News posts from 2003 Q1

[Ken Tanaka]

I was recently drooling over this $8,000 gadget myself. It is quite a piece of technology. (It seems scarce, though.)

BTW, Phil Askey's site, Digital Photography Review, is also an amazing place, isn't it?

[Joe Carney]

March 7 - 16th Orlando. Sponsored by Universal Orlando and University of Central Flrorida. Well respected regional film festival. Rated in top 10 by Chris Gore.

Has a reputation for a laid back atmosphere with great selections.

I'm going to try and make this one.

http://www.floridafilmfestival.com

[Imran Zaidi]

I live just down the street from the home of this festival...
It's actually organized by The Enzian, the local arthouse theater.
http://www.enzian.org

Definitely always a great selection of films, and yes, laid back. The film screenings are usually spread out amongst several local theaters. Some at the huge Universal Studios Cineplex, to various screens at Rollins College, to the more intimate Enzian dinner-theater, etc. Always fun, and a lot of the filmmakers do visit, and there's always a very intriguing guest. I remember one year it was Jason Lee, who I unfortunately missed. The seats fill up fast!

[Don Parrish]

Looks like Sonic Foundry is in Miami on Tuesday Feb 25th with a free DVD seminar. Here is a Link to the North American stops.

http://seminar.sonic.com/seminars.asp?country=US

[John Locke]

Hey everyone,

I just got news from CustomFlix.com that they're expanding their distribution to include international producers now. They say their site will change tomorrow, Tuesday, February 18, to reflect this.

So, if you're looking for a way to distribute your films in video and DVD, this is worth checking out!

http://www.customflix.com

[Andrew Petrie]

Doesn't look like sonic foundry to me.

[Josh Mellicker]

DVcreators.net would like to invite you to a free seminar showing a series of valuable tips and techniques for getting the most from your DV camcorder and editing system.

The "DV Revolution Free Seminar Tour" is an international series of free seminars
sponsored by Canon and others, and presented by DVcreators.net, revealing
DVcreators.net unique and special brand of secret techniques for shooting,
lighting, editing and delivering high quality digital video.


DV Revolution Free Seminar Tour dates:
--------------------------------------
2/19/2003 Hilton Burbank Airport & Convention Center Burbank CA
2/21/2003 Clarion Hotel San Francisco Airport Millbrae CA
3/3/2003 Holiday Inn Select-Dallas North (Galleria Area) Dallas TX
3/5/2003 Holiday Inn - Astrodome @ Reliant Park Houston TX
3/7/2003 Marriott Atlanta Century Center Atlanta GA
3/11/2003 Holiday Inn Downtown Washington DC
3/13/2003 Holiday Inn-Mart Plaza Chicago IL
3/20/2003 Denver Convention Center Denver CO
3/31/2003 Renaissance Hollywood Hotel Hollywood CA
4/2/2003 Courtyard San Francisco Downtown San Francisco CA
4/4/2003 Embassy Suites Hotel - Biltmore Phoenix AZ
4/14/2003 Southgate Tower Hotel New York NY
4/17/2003 Holiday Inn-Airport East Toronto ON


The shooting portion of free seminars will feature the Canon GL2 broadcast quality digital camcorder with three 410,000 pixel chips, professional L-series Fluorite crystal lens, 20x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, Pixel Shift, Frame Mode, time-lapse and many high end picture adjustment controls.

The seminar will show a normal shot being transformed, step-by-step, into a primetime Hollywood film look by using the advanced picture controls of the Canon GL2, 3 point lighting from Lowel, special Tiffen filters and other tricks of the trade.

You'll also see a variety of exciting new digital video products from other sponsors, including Lowel lighting, Pinnacle Systems, Intel, Gateway, discreet, SmartSound and Artbeats.


To register or for more information, go to:

http://www.digitalmediacreators.net/...urce=dvinfonet

(You must register and print out your registration to attend- no one will be
admitted without a "ticket"!)

Also check out our brand new website:
http://www.dvcreators.net

[Ken Tanaka]

I highly recommend taking advantage of DVCreators' "DV Revolution Free Seminar Tour" particularly if you are new to video or are an intermediate beginner looking for some tips on getting to the next level. Even if you're not interested in the specific cameras or software used in the seminar, you're going to walk away with good stuff between your ears.

I also recommend nearly any of DVCreators' other classes and/or their instructional cd's. Josh Mellicker's DVCreators is the best of its genre.

[Don Parrish]

My apology, you are correct, I was searching for info on Sonicfoundry's new dvd authoring and stumbled thru this website, This is not Sonic Foundry, again my apoplogy.
Donny

[Ken Tanaka]

The March, 2003 issue of Videomaker Magazine features an excellent article titled "Lighting Portraits" by Jim Stinson. In brief, the article provides a good overview of techniques for lighting interviews, something that many of us routinely face.

I highly recommend picking a copy up at the newsstand, since the article is not featured on Videomaker's site, at least at this writing.

[Matt Betea]

i thought that was amazing when i first read about it before, but check this out: fujifilm

seems they're going to be putting out a medium format monster with a 20.8 megapixel ccd. the dimensions are 52mmx37mm. i'm thinking the starting price for one of these will be $20k or so.

[Chris Hurd]

Here's a PDF document from Sony, about 40 pages, describing their new five megapixel Super HAD CCD (for still-photo digicams). I think it's an interesting look at the documentation that goes with a charge-coupled device. You can learn a lot about CCD technology by looking through this thing... enjoy.

"The ICX452AQ is a diagonal 9.04mm (Type 1/1.8) interline CCD solid-state image sensor with a square pixel array and 5.13M effective pixels."

See http://www.sony.co.jp/%7Esemicon/eng...1/a6803138.pdf

[David Slingerland]

The following should be very interesting.....


Sony Professional Products will show two new camcorders and three decks, part of a new professional optical disc system to be available in the fall, as part of its NAB exhibit, the company announced.

The optical system (pictured) records both high-resolution original, and lower-resolution versions called proxies, video and audio. From the camcorder or a battery-operated mobile deck, videographers will be able to transfer the proxy information to laptop editors or back to the studio at up to 30 times faster-than-real-time. Video can be transferred as high-resolution footage or a data file over IP networks, the manufacturer describes.

The optical disc system offers choice of recording video with the DVCAM codec at 25 megabits per second or the MPEG IMX codec at 30, 40 or 50 megabits per second. Optical decks will accept both formats and offer the full range of analog A/V, digital A/V and information technology (IT) standards, including compatibility with i.LINK (IEEE 1394) and Ethernet interfaces.

The optical media consists of a five-inch (12 centimeter) re-writable disc in a protective cartridge. Blue laser technology for recording and playback is used.

The new system offers familiar optical disc benefits, including split-second random access, no physical head contact during record/playback, and cost efficiency associated with the media. A single disc holds 90 minutes of DVCAM material or 45 minutes of MPEG IMX material recorded at 50 Mbps, 55 minutes at 40 Mbps, and 75 minutes at 30 Mbps.

Sony's two optical disc camcorders and three decks support both the i.LINK and Ethernet interfaces for transferring assets as Material Exchange Format (MXF) files.

The two camcorders are able to capture high-quality pictures with 2/3-inch EX HAD image sensors and 12-bit analog-to-digital converters. Features include loop/interval recording on a built-in cache memory; Ethernet or wireless LAN interfaces through optional PC-CARD adaptors, and a 2.5-inch (viewable area, measured diagonally) LCD monitor for playback, marking good shots and re-sequencing clips. The camcorders can output low-resolution proxy video at up to 30 times faster-than-real-time.

The battery-powered mobile deck plays back DVCAM and MPEG IMX recordings and displays them on the built-in LCD monitor. The deck supports up to 30 times faster-than-real-time transfer of low-resolution proxy video over i.LINK and Ethernet interfaces, in addition to MXF file transfers over a 100-BaseT network connection.

The compact, NLE companion deck, a half-rack feeding/recording machine for non-linear editing, supports up to five times faster-than-real-time transfer of full-resolution DVCAM audio and video and up to 50 times real-time transfer of low-resolution proxy audio and video. Transfer speeds for MPEG 4:2:2 video range from four times real-time for MPEG 30Mbps to two-and-a-half-times real-time for MPEG 50Mbps.

The studio deck, which is a standard editing deck that offers both DVCAM and MPEG IMX recording and playback, provides a full complement of analog A/V, digital A/V and IT interfaces, including the i.LINK interface and Gigabit Ethernet port. The studio deck supports up to five times faster-than-real-time transfer of full-resolution DVCAM audio and video and up to 50 times real-time transfer of low-resolution proxy audio and video. Transfer speeds for MPEG 4:2:2 video range from four times real-time for MPEG 30Mbps to two-and-a-half-times real-time for MPEG 50Mbps. The studio deck works with both nonlinear and linear editing systems.

[Robert Mann Z.]

kodak will soon release there much delayed 14n @ under 5 grand not bad makes canon look down right expensive..

[Ken Tanaka]

Canon is introducing new versions of its popular Optura cameras, the Optura 10 and Optura 20. Both will be 1/4" single CCD cameras. The 10 will have a 2.5" lcd screen, the 20 a 3.5"screen. The 20 will have "Super Night Shooting Mode" (not sure if the "Super" refers to the night or the mode).

Both cameras will ship in May, 2003. See the CanonDV site for complete information.