The Semi-Occasional Nerd Report – May, 2009

The Semi-Occasional Nerd Report – May, 2009

By New York City based Cinematographer, Ed David

The Sony EX1 is a godsend.  True 1080p.  1hr recording on 16gb cards.  It makes awesome images.

The problem with the sony ex1 and sony ex3 is that it's xdcam - 35mps long-gop recording.  it struggles with motion.  it's also 4:2:0 color space.  So you can't color correct it as nicely as one would want.

Here comes the Nanoflash.  It works because the HD-SDI out of the EX1 camera, like almost all cameras with HD-SDI - is 10-bit 4:2:2 uncompressed.  So pans are sharp and should be easier to color correct.

http://www.convergent-design.com/CD_Products_nanoFlash.htm
100mps long-gop or  i-frame recording.  4:2:2 color space.  Records to compact flash cards as either mxf sony xdcam 422 files (the big boi file format) or quicktime xdcam 422 files.

You can download and play with the files on that link.

The question is - will the thing be reliable in the field?  Or will it be as crap-tastcular as the Firestore thing for the hvx camera?  You can record to the device and go to the camera at the same time as a backup.

I'm going to get one.  it just came down in price to $3000 from $4000.  Why?  Because AJA is about to release the KI Pro - which can record Pro Res 422 out of a camera's HD-SDI port - but that is bulky and is 220mps i-frame recording - and that will just take up tons of space.

Anyway, I'll let you know how the thing is.  Being an early adopter (the thing comes out end of June) is risky - but maybe it will pay off.

In unrelated news, the DSLR revolution looks like it may take a while longer.  There is a cineform program that makes the Canon 5D Mark II look pretty good but it's still not the best looking video - also the Panasonic GH1 - well it's good but still isn't looking quite like a Scarlet killer.

Also the JVC HD700 - well I was thinking that may be a sweet camera but doesn't look that sweet now I see it's 1/3 CCD.

Speaking of which Panasonic I think blew it with the HPX300 - their new "varicam-looking" camera - by making it a 1/3 chip CMOS.  Bad light performance, also a shitty stock lens and bad skew - maybe they'll fix the skew.

Finally we anxiously await the relay lens for the sony ex3 - according to Phillip Bloom it saves 2 stops of light - but since it's letus - may it not be the best quality as all their devices are pretty wonky.  it is worth $4500 to save 2 stops of light?  Good question.

And really finally when will the Scarlet come out - and will it be as ridden with bugs as the Red One was for the first year of its existence? 

Only time will tell, friends.

until next time,
The Nerd Report

addendum: Decided to go with the Aja Ki Pro instead of the Nano Flash because of the more robust 10-bit bit depth.

pCAM software now available for iPhone

pCAM software now available for iPhone

I had this on a palm pilot for years until I dropped it on the pavement and that was the end of my easy access to hyperfocal charts. I reverted to lugging around the small ASC manuals for awhile but it's just not the same! We're so spoiled these days, everything has to fit in your pocket and I'm thrilled that the uber-useful pCAM software is now available for the iPhone. David Eubank, the developer of the software, has been working on this for some time now and it's finally ready. Follow the links on his site, http://www.davideubank.com/ or search for it on iTunes App Store. Noticably different in this version is the new price tag of 39.99. Compared with the previous price, free, it seems a bit steep but it's still a massive bargain I assure you. I'm downloading as I'm typing this..

Downloaded and blown away. This is an incredible tool for any camera person.

Leader's CINEZONE

Leader's CINEZONE

A fairly recent addition to Leader's product line is the CineLite II software which encompasses both the CineZone and CineLite applications, both extremely useful tools. CineLite basically lets you pick pixel sample positions on the SDI image and display the value in either % (IRE) or F-Stop - very useful for locating the precise value of something within a scene or if you're setting exposure based off a grey card. I was hoping to share some screen captures to illustrate how it works but for some reason the "capture" feature on the Leader LV 5330 does not work with CineLite. CineZone is very similar to the False Color viewing mode on a RED One but a little more intuitive in my opinion. IRE values from -7.3 to 109.4 are mapped pictorially using simple colors to represent the IRE values. Values over 100 IRE are displayed as white, values under 0 IRE are black and everything in between is represented from blue to red with green representing 50 % reflectance.  As I've mentioned before on this blog, CineZone is very intuitive and particularly useful for maintaining contrast ratios on faces and also great for working in bright conditions when the picture display is too washed out to evaluate.

To demonstrate, the following images where captured from my Leader LV 5330. The camera was a Panasonic HDX900 with a Fujinon ENG zoom. This crude test was done in my dumpy hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express Miami International Airport.

So here we've got your basic grey card and macbeth lit to key.

Here it is viewed in CineZone to verify. As you can see, the gray card is pretty evenly green. Note the scale on the right side of the image. It shows you exactly what each color represents on the scale from -7.3 to 109.4 IRE (%)

Here it is on the waveform, note how the colors correspond to the values. All CineZone is is a more directly visual way of displaying a waveform. Since using this product on jobs, I've stopped showing people the waveform and started using CineZone as my explaining tool. It's amazing how fast people can recognize specific areas of the frame that need more work.

And here is the beautiful scene revealed at last.

And the CineZone version.

Now let's have a closer look at the grey card. Here it is around the middle of the zoom range. Note there's no F-drop at this point in the range so it's pretty even across.

And on CineZone.

Now see what happens when we pan the light away.

Here's something else that's pretty interesting. Here's the same grey card but viewed from the end of the lens' zoom range. You can really see the vignetting you get on these ENG lenses.

There you have it - CineZone. Pretty cool!