Sunday 31 August 2014

News Shooter | BIRTV 2014 video: Chinese inventor hacks an old tape based Sony ENG camera to shoot 2.7K by putting a GoPro inside

Plenty of TV stations and freelance cameramen have old Betacams and DV based cameras lying around gathering dust. Imagine if you could upgrade them to 2.7K, or even 4K shooting? One Chinese inventor has been trying to do just that.


Saturday 30 August 2014

Internal 4K Recording Coming To The Sony F5…For Free??



Internal 4K Recording Coming To The Sony F5…For Free.

One of the main differentiators between Sony's F5 and F55 cameras is the ability for the latter to record 4k XAVC footage internally to its SxS cards, but this might all be about to change.....

Filmmaker Paul Ream has uploaded a test video to Vimeo that appears to show 4k footage recorded internally to the cheaper Sony F5 camera, a camera that can only 'officially' record up to 2k.  Details on exactly how this has been achieved are sparse at the moment, but Paul promises to reveal all on the next episode of the Extrashot Podcast.  I think we can safely assume that like Magic Lantern's 5D Raw hacks, this is some sort of custom firmware update.

Monday 25 August 2014

Sony F5 Internal 4K XAVC Recording (Hack?) For Free | 4K Shooters

Just as I was browsing my twitter feed yesterday, I came across an interesting tweet by @PaulReam who apparently has "unlocked" internal 4K (4096 x 2160p) XAVC recording on his Sony PMW-F5. 

www.4kshooters.net/2014/08/25/sony-f5-internal-4k-xavc-2550p-recording-hack

Sony Launches New PXW-X500 XDCAM Shoulder Mount CCD camcorder with XAVC | XDCAM-USER.COM

Today Sony launched a couple of the new cameras. The MC2500E a very low cost, fairly basic shoulder mount AVCHD camcorder with a single 1/4″ CMOS sensor and a new full size, shoulder mount XDCAM camcorder the PXW-X500.

www.xdcam-user.com/2014/08/sony-launches-new-pxw-x500-xdcam-shoulder-mount-ccd-camcorder-with-xavc

Tuesday 19 August 2014

News Shooter | Convergent Design Odyssey 7 and 7Q get another new firmware update – adds 1080P 50 and 59.94 ProRes recording

Convergent Design is pumping out  firmware releases for their Odyssey 7 and 7Q recorders at an astonishing rate. With only 29 days passing since the last release the latest one adds a raft of new features such as 1080P 50 and 59.94 ProRes recording and improved high frame rate recording for the Canon C500. It is good to see a company committed to steadily improving their product. 

While this release is perhaps not as feature heavy as the last,  it does provide some very useful additions that users will welcome. This is what has been added according to Convergent Design: 

• Higher Frame Rates For Apple ProRes 422(HQ) In 1080p 
Apple ProRes 422(HQ) recording is now enabled in 1080p50 and 1080p59.94. A very useful addition as there has been a distinct lack of 50 and 60p external recording options available in any recorder on the market. This is of course available on the 7 and 7Q.  


www.newsshooter.com/2014/08/19/convergent-design-odyssey-7-and-7q-get-another-new-firmware-update-adds-1080p-50-and-59-94-prores-recording

Thursday 14 August 2014

ARRI Amira Review - No MagnoliaNo Magnolia

This week I had the pleasure of heading in to ARRI HQ in Uxbridge to test their latest camera, the Amira.

Unveiled at last years IBC show in Amsterdam, the ARRI Amira is seen primarily as a documentary camera, aimed at productions such as Natural World, Sports and high-end Ob-Docs. It's also been suggested it'll be a great B-Camera when shooting primarily on the ARRI Alexa.


www.nomagnolia.tv/arri-amira-review

Friday 1 August 2014

Sony PXW-X70 Professional XDCAM Compact Camcorder PXW-X70 B&H | B&H Photo Video



Sony PXW-X70 Professional XDCAM Compact Camcorder PXW-X70 B&H | B&H Photo Video

Features

Sony's PXW-X70 Professional XDCAM Compact Camcorder is about the same size as a conventional 1/3" professional compact camcorder, but it features a 1" type sensor, which is larger than a super-16 sized sensor and more than eight times the size of a 1/3" sensor. The larger Exmor R sensor size provides for more cinematic appearing depth of field than a 1/3" sensor is capable of and features a back-side illuminated design for improved low light performance. It features an integrated 12x optical zoom lens with a manual lens ring for zoom/focus control, and a three level switchable ND filter. The top handle incorporates two 3-pin XLR inputs for recording audio from XLR microphones.

The camera records HD video using the XAVC Long-GOP codec with 4:2:2, 10-bit color sampling at 50 Mb/second, providing footage with a high data rate that is suitable for broadcast applications. The camera features two SD card slots, allowing simultaneous and relay recording, and both a 3G-SDI and an HDMI output. The camera supports control via Wi-Fi using smartphones or tablets and the optional Content Browser Mobile application. Planned upgrades will allow the camera to record in 4K UHD as well as add file transfer and streaming via Wi-Fi.