Products
Big News: Hawk 65 Lenses
Vantage Film announced three new sets of lenses for 65mm format. Hawk65 Anamorphic Hawk65 Anamorphic Vintage’74 Hawk65 MAX for Imax They have all been designed from scratch for 65mm digital sensors. Of course, they will also cover any other format between 35mm – 65mm. Hawk65 Anamorphic includes prime lenses from 35 mm to 250 mm and front anamorphic zooms. Hawk65 Anamorphic Vintage… read more…
Tags: Anamorphic, Hawk, Vantage
EMIT at Micro Salon 2015
It’s Micro Salon time again in Paris. The 15th annual expo, screening and seminars takes place in La Fémis film school, formerly the Pathé Montmartre Studios. Emit is a major distributor of interesting products. Once again, the Emit booth will have lots of new products, and the Emit team and their manufacturing partners will be on hand for hands-on demos and explanations. The new… read more…
Tags: EMIT
Preston Light Ranger 2
Howard Preston is at BSC Expo and AFC Micro Salon demonstrating his new patent-pending Light Ranger 2 (LR2). Howard calls it a “critical focus tool for the digital world.” You still work with your familiar FIZ. The LR2 intuitively guides focus-pulling in the correct direction, near or far. You confirm this by viewing almost any monitor, which gets a graphical overlay from the LR2. The thing works in a number of modes: manual, autofocus, or basic distance measuring. read more…
Tags: FIZ, Light Ranger 2, LR2, Preston Cinema Systems
Blackmagic Camera Update 2.0
Blackmagic Camera Software Update 2.0 is ready to download from their support page. It covers Blackmagic URSA, Studio Camera 4K, Studio Camera, Pocket Cinema Camera, and Cinema Camera. For URSA: adds support for Apple ProRes 444 recording in 4K and HD. read more…
Tags: Blackmagic, Blackmagic Design
Underwater Alexa 65 Hydroflex
The HydroFlex ALEXA 65 has been underwater working on the VFX sequences of a major motion picture. HydroFlex’s Pete Romano, ASC worked closely with ARRI Rental Group’s Neil Fanthom and John Duclos during the design phase of the underwater housing construction. Two housings and cameras worked flawlessly (no leaks :) during production. read more…
Tags: Alexa 65, Hydroflex, Underwater
AJA CION Factory Tour
I visited AJA headquarters in Grass Valley, CA recently for a tour of the factory where they build the new CION 35mm digital camera. Here’s a free 12-page PDF about that factory visit. There’s also an in depth interview with AJA President Nick Rashby and CION Design Jon Thorn. It is a sneak peek preview and part of our next, upcoming issue…Download the free 12-page PDF…
Curved, Thin, 8K, and HDR at CES
CES 2015 was about flat panel TV displays. Almost every major player had an 8K prototype. They were very good. And yes indeed, you can see the difference. They will be not only in homes, but also in museums, medical schools, hospitals, graphic and automative design. Sharp showed how you could read 3 point type on their 85″ set. 8K is coming… read more…
AJA CION Ships Today
AJA CION 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD Production Camera is now shipping. CION was designed by people who worked as cameramen. It is ergonomic and extremely lightweight. CION shoots 4K/UltraHD and 2K/HD. It records in-camera to the Apple ProRes family of codecs, including 12-bit ProRes 444, on economical AJA Pak SSD media up to 4K/60p. CION also provides outputs for AJA Raw HFR at up to 4K/120p. AJA says that CION is the only 4K/UltraHD camera capable of capturing internally to 12-bit ProRes 444. read more…
Tags: AJA CION
Hawk V-Plus Vintage ’74 45-90 T2.9
Vantage introduced their new Hawk V-Plus Vintage ’74 Front Anamorphic Zoom Lens 45-90mm/T 2.9 at Camerimage. It is one of the few front anamorphic zooms on the market — providing glorious oval bokehs and the ever-popular look of front anamorphic lenses, along with vintage low contrast, flares, aberrations, vintage coatings — all in a modern mechanical housing that works with the latest accessories, matteboxes, and lens controls. read more…
Alexa 65 Launch in Hollywood
There were gasps of wonder and OMG tweets at the ARRI Alexa 65 screening last night. It was a fitting Hollywood venue for the official worldwide launch of the camera. The 65mm digital camera’s 6K images were projected on a 4K projector in the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy. These were the very halls where it had been agreed a while ago that film would not be replaced by digital until it looked as good–or better. This was better. read more…
FDTimes in 5 Languages
Film and Digital Times now comes in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. Click on the International Editions links at the top right of any page. So far, the international edition PDFs are free downloads. Enjoy.
Get a Grip
Richard Franiec is a still photographer. He also is an inventor/manufacturer of elegantly machined metal grips for all those stylish but slippery still cameras that fit in your pocket but are not terribly easy to hang on to. I first saw them on Arato Ogura’s Sony RX100 in Japan, and now have them mounted to my RX100 Mk III and… read more…
Tags: Camera Grips
Jon Dreams of Sushi
I began dreaming of Jiro on a visit to AJA last month. Nick Rashby, President of AJA, invited me to dinner at Sushi in the Raw–in Grass Valley, CA. Cut to: Tokyo, a few weeks later. Sushi maestro Takashi Ono presides over 10 seats at the counter and 2 tables. He is the second son of Jiro Ono, the 90-year old dreamer of sushi. If we were naming films, this would be “Son of Jiro” — as good as, perhaps better than, the original. read more…
Tags: AJA, Jiro, Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Canon 8K Zoom
Canon showed a prototype 8K 19.7-138 mm T2.8 Zoom at InterBEE Tokyo. It covers Super35 format.
Sony F55 Doc Dock
Updates from InterBEE in Tokyo. Sony showed the latest improvements on their “Doc Dock” (also known as Build Up Kit) that turns the F55 into a comfortable, shoulder-resting Documentary/ENG style cameras system. Introduced a few months as a prototype, the designers listened to suggestions from camera operators and the Dock will ship in a month or two with a much greater… read more…
Tags: Build up kit, Doc Dock, ENG cardle, Sony, Sony F55
AJA CION to Ship December
Tokyo. InterBEE. Nov 19. If you are good and the elves in Grass Valley deem the camera to be ready, AJA CION is expected to ship around Christmas time. AJA announced at InterBEE this morning that they are now accepting orders for the camera. CION is a 4K 35mm cine camera designed by cameramen (AJA’s Nick Rashby and Jon Thorn both… read more…
Hurricane Wheels
Wheels for GimbalRigs. Matthias Uhlig is releasing the successor to his Brushless Gimbal RC Interface (BGRCI) (www.hurricanewheels.tv) — the new Brushless Gimbal RC Interface MK2. The BGRCI offers a more professional way of controlling handheld (or airborne, crane mounted, car mounted…) gimbal rigs like the DJI Ronin or the Freefly Systems Mövi family. While the original BGRCI is a modular system with the… read more…
Tags: Gimbals, Hurricane wheels, MoVi
FDTimes Japan
November 1614. The two-year Siege of Osaka began. The Tokugawa shogun ended the last opposition to rule from Tokyo (Edo). November 2014. A 400th anniversary celebration in Osaka, with Samurai museums, tours of the castle, concert by Aiko, and the launch of Film and Digital Times Japan.
Tags: FDTimes Japan, FDTJ
Sony 28-135mm f/4 FF Zoom
Meet Masahiro Hosoi, Sony Designer of the 28-135mm f/4 Full Frame (24x36mm) Zoom Lens. It could be what you would call “disruptive technology.” How can a 35mm cine zoom have a suggested price of a mere $2,500 when it ships in December? Admittedly, it comes in Sony E-mount only (18mm flange focal depth.) It will be the “kit lens” for the new Super35mm format… read more…
Tags: 28-135mm f/4 FF Zoom, Sony
Canon 50-1000 T5-8.9 Cine Zoom
Today, Canon officially introduces: New Canon Cine-Servo 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 Ultra-Telephoto Zoom Lens with Built-In 1.5x Extender for 35mm digital cine cameras Sports, nature and documentary cinematographers will salivate–here is a lens for 35mm format that could rival long 2/3″ format zooms. At IBC we heard Sue Gibson describing how she uses adapters to fit 2/3″ long lenses on her 35mm… read more…
Tags: 50-1000 T5.0-8.9 Zoom Lens, Canon
