Products
Vantage Vintage Kinoptik
Vantage Film has a rental office in Saint-Denis, Paris. Now they are re-introducing venerable sets of French glass from the 1950s: 35mm cine format Kinoptik cine lenses, rehoused and rebarreled. These are lenses with a distinct character, unique bokeh, and a kind of swirly, impressionist feel to out-of-focus backgrounds. Alexander Bscheidl said, “This is an optical renaissance of classic Kinoptiks, rehoused for the modern age.” read more…
Tags: Kinoptik, Vantage Film, Vintage Glass
Cooke 35-140 Anamorphic Zoom
Cooke Optics has revealed details of their impending Front Anamorphic zoom. It will be 35-140 mm and may begin shipping around NAB 2016. Like the rest of the Cooke Anamorphic/i family, it will be a front anamorphic design, 2x squeeze ratio, with familiar oval bokehs. read more…
Tags: Cooke Anamorphic /i, Cooke Optics
Shooting Video with Leica SL
Leica’s new SL (Spiegellos – Mirrorless) Camera shoots superb 4K 4096×2160 24p Video. The camera exposes stills in either Leica Format (24x36mm) or APS-C. Video is recorded in 4K 24p or UHD 30p in APS-C format, as well as HD in Full Frame Leica Format up to 120 fps. MOV or MP4 4:2:0 8-bit files are recorded onto an internal SD card. External 4:2:2… read more…
ActionProducts Alexa Mini AKS
“Made in Switzerland” makes me think of finely crafted watches, reliable mechanical things, and of course, ActionProducts — the Swiss manufacturers of very well-made camera accessories. ActionProducts’ new accessories give ARRI Alexa Minis the potential to become…gasp…your A-Camera. Let’s start at the back (photo above, left to right). First comes a battery plate, choice of Anton/Bauer or V-Mount or quick release for separate battery… read more…
Captain Cooke and 135mm Anamorphic
Ahoy there. EMIT in Paris has taken delivery of the new Cooke 135mm Anamorphic /i prime. The long-awaited Cooke 135 Anamorphic Prime was at IBC. Like the rest of the “S6” set, it’s a front anamorphic (oval bokehs). The current Cooke 2x Anamorphic set consists of: 25, 32, 40, 50, 65 Macro, 75, 100 and 135 mm. Cooke 135 mm Anamorphic /i… read more…
Tags: Anamorphic Primes, Cooke, Cooke 135mm Anamorphic, EMIT, FDTimes
Kino LED (Kino Flo Select LED)
Kino Flo Select LEDs were two of the most exciting new lighting fixtures at IBC. Frieder must have bitten his lip when he first showed them to me and I said, “Oh, wow–Kino LEDs.” Because they look like the very familiar classic Kino Flo fixtures, but have smooth, soft Celeb-like LED illumination instead of fluorescent tubes. There will be two models: Select 30 (40.5 inches long, 12 lb) and Select 20 (26.5 inches long, 10 lb). Both are a mere 3 inches deep and 13″ high. A nice thing is you can put them in the trunk of most cars, which you can’t always do with a 4′ 2-bank or 4-bank fluorescent (48″ wide +). read more…
Tags: Kino Flo, Kino Flo Select LED, Select LED
Cabriolet Lighting: Alpha 800 from K5600
K5600 Lighting introduced their newest Alpha 800 HMI fixture. It’s like a cabriolet of lighting–convertible from Fresnel to Sharp shadow to focusing PAR in one unit. Like other members of the K5600 Alpha family, it has a quartz reflector that allows it to be aimed straight down.. The Fresnel lens is removable and can be replaced with a clear glass cover for wider, sharper, even spread. Add a skirt, and it becomes a Spacelite. Add a Lightbank, and it’s a softlight. Change the bulb orientation, and it becomes a focusing PAR.
Tags: Alpha 800, K5600, K5600 Lighting
Ronford-Baker Atlas 0.4
Ronford-Baker lightweight Atlas 0.4 Fluid Head is an excellent choice for ARRI Alexa, Alexa Mini, Amira, RED, Sony F5/55, Canon C300, etc. At 7 kg, it’s lighter and smaller than the familiar 9 kg Atlas 40 Head. • Tilt range +- 60⁰ • Two telescopic pan bars mounted on rosettes • Head base: 150 mm ball or Mitchell • Sealed fluid system • Camera… read more…
Tags: Atlas 0.4, fluid head, Ronford, Ronford-Baker
ZEISS Milvus Full Frame Lenses
ZEISS introduced Milvus lenses at IBC, a new family of 6 Full Frame (24x36mm format) primes. They come in ZE (Canon) or ZF.2 (Nikon) mounts. Focus is manual. In other words, Milvus is a refresh of the ZEISS Classic line, with higher resolution and contrast. Cinematographers were interested in the wider rotation of the focus barrel — up to 270 degrees on some of them. The ZEISS Milvus… read more…
Teslas at IBC
Over the next days, we’ll post photos and comments from IBC. What was the most interesting, innovative product? Certainly the new Tesla 2015 Model S taxi that drove me from airport to IBC, one of a fleet of 100. They are partially subsidized by the Dutch government (10,000 Euros in tax credit, I heard.) All-Wheel Drive, 0-60 mph in 2.8… read more…
A Minimalistic Sony Camera: FS5
There are a bunch of breakthrough technologies and good ideas in the new mini Sony PXW-FS5 4K camera. Read complete report in FDTimes September Edition, now online. 1. Variable ND: Internal, 7 stops, CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE! The ND control knob is continuously variable from clear to ND2.1 (7 stops). Or, with the flick of a switch, you can choose one of four presets.
Tags: FDTimes, FDTimes FS5, PXW-FS5 4K camera, Sony FS5, Sony PXW-FS5
Jarred Land, Pres of RED
Here’s a preview of one of the featured interviews in the September IBC Edition of Film and Digital Times: with Jarred Land, President of RED Digital Cinema. At NAB, RED fired a Full Frame warning shot across the bow of the industry. Their RED Weapon 8K FF camera, due later this year, prompted a flurry of articles in our big 120-page Double Issue 71-72 about lenses that fit, cameras to come, and stuff to see. read more…
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…
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…
Tags: FDTimes, Howard Preston, Light Ranger 2, Preston, Preston LR2
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…
Tags: Adapters, FDTimes, Leica, PL to M Mount Adapter
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…
Tags: ActionProducts, ARRI Alexa Mini, Innocinema
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…
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.
Tags: Cine Gear Expo
More Gear from Cine Gear 2015
More Gear from Cine Gear 2015: photos by Mark Forman with Sony a7R and a7S. read more…
Tags: Cine Gear 2015
New Gear at Cine Gear
Here’s a gallery of new gear I saw at Cine Gear Expo 2015 in LA last week. Apologies to anyone we missed, and acknowledgement that some things may not be totally new–but this was the first time I’d seen them. Additional Cine Gear Photos to be posted shortly. read more…
Tags: New Gear at Cine Gear
