

Blackmagic released version 7 for Windows for free – with a Fusion 7 Studio version available for $995. Fusion 8 will continue that trend and, for the first time will be available for Mac OS X, as well as Windows. [Read more…]

Blackmagic Camera Setup 2.6 Adds URSA Viewfinder Support

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Blackmagic URSA 4.6K

Blackmagic Design has released Blackmagic Camera Setup 2.6. The new camera software adds support in the Blackmagic URSA for the new URSA Viewfinder that was announced back at NAB 2015.

Additionally, the URSA gets an option to display timecode input by tapping on the timecode display, along with various other performance enhancements and improvements that are not itemized.

More details available here on Blackmagic’s website.

Blackmagic Design Studio Cameras Get Price Drops

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Blackmagic Studio Camera

Blackmagic Design has dropped the prices on its Studio Camera HD and Studio Camera 4K models. The HD model will reduce in price by $300 and the Ultra HD model will reduce in price by $500.

The HD Blackmagic Studio Camera model is now $1,695 and the Ultra HD Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K model is now $2,495.

Blackmagic notes that the reason for the price drop is based on customer feedback regarding the lack of use of the fiber connection. Blackmagic has removed the connection from the cameras and made it an aftermarket accessory that can simply be plugged into the camera.

Personally, I think the biggest detraction from the studio cameras is the lack of lens options. Sure there are plenty of Micro Four Thirds cameras in the world and you can buy an adapter for virtually any other lens mount. However, many users would like to put studio B4 lenses on these cameras and that is just a clunky option.

If Blackmagic had built these cameras with a 2/3″ sensor and a native B4 lens mount, I don’t think they could make them fast enough. Sometimes, a bigger sensor is not always the best option.

How to Add Effects to Audio “Tracks” in DaVinci Resolve 12

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How-to-Add-Effects-to-Audio-Tracks-in-DaVinci-Resolve-12

I’ve been using the new DaVinci Resolve 12 beta for the past week since its release. Not really for mission critical stuff, but duplicating projects when I have extra time and learning the work flow. I’ve said before that the new Resolve is what Final Cut Pro X should have been and I’m thinking more and more like that today.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much in terms of training or forum conversations regarding the little features that matter to my workflow. I was ready to kick Resolve 12 to the curb because there didn’t appear to be a way to add audio effects to an entire track via the Track Mixer.

It’s a little different than other NLEs but it’s not too hard to do. [Read more…]