Monthly Archives: December 2010

Nikon D7000

This is the Nikon that HDSLR users have been waiting for, and the HDSLR that Nikon users are grabbing. Three significant specs stand out: 1080p, 4.78µm pixels, and 25,600 ISO. Need we say more? Yes. The new Nikon D7000 is possibly the most advanced digital Nikon currently available…if you can find one. Stores have been swamped with orders. It has… read more…

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NEX-5 Leica

The prime lens packaged with Sony’s NEX-5 digital still camera is a 16mm f2.8 E-mount (18 mm flange focal depth). But, I wanted faster, sharper, manual. From my collection of Leica M lenses, the venerable “quintessential rangefinder Ernst Leitz Summicron 50 mm f2.0 was a perfect match. It conveniently collapses for unobtrusive transport–although anything with a Leica logo is hardly… read more…

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NEX-5 Directors Finder

Ingredients: 1. Sony NEX-5 Digital Still Camera 2. MTF PL to Sony E Adaptor 3. Hoodman HoodLoupe Unpack Sony NEX-5 Camera. Attach MTF PL Adapter. Attach Hoodman HoodLoupe with thin Velcro strips. Someone will undoubtedly come up with a nice bracket that mounts to the 1/4-20 thread on the bottom of the NEX-5. Zacuto Z-Finder Jr and Pro and Dorn’s… read more…

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Primes by Leica on Sony

The new Sony NEX-5 digital still camera makes an excellent director’s finder. It has an APS-C sensor that is almost identical to Super 35 format: (23.4 x 15 mm), has an accommodating 18 mm flange focal depth, and no mirror to get in the way of PL motion picture lenses. You can order the PL to E mount adaptor from Mike Tapa… read more…

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Alexa in Uruguay

Musitelli Film & Digital celebrated the arrival of their first ALEXA on December 8. Roasted sausages Uruguayan style, chilled beers, and sodas were served to nearly 200 guests and staff. The following morning, a technical workshop was conducted for DPs, Directors, DITs and Camera Assistants. Jeffrey Reyes, ARRI Tech Sales Representative, flew in from his Miami office to assist in the training… read more…

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SOC Awards

The Society of Camera Operators (SOC) has announced the nominees for Camera Operator of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. The black tie awards ceremony will be held on February 5, 2011 at the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, CA. Nominees for Camera Operator of the Year – Feature Film HEREAFTER – Steve Campanelli SALT – Scott Sakamoto THE FIGHTER –… read more…

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Lumières in Lyon

December 12, 2010. We’re in Lyon for the final day of the annual Festival of Lights (Fête des Lumières). It began in 1852. The people of Lyon illuminated the fronts of their houses, churches and buildings with candles. There were no street lights yet; December nights could be bleak and very dark. Lighting designers, architects, gaffers, engineers, filmmakers and video… read more…

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Cinema Style: Bulgari

After mingling with Monet, head to the Bulgari exhibit around the block on the grander side of the Grand Palais: the entrance facing the Place de la Concorde. The architectural space is evening more breathtaking than the exhibit to come. Built in 1900 for the Paris Exposition, the wrought-iron and glass ceiling is a masterpiece of the industrial revolution. Covering… read more…

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Art as Contact Sport

Put on your elbow and shoulder pads. Helmets not required (yet).  Anyone who has lined up for a lift at a European Ski Resort, boarded a Tokyo subway at rush hour, or tried to go against the tide at Grand Central Station will know the feeling. The massive Monet exhibit is one of the greatest gatherings of his work under… read more…

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Angenieux 75th Anniversary

Angenieux gets a new logo, unveils a new building, showroom, studio and more in St. Heand, France. Over 300 guests from all over France and around the world attended the ceremonies on a crisp, beautifully backlit morning at the Angenieux factory. CEO Philippe Parain gave an Oscar-worthy speech, notable for his photographic recall of the names of all the dignitaries,… read more…

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ZEISS Tour (PDF)

Revised and completed updated, our 144 page guide to ZEISS Cine Lenses, construction, and a tour of Carl Zeiss factories in Jena and Oberkochen is now ready to download.

Hotel Scribe at 150.

The Hotel Scribe in Paris celebrates its 150th anniversary today. In this hotel, 115 years ago, the Lumiere Brothers organized the first projected cinema screening. In the Cafe Lumiere, history was celebrated with festive flutes of LED-illuminated cocktails and champagne. Three varieties of smoked salmon and pates were served. History was illuminated, toasted and tasted.

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First Lumiere Screening

115 years ago–December 28, 1895–the first motion picture screening took place in Paris. Auguste and Pierre Lumiere set up their Cinematographe projector (it also worked as a camera and printer) at the Hotel Scribe in the Salon Indien. At the time, it was a billiard room of the Grand Cafe at the corner of Rue Scribe and Boulevard des Capucines. Today,… read more…

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Harry Potter and the Hirth-Toothed Rings

Remember how the wand chooses the wizard in Harry Potter, and how different woods make up different wands? Cinematographers are like wizards. Our wands are the cameras’ handgrips. The first artisanal wooden handgrips came from Aaton, long ago. Now, Peter Denz proposes olive wood handgrips. The olive wood comes from the hills around Lago di Garda in northern Italy. (Excellent sailing,… read more…

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Fujifilm in NY

FUJIFILM Motion Picture Division has opened a sales distribution office in lower Manhattan at 609 Greenwich Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10014. Phone: 212-905-2390. Fax: 212-905-2399. That’s the same building as Abel Cine Tech, LVT subtitling, and around the corner from Technicolor Creative Services.

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ZEISS Book

Revised and completed updated, our 144 page guide to ZEISS Cine Lenses, construction and a tour of Carl Zeiss factories is now ready to Download (17 MB PDF). Here’s an excerpt: In the beginning, for me, there were ZEISS Standards and Super Speeds. On skiing, mountaineering and adventure sports films, ZEISS Standards were perfect. They were about the size of a… read more…

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Happy Holidays: Dec 2010 Issue Online, On Us

Happy Holidays. Download our December 2010 issue, courtesy of Film and Digital Times and our Sponsors. Click here for a Low-Rez 11 MB PDF.

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First Ikonoskop Delivered

The first Ikonoskop A-Cam dll was delivered to Ljud & Bildmedia AB on November 29th in Sweden. Ikonoskop elves are hard at work building a batch of cameras in time for Christmas.

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Follow the T

Stefan Weiss, cinematographer and inventor of the Weisscam, gets the FDTimes Award for best t-shirts at Cinec, color-coordinated to blend into the booth background. The follow-the-T booth looked like a trendy boutique. Instead of fine jewelry, Stefan and his colleagues were showing a fine concept camera. It’s a compact, modular system with multiple configurations for different resolutions, from HD through 4K…. read more…

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