Dear friends. It is the time of the year when the cinema5d team is heading towards Vegas to bring you the latest and hottest news from the NAB show.
If you are around. please drop us a line and we will do our best to meet and say hi.
Thank you,
Sebastian, Nino and Johnnie
All credit is given to author cinema5DSebastian Wöber
Everyone who operates video cameras knows that there is one major thing to consider before you can start shooting: stabilization. There are countless ways of stabilizing your camera – a simple tripod, a (shoulder) rig system (necessary for handheld shots if your camera has a form factor that makes it impossible to put it on the shoulder without additional pieces of equipment) – all the way up to Steadicams, jibs, cranes, sliders and so on, if you want to move that camera.
M?VI from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.
MoVI in action
And now the world is richer with another possibility to stabilize cameras, the MoVI, a digital 3-axis gyro-stabilized handheld camera gimbal – produced by Freefly Systems in Seattle, WA.
Vincent Laforet had a chance to shoot a test short with one, and published an extremely impressive resulting film. Including the behind-the-scenes footage, which is extremely revealing on how they managed to pull off many of the difficult shots, for example a “hand-over” of the camera rig while rolling at the same time.
M?VI BTS from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.
According to Vincent, the learning curve on this is very low compared to other solution like a a Steadicam, so you should be able to shoot with MoVI within a very short time. The small form factor and weight also do are unheard of for devices in this category – which in turn allows many uses for it that have been unthinkable with other solutions.
Pricing wise we are looking at around $15,000 for the M10 (which takes up to 10 pounds), and around $7,500 for the M5 (for smaller rigs). While the M10 is already shipping, the M5 is not available yet.
cinema5D will be attending NAB of course, and one of our priorities will be getting a nice video hands-on with the makers of MoVI, who are filmmakers themselves.
What do you think? Is this really a “game changer” as Vincent pronounced?
MoVI M10
All credit is given to author cinema5DNino Leitner
WARNING: This video shows instances of extreme violence is NSFW. Don’t watch it if you have a weak stomach.
The interwebs are currently buzzing with a new music video for the Russian band “Biting Elbows”, which looks like a first-person video game shooter shot on video with a GoPro. The effects are absolutely incredible and surprisingly, even the “story” draws you right in. I didn’t even realize it’s a music video until after I watched it – it’s an amazingly made short film which gives you a sense of mesmerizing immediacy.
The GoPro-style footage implies a sense of reality that makes the images shown all the more unbelievable – watch out, this is extremely violent (as these video games tend to be most of the time).
All credit is given to author cinema5DNino Leitner
WARNING: This video shows instances of extreme violence and is NSFW. Don’t watch it if you have a weak stomach.
The interwebs are currently buzzing with a new music video for the Russian band “Biting Elbows”, which looks like a first-person video game shooter shot on video with a GoPro. The effects are absolutely incredible and surprisingly, even the “story” draws you right in. I didn’t even realize it’s a music video until after I watched it – it’s an amazingly made short film which gives you a sense of mesmerizing immediacy.
The GoPro footage implies a sense of reality that makes the images shown all the more unbelievable – watch out, this is extremely violent (as these video games tend to be most of the time).
We here at cinema5D do not promote violence of any kind and distance ourselves from the content, which can be appalling for many readers – however, the way this video is made is impressive to say the least, and that’s the only reason why we are posting it.
Considering the amount of violence in an average Tarantino movie, I think it’s save to say that this is comparable – however some people seem to react more appalled than others because the GoPro footage evokes a feeling of realism.
All credit is given to author cinema5DNino Leitner
Nikon has announced the Coolpix A, its first compact camera featuring an APS-C sized CMOS sensor (Nikon DX format).
Nikon Coolpix A – a compact camera with a fixed focal length lens and an APS-C sized chip.
It can capture 1080p videos and has a 18.5mm lens (which equals 28mm on a full frame camera) with f/2.8 speed. That’s quite intriguing and very fast for a camera in such a small body. ISO ranges from 100 to a whopping 25600 (which is almost never usable due to excessive grain).
Sample image from the Nikon Coolpix A
The Coolpix A allows you to do everything in manual mode as well, which is something we have increasingly seen in new top-of-the-line compact cameras from different manufacturers lately. I doubt the manual focus will have hard stops though, but I guess there’s only so much we filmmakers can ask for.
By the way, of course this is first and foremost a photo camera. Its 16.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor is capable of capturing 12- and 14-bit RAW photos. The downside: it doesn’t have a viewfinder, that’s a pricey additional purchase.
Nikon has published some photos and two videos that were shot with the camera. Unfortunately, the resolution of the videos is very low, but click here to judge them yourself:
The second video seems a bit off because there seems to be a considerable amount of wobble in the wide shots. Whether it’s because of an operator who didn’t know how to operate or due to a camera which doesn’t have image stabilization in the video mode, we don’t know until we get our hands around it.
Having a large-sensor camera with a fixed lens in a small package always in your pocket is indeed a very tempting proposition, so we like where Nikon is headed here. After all, even professionals on film sets take most of their “just for fun” photos on smartphones these days, and also shoot a video on it from time to time – because after all, the best camera is always the one you have with you. Of course, a fixed focal length is limiting, but then again it requires you to actually think HOW you shoot something and find different angles, rather than be stuck in one place.
So what do you think about the new Nikon Coolpix A? Could it become your go-anywhere camera?
Also, you are welcome to give us ideas for shoots with this camera – as you know, the new cinema5D is all about real world testing of cameras. Real stories, whether they are of a documentary or narrative nature, we will do our best to put new cameras in real-life situations to see how they perform. Let us know what you want us to film with the new Canon Coolpix A – by the nature of the camera, it should be fun and spontaneous, without much need for complicated setups.
All credit is given to author cinema5DNino Leitner
You know the old mantra of artsy filmmakers, “it’s not about the camera”. Deep down you know it’s absolutely true. We all geek out about new cameras and the latest and greatest, but the truth is that a bad story doesn’t become a tad better because it’s shot beautifully. I wrote about this fact in a lengthy blog post called “It’s not about the gear” a while back.
If you didn’t believe this by now, hold on tight for this story: The documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” – winner of the Best Documentary Academy Award 2013, was partly shot on an iPhone.
According to CNN, director Malik Bendjelloul started to shoot the film on real 8mm film but then ran out of money – the then resorted to the app “8mm Vintage Camera” on the iPhone to complete it.
iTunes App Store link: 8mm Vintage Camera – Nexvio Inc.
The app is $1.99 in the App Store and allows you to create vintage looking 8mm style videos with your iPhone without much effort. You can chose between film stocks and some other details.
So before you find an excuse for not making that movie you always wanted to make because you don’t have the right gear, think again. The main thing holding you back might well be your mindset, but it’s certainly not to do with the camera equipment you “need” to make it finally happen.
Here’s the trailer for “Searching for Sugar Man”:
Searching for Sugar man – Trailer from Julian Antell on Vimeo.
I even reviewed the app a while back in this video review:
8mm Vintage Camera – iPhone App Review from Nino Leitner on Vimeo.
All credit is given to author cinema5DNino Leitner
RELAUNCH
The forum is currently offline, as our website will relaunch BIG this afternoon with a lot of exciting changes.
We’ll be looking forward to your next visit and comments on our new website.
We’re sorry for any inconvenience the offline status of the forum may cause. We’re looking at being back with the new site within the next hours and reinstalling the forum by the evening.
cinema5D management.
All credit is given to author cinema5D newsSebastian
The cinema5D forums have moved. The forum part of the website have a new management and domain.
For the past years cinema5D has established the biggest forum on all things video DSLR, large sensor filmmaking and digital cinema cameras.
It was a very exciting time when I first started building the cinema5D forums. Back then most people weren’t interested in the video capabilities of DSLR’s, but a small number of filmmakers around the world realized that there’s great potential in being able to record video on a large sensor camera.
With the cinema5D forums I did my best to provide a platform that serves the community and is a place for serious discussions about HDSLR filmmaking.
It is time for the cinema5D forums to move on and receive the management they deserve, there are people who can do that better than me. So we’re changing our approach at cinema5D (more pon that HERE) and let the forum part of cinema5D go to planet5D.
planet5D, run by Mitch Augner, was among the first to create a resource on filmmaking with the Canon 5D mark II. His website has grown to be a regularly updated news blog on large sensor filmmaking. His website running skills and management capabilities are way superior over mine. You wouldn’t believe how many bugs were in the cinema5D forum software and server which I implemented over the years with my trial and error approach on programming. You might have noticed.
I believe Mitch will do a good job managing the forums. All user accounts remain intact and among them our moderators, who were working hard on new strategies and infra-structure for the forums.
Thanks for being a great international community,
Sebastian Wöber (cinema5D founder)
All credit is given to author cinema5DSebastian Wöber
Tweet this Article to Win a Rokinon 35mm 1.4 CINE lens!
Our sponsor B&H will give away a Rokinon 35mm T1.4 CINE lens (news article) to a cinema5D reader. The winner will be picked among all people who tweeted one of our IBC 2012 articles.*
*This promotion will end after all our IBC 2012 videos have been posted. Multiple tweets of the same article and retweets will not count!
In this last video from IBC 2012 we’re posting Clayton Burkhart has a conversation with Peter Yabsley from Canon about the new Canon EOS C100.
The Canon EOS C100 was definitely one of the most interesting cameras of IBC 2012. Peter Yabsley gave us the details in this interview and elaborates why there is such a big price difference between the C line cameras and how the different models are really for different target groups.
Let’s see if what Sony comes out with tomorrow will be able to compete with Canon’s C line of cameras.
This is the last chance to participate in our IBC 2012 twitter contest as we’ll pick the winner tomorrow.
The Canon EOS C100 is expected on November 30th and will cost $6499.
You can pre-order it here:
All credit is given to author cinema5D newsSebastian
Tweet this Article to Win a Rokinon 35mm 1.4 CINE lens!
Our sponsor B&H will give away a Rokinon 35mm T1.4 CINE lens (news article) to a cinema5D reader. The winner will be picked among all people who tweeted one of our IBC 2012 articles.*
*This promotion will end after all our IBC 2012 videos have been posted. Multiple tweets of the same article and retweets will not count!
The famous most affordable Sachtler tripod gets a bigger brother.
What is this, a second Sachtler Ace?
Indeed, this is an upgrade version for those who like the affordability of the first Sachtler Ace, but require some more features.
Basically the advantages of the Ace L over the normal Ace (Ace M) are the following:
- 6kg (13.2 lbs) payload capacity
- illuminated bubble
- much lighter carbon fibre legs
- you can get photo style legs for even more versatility
- 7 instead of 5 counter balance steps
When will the XL version come?
For those who need even more payload capacity I can only recommend the bigger Sachtler FSB 8 with the cool speedlock feet, but then that’s a different pricerange alltogether (LINK). Let’s see if there’ll be an XL Ace anytime into the future.
Here’s a nice demo by my office colleague Nino Leitner:
More information on the Sachtler Ace can be found on the Sachtler Ace website:
www.sachtler-ace.com
All credit is given to author cinema5D newsSebastian