April 19, 2010

NAB Show Quick Update

Almost a year ago my friends and I cobbled together a team of film people to make "Halcyon" for the Salt Lake City 48 Hour Film Project. Thanks to some good attitudes, good people and a lot of good luck, we took home "Best use of line of dialogue" award as well as "Best Film!"

A perk of winning the local competition was access to the National Association of Broadcasters Show 2010 for free and a chance for our film to compete nationally.

We screened our film but unfortunately we didn't win any of the national prizes. No worries though, because the NAB show floor was more than enough of a prize.

Rather than blog endlessly about all the crazy products and innovations present on the show floor, I'll leave you with a picture of me and some links to the crazy new products of 2010.


From Plugs
All of these products are brand new for 2010. I think most are totally crazy, I spent many hours listening to how they worked without much comprehension on my part.

The Arri Alexa: Sort of like a Red but it records to 2K Sony SxS cards in ProRes 444 codec so the post-workflow is super simple. It's also supposed to be easier to use than the Red because the menus are simpler. The viewfinder is able to be calibrated just like a production monitor and the cooling system will never contaminate the electronics of the camera because it's separate from the imager. It also shoots very well in low light, better than the Red. Here are some videos I found.

http://gizmodo.com/5516152/arri-alexa-camera-shoots-beautiful-video-with-little-light


Zeiss Compact Primes for EF Mount: Zeiss just released a new series of their compact prime lenses to use on Canon DSLR's. The mounts are the same EF mount found on the Canon lenses so they don't need an adapter and they cover the full-frame sensor size so they're compatible with all the video DSLR cameras. If you make enough money to upgrade your camera in the future, the mount can be removed and replaced with a PL mount. Therefore the lens will always connect directly to the camera whether it has an EF mount or a PL mount.

http://www.zeiss.de/c125756900453232/Contents-Frame/042839dea0e28e5fc125756f003e6703


Panasonic Micro 4/3 camcorder: Panasonic put a chip from it's GH1 DSLR into a camcorder body and is planning to release it 3rd Quarter this year. This means Panasonic will be the first to offer the shallow DOF of a DSLR system without the limitations of a still camera body (no audio, awkward to hold etc.) With the control over DOF and the better light sensitivity that a larger chip offers, this camera will most likely revolutionize low-budget cinema production.

http://philipbloom.co.uk/2010/04/11/new-panasonic-m43-camcorder-announced-ag-af100/


Redrock Micro Remote follow-focus: This thing is just crazy. It's an integrated iPhone and remote follow focus hardware for use with manual focus lenses. Basically a rangefinder calculates the distance to your focus subject making it easy to find the correct focus mark on your lens. What's more, a motor will move the lens for you meaning you can control focus by remote from a distance. I didn't do a very good job of explaining it so you better watch the video.

http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2010/04/14/nab-2010-iphone-control-follow-focus-from-redrockmicro/


Some people for Germany managed to make a 3D TV that you don't need glasses for. It's not perfect because there are some places you can stand that makes it difficult to see well but if you're standing in the right place it's awesome. I wish I could explain more but the German man gave me a very scientific explanation that I don't remember. The link is for one of the TV's they were showing off.

http://www.markstechnologynews.com/2008/05/phillips-presents-3d-tv-without-glasses.html


Canon has a new camcorder to replace the XH series. It records to compact flash cards with 422 colorspace and a 50 mb/s data rate.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=175&modelid=20322


Panasonic released an update to their HPX-300 camera

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=406090&catGroupId=34401&surfModel=AG-HPX370&displayTab=O


You need to check this guy out. He modified a segway scooter so it could be driven without hands. Then he mounted a Red on a gyro and a monitor on the other end so he can chase action smoothly. He's sort of like a transformer / human hybrid camera operator. The videos he has on his site are awesome.

http://www.ar-operator.com/

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