Monthly Archives: September 2010

Atomic Cinematographers

Scrub 3 minutes into the New York Times “Timecast” of September for a scary report on the Hollywood film crews who secretly filmed US nuclear testing from 1955 to 1962. Timecasts are an interesting look at where newspapers and journalism are headed: web TV. And the new generation of smaller, lighter, faster, cheaper hybrid still/video cameras are the technologies enabling… read more…

FDTimes Issue 35 now online

Film and Digital Times Issue 35 is now online. Download the low-rez iPhone/iPad-friendly PDF here. Subscribers: the Hi-Rez printable PDF is ready. Sign in at www.fdtimes.com/members The print edition has gone to press in Amsterdam, Munich and Hollywood. Subscribers’ copies will be in the mail soon. At IBC, from Sept 10-14, pick up a complimentary copy of FDTimes from our sponsors… read more…

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Cooke 5/i Primes Stolen from IBC

On Saturday night, 6 Cooke 5/i Prime Lenses and 4 Cooke Panchro /i Primes were stolen from the showcase of Cooke’s booth at IBC. The lenses and serial numbers are: Cooke 5/i set Cooke 5/i 25mm lens #5025-0103 Cooke 5/i 32mm lens #5032-0103 Cooke 5/i 50mm lens #5050-0103 Cooke 5/i 65mm lens #5065-0103 Cooke 5/i 75mm lens #5075-0103 Cooke 5/i… read more…

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P+S Technik 16Digital SR Mag

Last year, P+S Technik showed a prototype of a digital magazine for Arri 16SR cameras. This year they are almost ready to deliver. The mag has a 2/3″ Thomson sensor and records full 1920×1080 resolution in a visually lossless compressed RAW format on SSD cartridges or HD with a Cineform codec.  Soon, selected customers will be able to buy a… read more…

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Zeiss Master Prime 12 mm

Zeiss is extending their Master Prime Series with a 12 mm T1.3 Its close focus is at 40 cm, the angle of view for ANSI S35 is 90.98°. The front diameter is 156 mm, like the 10 or 12 mm Ultra Prime, so a LMB-4 will fit.

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Zeiss Compact Primes 2 with Micro 4/3rds mount

Zeiss has added the Micro4/3rds mount to their Compact Prime Series, which are now available with PL, Canon EF, Nikon F and Micro4/3rds interchangeable mounts. All the mounts have a support bracket with 1/4″ threaded hole to attach a lens support, if necessary and all CP2 lenses now have an iris with 14 rounded shutter blades. New to the set… read more…

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Element Technica Neutron and Pulsar 3D Rigs

Element Technica 3D rigs come in three sizes: Quasar, Pulsar and Neutron. The Quasar 3D rig is intended for large cameras like the Sony F-23/35, the RED One, Sony F-900, and Alexa. The Neutron is for small cameras like the SI-2K, box cameras or the RED Epic brains. It is extremely small and lightweight, converts from mirror to side by… read more…

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CMotion Camin-2

These guys must love 3D. You need two of everything. Now there’s even a new product. Cmotion, the maker of follow focus and other fine devices  from Vienna, developed the cvolution system. Among other things, it offers basic 3D functionality, like pairing focus or iris for two lenses. The problem has been, for example, if you wanted to be able… read more…

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Screenplane X-Y mount

Sebastian Cramer, inventor of the Mini Skater Dolly, has something new. He wanted to use zoom lenses on his RED cameras for stereography. And, he wanted to be able to zoom during the take. For this, proper alignment of lens and camera is crucial, but hard to achieve. So he came up with a simple,ingenious idea, the X-Y mount. With… read more…

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IBC 2010

Two intrepid Film and Digital Times reporters join me in prowling the halls of IBC in Amsterdam to uncover interesting products. Please welcome Matthias Uhlig and Oli Laperal, Jr.

Cooke 5/i and ARRI Alexas on Scorcese/Richardson 3D “Cabret”

Here’s a sneak preview of an article in our upcoming issue 35 of FDTimes, by Gregor Tavenner, First Camera Assistant on “Hugo Cabret.” There are a lot of firsts being made on “Hugo Cabret.” 1. First major motion picture shot with Cooke 5/i Prime Lenses. 2. First 3D movie for Martin Scorcese and Bob Richardson, ASC. 3. First major 3D movie… read more…

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A Cinematographer’s Tour of Kodak (PDF)

This report could be called “My Trip to Kodak.” I was recently invited to take a whirlwind tour compressing a hundred years of film manufacturing progress into a few fascinating hours. This is not intended to be a technical treatise on how to build your own film factory, but to illuminate the process of film manufacturing so that fellow cinematographers… read more…

A Cinematographer’s Tour of Kodak

I was recently invited to take a whirlwind tour of Kodak in Rochester, compressing a hundred years of film manufacturing progress into a few fascinating hours. This report could be called, “My Trip to Kodak.” It  is not intended to be a technical treatise on how to build your own film factory. My intent was to illuminate the process of film… read more…

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FDTimes Issue 35 Coming Soon

Film and Digital Times Issue 35 will go to press simultaneously in Amsterdam, Munich and Hollywood next week. Printed copies will be mailed to subscribers then. Look for us at IBC, from Sept 10-14. Pick up a complimentary copy of FDTimes from our sponsors or our booth #40 in the publications area between Hall 8 and 9-10-11. We’ll also be… read more…

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Canon EOS 60D

Chuck Westfall took me through the new Canon EOS 60D at Canon Expo 2010. With the same 18-megapixel image sensor as the 7D and the T2i, it’s positioned between the two. The 60D has  a large Vari-Angle 3-inch LCD screen with 1,040,000 dot/VGA resolution and anti-reflective and smudge-resistant coatings for bright viewing from any angle. Another first for the EOS system… read more…

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New Canon S95

This is the successor to Canon’s S90–the camera that we used to shoot all the pictures at Canon Expo 2010, and the camera that most Canon staff seem to buy for themselves. The new Elph-like Canon PowerShot S95 Digital Camera now has 720p HD video . For macro-photography, it uses Canon’s Hybrid IS technology to compensate for close-up camera shake…. read more…

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Another Dorn Good Idea

The latest great idea from iDC Photo Video–rails instead of rods, and they’re standard Gitzo, Manfrotto dovetail size–so they slide right into your tripod head without having to bolt on additional plates. Check it out at Canon Expo 2010.

Canon XF105

Honey, the shrunk the Canon XF305. The new XF105 and XF100 Camcorders are Canon’s smallest professional camcorders. They share most of the same features as their 41% bigger bigger siblings (XF305 and 300) — MPEG-2, 4:2:2, 50Mbps. 2.5 lbs. Single 1/3″ CMOS sensor. 10x zoom (30-304 35mm equiv). The 105 has HD-SDI out and genlock/timecode. You can connect two of… read more…

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Canon 4K Camera

The 4K trail accelerates. Introducting Canon’s small 5.5 lbs, Pixie, er…Vixia size 4K camera. 2/3″ CMOS single sensor. Frame rates above 60 fps. It was working, displaying a crisp and beautiful image on the new 4K Canon monitors. It’s modestly tucked away in a corner. The hairdryer shape and fused 24-480 zoom (35mm equivalent, 20x f1.8-3.8) belie this camera’s potential. I… read more…

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Canon’s Huge Sensors

At Canon Expo 2010, Canon is showing what it believes is the world’s largest CMOS image sensor: 202 x 205 mm. Because its expanded size enables greater light-gathering capability, the sensor is capable of capturing images in approximately one one-hundredth the amount of light required by a Canon professional-model digital SLR camera. In case you’re having trouble finding lenses for this… read more…

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