Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
The VariZoom VZ-TK75A tripod and fluid head is a nice entry-level video tripod. Let me be up front though, this is not a pro-grade combo that’s going to compete with your Miller and Sachtler units, but for those enthusiasts out there dipping your toes into the video realm, this little package is an affordable and capable starting point. [Read more…]
They say adding motion to a timelapse is the way to make it really shine. The folks at Beepshow used an Air France jet as a 5000 mile dolly to capture this cool timelapse on an 11 hour flight from San Francisco to Paris.
The timelapse was captured with a Canon 5D Mark II and 16-35mm f/2.8 lens. Audio was mixed on an iPad and the whole thing was edited in iMovie and After Effects CS5.
Yet another reason to always get the window seat.
Ahead of NAB 2011, Canon has announced an update to the EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro. If you aren’t familiar with the plug-in, it aids with importing .mov files from Canon DSLRs. It transcodes the files to Apple ProRes 422 much quicker and easier than using MPEG Streamclip, which is what we used before the plug-in originally came out. The plug-in works with files from the Canon 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 7D and 60D.
One of the previously frustrating features of the plug-in is that you have to maintain the folder structure of the CF card on which the files were captured – even if you move the files to your hard drive before you import the footage. The updated version will make this process easier and allow users to import files from any folder “without needing to mirror the folder structure on the camera itself.”
Although many FCP users have developed a consistent workflow to accommodate this file structure when importing Canon EOS movie files, it will be a welcomed change to take this superfluous step out of the workflow.
Version 1.2 of the EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro will be available to download for free on April 25, 2011. Watch the front page for the link as soon as it is available.
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…]
Stephen Carr shot the clips in the below video with a Canon Rebel T2i. To get the HDR-effect, he processed each frame through Photomatix. [Read more…]
In the above video, Ryan Hargrave put his Canon 7D to work in the above video by capturing Small JPEG files at the full burst speed, which he then stitched together in post to create this old 8mm camera effect.
Hargrave gives a good description of how he handled the media in post on his Vimeo page.
The above sample clip demonstrates the HDRx voodoo that RED is working in its new EPIC camera. The shot from dimly lit tunnel to a sunny afternoon maintains the aperture and other exposure settings during the transition. No one is pulling aperture via a remote during the transition.
Using the new HDRx feature in the EPIC, the camera makes the previously-impossible now possible. The HDRx functionality works by recording two exposures and blending them together, which allows the camera to hold the highlight details in the clouds after emerging from the tunnel in the above video. The exposures are captured simultaneously, with the underexposed frame recorded at a fraction of the shutter speed of the “normal” frame. Not even film has this kind of latitude.
Bokeh 2 is a plug-in from Alien Skin that allows you to create all kinds of focus effects and vignettes. As with other plug-ins from Alien Skin, Bokeh 2 is now updated to deliver full 64-bit support with Photoshop CS5 (it also works with Lightroom 3). And, it is quite peppy even with my aging Windows Vista machine.
Software products often tend to get pushed back in the review cycle in favor of camera reviews here on Photography Bay, which is a bit of a shame for the cool stuff like Bokeh 2. When I got around to actually putting Bokeh 2 to use, I was really amazed at the power that it gives you to take your images so far beyond what is practical when using Photoshop or Lightroom alone. [Read more…]
Following the recent release of the new MacBook Pro models, Intel looks to add another Thunderbolt arrow to its quiver of supporting cast. Intel recently revealed Canon’s Video Products Group is “excited” about the performance it can offer the video content production market. [Read more…]
For all of you HDSLR users out there, B&H Photo is now carrying PluralEyes and DualEyes. If you aren’t familiar with this software, it’s a mix of genius engineering and voodoo. You can check out my previous PluralEyes review to learn more this great program.
You can find the software (available for immediate download) on B&H Photo’s website here.