Panasonic just released new firmware for the HPX300. This is a big update with some nice feature improvements. First is the FBC function that Panasonic announced a couple months ago. FBC stands for Flash Band Correction, which reduces the appearance of flash bands that occur on CMOS chips. That’s the banding you see when a flash (from a still camera or lightning) is captured on video.  This function works in 1080/60i and 720/60p, and from my tests it seems to do the  job – see my video example below. Also they have reduced the video noise in 1080 24p, 25p, and 30p modes. The effect seemed noticeable right away. There are also several other updates including better support for E-Series P2 cards. If you have the HPX300 then download it HERE. And you can read all about the new firmware HERE.

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Note: Some banding is not corrected for because of the red eye correction on my flash, which varies flash output. FBC seems to do better when given a large exposure difference.

This past week, a strike team from Abel Cine Tech made a visit to the Windy City’s Fletcher Camera to announce and demonstrate the new Phantom HD Gold high-speed digital camera. More than 100 industry experts from Chicago and the midwest attended three seminars. Top name tabletop cinematographers, agency executives, producers and digital imaging technicians were among the groups. The opening night on Wednesday June 23 was a Digital Cinema Society event followed by two seminars on Thursday – the morning oriented to producers and the afternoon to the tech community.

Each session was first introduced by Tom Fletcher, owner of Fletcher Camera the long time purveyor of high-end film and digital imaging equipment in Chicago. Abel’s Phantom Product Manager, Moe Shore, then announced the July availability of Phantom HD Gold. The new Phantom HD Gold features advancements in overall image quality, with blacker, more stable blacks and more flexible digital video outputs, among a host of other improvements. After the Gold announcement, the Abel Sales Team was introduced, including Frank Somma, National Sales Director; Jonathan Epner, Director of Sales; and Kari Hess, who helped organize the events and heads Productions Sales at Abel’s new sales office in Chicago.

Each session was then turned over to Abel’s resident Applications Specialist (and prolific blogger!) Mitch Gross. Mitch engaged the groups with an in-depth description of technical specifications along with stunning images shot with the Phantom. A compelling comparison of high-speed film cameras against Phantom HD revealed overwhelming advantages of the digital Phantom in terms of cost and on-set workflow. A live tabletop demonstration utilizing the first Phantom HD Gold was shown on three large plasma screens in front of each audience. Mitch did a liquid pour and operated the camera single-handedly, reinforcing Phantom’s ease of use. Various frame rates, resolutions and shutter angles were experimented with, based on requests from attendees, followed by an informal question and answer session with Abel staff.

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Time-lapse refers to a shot that follows a transition in time, like an entire sunset in a matter of seconds, or the flowering of a plant in under a minute. It’s accomplished by taking a few frames over the course of a longer interval, and when shown at a faster frame rate, creates the illusion that the event happened in a much shorter time. It’s different from stop-motion photography, where the frame is manually exposed just once, and then time is taken to change the scene. Here, the interval of time between exposures can vary greatly. With time-lapse photography, the interval remains the same.

…continue reading Time-Lapse Recording

We’ve had such a great response to our instructional videos and “At the Bench” series that we decided to start an Abel channel on Vimeo. Now you can watch all these videos in HD from one convenient place.

So, check us out at vimeo.com/channels/abelcinetech, and be sure to subscribe to stay on top of the latest releases from the Abel tech team.

“ENG Essentials” is a new series of articles and videos aimed at assisting anyone who owns a professional video camera. At Abel, we support camera owners everyday and this is just another way of us extending our service to you.

In the first part of this series, I will be covering the process and art of matching cameras. I will show how I adjust one camera to match, or at least come close to, the look of another. This is an essential process when working with multiple cameras, and your editor will praise you for it. I’ll be using DSC Labs Charts, Leader scopes, and our custom built white sphere to match the cameras. And to make this really challenging, I will be matching a Sony PMW-EX3 to a Panasonic Varicam 3700! The series will be in three parts: White Shading, Gamma Matching, and Color Matching. So stop by again soon to check on my progress.

The White Shading & White Offset Seciton is now online.

Panasonic has posted several new pieces of firmware and software on their support desk. These are big updates so get them right away if you use P2 products. You can find them all at the Panasonic AV Support Desk. Here is the list of the updates:

1) Firmware for the HPX170/HVX200/HVX200A to enabled full support for the E-Series cards.

2) Mac Drivers for working with P2 Cards – everyone needs this.

3) A new AVC-Intra Decoder for Final Cut Pro

4) Mac AVCCAM Viewer for playing back AVCHD footage. (Also downlaod the AVCCAM Transcoder & AVCCAM Restorer while you are at it).

Arri has officially released their new 6×6 compact mattebox, the MB28. It is similar to the MB20-II in design, and is far more compact, lightweight, and less expensive than the supermax MB14.

The MB28 features three 6.6×6.6 trays.  The front two rotate together, and the rear rotates independently. Top and side flags are included, as well as a swingaway arm for 19mm or 15mm studio rods and full clearance on even the Optimo 24-290.