Flickr just announced 1 TB of storage for all users. Absolutely bonkers, I’m moving my photos back over there soon and keeping most of them private.

The average person never has to back-up their photo collection again, granted, I’d still keep a local copy, going online for your own photos is silly, but I trust Yahoo (Flickr’s owner) enough that they won’t lose it.

While that is crazy awesome, I am disappointed that they didn’t even make the slightest effort to improve their video hosting. Still 3 minute cap on 1080p video… unfortunate for them because I know I don’t hold a ton of loyalty to YouTube or Vimeo, both are great options but have shortcomings, if they merely matched Vimeo’s offerings and threw in a few more bells and whistles for pro users, I’d jump over for all future hosting.

Step it up Flickr, you just won the photo hosting race, now get the video market!

Either way, we all take tons of photos nowadays, now you have a digital archive you can log into anywhere.

Warp Stabilizer is one of the most invaluable features in Premiere, and now it’s got a big brother in After Effects CC, Warp Stabilizer VFX. It lets you control track points, preserve framing, and more. With dynamic link, this is still a super fast and easy to implement tool if you aren’t getting the results you like from the standard Warp Stabilizer filter in Premiere.

Check out Adobe’s own tutorial on how to stabilize one object in your frame.

Juan Melara gives a great tutorial on how to emulate that classic blockbuster blue-warm look. He starts of with some great example footage and comparison then dives in real quickly to show you the LUTs and tricks to fine tune this appearance. This is an easy way to up the production value of your film and isn’t incredibly complicated, just requires some patience, a good eye, and knowledge of Resolve, or your preferred color tool.

I love color and tutorials like this are invaluable and help you approach color with even better understanding. Check his post for even more in-depth information.

Here is Juan‘s pre-requisite knowledge for following this tutorial.

In this tutorial I assume you have some basic Resolve knowledge and you’re able to setup up projects, import footage, apply LUTs and create nodes. I also assume you have a basic grasp of colour correction and colour correction best practices. If you’re new to Resolve or colour correction/grading in general, I recommend you check out some of the resources at the bottom of this post.

He also supplied links to Resolve, his sample footage, and the LUTs he used so you can follow along.

1. Davinci Resolve. Download the free Lite version from Blackmagic Design.
2. The footage I use. All the files in their original R3D format can be downloaded from here. If your system isn’t up to the task of handling 5k footage, let me know and I’ll look at creating 1080p/720p versions…
3. The film print emulation LUTs. Download them here and read this post for instructions on how to install and use them. If you are grading your own footage not in log format, download the video2log Input LUT from here.

While I still don’t think the 5D raw hack is worth taking onto professional gigs, I don’t blame people for being tempted to try it out. Do so at your own risk of course, but here is a solid tutorial on how to actually use these files once you get them out of the camera.

And here are some links for all you need to hack the shit out of your 5D and get some rawz. Courtesy of Planet5D.

Download raw file, H.264 comparison shot, and the raw2dng.exe file here:

www.neumannfilms.net/

Tutorial on how to make SD/CF card bootable/install Magic Lantern:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMpJdM

Follow Magic Lantern on Facebook or Twitter for updates:

www.facebook.com/magiclantern

Check out our website or like and follow on Facebook and Twitter:

www.neumannfilms.net/

www.facebook.com/NeumannFilms

twitter.com/Neumannfilms

And also check out the raw test, “Smith Rock” by @Neumannfilms.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

A pretty nifty looking little rig gives new life to your GoPro Hero2 or your nice new Hero3. With easy to use mounting and software to help you stitch it together, I’m pretty into this gimmicky awesome fun. I love a new creative use for the GoPro and I might have to grab a few more so I can try this out next time I’m shooting a concert, would be fun to find a way to have it bounce around the crowd giving a crazy perspective and being able to reframe and chose the ideal side of the shot with all that gooey resolution. I think it’s a bit pricy but if the software you get works well, then it might be worth it if you can find a good use.

Some details from OliviaTech:

Some bits on the video stitching software that 360 Heros uses:

• PTGui has a solution however entails you to be a file management manager but does supply great results and most 360 video today is using this method.
• Kolor also has another solution. Drag and drop in your 6 video files, choose your start and stop video sequence and walk away. The software then slices each video frame by frame and builds the MP4 file on the fly plus you can create separate JPG files to import and image sequences.
• Video-Stitch also has a GPU solution which is extremely fast and works in either batch or GUI interface mode. Here you set the stitch in PTGui then Video-Stitch converts the template and generates extremely fast interactive 360 video.

The 5DIII now has raw video, so what?

For me, it changes nothing. I have done the magic lantern thing with my T2i, it brought an impressive array of features to a budget camera. I don’t think it really made it a good enough tool to still bring onto sets though, in 2011 or now. It’s stable for a hack but it voids your warranty and didn’t raise the quality of the video enough to validate its inherent risk.

The cool thing is there are now several cameras under $10k that can shoot raw video, something unheard of just over a year ago. How times change. I still don’t use any of them and most my current projects are shot on RED (I’m not particularly a fan of their raw but it’s undeniable popular especially in music videos) or a non-raw camera. I must be trapped in 2012! No, I think the working industry isn’t trying to chase the latest craze and is focused on keeping the machine moving, nobody has time to learn a new camera when you already have a powerful well-equipped camera set to go. We get lost in the hype online when we play armchair camera designer.

As impressive as it is that we have raw video out of the 5D, I won’t be looking forward to getting footage from it. I’m sure it’ll look great but there is an inherent lack of professionalism when using hacked cameras (or on some sets, a DSLR is just not acceptable regardless). Sure, I’m with you in saying these cameras are being cut off at the knees by manufacturers protecting their high-end models, but you are paying for a support system, reliability, and a package that is recognized and respected in the industry. CF cards are being capped out with the data rate on raw and dropped frames or corruption is far more likely to happen as a result of offloading the buffer. Just unnecessary risks all around.

I am also just not a fan of raw. It’s incredibly powerful but entirely unnecessary when you do things right the first time. I’ve been vocal about my advocacy for 10-bit 4:2:2 codecs like ProRes and DNxHD on twitter for a while. They are strong enough compression to stand up under heavy manipulation and are lightweight so you don’t need to be running a dedicated editing workhorse or a ton of storage space. It’s getting more manageable as Moore’s Law carries us into more power and storage at an affordable price but I still view it as overkill in most environments even if it is manageable.

The fact that the most readily available options below $5000 are either raw or h264 variants is really frustrating for budget shooting. I hope for legitimate options between those extremes to be the next wave of advancements. That’s like picking between DVD and IMAX when all you need is a good home theatre and bluray.

While it’s exciting that we are finally getting the full power out of the 5D, I hope that it doesn’t set a precedence for hacking cameras and instead sets a precedence for manufacturers to deliver the better compression options in all cameras.

Here is a quick video with Dr. Michael Pollmann explaining the new auto focus Touit lenses from Carl Zeiss. Currently only  a 12mm f2.8 and 32mm f2.8 are available in either Sony E mount or Fuji X mount. The New AF system may be a first for Carl Zeiss Lenses. I expect the auto focus system to be rock solid. Great for stills!

Here is a rip from the Carl Zeiss website.

Click here to check it out.

Touit 2.8/12

As far as the eye can see

Its still not here…..

Neither is the Red Laser projector….

Neither is this.

and where is our  firmware for C100,300 & 500 Canon????

Michael Sutton

@MNS1974

The good folks over at the Carl Zeiss Lens Blog have announced a new family of lenses called “Touit”. Here is a rip from the blog. There are currently only two focal lengths. A 12mm f2.8 and a fast 32mm f1.8. If they are anything like their big brothers and sisters you can bet they will kick some serious ass.

Click here to check it out.

“There was a lot of excitement at photokina 2012 when we talked about a forthcoming new family of lenses for mirrorless system cameras. Soon, users of Sony NEX and Fujifilm X cameras will be able to enjoy their own ZEISS lens series. For the first time these lenses will have their own family name, which will encompass all the focal lengths in the series. The name of the family will be Touit.

But where does “Touit” come from? This illustrious name was found through an intensive international selection procedure. We followed a concept that is already well established in the automotive industry: selecting certain themes for product names.  As an example, one well-known German carmaker names its automobiles after types of winds and currents. We decided to derive the future names of the lenses from the Latin names of birds. That fits well, as birds usually have excellent eyesight and can take unusual perspectives. Birds are also diverse and lively animals. Furthermore, the Latin names all have an attractive sound and are common in many languages and cultures.

The first two focal lengths in the Touit family will be the Touit 2.8/12 and Touit 1.8/32. The names of the optics concept that have been used in product names until now (for example Distagon or Planar), as well as the T* symbol denoting the anti-reflective coating, will continue to appear on the front ring of the lenses. “With the Touit series, we are starting a completely new naming convention,” explains Martin Dominicus, Head of Marketing of the Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division. “Our lenses will not only be unmistakable for their imaging performance, manageability and product design. Their name will also give this family of lenses a very unique identity.”

Probably one of the best things about the digital cinema movement is the fact that we all get the benefit of prime lenses.   The days of using lens adapters like the Pro35, the Letus Extreme etc are pretty much dead as we can add a S35 or full frame lens to most digital cinema cameras.  Back in the day there was not a lot of choices and the prices were extremely high even for super 16 glass.  It was not uncommon to drop $50-80K on a set of glass and there was few choices with Zeiss and Cooke being the most used.  Now we have a lot of companies making 35 glass, some ok, some good and others great.  There are now options for prime sets for under $50K and even the option to buy primes and zooms with interchangeable mounts (we had zooms with universal mounts but not primes).  20 years ago glass needed to be fast.  Superspeeds were king with T1.3 apertures. They were made for film cameras and film outside of Kodak Vision stocks did not have remotely the same sensitivity as the digital cinema cameras of today.  Back when I was shooting exclusively film in the mid 90′s Kodak released VISION Color negative film.  The stock rated ISO’s of 200T, 250D 320T, 500T and 800T all for 16mm/S16/35mm & S35.  So lenses had to be fast.  Times have changed.  Now we have cameras like the C100/C300/C500, F5/F55, Alexa, etc with ISO’s baselining at what even the best film stocks were rated at.  So now if we light a scene the same way we did to get an T4/5.6 10 years ago, we are looking at a at least a T8/11 split due to the sensor sensitivity.  So we don’t need lenses with T/1.3 as much these days.  Are they nice, sure, but they are very expensive to design, manufacture, etc.  This opens up the doors for other lenses to come into the mix as options for todays shooter.  You probably are not going to be shooting anymore film from this point on so its time to broaden your horizons and stop hunting down that old school set of SuperSpeed Mark III lenses.  Those lenses were designed for film, not for todays sensors and not optimized for video. Lenses have gotten much better over the past two decades as well.  They are sharper, resolve higher resolutions, have better corners, consistency, contrast and mechanics.

Enter one of the leaders in lensing Schneider Optics.  Schneider has been around forever.  Since 1913 in fact.  They make film lenses and now digital cinema glass.  I had a few of their lenses from the 70′s for my Eclair ACL, NPR, and a Optivaron 6-66MM C-Mount on my Bolex cameras.  Schneider bought world famous lens manufacturer Century Optics back in 2000 which added even more cache to the brand.  Century made one of the best swing shift systems for professional cinematography ever made as well as a lot of problem solvers like periscopes, low angle prisms, etc.

This year Schneider Optics released the third generation of the Cine – Xenar line the Cine – Xenar III’s.  I have had the privilege of using these lenses a lot over the past few weeks and they are a massive step up from generation 2.  Xenar III’s are all aluminum barrels with stainless steel interchangeable mounts (PL & EF).  Right away when you hold one you can feel the build quality is better.  What Schneider has done is made a set of primes that do not change in volume, have gears in the same place (so you do not have to re-rig your focus motors, etc), consistent 270 degrees of rotation on focus with tons of focus marks, consistent front diameters, a highly visible focus index marks, and extremely close focus capability.  These are not full frame lenses but that is a plus not having to deal with crop factor etc on set.

The Xenar III’s do not have a consent aperture but they are all reasonably fast for the cameras of today.  The 50mm, 75mm, and 95mm are all T2.0, the 35mm T2.1, and the 18mm & 25mm are both T2.2  Again, with camera ISO’s starting around 800 this is not as much of a real issue today as it would be five years ago.  The lenses are sharp and consistent and you can pick up a complete set for about $48K which is a fraction of the price of Cooke S4′s, Master Primes, Leica’s etc.  I would put the Xenar III’s on par with Arri Ultra Primes in regards to feature set and build which is remarkable since the Schneider’s are less than half the price and there is not a six month to one year waiting period to get them.  You can also buy Xenar III’s individually which allows for a slow build in set for financial reasons or maybe your a 25, 50, 75mm type of shooter.

Also new this year from Schneider is the much anticipated Xenon FF full frame lenses.  The 35, 50 & 75mm have been announced so far.  I had my hand on these at NAB and found the size, the mechanics and build quality to be significantly better than Zeiss CP.2 lenses of comparable price.  Like the Xenar III’s the FF’s have consistent marks, front diameters, gearing placement etc.  The lens was about 2lbs which is very light weight.  I can already tell after using them that theses will be very popular lenses and the set of three will be around $10,500.  You can also buy them individually.  They will be available in PL, EF, and Nikon F mount.  If you are looking for a set of full frame primes you owe it to yourself to demo these lenses as I am positive you will be sold over the competing products currently on the market.

Its refreshing to see a company with some deep roots and history in the film world address the needs of today’s cinematographer with quality, well built products.  The Xenar III’s and Xenon FF’s take on that challenge and stand out in a lens market that frankly is over-saturated with crap.  Both models are also reasonably priced and Schneider probably could have charged more.  I am glad they didn’t because it opens up the door to great glass to a crowd that is used to seeing extremes of low quality cheap junk lenses or high quality unattainable glass.  This is a great middle mark and makes for a great investment for anyone catering from low budget to studio quality productions.  If your in New England and are in the market from primes, feel free to reach out to me for a demo.

Mike Sutton

 https://twitter.com/MNS1974