Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

HDSLR Gear That Saves the Day

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I’ve been working on a short film project recently with my church (along with our in-house video director/my very good friend Nick, and some very talented volunteers). The short film is something we plan to use as part of our Easter morning service later this month.  We’re shooting it entirely on the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D. We shot most of the scenes in one day at two locations (around 25 total set ups for a 16+ hour shooting day).  Yesterday, we wrapped up with the intro scene, which calls for the lead character in a vehicle talking on a cell phone.

I thought I would share some of the random little tools that really saved the day and helped us get the shots (and audio) that were critical to this production. [Read more…]

Nikon D5100 Prices, Pre-Orders and Availability

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Now that the Nikon D5100 is officially out of the gate, you may be interested to know that the US price is $799.95 (body only) and $899.95 with an 18-55mm VR kit lens.

You can find it for pre-order or notification status at the following links. It’s scheduled to ship this month (April 2011).

Nikon D5100 (body only):  Amazon | B&H Photo

Nikon D5100 w/ 18-55mm VR lens:  Amazon | B&H Photo

Nikon ME-1 Stereo Mic: Amazon

The US price for the Nikon ME-1 hot shoe mic is $179.95.  However, if you’re going to spend that much on a hot shoe mic, spend a little extra and get the Rode VideoMic Pro instead.

Nikon D5100 Incoming [Updated: It’s Here]

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With press releases already leaking out on the web, it looks like Nikon is about to lower the hammer with its new D5100 DSLR, which sports a 16.2MP sensor, 11-point AF system and 1920 x 1080/24p video capture.  Other juicy specs are a new HDR feature, video special effects and 4 fps still frame rate.

The most obvious new addition to the D5100 is a swivel LCD, which attaches to the side of the camera.  This is a bit of change up from the D5000, which sported a swivel LCD that attached to the bottom of the camera. The LCD itself is a solid 921k-dot res display that weighs in at a full 3 inches.

The D5100 offers a sensitivity range of ISO 100-6400, and is expandable to ISO 25,600.  What’s more, the D5100 sports a new “Night Vision” mode for video capture that records in low light up to ISO 102,400.

The D5100 captures both 1080p and 720p at 24p or 30p frame rates.  Notably absent is the ability to record at 60p when shooting 720p video (like the Canon 7D and 60D models).  Of course, this isn’t new to Nikon HDSLRs – with the recent Nikon D7000 locked down to the same frame rate options.  Manual exposure control is confirmed for video mode. [Update: DPReview confirms that the D5100 suffers from the same, frustrating aperture lock that cripples the D7000 when in Live View mode.  This seriously hampers the use of the D5100 as a video-centric tool.]

Those interested in using the D5100 to capture video will find the addition of a stereo mic input will be a welcomed bonus.

Speaking of mic inputs, Nikon looks to be launching the Nikon ME-1 stereo mic alongside the D5100 – although its spec sheet is hardly inspiring.  Nikon Rumors picked up word that the frequency response only covers 70Hz to 16kHz.  It will be powered by the camera and will sport a switchable low-cut filter (not sure what the low-cut boundaries are though).  Given that the ME-1 appears to be strictly intended for using on-camera and mounted in the hot shoe of a consumer-grade camera, it might be good enough.

[via Nikon Rumors]

Full Nikon Canada (replaced with US version) press release follows. [Read more…]

Editing Video in Photoshop

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If you’ve been reading Photography Bay over the last couple of weeks, you already knew that you can edit video in Photoshop CS5 Extended. If you missed the prior post, check out the Bokeh 2 review where I applied a tilt-shift effect to a video file.

Still yet, I know this may be news to a lot of folks, and that’s one of the reasons it was highlighted at the Photoshop World Keynote. Check out the short clip below that shows off a few features such as adjusting curves and making lens correction adjustments to video files. [Read more…]

Sony CLM-V55 Portable Monitor In-Stock

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The sweet little 5-inch monitor that Sony introduced at CES 2011 is now in stock and shipping for $399.

The CLM-V55 has a clip-on attachment for mounting on Sony Alpha hot shoes or a standard hot/cold shoe as found on other DSLRs and camcorders.  The 5-inch display has a 800 x 480 resolution and offers a 1:1 zoom to full HD images. It connects via HDMI and sports a headphone jack so you can monitor audio as well.

Find the CLM-V55 here on B&H.

Chase Jarvis and Vincent Laforet Talk About Filmmaking and Photography

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If you’ve got half an hour to spare, the above video features a great casual conversation between Chase Jarvis and Vincent Laforet.  There are lots of little nuggets of wisdom in here, and it’s just fun to hear the guys talk shop for a while.  You can find the full 2-hour version on iTunes as a podcast.

If you want more of the nuts and bolts of HDSLR technique, check out the recent creativeLIVE course taught by Laforet.  It’s about 20 hours of content for $149.

NAB 2011 Report

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NAB 2011 takes place in Las Vegas from April 9-14 this year.  If you are familiar with the NAB Show, it serves as the cornerstone trade show for the National Association of Broadcasters and, in recent years, has featured new product announcements that are very relevant to the growing HDSLR user base.

Relevant exhibitors for the HDSLR crowd include Adobe, Avid, Camtrol, Canon, Cinevate, Hoodman, IDC Photo Video, iKAN, Jag35, Leica, Litepanels, Manfrotto, Marshall, Red Digital Cinema, Red Giant Software, Redrock Micro, Sennheiser, Singular Software, Sony, Tiffen, Tokina and Zacuto. [Read more…]