Just a quick note - I can’t wait for this little device to come out - Tangent Devices Wave. The first affordable control surface from a quality provider (many of tangents devices are $20k plus). I’ll definitely be getting myself one of these a control surface on a budget.
New Cameras, more support and delivery/player system from RED at NAB 2008.Most of the new announcements will not ship until early 2009 but it gives you enough time to save your pennies.1st up is EPIC 5k
SPECIFICATIONS, DELIVERY DATES AND DESIGN ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE… COUNT ON IT.Scarlet 3K for 3K
RED RAY
New LCD,Lenses,and Apple support for FCP and Color with Red Room.More info on all the new RED stuff at the site. RED SITE
Sony XDCAM EX3 review from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.Another quick one Sony skipped the EX2 all together and went to the EX3 lots of cool features on this one new look included..Some cool features: are being able to control variable speed from a knob instead of the menu,timecode /genlock and 1/2 in XDCAM lenses will be able to be used with an adapter .As far as i can tell same list of tech specs as its little brother the EX1.
Pricing is just ridiculous for this thing 13k for the cam and 30 k for the player/recorder WHATTTTT….Wake up Sony. I can get a RED ONE with some accessories for that combo or a Hdx900 that has 2/3 in chips.More info via Camcorder Info.
About Pro Applications Update 2008-01
This update improves reliability for Apple’s professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, Logic Studio, and Shake.
For more information about this software update, please see:
Pro Applications Update 2008-01 is a revision to Final Cut Studio 2.0. This update includes Final Cut Pro 6.0.3, Compressor 3.0.3, which addresses specific customer issues, installation issues, compatibility updates, general performance issues and improves overall stability.
This update is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio 2.0 and later.
Pro Apps Update Info
Support Download Link
Quick link to the press release of the new VariCams ,HVX200a and AG-HPX170(HD SDI).More blog notes coming as NAB news rolls out. Panasonic Press Release Link AG-HPX170 Links
I’ve been slacking on the posting thing lately due to an insane schedule. Thank god Jim’s here to pick up the slack, hopefully I’ll be able to fill in the gaps while he’s away at NAB - though I know he’ll be posting. I won’t be there this year despite numerous invites and an invitation to be a panel speaker (I have a baby due any day now!) - but you will see much of my work there. If you get a chance stop by the Redrock booth to see some footage of my DP work and also swing by the Panasonic booth to see some more. Panny will be using some of my stuff in their P2 Demos.
Anyhow, back on topic… I just finished my first RED shoot and thought I would report in. I’ve gotten to test the camera on an occassion or two earlier on, and a week prior done post on a national ad shot on one as well - not to mention various times testing workflow. While I’m mentioning workflow I’d like to say that despite all the hype and complaints - it’s incredibly simple and any skilled editor shouldn’t have an issue. In fact I think the hype stems from a generation of DV users who never had touch with the days of offline/online workflow for even the simplest project. There are so many different ways to handle the footage, I suppose its tough to decide which suits your project, but shit, they all work.Various issues and experiences to report, overall impressed with the cam.
A couple snap shots of the rig taken from my iphone below -
Also a couple of still grabs, ungraded - these are low res jpegs, click for larger view - I’ll post the tiffs from red alert as well
1 more that just has a small color temperature change and contrast boost -
These raw images look pretty damn good - IMHO - I can’t wait to see the finished project. Not a single over exposed highlight in the film. Amazing range. Plenty of shooting through from inside to out while maintaining detail in the sky and inside.The trick I’ve found is to ignore the monitor and meter it like film.
More to come.
Also will be posting some quick RED/Compressor workflows for quick turnarounds without ever using redalert and redcine - especially if the footage is well exposed .-
— Oh, and Thanks to Curran Giddens for the RED Rental!
One of the main lures ofFXPHD is the infamous Background Fundamentals course which has covered everything from post workflows , advising how to build a quality VFX reel and running your business.This class alone is worth the price of admission for a term to FXPHD because of the insight into the industry and the current trends and tech.Every term the crew at FXPHD post a 0 week overview freebie that anyone can download to get an insight to what is coming for the upcoming term. Classes like Scratch,Cinema4d,Nuke,RED and Digital Cinematography to name just a few it is like walking into a a candy store of knowledge.Check it out and if you sign up use my name to let them know i sent you (filmbot). FXPHD 0 WEEK CLASSSee you all at NAB.Jim
Final Cut Server helps any production workgroup — from a two-person boutique to a global news operation — work smoothly and efficiently. It offers media asset management and workflow automation software that streamlines production work through:
This was shown at last NAB although not feature complete at the time this was a cool application was supposed to ship in the fall of 2007 but was held off till now. A few places have been beta testing this in the Broadcast News market since last year for Apple so i am sure we will see some customer stories soon.The Apple site does have alot of info ,tutorials and full tech spec so check the links.Once i get my hands on a copy and set it up to run the paces i will do a formal blog post on it.This does make asset management feature of FCP Studio more attractive to some people still on the fence to go fully to a FCS workflow. FCP Server Overview.Tutorials.Tech Specs.overview 
The crew at fxguide have a new podcast geared toward RED and the happenings and updates as the RED revolution progresses.”We had such a good reaction to our fxguidetv eps on the red camera that we have decided to do a RED podcast every 2 weeks. Join Jason Wingrove and Mike Seymour as they look at a summary of what’s happening in and around the RED Camera. We’ll cover updates - news of third party add ons and test drives of the latest builds and most importantly we will keep you up to date with the latest advances in post production tools, and workflow.Sometimes it can be hard work monitoring all the traffic on places such as Reduser - we’ll try and give you a summary and discuss the implications for directors, DOPs and of course post-production / visual effects. The podcasts will be every two weeks - except for time such as NAB and special announcements like Scarlett!!! To listen go tohttp://www.fxguide.com/redcentre.Subscribe in itunes
NAB (National Assoc. of Broadcasters) is about a week away now and most people have started to get out the sharpies and maps to make there scheduled plans of who to visit and what they want to see at the show.Apple not having a booth is weird to some but Apple will be there in force with meetings set up for clients and you can bet pretty much every booth will have a few Macs in there showing off the products they have.I have my usual list of companies to visit and my eye on some things i have heard about but my list is pretty simple.
1.RED/Assimilate- we all know why “Scarlet” whatever she is I have to see and know how much i need to sell my kidney for.Also to see any new updates to the workflow and existing software with REDCine and REDCode .Scratch obvious reasons because of the high end Color correction and native support for r3d files maybe some cool updates.
2.The Foundry - Nuke 5 just came out last month and man is it one hell of a powerhouse application for compositing and its smoking on Intel Macs.
3.Adobe- I dont say this just because i co lead AENY(After Effects NY) or that i use Adobe apps everyday like some other apps but they have so much stuff going on between Post,Design,Web and Interactive that you need to get to the booth to see the demos on the new technology like Adobe Media Player,Air and a host of new technologies.
4.Super Sessions and Tech talks- They are a mix of Sessions/Forums from all over .A big one for me will be A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget with Stu Maschwitz big fan of Stu and the work of The Orphanage so this is a Session I wont miss.They also have ,Digital Cinema Summit,DOP and Digital Tech Guru with Ted Schilowitz (RED),Graeme Nattress(RED), Gary Adcock and handful of other pros talking about what they do and where things are heading.FMC(future media concepts) does pretty much all the training for NAB and they have the Post Production World tracks where you can learn just about any post software from FCP to Flash.
5.Vision Research Phantoms- Nj pride here since they are in my backyard and they have probably the slickest highspeed cameras available (well if you have like 120 grand laying around) who does not love Mythbusters over the top super slow mo action.
6.Sony,Panasonic,Canon,Thompson - I group these all together because they are usually upstairs with all the microwave uber broadcast suits.I do not need to say what they make we all know. I do hope to see some new stuff from Pani on the possible HVX-200x whatever may come of the next gen but no thanks to AVCHD i am not to keen on the compression.
7.Plug-in Pavillion -What can i say this is the PIT as i call it all my friends from different plug-in manufacturers like RED Giant, Digital Anarchy, Trapcode,Re:Vision Effects, Automatic Duck,GenArts,Noise Industries,Digital Film Tools,Wondertouch and of course Zaxwerks to name just a few .
8.AJA/Blackmagic- You all know they are the leaders in capture IO devices i like them both and i wonder if they have anything new to show at NAB?
9.Wacom- If you dont use a tablet you should be and if you have one then check out the Cintiqs they are the sh*t serious the new 20inch model and the smaller 12wx are cheaper then the bigger 21UX that has been out for a while plus the 12wx is small enough to travel with and makes a nice little second monitor.
10.Who knows? There are more then enough times that a little company comes out with something really cool like this Zylight i have been hearing so much about for an onboard camera light being able to change colors with a dimmer.The point is NAB is huge it takes forever to even see everything on the 1st floor let alone all the other rooms and floors that being i save 10 for whoever i can find with cool software/hardware that makes my job get done faster and with the least amount of headaches.I am sure i am leaving out some other companies i have my eye on but for now this is the short list the long list will be made the day before i leave last minute of course.
I will be sure to update when i can from the show but it will be a packed schedule for me but i will be doing some demos at some booths and working the Gridiron booth talking with folks about Flow which i leave off the list for now because it will get its own long post when the public beta is out.Check the movie for why you want to have Flow in your workflow.
