Phil Peel

Just heard that Sandy has been awarded a CBE.   Wow!  Well done Sandy.   Thanks for all your help over the years.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/what-we-do/protocol/honours/honorary-awards#.T4_ytNfNZ3g.facebook

http://www.philpeel.com/2011/02/sandy-lieberson-on-why-are-we-teaching-writers-to-pitch/

I’ve used a lot of BlackMagic kit for some years now, they have some very interesting, innovative stuff.

They make lots of video adapters, convertors etc from SD to HD, SDI to HDSDI etc. etc.  and have moved into vision mixers.

But I didn’t expect their latest offering. It’s a 2.5K resolution, 13-stop dynamic range, RAW-shooting (or a range of compression formats), Thunderbolt-connected, built-in touchscreen LCD, SSD-recording camera with the new version of Resolve 9 color correction software… for under £2000. It’s large sensor but not full 35mm using a  S16 format instead.

Very interesting camera.  I remember telling a lecture theatre full of students, when Red first announced their camera.

A sunglass manufacturer …making a camera  …that’s ridiculous. …was their reaction.  What do they know about cameras? That what Arriflex, Sony  do.   It’ll never catch on.

That was slightly my  initial reaction when I heard about the Blackmagic camera.  But it actually makes a lot more sense for BlackMagic to move into camera production than a sunglass company.

I wonder whether it’ll catch on?

Here’s the link

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/

Aaargh!   I just noticed …1/4 inch jacks not XLRs for audio input!!!    What are they thinking of!  It’s a camera not a guitar amplifier.

Black mark for BlackMagic.   🙁     shame..

Kodak have sent a notice to dealers that that will be discontinuing their three slide films – E100VS, E100G and Elite Chrome Extra Color 100 – due primarily to significantly declined sales and usage over the years..

This does not affect any other films in their portfolio. All the color negative (Portra, Ektar) films and black and white (Tri-X, T-Max and BW400CN) films remain.

…for the moment.

Kodak catalogue

Another milestone passed       ..or should that be gravestone.      ..end of an era.

Here’s an interesting post from EOSHD comparing the New Canon with the GH2

Turns out, the GH2 has one unsuspecting video feature that beats out the current standard of DSLR videography, the Canon 5D Mark II, not to mention its recently reviewed successor, the 5D Mark III. Amazingly, the GH2 cranks out video with detail and sharpness clearly superior to either of the 5Ds. The results are visible in the test video, conducted by EOSHD, along with a detailed analysis.

“here is a summary: the GH2 produces a more pleasing image with far superior resolution and a more organic grain structure. Dynamic range is similar on each out of the box but you can gain a little more back on the 5D Mark III in post if you shoot flat with CineStyle or Flaat.”

“Overall the GH2 looks more like a digital form of Super 16mm with a fine grain and detailed image. It is also punchy and contrasty. With fast glass it has more of a dreamy Super 35mm look. The GH2′s sensor size is after all very close to motion picture Super 35mm, if not photographic 35mm. I am big on a fine grain of noise. Too clean and you get a plastic look, too blotchy at high ISOs and you get a very soft image. The noise grain on the GH2 is unusual for an H.264 based codec in that the high bitrates with the hack maintain a very fine grain structure like the broadcast MPEG codec on the Canon C300. The 5D Mark III is the opposite – a blotchy noise pattern and even a fizz at lower ISOs which is generated by the codec.”

“In terms of large differences to the GH2 the 5D Mark III has the advantage of full frame sensor size only.”

So is Canon DSLR video dead?

For a lot of people it is going to be and I suspect Canon want it to be that way, so you buy their pro video offerings.

http://www.eoshd.com/content/7631/panasonic-gh2-vs-5d-mark-iii