Visualnary

Yet another exciting week over at the RED HQ.

Already next week will see the first RED One cameras getting a sensoral facelift. The new sensor has better dynamic range, higher sensibilty (800 ISO as standard, usable even at 3200 ASA) and the new color science, named FLUT. The swap will also get your camera a new sensor board and a new (optical) low pass filter. A bit over USD 5.750 for the conversion ($1.250 will be refunded when you buy an Epic). Throw in an extra 3k, and you will get a RED Rocket for a bargain price.

Anamorphic, baby

Today RED announced that they will produce anamorphic lenses. Last year they rocked the glass world with their set of primes, where a set of lenses costs as much as you would previously have to pay for a single focal length. Now you have until the end of this year to save towards the 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 100mm lenses; all at T2.4. A 25mm is probably also in the pipeline.

Tags: anamorphic, lens, lenses, m-x, primes, program, r1, RED, red one, sensor, trade-in, upgrade

I recently needed to uprez some footage from 160×120 to HD. I used the occasion to give Red Giant’s Instant HD a try-out. The results looked decent, but for comparison I also simply adjusted the motion settings in Final Cut Pro. Surprizingly, to me those results looked actually better.

Famous enhance moments

A fun compilation of all those films that use the (non-existing) enhance function that is part of any science-fiction/tech-thriller/computer-action movie. Enjoy!

(via)

Tags: editing, enhance, final-cut-pro, instant hd, red giant, resolution, sd to hd, uprez, uprezzing, video, youtube

If you have some a lot of spare cash floating around, you can buy a 5200mm Canon lens on eBay. It will set you back at least 45k$, the f-stop is 14, and the nearest focal distance is 120, yes: meters. You’ll need 2 strong people to carry the lens, and a SUV to transport it.

To give you a sense of its size, have a look at this photo. At the rear the little blob is a 35mm camera.

A nice little video showing both the lens and some video footage shot with it Read More…

About 2 years ago RED scrapped their plans for a mattebox. Yesterday Jim posted the following render, which gives food to the hope that the announcement for late October might just include in this picture (click on it for full size).

Looks like carbon fibre with 2 rotating 4×5.6 trays, enough holders for eyebrows on all 4 edges, and option to clamp it onto the lens.

Tags: mattebox, october, RED

This was a busy night with Jim showing a couple of new renders from the upcoming EpicX 5k camera. What is so special about this camera – besides its technical specs – is its modularity. You can use it as a very small, lightweight system (ideal for run-and-gun shoots), or build it up into pretty much any configuration you can imagine.

Lego taken to the next level

There will be a number of battery options on the new camera. As promised, most equipment from the RED One period will be compatible with both the Epic and Scarlet. To use V-lock batteries, there will be a module for batteries – which will take 2 batteries at a time, for extended running times; especially taken into consideration that the new cameras will draw less power.

Read More…

Tags: battery, draw, epic, epic x, jim, mattebox, modularity, news, one, RED, renders, scarlet

Tom from Timespace has just posted his latest timelapse movie – where he has perfected his homemade dolly moves:

He has posted a number of how-to/behind-the-scenes clips on how he achieved those amazing pictures: Read More…

Tags: 2009, Apple, automated, diy, dolly, Fun, homemade, humor, keynote, movement, night, pan, photography, stars, steve jobs, tilt, timelapse

Enjoy:

Tags: 2009, Apple, cut down, edited, Fun, humor, keynote, parody, steve jobs

I finally got around to conduct a casual lens test for all the Contax Zeiss lenses I own. I shot all lenses wide open, at 2.8, 5.6, 8 and closed at 16 or 22. I moved the camera, so as to keep the framing similar. On the 2 zooms I own, I tested these on both ends and in the middle. I also tested a few lenses with a 2x extender.

In the end I chose a 150×150 frame, cropped these in Graphic Converter into high quality jpegs (@90%). Then I sorted all crops according to their f-stop. During the next days I’ll post the results.

Today I start with 5.6, which is the stop that should be the sweet stop for most lenses (i.e. 2 stops down from wide open). This should give a good indication of how the lenses perform optically. I opened up all cropped jpegs, without knowing which one belonged to which lens. Then I ordered them as to how good they resolved the text – this step is of course up for discussion, but gives a general idea. Read More…

Tags: 5.6, contax, distance, experience, focus, lens test, RED, review, Reviews, sharpness, zeiss

While researching photographies about the 1934 longshoremen strike, I came across these two pictures showing how press photographers looked like back then.

We can see both the gravity of the occasion – Police is about to attack the strikers, and the photographers prepared themselves with gas masks, goggles and rain hats – and a typical way of handling it – joking about.

Source: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.

Tags: 1930s, 1934, equipment, journalist, journalists, photo journalists, photographers, pose, press photographers, san francisco news, strike

For the past month or so I’ve been a happy owner of the Lensbaby Composer, a shift-tilt lens that is very affordable. I took advantage of their kind offer where they’d send out a free wide-angle adapter with macro lens – they even shipped it for free to Norway. Great packaging, easy to use lens, and fantastic customer service.

I love the macro lens – it lets you get very close to your subjects. But you have to be very careful, as the depth of field is very, very shallow. Here is a little experiment I shot with the Lensbaby:

If there is one thing I would like to see improved on this nifty little lens, it would be the ability to set the f-stop. Right now you have to slide in pre-cut masks to set your aperture.

Tags: lensbaby, macro, Reviews, vimeo