Monthly Archives: July 2015

Fujinon/Fujifilm 4K Day at Sony DMPC

Thursday, August 13 — Fujifilm is hosting a 4K Day with a preview of the new 4K IS-mini and Fujinon’s latest 4K zoom lenses at the DMPC in Culver City. There will be guest speakers throughout the day and hands-on time. All of the Fujinon lenses will be paired with Sony 4K cameras: including the F55, F65, FS7 and the new HDC-4300 2/3″ 4K Broadcast Studio Camera. read more…

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Filming in Israel and Band Pro Open House

The Israeli film market is seeing changes in production. Even some of the more prominent movies are being shot with basic DSLRs or even iPhones. There’s a shift in what filmmakers essentially need and use to make their films. To address this, the 4th Band Pro Film and Digital Open House in Israel took place on July 30th with hands-on product demos and in-depth technical seminars. read more…

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Canon 4 Million ISO Full-Frame Video

C-Impossible. Canon’s current catchphrase is “See Impossible.” Canon’s new ME20F-SH Multi-purpose Camera could be called “C-Impossible” — a companion to the C300/100/500 for low-light, no-light, and night cinematography. It fulfills Canon Managing Director Mr. Maeda’s vision of filming a black crow on a moonless night. With a sensitivity equivalent to more than 4 Million ISO –the C-Impossible shoots Full HD 1080p video with 3G HD-SDI and HDMI connectors for external recording.  It has a full frame 20×36 mm CMOS sensor with 2.26 million pixels. Each pixel is 19 microns. (Current Cine cameras have pixels ranging from 3 to 8 microns. Nikon D810 =4. 88 μm, Sony a7S=8.4 μm, and Canon EOS-1D X=6.94 μm.) read more…

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Talamas Boston Filter Day

Talamas Boston Filter Day  WHEN: Tuesday, July 28th, 10am-3pm WHERE: Talamas Sales and Rentals COST: This is a free event. Register here Ira Tiffen, VP of the Motion Picture and Television Filter Division of Schneider Optics, Inc. will give a lecture with stills and video examples covering the essentials of filter technology: how filters are constructed; how they handle light; how to use them. The talks will highlight… read more…

Preston Light Ranger 2 Updates

Preston Cinema is shipping the new Light Ranger 2 and they are now working on some major productions. One big surprise is how great the range is. Initial specs put the far distance at around 40-60 feet. Actual practice is astoundingly several hundred feet. And the close distance is several millimeters in front of the lens. Updates were shown at Cine Gear. read more…

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ARRI Alexa Mini Factory Visit

I visited ARRI in Munich this May to get a first-hand look at assembly of the Alexa Mini. This is a reprint from the report in FDTimes Issue 70 — June 2015. read more…

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Canon HDR Monitors

At NAB, Canon showed a prototype HDR 4K monitor. That led to some questions for Mr. Shinichi Yamato, head of the Display Product Business Unit of Canon Inc, Japan, and Mr. Hitoshi Doi, Future Product & Solution Group at Canon U.S.A. read more…

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Leica M PL Mount

The Leica M PL Mount lets you attach PL mount cine lenses onto Leica M (Typ 240) and M Monochrom (Type 246) rangefinder cameras. Of course, you’ll want to use Leica Summilux-C and Summicron-C primes, but the adapter will work with almost any other PL cine lens. read more…

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Leica’s new M Monochrom (246)

Leica’s new M Monochrom (Typ 246) was introduced in May. We spoke with Jesko von Oeynhausen, the Leica M Monochrom Product Manager. “The sensor for the Leica M (Typ 240 and 246) was designed and constructed specifically for photography with Leica M-Lenses. Thanks to the use of only one cover glass instead of three, the number of air-to-glass surfaces is reduced from six to only two. This means that less light is absorbed, fewer reflections occur, and more light can reach the sensor. On top of this, the cover glass used for the sensor in M-Cameras is also multi-coated to reduce reflections…” read more…

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Alexa Mini ActionProducts AKS

ActionProducts in Switzerland has a new line of accessories for the ARRI Alexa Mini. Like their modular lineup for RED, ActionProducts equips Alexa Minis with everything you can dream of to configure the Mini for everything from an A-Camera package to hand-held, rig, stabilized or wireless operation. read more…

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Sony 4K SxS Memory Player PMW-PZ1

How to play back 4K? Especially without a computer. The Sony PMWPZ1 Player is shipping now. One just landed in our lab. Eject an SxS Card from your Sony F55 or FS7 and pop it into the PZ1 Player. Push the play button. Pristine 4K plays on your giant 4K TV or Reference Monitor via 3G/HD-SDI (x4) or HDMI. You can also play back from an external hard drive via USB3. Sony makes rugged, rubber-bumpered (PSZHA2T 2TB HDD) drives up to 2 TB. You can also clone your SxS card to these drives. As mentioned before–no computer necessary. read more…

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NAC Open House in Tokyo

NAC Image Technology’s annual Open House event was held on June 24 and 25 at Toei studio in Oizumi, Tokyo. Around 400 visitors attended during the two days. There were two parts to the event: an exhibition of equipment at a film studio and presentations at a preview theater.  Mr. Franz Kraus, Managing Director of ARRI, lectured to a full house (“Better Motion Pictures on… read more…

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The Business of the Business: Matt Danilowicz, CEO Vitec Videocom

Matt Danilowicz, CEO Vitec Videocom: “Our marketplace is moving much faster than it ever has before. I feel like there are more changes, more people entering the business… All of those things require a faster and more powerful response from companies… I think the market’s always going to be tiered. It’s going to be the high-end of the pyramid where people really demand the best and they have to have it and absolutely are going to pay for it. Then you have an intermediate part of the market where people are going to aspire to have those products. Maybe they can’t always afford them. And then you have the part of the market that’s growing the fastest, that’s broadening the fastest: all the people who are entering the business and buying their first camera, buying their first tripod…” read more…

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Even More Gear at Cine Gear

More products and people at Cine Gear Expo in LA on June 5-6. Photos by Jon Fauer. Click on any picture in the thumbnail grid for larger lightbox view.  

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