Do you Tango? Students who attended last weekend’s workshop hosted by Abel LA and taught by veteran instructor and respected operator Peter Abraham of Tiffen Steadicam now can! The hugely successful two-day workshop gave students the opportunity to learn hands-on the techniques of flying a camera on a Steadicam Rig. The workshop focused on the fundamentals of setting up a rig, including proper vest adjustment and how to balance a sled. Students were then taught real world techniques such “Tango” and “Don Juan” and tried their hands at flying cameras using the Pilot and the Flyer LE systems, rigs that can handle smaller to mid range cameras ranging from the EX1R to the RED. The class culminated with a long test scene that included navigating doorways and stairs. By the end of the weekend, students were Certified Steadicam Operators and most had discovered sore muscles they didn’t even know they had!

Stop by Abel Cine Tech LA, and Joe Guilfoyle, who was among the newly certified, will be happy show you his “Tango” technique and get you into a rig of your own. For more information on future Steadicam workshops, visit their site, thesteadicamworkshops.com.

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With the growing popularity of HDSLRs, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about doing remote start/stop with these cameras. Today Switronix announced their new Flex DSLR remote, which allows for easy, one-button start/stop with cameras such as the Canon 5D and 7D. Thanks to Ross at Switronix I got to play with it last week; watch my video above to learn more about this new piece of gear. It will be available to purchase on February 8th.

Lately we’ve been getting a bunch of questions on 4.5″ polarizing filters. There are several variations which can get quite confusing for those that are not familiar with them.

So here’s a rundown on the essential parameters:

4.5 inch is in fact the same as 114mm. Different manufacturers use metric or imperial. Likewise, some manufacturers refer to 138mm as 5.5 inch. These are both round filters.

…continue reading 4.5″ Polarizing Filter Variations Explained

Being the gear-head tech nerd that I am, I never thought it possible for me to overload on crepundia electronica (aka tech toys), until I found myself wandering through the 100+ booths at CES devoted to iPhone accessories. It hit me that CES really differs from “pro” technology shows such as NAB or IBC in its focus on marketing: trends, positioning, and hype. That’s not to say that this is a bad thing – a lot of what was shown at CES will soon come to market in a big way, and will directly influence how many of us conduct business or spend our leisure time.

Many have reported that this CES was all about 3D. I would say it was more about profitable 3D. Manufacturers have been showing 3D tech at trade shows for years, but, for the most part, the technology hasn’t changed very much. So, why is 2010 poised to become the “Year of 3D”? Because now there is a way for manufacturers to make money off of it. And this should be a good thing for all of us.

…continue reading Why 3D Will Finally Stick Around

Photo courtesy of Paul Cronin

Paul Cronin of Whitecap Video recently wrote a post on his blog detailing his first impressions of the Sony XDCAM PMW-350 (also known as the EX350) that he bought at Abel. A long-time Abel client, Paul had traveled to New York to attend our Sony EX350/EX1R launch event back in December, and was nice enough to bring along some footage that he had shot over the past year with his EX1.

In his post, Paul provides a pretty thorough round-up of the pros and cons he’s noticed, as well as a few helpful close-up shots of the various menus and controls. Some highlights he mentions are the quick power up (2.5 sec), the “cool” on-camera light options, and the pleasure of having a full size camera with easily accessible controls.

He concludes with: “I am keeping my EX1 as my B camera. With proper shoulder support the EX1/3 are great cameras. But from my first test they cannot match the sharpness, latitude, low noise, and better DOF the PMW-350 offers. Add to this having the endless choice of B4 lens options for your shooting style. The EX line of cameras just keeps getting better and the EX350 is a nice move by Sony!”

Read the full post over at Paul’s blog here.

If you’ve used XDCAM disc media before, you probably know that it writes both high quality video to the disc as well as low res proxy material. This proxy material is great for offline editing. The Sony PDW-F800 and PDW-700 cameras both have this function, as well as the ability to write proxy video to a USB memory stick (firmware 1.51 or higher required). This allows shooters to quickly hand over low res versions of their video without a disc reader.

Here is a quick “How To” guide for both Mac & PC:

…continue reading XDCAM Proxy on a USB Stick

This has been out for a while, but it doesn’t seem to have been widely circulated. Sony has a white paper on S-Log which describes the intended use of S-Log gamma, from production to post. Of particular interest to compositors and colorists are the formulas for translating between S-Log and Linear Light.

Download the S-Log White Paper here.