Author Archives: FDT Staff

Editing: Sight, Sound and Story

Stephanie Mergal reports on the Manhattan Edit Workshop Seminar “Sight, Sound and Story” held on Saturday, June 13. With William Goldenberg, Gordon Burkell,  Alanda Yudin, Joe Schuck, Jolie “Bob” Lombardi, Garret Savage, Andy Grieve, Zac Stuart-Pontier, Pax Wassermann, Fabienne Bouville, Jesse Averna, and Sidney Wolinsky. read more…

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Dan May, BMD Pres, on URSA Mini and more

It’s always good to spend time with Dan May at NAB for an interesting guided tour. He puts things in perspective and explains not only the what and how of new equipment, but why. read more…

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Hawk65 from Vantage Film

On February 9, 2015, Vantage Film announced three new sets of lenses for 65mm format. Since then, other products and pieces of the puzzle have come together. RED introduced the RED Weapon 8K camera, with its 21.60 x 40.96 mm sensor at NAB. ARRI announced an alliance of Alexa 65 with IMAX. I met with Peter Martin in Los Angeles. Peter is CEO of Vantage Film and leads technical development along with CEO Wolfgang Baumler.

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Cooke 65 mm Macro Anamorphic /i 2x Prime

Here’s the lens that many cinematographers have been waiting for from Cooke. Cooke introduces their new 65 mm Macro Anamorphic /i 2x Prime lens at Cine Gear. It has a close-up magnification ratio of 4.1:1. read more…

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Canon’s Mr. Maeda alludes to future technology

“Lunch with the FT” is a weekly column in the Financial Times. Their weekly interview with a leading cultural or business luminary was something we have been doing—but to paraphrase Virginia Woolf, “It’s dinner one wants, not lunch.” It was therefore a pleasant surprise to receive an email from Mr. Hitoshi Doi, head of the Future Product & Solution Group at Canon U.S.A. “Jon,” he wrote, “Can you slip away for a couple of hours during NAB to have lunch with Mr. Maeda and me?” Mr. Masaya Maeda is Managing Director and Chief Executive of Image Communication Products Operations at Canon. read more…

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All About Dolly Track

Dolly track is a long story. When you go back far enough in history there’s a classic division between European and American track dimensions. Most of the European track was 1¼ inch diameter, and most of the American manufactured track was 1½ inch diameter. At some point during the mid ’70s and early ’80s, there was a realization that this really had to be standardized. We’ve all kind of moved to the 1½ inch diameter for the rails. Along with this, we started having all sorts of problems with rails bending, which plainly and simply was a function of moving from simply using dollies to using small manned cranes, to using larger manned cranes, to using very large manned cranes and enormous unmanned cranes. And then there’s the question of aluminum or steel. read more…

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Gavin Finney BSC, “Wolf Hall,” candlelit, Leica Summilux-C T1.4, Alexa, Handheld

“Wolf Hall” is a series on BBC and PBS Masterpiece Theatre about Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance), a blacksmith’s son who rose to power as chief minister to King Henry VIII. Gavin Finney, BSC was the cinematographer. read more…

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Fujifilm IS-Mini

The Fujifilm IS-Mini is a complete color management and monitor profiling system. It’s a small hardware box and comes with free software. It’s inexpensive and is an essential tool for DITs and post houses. The color science behind it is very sophisticated. You can use IS-Mini to create a LUT or CDL for the DP on set; and, if you have multiple monitors on set, you can attach a separate IS-Mini to each monitor. read more…

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Optical and Digital Filters

Optical and Digital Filters for Cinematography About 60 people attended the New York Section’s April SMPTE meeting at MPE’s Penthouse 45 Suite.  Presentations were given by Ira Tiffen of Schneider Optics on glass filters, by Jena Rappolt-Noyes of The Tiffen Company on  DFXV4 digital filter software, and by Carey Duffy of The Tiffen Company on glass filters. Ira Tiffen and Carey Duffy spoke… read more…

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NAB Day 3

NAB Day 3: Band Pro, Easyrig, ARRI, Canon, Cartoni, Mole Richardson, Vitec, OConnor, Anton/Bauer and many others.

NAB 2015 Day 2

NAB dust storm. Matthews, Codex, Leica, Shotover, DSC Laboratories, Panasonic, Really Right Stuff. read more…

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NAB 2015 Day One

Mark Forman’s photos of NAB Day 1 read more…

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40th Anniversary of Steadicam

A party for the 40th anniversary of the Steadicam was held a NAB 2015 in the Tiffen Booth with Garret Brown honored for his Oscar-winning invention.

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