Sony’s just unveiled their new PVM-740 monitor. It’s a small on-board camera monitor that is the first in the industry to use OLED technology. Gary Mandle from Sony gave me the rundown on all the great features of this new screen.
When Aaton released the Penelope 2-perf/3-perf switchable 35mm camera, there was also talk that a digital back would be following for the platform. At NAB this year, Aaton is showing a working sensor prototype, as well as a design concept model of the new camera, christened the Penelope-Δ (that’s “Delta” for those not up on their Greek). It will capture “beyond 4K” in Uncompressed RAW as well as DNxHD to inexpensive DeltaPacks loaded with raided 2.5″ SSD drives. The CCD sensor was custom made for Aaton by Dalsa with a unique dual 800/100 ISO sensitivity. Penelope continues the Aaton tradition of ergonomic “Cat on the Shoulder” design excellence. Check out some of the clever features of the Penelope-Δ in this video.
The NULL Lens Optical Collimation Tool allows you to set the backfocus on a RED camera with ease and precision. Now the NULL Target accessory allows you to use the tool in virtually any environment. Watch the video to see just how quickly and precisely the NULL Lens & Target combination work together. We’ve now begun shipping to our backordered customers. In addition we are proud to announce that Chrosziel has signed on as the Exclusive European Distributor of the NULL Lens and Target. For the convenience of the REDuser EU community, units will be available for purchase directly through their European Distributor Network.
OConnor Engineering has made industry-standard tripods for decades. Recently the company announced the launch of a camera accessory line, and the first product is the CFF-1 studio follow focus. Full of versatile features and built with OConnor quality, the CFF-1 offers features not available in any other follow focus. Recently OConnor loaned me a prototype unit to test. Abel is taking deposits now, and we expect to ship in April. Take a look at the video to see some of the many features of the CFF-1.
NOTE: The second wheel is an optional accessory and does not come standard with the follow focus. The final unit may look different from this prototype.
When LED lights first entered our industry a few years ago, they were small on-camera units with an array of emitters spitting light out all over the place. The technology has evolved, and now fixtures such as the Outsight Creamsource offer high efficiency lensed light with a variety of functions. Watch the video to see some of the functionality of this new light. Abel is the exclusive North American reseller for Outsight and will introduce Creamsource to the US market at NAB 2010.
Why change the mount on the camera when you can change the mount on the lens? Zeiss will soon ship a version of their Compact Primes in Canon EF mount for EOS cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark II. The Zeiss Compact Primes are designed to cover the full 24mm x 36mm image area of the stills format, and these new lenses will come with the facility to swap out the mount to PL (and who knows, maybe something else in the future?). This makes the Compact Primes the “Everything Lens Set” for use on all popular cameras. These lenses are inexpensive and lightweight, yet built to professional cine standards with integrated gearing and large scales. Stills format lenses often have weak mechanics, nearly-useless focus scales, servo drives with “infinity spin” focus dials, image shift and breathing in the focus, and axial-expansion that hampers use of accessories such as matteboxes & follow focuses. All of these issues are removed with the new Zeiss Compact Prime Series II lenses. Above is a photo of a prototype at the Zeiss factory and the lenses will debut at NAB in April (come visit our booth #C8740).
Not all shoots take place on comfy sound stages. Currently in production, Thunder Perfect Mind takes place almost entirely on an ice-breaker ship off the coast of Antarctica. The movie is shooting on a pair of RED One cameras, as well as the Aaton Penelope 35mm camera, shooting in 2-perf. Much of the shooting is on the open decks of the ship, so the ASL Gear T-Bag is being used to protect the cameras from the salt water spray. At least one shot calls for the camera to start at the waterline pointing at the tip of an iceberg, and then dunk under to see the massive blue ice below.
The gear was rented out of Abel NY, and I built the package for the production to checkout. Putting the Penelope into the T-Bag worked beautifully. Here are some observations from that setup.
For the RED One camera, there’s a special enclosure that allows the use of the RED 5.6” LCD panel as a viewfinder. When the Penelope is in the T-Bag, the production will switch to the ASL Underwater 4” HD/SD SDI montior. We used a small AJA converter box to transform the Penelope’s composite video signal into a 4×3 SD-SDI feed. Everything is powered off of the camera’s batteries.
While the movie is mostly shooting on prime lenses, I took the opportunity to try out an Angenieux Optimo 15-40 on the Penelope inside the T-Bag (see picture below). There’s so much space inside the splash housing that the little zoom almost disappears! In fact, with a little wiggling we can even get the Angenieux Optimo 17-80 to fit.
