David Williams

New video cameras are coming, cameras which are relatively cheap, but also relatively complex to operate. We’ve already seen many disasters born of the ignorance of many producers and directors who have little real technical knowledge, and jump on the band wagon with no idea what they are setting themselves up for. Not employing a competent crew, not setting aside time and money for post, simply believing the camera is all they need. It will get worse before it gets better, now that cheaper versions are getting closer. Only two years late, but closer none the less.

Read these warnings, please, and remember them. The band wagon is already overloaded.

Scarlet Warning

There’s a lot of speculation, as well as some official announcements, on Canon’s upcoming range of solid state camcorders to replace the current XH and XL series. Some very interesting potential here to displace some of the current market leaders.

DVinfo Canon Article

Alister Chapman has the beginnings of some custom profiles for Sony’s new 2/3″ XDCAM EX camera, as well as some explanation of the settings.

Alister’s Blog

A short write up by Adam Wilt on the recent RED promotion. I’m hoping they are ready to move from fashion accessory, into creating serious cameras designed to be used by camera operators.

RED Day

Here’s an interesting white paper from Sony on their S-Log Gamma system, and how to make the most of it. Aimed at the F23 and F35, it’s presumably applies to the new SRW-9000 as well.

S-Log Whiterpaper

Gamma Curves are a relatively simple idea, enabling a more pleasing and detailed image to be captured and displayed. Getting your head around the concept can be difficult for some though.

Art Adams has a nice break down of the ideas here.

Here is an excellent video of how one time lapse sequence was created for the series. Amazing effort.

BBC Life of Plants

This article gives a good base for understanding the concepts behind grading video.

Grading Demystified

Nobody sells Dedolights as well as Dedo himself. I was lucky enough to attend one of his seminars recently, and the mans enthusiasm and knowledge is amazing.

Here is a short video of a small part of his seminar, and the techniques apply not just to interviews. Interview Lighting.

Night Fare is a short documentary I did some work on recently. It’s showing at the ACMI during December.