Posts Tagged ‘Featured’

Review: Vinten Vision blue5 Video Support System

Another NAB, another Vinten review! Yes, it’s that time again: tinker and test, tweak and note, dust off the keyboard and set about disseminating the information. This is something of a “two for one” deal. This was necessitated by the fact that Peter Harman at Vinten kindly sent me the Vision blue5 for the review, and very nice it is too. However, it’s COG/ Mass graph quickly demonstrated that all of my Video cameras, even piled/ bolted one on top of the other, weren’t going to get the Counter Balance system to play ball in a fit. Cue: a mad scrabble to prise one of the very first prototypes of the new CB100 (more of that anon) out of my business / design partner / machine and powder coat shops in Texas. As I write this (eight days before copy deadline) it’s currently shown as “somewhere between Chicago (?) and New Zealand,” just what I really didn’t need.

Adobe CS5.5 DVi Workshop: Dynamic Link

Pete Bauer of Contrail Media explains the basic procedures for working between Adobe CS5.5 applications such as After Effect and Premiere Pro, and then guides you through a sample Dynamic Link exercise moving sequences from one application to another. A quick review of the process is included at the end of Pete’s tutorial. In just about 15 minutes, this video tutorial covers the essential steps you’ll need to know in order to use Adobe Dynamic Link in Adobe Creative Suite 5.5. Pete has also provided a companion tutorial article to this video workshop.

Tutorial: A Dynamic Look at Adobe Dynamic Link

Adobe Dynamic Link is a fantastic feature that allows live interaction between different software applications. It is a really valuable tool that I really can’t imagine being without. Although there are already several really excellent demos on Adobe TV about Dynamic Link, a steady trickle of questions about the finer points of Dynamic Link functionality Read More

Adobe CS5.5 DVi Workshop: MultiCam Editing

Pete Bauer of Contrail Media explains the basic procedures for working within the multi-cam editing environment, and then guides you through a sample sequence involving four source video clips as they are mixed into one. A quick review of the process is included at the end of Pete’s tutorial. In less than 15 minutes, this video tutorial covers the essential steps you’ll need to know in order to use the Multi-Cam Editing tools in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.

Canon USA Announces Cinema EOS C300 and EOS C300 PL Cameras

Two identical cameras, one with EF mount, one with PL mount; Super-35 4K CMOS sensor,records 1080p30 to Compact Flash cards using existing Canon XF 50Mbps 4:2:2 MPEG2 codec. At Paramount Studios in Hollywood today, Canon USA is announcing two forthcoming digital cinema cameras, the EOS C300 and the EOS C300 PL, as part of their Read More

Final Cut Pro vs. Adobe Premiere CS 5.5, That Is The Question

I asked Shane Ramirez, our editing manager here at Media Design to relate his thoughts on the new Adobe Premiere Pro platform vs. our old version of Final Cut Pro (7). I asked him which platform he would be using for his latest project, since he was trained originally on Final Cut, and his answer was Premiere Pro CS 5.5, and with his comments, we can perhaps determine why.

Review: Manfrotto 504HD/ 546GBK Video Support System

The three levers, tilt, pan and slide plate lock, all have 6-position spring loaded lever arms allowing easy re–positioning at 60º intervals, although the latter two are not retained, so can easily be wound clean off the head. They all look readily replaceable in the event they take a fatal smack.

I have read somewhere that there is an issue with the slide plate lock lever swinging above the head plate and thus not allowing a “hippy” camera system to lock, or only with difficulty. As that lever only requires a 90º swing from full lock to off, and vice versa, and the lever arm is repositionable in 60º increments, if you can’t configure the lever arm not to swing above the head plate, you simply haven’t grasped how these levers work. This is a non-issue, and it’s simply not true.

A Spring Surprise from Adobe: CS5.5

Adobe has surprised those of us who have long been accustomed to a major release roughly every 18 months. Just a year after launching the CS5 titan, they announced not only a new version of the Creative Suites, but a new release schedule and a subscription option for their suites. The just-released CS 5.5 is an incremental version that provides improvements in 5.0’s first-generation 64 bit features, several cool new tools, and one of the most asked-for changes to the suite’s software line up: the return of Adobe Audition.

First S-Log Test with Sony F3

First, before I finish the story, allow me to explain what S-Log is, and why its so darn significant. The Sony F3, a phenomenal 1080p HD camera already, records 8-bit 35mbps XDcam to SXS media cards. This is the standard recording media for all mid-range professional Sony cameras working right now. When Sony created the F35 camera a few years ago, they built a full Super 35mm sized CCD sensor capable of producing some of the best images in the digital cinematography world. This was a camera designed from the ground up to be a full cinema-style system that records to the highest quality footage to HDCAM SR tape (it also costs about $250,000). The standard XDCAM recording format would not cut the mustard with such a high end camera, the problem being that video systems in general are not able to capture the wide latitude of exposure that film can. Sony thought of a clever solution. They created S-Log.

Transitioning Into Adobe Premiere Pro CS5

For our third article in a series covering Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, we’ll take a brief look at the advantages of Premiere Pro when working with contemporary HD video formats, specifically the tapeless acquisition systems offered by Canon, Sony and Panasonic. That’s followed by some user testimonials culled from our online discussion groups involving some of our DVi community members who have switched or are in the process of transitioning to Premiere Pro from other video editing programs. Then we’ll look at hardware options for configuring a desktop system or a mobile editing laptop using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.