Monthly Archives: January 2010

AFC Micro Salon Feb 12-13, 2010

Join Film and Digital Times at the AFC (Association of French Cinematographers) Micro Salon 2010. Most of the French film industry shuts down for two days, Friday February 12 and Saturday February 13, to attend one of the best events of the year, featuring exhibits, lectures, excellent hors d’oeuvres and fine wine served to you on trays. Register online.

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Angénieux on Canon

Machinists, rental house gurus and cinematographers have been working late for the past few weeks, seeking the cinematographic grail of  attaching PL-mounted lenses onto Canon EOS D1 Mk IV and 7D cameras. The quest, more than a recurring manifestation of retrofit syndrome, is to be able to use high-end cine lenses with their familiar capacity for repeatable follow focus, manual… read more…

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FDTimes on iPad?

An audience larger than Avatar? Sales greater than 1.6 billion? Not since Moses has there been greater fanfare for a tablet. And deservedly so. Steve Jobs  introduced Apple’s  iPad today. Martin A. Nisenholtz, senior vice president of digital operations for The New York Times, demonstrated a Times app for iPad. I’d very much like to hear from readers of Film and… read more…

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Elias and Johnston to OConnor

Jim Elias and Eric J. Johnston are now at OConnor, where they will work on a new line of camera accessories. Jim, who lives in Munich, will head the design team. Eric Johnston will be the US product specialist, based out of Valley Cottage, NY. Almost every cinematographer knows Jim: first as an LA camera assistant, then part of the… read more…

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New Red EVF and Scarlet

Hans Hansson writes from Sweden, “I’m sending you some links for news for your blog:” Engadget interview with Ted Schilowitz at CES Stills and close-ups of new RED Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) and Scarlet Jon Fauer writes, “We were impressed with the prototypes we saw at IBC, now further refined and shown at CES recently. The Red Bomb EVF (Electronic Viewfinder)… read more…

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JVC GY-HM100U at Sundance

The Sundance Film Festival runs from Jan 21-31 in the high altitude (6900 ft) and high attitude air of Park City, Utah. read more…

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Michael Bravin to ARRI Inc.

Michael Bravin is now at ARRI Inc. as the go-to guy handling ARRI’s arriving ALEXA cameras. Official title is VP of Market Development for Digital Camera Products. He will work out of ARRI’s Burbank office. This probably signifies two things. 1. It looks like the new cameras code-named ALEXA might actually be named ALEXA. 2. ARRI gets a very familiar… read more…

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Canon 7D PL: Swedish Model

“A newly modified Canon EOS 7D from Syndicate AB of Sweden,” writes cinematographer Dan Kanes. “Custom modified by Syndicate AB of Sweden, my 7D supports all PL mounted lenses by the removal of the reflex mirror, and hollowing of the mirror box to accomodate a deeper flange. For right now it has a baseplate designed for use with a studio… read more…

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ARRI CSC Framing Guide (PDF)

35mm Framing Charts for 35mm formats. Shoot these framing guides for consistent composition and framing from pre- through post production.

ARRI Groundglass, Gate and Format Guide (PDF)

Almost every groundglass and gate available for ARRI cameras

Volker Bahnemann’s Next Plans

Volker Bahnemann, President and CEO of ARRI Inc. and ARRI/CSC (Camera Service Center) announced that he will step down this spring, continuing as an advisor until the end of the year. Volker spent 48 years with ARRI; for 32 years, he was CEO of ARRI Inc, the company’s first subsidiary in the USA. Glenn Kennel will become President of ARRI… read more…

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Ron Dexter Award to MBF Filmtechnik

For being first with a PL to Canon EOS Lens Adapter, Matthias Uhlig and MBF Filmtechnik Hamburg won the FDTimes Ron Dexter Award. The award was inspired by Director/Cinematographer/Inventor Ron Dexter, ASC, who never met a piece of camera equipment he couldn’t make better, and was famous for making some of the first video assists by hacking brand-new lenses and… read more…

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Camera Department in a Backback

With the HDSLR and HD camcorder revolution comes a whole new way of dealing with transportation and support. Light weight and small size ripples down through the entire production process, replacing armadas of teamstered trucks with backpacks. In the Alps, they even have a name for it: photo-trekking. The idea is to pack camera, lenses, tripod, head, laptop, production accessories,… read more…

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New Canon Camcorders

Touch & Track and Powered IS are two must-have features introduced today at CES on Canon’s new Vixia HF S21 (and HF S20, HF S200) HD pro/consumer camcorders that will compel every cinematographer to face their incredulous spouse or partner with an explanation of why last year’s models just simply won’t cut the mustard anymore. “But it’s cinematographic research–all cameras… read more…

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Wi-File

What’s so special about 3 new Wireless attachments for Canon’s latest ?HDSLR cameras? Unless you’ve been on a very long documentary in a remote rainforest without access to news or internet, you’ve noticed that the Canon 1D Mk IV, 7D and 5D Mk II, in addition to being wildly successful still cameras, have become the new electronic Eyemos and are… read more…

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Consumer Electronics Show

CES is in hyper-twitter, kicking off four days of annual frenzied introductions in Las Vegas of products that we consumers are expected to spend $681 billion on in the coming year. Those astounding numbers make this year’s record movie box-office of $10.5 billion seem like petty cash. If you’ve ever wondered why there have been over 50 video standards in… read more…

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Howard Preston’s Physics Lesson

Here’s Howard Preston’s tutorial on how many candles would be required to light the faces of the actors in Barry Lyndon–as shot originally vs. shot with a Canon 7D ASA 10,000 and a T2.0 lens.

Trade Show Mania – January 2010

Read the report by Oli Laperal, Jr on 6 major trade shows and important conferences:

1. Storage Visions. 2. CES. 3. IEEE/ICCE.
4. Red Camera Showcase.
5. 3D Displays & Applications.
6. SPIE Photonics.
 read more…