Setting the correct depth on the lens mount of Digital Cinema cameras is a critical and precise task. The new Red Null tool makes the process quick and easy. Everybody should have one in their kit. Watch the video to see how it works and how simple it is to use.
For more information, visit ibe-optics.com.
Released last year, the Arri MMB-1 mattebox is a well-made, low cost mattebox that was originally conceived for compact HD cameras such as the Sony PMW-EX1 and EX3. Now Arri has released a group of accessories to expand the use of the MMB-1 for any camera. Watch the video to see how they all work together.
Visit Abel’s Booth C8537 at NAB to see these Arri matteboxes and accessories.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about rolling shutters on electronic cameras and how they do or do not affect the image. The popularity of the Sony PMW-EX1 and EX3 cameras has really stepped up this debate. But what does it actually mean? In brief, a Global Shutter captures all of the information from every photosite on a chip all at once. A Rolling Shutter reads off the photosites line by line. But that’s just the beginning. Let me try to clear up some misnomers and misconceptions.
…continue reading The Global Shutter / Rolling Shutter Debate
Abel Cine Tech just signed on with Air Sea Land as the exclusive worldwide distributor of ASL Gear. Air Sea Land, through their manufacturing channel, ASL Gear, makes unique solutions for HD and Digital Cinema production. The RIP is a sleek bolt-on connector panel which transforms all of the RED One’s little audio and video connectors into industry standard XLR and BNC ports. The RIB connects to the RIP for remote accessory connection and control. ASL Gear also manufactures unique solutions such as the BLuFISH HD compact underwater housing for the Iconix HD POV (HD-RH1 & Studio 2K) cameras and the Toshiba IK-HD1. Read the full Press Release.
Here is a video from InfoTech reviewing ASL Gear’s RED accessories.
Abel has a couple of exclusive products that we developed with Switronix for the RED one camera. The GP-TS-RED is a dual battery adapter that mounts to the RED’s battery mount, and the GP-TS-RED2 is a a dual battery mount that completely replaces the battery mount. There are a couple of other fun items as well. The S-GP-S plate is a v-mount battery pass through, which allows space for the use of other accessories such as the IDX CAM WAVE video transmitter.
Check out the video to see how they all fit together.
These two devices work great together, but there is one little trick that’s good to know. The RED has a slightly unique way of carrying the video signal over HD-SDI. You must manually adjust the signal frequency of the video. It’s not a big deal and in fact most monitors will self-compensate for it. But the carrier signal of the Cam-Wave cannot (it doesn’t know it’s supposed to because it is just a carrier, not a display or recorder).
Why does this matter and what do you do about it? It’s really simple: If you’re shooting at 24fps or 30fps, then the video frequency must be set to 59.97i. If you are shooting at 25fps then the frequency must be set to 50i. I get this question all the time on rental jobs where people have a strange rolling image from the Cam-Wave. Every time it turns out they are shooting 25fps but never switched the camera to 50i. Here’s the menu path to adjust this on the RED:
SYSTEM — MONITOR — HD-SDI — 50i/59.97i.
Takes just a few seconds once you know where to look.
The RED One’s sensor is natively close to daylight-balanced. While one can adjust it electronically to balance to tungsten, what that actually means is that the blue signal is being boosted to match red and green. This can lead to unwanted noise in the blue channel, which can be quite visible on the RED in the darker parts of the frame. The alternative is to instead put a blue filter on the lens to weaken the red and green channels to match the signal of the blue. It is essentially making tungsten light look like daylight to the camera.
Technically speaking, the absolute correct filter for this would be an 80B. This would get the native color temperature of the camera to about 34oo degrees Kelvin, or tungsten. But the problem with the 80B is that it blocks an enormous amount of light — about 1.5 stops worth. That makes for some pretty hard shooting on tight interiors with a bunch of hot tungsten lights all around. So a better solution is the 80D. This filter only eats about 1/3 of a stop and corrects the color close enough so that the modest boost of the blue channel still required does not raise any additional noise in the signal.
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