Products
Sony α7R II Details
Sony’s new α7R II Mirrorless Digital Still/Video Camera demonstrates innovative technology that I think foreshadows additional 4K Full Frame and Super35 cinema cameras to come. The camera records Full Frame 4K 24×36 mm video. Additionally, the camera can also record APS-C format in 4K. The α7R camera’s E-mount with 18mm flange depth offers a world of adapters for almost any photo or cinema lens known to man–including PL and PV. read more…
Sony a7R II – 4K FF, 4K S35
At a penthouse press conference and demo in the Parker Meridien Hotel overlooking midtown and Central Park, Sony gave us the camera I was wishing for: The α7R II (model ILCE-7RM2). It does everything I was whining about at Cine Gear: Full Frame 24×36 mm sensor that shoots 4K video (beautifully). Windowed S35 format that also shoots 4K video (also truly… read more…
Motorcycle Diaries: Alexa Mini
FDTimes’ Motorcycle Diaries changes horses. In the saddle: Walter Trauninger, Managing Director of ARRI Cine Technik. Walter likes fast cars, fast bikes, and rapid camera assembly. In Munich to visit Alexa Mini. Report to follow.
Tags: ARRI Alexa Mini
High Noon at Cannes with CST
The CST (Commission superieure technique de l’image et du son) supervises the technical details and projection at Cannes. They also host noon time presentations by manufacturers. Today, CST hosted AFFECT (Association des Fabricants Francais d’Equipments Cinematographiques de Tournage.) Ah acronyms. AFFECT is an affiliation of Aaton, Angenieux, K5600, and Transvideo to promote and help represent their products, especially at trade shows at home and abroad. Jacques Delacoux, President… read more…
Fast: 40mm T0.95 E-mount
Band Pro showed the new 40 mm T0.9 lens from IB-E Optics at NAB. Klaus Eckerl, Managing Director of IB-E Optics said, “Think of it as a Noctilux style lens for APS-C and Super 35 format.” This is the “video version” of the lens: with geared focus and iris rings. It’s a great companion on Sony’s FS-7 camera with its native E-mount. read more…
Tags: Band Pro, IB-E Optics, T0.9 lens
Regarding RED 20×40
Keep calm and keep all your current lenses.
RED’s Weapon 8K, introduced at NAB, is an important new camera expected later this year. The good news is that all current cine lenses will fit, will work, and will remain relevant for a long time. The other good news is that most full frame still lenses will also fit. It’s not so much about the 8K. Yes, it’s an 8K camera, but it will also do 4K in Super 35 and Full Frame. What’s important is the sensor size — 21.60 x 40.96 mm. read more…
Keep it Moving
Keep it moving. Here are some smooth moves from ARRI with Alexa Mini. read more…
Tags: ARRI Alexa Mini
ZEISS Batis FF E-Mount Lenses
ZEISS continues its commitment to Full Frame (FF) 24x36mm Still Format with the introduction of their new Batis 2/25 and Batis 1.8/85 autofocus lenses for Sony’s alpha full-frame E-mount system, which includes the α7 family of cameras. read more…
Jon’s NAB 2015 Wrap
Gallery of 170 images from my 4 days at NAB, 3 prep days, 3 days of press conferences, 6,000 pounds of Film and Digital Times delivered on 3 skids to 3 Freestanding Publication Bins, to our booth C10106, and to the 70 booths of our sponsors. Thank you Laura Riggs, Cecilia Montano and the staff at NAB, The Freeman Crew who constantly refilled and replenished the bins, and to all our readers, colleagues and companies. Additional reports and comments to follow. read more…
Tags: NAB 2015
ALEXA MINI
Is Michael Jonas, ARRI Product Manager, demonstrating the latest gimbal rig for the new featherweight ALEXA Mini? Index finger support, stabilization, ergonomic design. No — but he’s showing how light the new carbon fiber body camera really is.
Tags: ARRI Alexa Mini
RED Weapon 8K
History repeats. RED again is shaking up the industry. Even more compelling than the concept of 8K, for me, is the physical size of the new sensor. The Weapon 8K sensor will accept so many lenses: full frame 24×36 format, and all current 35mm cine (18x24mm), 16mm lenses, and so on. The Weapon 8K will have a sensor around 20mm high x 40mm wide. Vittorio Storaro,… read more…
Tags: Red, RED Weapon 8K
Sony Starts NAB
For many of us, NAB traditionally begins on Sunday afternoon with Sony’s annual Press Event at the Mirage. Monday morning kicks off with AJA, Blackmagic, Panasonic, and ARRI press conferences. There’s usually an unveiling–and Mr. Hiroshi Kiriyamadidn’t disappoint, as he whisked away the duvetyne drape to reveal: Sony HDC-4300 4K/HD Camera System The HDC-4300 has 3 2/3 inch 4K sensors, B4 lens mount, and… read more…
Tags: Sony
Canon C300 Mark II (Internal 4K)
It’s hard to believe that the Canon C300 was introduced 3 years ago. The camera has been very successful. Now, Canon introduces the successor: EOS C300 Mark II. It records what almost everyone had been asking for: internal 4K. There are so many new features inside the familiar C300 body shape, maybe they should have named it the C400 or C4K. Prototypes will be on hand at Canon’s NAB booth. The camera has a new 8.85 Megapixel Super 35mm 16:9 CMOS sensor that provides up to 4K (DCI) recording (4096 x 2160). read more…
Tags: Canon C300 Mk II
ActionProducts Runner
From Switzerland, land of fitness and fine tools, comes the new ActionProducts Runner. It’s an exoskeletal device that mechanically increases the operator’s strength and endurance by transferring the full weight of a handheld or gimbal stabilized camera to counterbalanced spring-loaded arm supports. read more…
Gecko-Cam IMS OLPF
It would be almost unthinkable for a rental house to not have a good lens test projector. It helps decipher the optical characteristics of your lens: geometry, aberrations, and focus. But what happens when you use the same lens on a film camera and then a digital camera? Most digital cameras use an OLPF (Optical Low Pass Filter) in front of the sensor to reduce moiré effects. It’s usually birefringent crystal and works by slightly separating each ray of light into two or four rays that are slightly offset. read more…
Tags: Gecko-Cam, IMS, Lens Projector, OLPF
ARRI ALEXA SXT
ARRI announced the latest evolution of the Alexa sisters: ALEXA SXT (Super Xtended Technology). Same body, upgraded hardware and software. ALEXA SXT cameras offer ProRes 4K recording, improved image quality, color management and 3 fully independent HD-SDI outputs. SXT cameras will record ProRes 4K UHD (3840 x 2160 pixels) and ProRes 4K Cine (4096 x 2637 pixels). read more…
Tags: Alexa SXT, ARRI ALEXA SXT
New ARRI Alexa Mini
ARRI officially announced the much-whispered ALEXA Mini today. It has a lightweight carbon fiber housing, a titanium PL mount connected directly to a new sensor assembly for unwavering flange focal depth. It can also accept interchangeable lens mounts of the ARRI Amira for B4 video and EF (Canon) mount lenses. Alexa Mini is compact, quiet and has a symmetrical design. You can shoot in almost any orientation: upside-down, portrait mode, straight up, down, etc. There are many mounting points. read more…
Tags: Alexa, ARRI Alexa Mini, Mini
ARRI Alexa Updates
ARRI released new Updates for Alexa and Amira. A wave of additional news is expected soon. ALEXA SUP 11.0 with ProRes 3.2K Software Update Packet (SUP) 11.0 for Alexa is now ready for download. Alexa’s 11th software update includes ProRes 3.2K recording and ADA-5 (enhanced debayering for improved image quality). ProRes 3.2K is available for Alexa XT and Classic cameras with the XR Module upgrade. It uses a larger 3.2K picture… read more…
Tags: ARRI Alexa
New from RVZ Paris
RVZ showed some interesting new products at AFC Micro Salon last week. Their prototype rectangular ring light (contradiction in terms — but still a good name) attaches to the front of an LMB5 mattebox. It’s LED, bi-color daylight-tungsten, and dimmable. Nowhere is it written that a beauty eye-light must be round, and rather than fitting something round around something square-ish… read more…
