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.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

We just received our first shipment of the PMW-350 cameras, including four that went into our rental department. The demo units I received in the past did not have the Fujinon lens that the camera ships with, so this was my first time seeing the new lens. Watch the video above to see my impression of the lens. You might also be interested in the two part series on the 350 camera that I did when the camera was announced.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

As HDSLR cameras are used in more professional applications, we find our clients looking for ways to make them fit within a more traditional on-set workflow. One of the first issues we tackled was monitoring. These prosumer cameras have HDMI outputs, but our clients need HD-SDI feeds. Our solution is portable and battery powered. Check out the video to see what we came up with, and click the link to view the HDMI to HD-SDI Kit for HDSLR on our site.

I guess you could call this “HD Formats for Dummies”, but if you’ve been reading our blog, you are certainly no dummy. There are so many varieties of HD out there and it can all get a little confusing. My aim here is to help organize the different formats and clear up some common misconceptions. To do this I’ve broken down the HD formats into three categories: Resolution, Frequency, and Frame Rate. With these three parameters, you can come up with any HD signal available. Keep in mind that not all the HD formats we will discuss can be sent for broadcast, so I will also point out those formats and how they effect your final product.

…continue reading Making Sense of HD Formats and Frame Rates