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I finally got around testing the various adapters I bought to adapt my Carl Zeiss Contax Yashica primes to our RED. The RED has the Wicked Circuit dumb mount. All adapters work fine up to about 20 meters, but after that there is a definite difference.

All tests were done on the Zeiss 50/1.4 lens, with the aperture set to 4 and 16. No filters were used, instead faster shutter speeds were employed.

Here is the frame I took in 4k, scaled down to 25% (Click on picture for full size), further down the test you will see 100% cropped images of just the chimney (compressed to jpg in Photoshop with high quality setting) .

El Cheapo

First in line is the £5 adapter off eBay from seller big_is. Very quick and efficient delivery from Hong Kong. Fits nicely. Fairly soft on infinity.

Holds fairly well at f16.

Bad at 4.

Conclusion: if you are on a budget, and either only shoot closer subjects or have plenty of light, this is an acceptable adapter.

DVD Technik

Next in line is the adapter from DVD Technik in the Ukraine at about $35. Has a very nice quality feel to it, and sist very tight on the lens. Best to be fitted once onto the lens, and left in place. Also quite tight once connected to the camera; downside is that it takes a bit longer to change lenses, but they do sit more tightly.

Disappointing at f16.

Appaling at f4.

Conclusion: Not really an option.

Confirm Adapter

Fianally the most expensive option at $85 from Happypage in Hongkong, an adapter with built-in autofocus confirm chip. Happypage offers the option of getting that chip programmed to your specific lens, which is a nice option when you want to use your lenses on a Canon EOS stills camera. Since the RED is thankfully a fully manual camera, I could not test this extra functionality.

At first the adapter would not fit. After an e-mail to happypage they immedeatly sent off a second adapter without any cost to me. The adapter arrived, but would not fit either. This suggests that the Wicked Circuit adapter might be slightly off, since happypage has only happy curstomers. Anyway, using my Dremel drill, I managed to get the adapter to fit into the RED – again, very tight, but not as tight as the DVD Technik one, and run the tests.

Happypage advertizes the fact that their adapters are a fraction of a millimitre thinner than their competitors, and claims that this helps with the focus on infinity. Let’s see how this holds up to reality.

Me likes at f16.

A Bit disappointing at f4.

Conclusion: Clearly the winner.

Conclusion

As so often, if you want quality, you have to pay for it. Interesting though that the by far cheapest option was not the by far worst one.

Also it seems that I still have problems with the back-focus on the Wicked Circuit adapter. My guess is that if that should ever get sorted out (or I might – gasp – order again a Birger Canon mount) the results will improve.

Just had to share some reviews of Paris Hilton’s success as an actress in The Hottie and the Nottie:

“It’s not like Paris Hilton to rise above her material, but The Hottie and the Nottie sinks so low that all she has to do is stand upright.” — Sam Adams, LOS ANGELES TIMES”

Great actors make the craft look easy. In this Paris Hilton comedy, acting looks very, very difficult.” — Kyle Smith, NEW YORK POST

“This pea-brained vanity production…” — Nell Minow, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

“This tasteless train wreck …” — Jeannette Catsoulis, THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Imagine the worst movie you’ve ever seen. Got it? Now try to think of something worse. That something is this movie.” — Connie Ogle, MIAMI HERALD

On a possible score of 100, the film gets 6. For more reviews, had over to Defective Yeti.

Looks like it is now possible to record 5.1 location sound even when there is no budget for a sound recordist. The Holophone H4 SuperMINI is a $2,500 (ca. NOK 13 500) microphone that records surround sound onto a stereo track, all in a size that makes it possible to mount the little wonder on a small sized camera. Do I hear anyone mention the Red camera? Nature documentary?

Imagine the richness this will give in editing. Rather than having to do with pre-recorded sound, or the one-channel camera mike, having 5.1 will surely add production value to those 1-man crew shoots.

The magic of the SuperMINI is that it uses Dolby Pro Logic II encoding to create two stereo tracks from six discrete audio channels. These can output to cameras and stereo recorders with XLR, RCA or miniplug inputs via separate adapter cables. The twin tracks can then be connected to the stereo audio inputs on any professional video camera, audio recorder, mixer, or other gear.

Read the full review (4.5 out of 5) over at DV.com — free registration required, and very much worth it.

Sometimes you have to produce photographs from films, so-called frame grabs. In Final Cut Pro this entails several clicks for each frame, something that becomes tiresome after a while. Also, if your material is anamorphic, you have to resize it in a separate programme, adding yet more clicks.Enter Movie Frame Grabber, a simple programme for the Mac.You drag a QT into the blue window, then you chose the frame you want, hit “Save Frame” and you are done.Much easier than using QT or FCP.One thing I noticed – and I am torn between calling it a feature or a bug – is that each frame gets exported in the same size as your windows is sized. I.E. When you have a 600×400 QT file, but your window is, say 605×605, you get a square picture. The good thing is that Movie Frame Grabber does a decent job of uprezzing. So if you need some quick framegrabs, this is a big time saver.

Wishes

What I would love are the following future features:

• De-interlacing
• Automatic naming and numbering of exported frames.
• Option to export in native QT size (with option of having 16:9). Option of having 25%, 50%, 200%, 400% sizes. Throw in some advanced resizing calculations, and this could become a powerful tool that people would spend money on. This reviewer included.
• Display of current window size.
• A Text saying “Drop QT file here” instead of the blue screen — this threw me off at first; blue screen to me suggested that I would have to plug in a DV source.
• Support for keyboard control. Space = start/stop. Arrow left/right = one frame advance/back.

That said, great little – and free – program.(Review at Macupdate.)

I am just watching a presentation about the Red camera, and here are some observations:

1. The sensor is Super35mm size.
2. The camera body is bigger than it looked like on the photographs. Definitely more than a PD170.
3. Camera is natively progressive. Interlacing can be achieved in post.
4. The digital shutter is programmable. Range up to 360 degrees.
5. ISO rating is between 320 and 500.
6. Camera takes standard V-mount batteries. 90-120 minutes operating time per battery (Red Brick).
7. PL mount, takes any professional lens with a PL mount. Red also makes their own lenses, very aggressively priced. When using S16 lenses, you are limited to 2k resolution.
8. The camera takes 52 seconds to boot. I would imagine this to come down on future firmware upgrades.
9. Camera design is modular. Not only externally, but also within. Which means that when Red comes up with a better sensor, you don’t have to buy a new camera, you just swap out the chip.
10. Join the queue. If you order a camera today, you will get it in about 9 month’s time.
11. Not all feature are yet activated. No sound yet. Wait for a future firmware update. Will have 4 channels.
12. 100 fps @ 2k resolution. Mouth-watering!
13. 2gb per 1 minute of 4k resolution. Which is only 10 times that of DV. Again: impressive.
14. Soon you can edit (in 1k resolution) your 4k material on FCP. In reality this means you can edit straight from the Red media on your laptop.
15. The ProRes codec is so good, no reason ever to use 8- or 10-bit uncompressed.
16. Upcoming feature: Histogram in the viewfinder. This will be great for location shooting.
17. Shooting with the Red camera is closer to shooting film than to shooting HD/video. You don’t expose for a pretty picture, but to get as much detail out of the picture as possible – to keep the option open in post production. This is comparable to shooting in RAW mode on a digital SLR camera.
18. Camera has also a ‘False Colo(u)r mode’, which shows you clipping that would occur at the current T-stop setting.
19. The software to transfer the video data to your editing system is – at this point – Intel Mac only. But soon they will have a more elegant version out, which will run both on Mac and PC.
20. Scratch, a high-end programme for Color Correction is directly supporting RedCode Raw. Color Grading in real time, with 1k or 2k preview.
21. The Mill (Oscar winning post production company) compared side-by-side 35mm and Red 4K, and were blown away.
22. Red is a disruptive technology. Many people do not want this camera to work.
23. Red reminds one of the early Apple. People working there seem to actually have fun creating something new.
24. At least 5 major feature films are currently shooting with Red cameras.
25. The Red camera in hand-held mode weighs about 18 pounds (9 kilos).
26. The EVF is not yet ready.
27. The Red Camera is a passion product.
28. Why is the camera so cheap? They aim for quality and volume.

Over the years I have tried a couple of different hosts. Last year I briefly gave one.com a try, but found their services too restrictive and moved the one web site I had with them (they only allow one) to my favourite host. So I was surprised when I received an invoice for my upcoming renewal for my hosting plan at one.com. I sent a friendly e-mail explaining that I have stopped using their services a long time ago, and that I had moved the domain name as well. One.com replied that I had to pay anyway, even though my account was now closed – because you have to terminate your account 45 friggin’ days before the renewal date. That’s like half a digital year. Obviously that clause is there for the sole purpose of extracting money from disgruntled customers.

Well, it served its purpose. I paid the bill, and I am now an (annoyed, bad-tempered, beefing, bellyaching, cranky, critical, disappointed, discontent, discontented, displeased, dissatisfied, griping, grouchy, grousing, grumpy, irritable, irritated, kicking, kvetching, malcontent, malcontented, peeved, peevish, petulant, put out, sulky, sullen, testy, uncontent, ungratified, vexed) ex-customer. Now effectively I had to pay 24 months for a service I used maybe two of.

One.com is neither the cheapest, the fastest, the friendliest, the most open, most flexible hosting provider out there. I for one (sorry for the cheap pun) recommend Media Temple.

For Norwegian google users: Ikke bruk one.com; one.com suger.

The first hypedust has settled. I was amazed at some rather strong reactions. Some commentators flared at the high price tag, seeing a demise in society per se.

Others say it is just another phone. One that does exactly what many other phones already can do.

Only few have actually seen, let alone played with, it. In a previous post I mentioned one of those lucky ones.

Since then the projected costs of the iPhone have been estimated. Projecting a whopping 50% margin. Which means that Apple has a lot of leeway if they should decide to enter a price war.

more…

The last two weeks have been nothing short of crazy. A documentary we had started working on in 2003 finally draws to a close. Today we showed it to our main supporter, who stated that it was an important historic film. That felt good.

GPS

Anyway, I have no problems confessing that I am a gadget freak. That is gadgets that promise to make life easier. I also have no problems admitting that I am excellent at losing my way, when driving to the unknown (hey, I even managed to get lost inside a lighthouse). Combine these two with my seeing an offer for a GPS wayfinder, an you won’t be too surpized to hear that I am now a happy owner of a Garmin c550.

more…

About a week ago I received my replacement p910i. I have read rave reviews about it and was mildly excited what I finally held it in my hands. It weighs a bit nicer in the hands, with a more round feeling that the privious 810. the keyboard has undergone a very sucessful re-design, the buttons are easier to push. The jog-wheels no longer works on 3 axises, but 2 – something which one gets used to ever so quickly.

The phone has a whole lot of switches and buttons, some of them are a bit too easy to push accidentally. With the flip closed, you get of course the normal 12 number keys, plus 5 cursor keys, 4 option keys, and 6 keys spread around the edges of the phone. This is not a simple just-use-it phone.

Switching on the p910i, the first downturn comes. It feels like it takes a full minute for the phone to boot. The menu has been re-designed, and at first I did not understand the logic behind the structure. Why, for example is the calendar on the main menu, but for the to-do-list I first have to go to the Office folder?

The phone crashes frequently, especially when using slightly more demanding applications, such as taking photos, or playing back video. In normal use (like making some calls, and checking e-mail once per day), I need to do a sorft re-boot at least once a day. Last week the phone was used on a film, where it was supposed to play back a small video file. On about every second take we had to wait an extra two minutes for the crashed phone to re-boot. I find this unacceptable.

Ringing SonyEricson, I get the tip that I should update the phone’s hardware…

Why, oh why do I need to update a phone that I received only days ago?

Why, oh why does SonyEricson think that every p910i user has a PC?

That’s right, you cannot update your phone on a Mac. Actually, you cant do anything on a Mac, they jsut do not talk together (except for simple Bluetooth file transfer that sort-of works, ocasionally and slow).

Sometimes I cannot make outgoing calls. First after a re-boot does the phone work as a phone again.

For a phone that has been delayed for many months, I find it amazing how unstable it is. Considering the price-tag I think that SonyEricsson should feel ashamed. Not recommended.

For my recent job in Germany, I knew that a better case for carrying the tripod was necessary. Normally, one would use a rigid plastic housing, but they weigh in at about 6kg, are difficult to transport – and are butt ugly. So I did some research, which lead to the Israeli company Kata, which has a background in supplying bags for military applications. About 5 years ago they started making bags for film- and TV professionals, and I decided to give their Triporigid 2 a try, and ordered it from B&H in New York. As always, the package arrived a few days later – thanks, UPS.

The bag is made of Condura, an extremely durable synthetic cloth material. The inside of the bag is in a british yellow, making it easy to find in dim light. It features a few extra pockets, which acommodate the tripod plate, and – in my case – some small tools. I also bought a dividing set, so that in one compartment I can carry some extra cables.

What I really came to like is the ability to convert the bag into a backpack, making it just so much easier to carry a tripod over a longer period of time – or over difficult terrain. This is so good, that I in fact find myself using the bag even in cases where I could have done easily with an unpackaged tripod.
The quality of build seems immaculate, and promises to give years of service. Recommended.