Monthly Archives: November 2021

Configuring KOMODO

Like a Lonely Planet geeky guidebook, not as amusing as Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad, less strenuous than Survivor, here is a quirky travel guide of a RED KOMODO’s journey to Film and Digitial Times. The accessories and methods listed here are not comprehensive. In fact, they are the result of things that happened to be shipped, arrived and tried.  (This article first appeared in FDTimes Aug 2021 Issue 109, pages 32-44.)

Download the PDF (2 MB). read more…

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Sony VENICE 2 Report – older version

Four years and nine days after the original VENICE camera first launched five miles from Venice Beach, at Sony Pictures Culver City, VENICE 2 arrives in 6K and 8K. Except for a completely flat base with big air vents, they look very similar to the original VENICE. The design is clean and understated.

Not understated is the performance of this camera. Sixteen stops of exposure latitude retain highlights and reveal shadow detail. Skin tones are smooth and gentle. Images are elegant, natural, with a quality that seem almost tactile and impossibly three-dimensional.

If you have used the original VENICE, the learning curve is almost instantaneous. This is a familiar friend.

Download the free 64-page VENICE 2 Special Report (8 MB PDF) by FDTimes. 

SUBSCRIBERS: Download the high resolution 64-page VENICE 2 Special Report (22 MB PDF) by FDTimes.  read more…

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Cooke Varotal 30-95 and 85-215 T2.9 FF Zooms

Cooke is back in the Varotal zoom lens business. These things seemed to go in cycles. Horace W. Lee designed the legendary Cooke Speed Panchros a century ago, in 1921. A half century later, in 1971, Cooke introduced the 20-100 mm T3.1 Varotal zooms, designed by Gordon H. Cook. Primes returned in 1998 with the Cooke S4 series. And now, Cooke announces two new Full Frame Varotal zooms: 30-95 mm  T2.9 and 85-215 mm T2.9. They come in PL or LPL mounts. read more…

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