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SIGMA fp 2.00 Update

The critics at Cahiers du Cinema espoused a new vocabulary for film students to memorize in the following years: auteur, the director as author and le caméra stylo, writing with the camera as if it were a pen. Actually, a lot of this theory was just that: theory. There was, of course, an entire crew around the camera, behind the author and the pen and the talented cinematographers who liberated the camera from its fixed tripod.

It has been said, at times ironically, that the new wave owed much to the fact that you could avoid pesky Parisian film permits by shooting without a tripod. Nevertheless, Truffaut, Godard, Decaë, Coutard and company would have wept with joy had the SIGMA fp, no larger than a pack of Gauloises, arrived 60 years earlier.

The SIGMA fp camera is the embodiment of an entirely new and  liberated camera, an auteur’s stylo. SIGMA CEO Kazuto Yamaki called it “a deconstructed camera that allows for free and flexible styles that adapt to any genre. It is a camera for the next new wave.”

And now, SIGMA fp gets firmware update 2.00 —sort of like a cinematic spa rejuvenation. It is significant. Read all about it here. read more…

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Canon EOS C300 Mark III Report Reprint

Here is a standalone reprint of the Canon EOS C300 Mark III and CINE-SERVO 25-250 Special Report from FDTimes April 2020.

This is a free, printable 10 MB PDF download. read more…

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Sony VENICE Special Report – April 2018 (PDF)

Updated Sony VENICE Special Report – April 2018 Will be updated again in June 2018 at Cine Gear Expo Download 116-page report:

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ARRI Large Format Camera System (PDF)

This is a standalone, 64-reprint of the ARRI Large Format Special Report from FDTimes February 2018 Issue 86. Download 9 MB PDF here. ARRI ALEXA LF Why Large Format? Stephan Schenk, Marc Shipman-Mueller Klemens Kehrer, Achim Oehler, Thorsten Meywald Building an ALEXA LF ARRI Signature Primes Signature Prime Lens Manufacturing New LPL Mount ALEXA LF Test by Matias Boucard ALEXA LF Dimensions ALEXA… read more…

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ZEISS Factory Tour 2015 (PDF)

ZEISS Factory Tour 2015, Museum of Optics, Interviews, Lenses. 7 MB PDF Free Download. Newly updated September 2015. This is a free online PDF reprint from FDTimes September 2015 Edition along with back issues. 50 pages. read more…

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ARRI Full Factory Tour (PDF)

Special for Camerimage 2014. Free Reprint and Update from FDTimes issues since September 2013: AMIRA Factory Tour from issue 62-63, ALEXA 65 Special Report, ALEXA SUP Updates, ARRI Accessories.

80 pages. Best viewed in Adobe Acrobat with View-Page Display set to Two Page View, and Show Cover Page in Two Page View. read more…

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Leica and CW Sonderoptic Report (PDF)

Special Report for Photokina 2014. Revised and updated through September 2014: all about Leica, CW Sonderoptic Leica Cine Lenses, Summilux-C, Summicron-C, Still Moving Pictures (stills shot by cinematographers with Leica cameras), Oskar Barnack’s motion picture camera, history, tour of the factory, and a look at the new Leica Headquarters in Wetzlar. 96 pages.  Copyright 2014 Film and Digital Times. Text and photos not to be used without permission. Best viewed in Adobe Acrobat with View-Page Display set to Two Page View, and Show Cover Page in Two Page View. read more…

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Angénieux History (PDF)

The Angénieux company has been designing and building motion picture lenses for more than 78 years–lenses that defined the look of many films and influenced the way they were shot. This special report follows a time-line of Angénieux’s history, from its founding by Pierre Angénieux in the 1930s to the new lenses that continue to be developed today. We take… read more…

All About Anamorphic (PDF)

Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bridge on the River Kwai, Evita — if you were enthralled by the look of these classic ’Scope films, you may be considering anamorphic lenses for your next production. Angénieux read more…

Oblivion Sony F65 Report (PDF)

Reprint from Film and Digital Times Issue 53: interviews with Claudio Miranda, ASC about cinematography on Oblivion. Alex Carr, DIT on the film, discusses data management. Chris Cookson, President of Sony Pictures Technologies, talks about 4K in general. read more…

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Cooke Book 2013 (PDF)

The Cooke Book, A Cooke Look Back, and other reprints of Film and Digital Times articles about Cooke Optics.

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Sony F65 and FS700 Reprint (PDF)

Online reprint of Sony F65 and FS700 Special Reports. These articles first appeared in NAB 2012 and IBC 2012 editions of Film and Digital Times.  

Cooke Evening

More than 65 guests attended the annual Cooke Evening on April 13, 2011 to mingle and discuss the state of motion picture industry. Here is a selection of comments from John Bowring ACS, Danys Bruyere, TSF ; Juan Pablo Fabres, JPF Cine; Barry Measure, Take 2 Films; Tarun Kumar, Anand Cine Service; Ernesto Musitelli, Musitelli Film And Digital; Thomas Järn, Dagsljus; Noah Weinzweig, Redgate Rentals; Denny Clairmont, Clairmont Camera; Robert Howard, CCEO Cooke Optics; Jon Fauer; Les Zellan, Chairman Of Cooke Optics; Geoffrey Chappell, Sales For Cooke Optics.
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Sony Tour – Updated Reprint – April 2011 (PDF)

Sony invited us to tour their facilities in Japan to see their latest cameras and technology. Our 28 page report takes us from the Atsugi Tech Center south of Tokyo to Kumamoto on the south island of Kyushu, where Sony’s 20 Megapixel CMOS sensors for the new F65 cameras are made. We learn about the F65, SRMemory, Recorders, 3D, NXCAM… read more…

Fujifilm – Fujinon Optics Factory Tour (PDF)

In March 2011, we visited the factory where Fujinon lenses are crafted. This 14-page report is an overview of the company’s history, shows the breadth of product design and developement, and then takes us where cinematographers want to go: to see lenses being ground, lens meisters measuring to incredibly fine tolerances, and one of the most advanced MTF testers being… read more…

SONY F3 (PDF)

A 12-page special report on the Sony PMW-F3 digital camcorder. It is another step in the democratization of cinematography—a 35mm format digital camcorder that is lighter, smaller, faster, cheaper. Unveiled as an “affordable 35” prototype at NAB, it was introduced at USC on November 17th with film students and independents in mind. But its appeal is greater. The body weighs… read more…

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.

ARRI ALEXA Report (PDF)

Join us on a 24 page Cinematographer’s Tour of ARRI ALEXA from Concept through Construction.

Leica Report Updated (PDF)

Leica History from first camera to Che to Cine Lenses. Updated 26 page report.

Image Stabilization (PDF)

At NAB 2010, Larry Thorpe, National Marketing Executive for Broadcast & Communications, Canon USA Inc., presented a fascinating lecture on how image stabilization works. He’s graciously crafted this article in response to demand for more insight into how the two major systems of stabilizers work: Vari-Angle Prism IS and Shift Lens IS.