kingpinlei – Page 2

Adobe Demos It’s Plenoptic Lens and Software

September 26, 2010September 28, 2010 kingpinlei Adobe, Bladerunner, demo, Plenoptic Lens, video8 Comments

From the realm of cool news, Adobe recently demoed a radical technology involving a Plenoptic Lens and a new software that will find it’s way into Photoshop eventually. Basically, this new lens (with software help) allows still pictures to be focused and re-focussed AFTER the picture is taken. That’s right! AFTER the picture is taken, you can manipulate the depth of field to pretty much anywhere within the picture. How does it do this? The Plenoptic Lens is basically made up of a whole bunch of tiny little lenses. The…

Panasonic’s New LUMIX GH2 Announced

September 22, 2010September 24, 2010 kingpinlei camera, DSLR, Germany, GH2, HDSLR, Lumix, Panasonic, Panasonic GH2, Photokina, press release2 Comments

Panasonic announced and showcased the highly anticipated followup to their GH1 camera, the LUMIX GH2, at the latest Photokina, held every other year since 1956 in Cologne Germany. More of an update than anything else, it appears Panasonic has listened to their customers and improved the features based on customer feedback on the GH1. In a nutshell, here they are: a brand-spanking new 18 MP multi-aspect ratio sensor that offers 16.05 MP output ISO range of 160-12800 in 1/3 EV steps touch sensitive LCD screen HD video at 1080 60p…

HD Video Bitrate Standards – Clearing up the Confusion

September 20, 2010September 21, 2010 kingpinlei Canon, codec, DSLR, filmmaking, h.264, HD DSLR, HD video, MPeg 2, Nikon, Sony3 Comments

While reading about the new Nikon D7000 and its initially unimpressive sounding HD video modes, I’ve come across a lot of opinions by many people who are disappointed about it’s possible 19.3 Mbps (Megabits per second) data rate. This includes many indie filmmakers thinking that rate may be too low for their purposes, myself included. We’ve all heard much about what are the good bitrates to look out for are, which ones are broadcast ready, which ones are crap and so on. Well, I stopped and asked myself, “Wait-a-minute, just…

Nikon Officially Announces The New D7000 DSLR

September 15, 2010September 20, 2010 kingpinlei auto focus, d7000, D90, digital camera, DSLR, HD, new, Nikon2 Comments

Breaking News – Here it is, the moment a lot of people have been waiting for. Nikon has finally announced their new D7000 DSLR which replaces the D90 with features that even goes above their D300. Here are just some of the specs: – New 16.2 MP DX sensor (APS-C) – a massive 39-point autofocus system – 100 percent viewfinder coverage – 1080/24p and 720/30p HD video with a limit of 20 minutes of recording – dual SD card slots – a standard ISO range of 100 to 6400 – 6fps…

Canon Announces New 60D DSLR

August 28, 2010August 28, 2010 kingpinlei 1080p, 720p, Canon, DSLR, EOS 60D, HD2 Comments

In the midst of all the spotlight Nikon and Sony have been getting lately, Canon has chimed in and officially announced their new 60D DSLR a couple days ago. Sitting in between the Rebel T2i and the 7D, the 60D looks to have taken it’s cues more from the Rebel series than it’s predecessor, the 50D. Sporting a smaller plastic body, the 60D offers an 18 MP APS-C sensor, FULL HD support of 1080p at 24/25/30 fps and 720p at 50/60 fps, high speed still shooting at 5.3 fps, and…

Sony Announces New Digital Cameras

August 26, 2010August 26, 2010 kingpinlei 1080i, A33, A44, A560, A580, alpha, AVCHD, camera, digital, DSLR, HD2, launch, mirror, pellicle, SLT, Sony, Still, translucent0 comment

Sony has just announced yesterday four brand new Alpha DSLRs – the A33, A55, A560 and the A580. Sporting the brand new Exmor APS HD CMOS sensors, the A33 and A560 clock in at 14.2 MP while the A55 and A580 are 16.2 MP. The main difference between the A33/55 and A560/580 is the mirror technology that they utilize. While the later are traditional DSLR’s the former are what Sony call ‘Single Lens Translucent’ cameras. The “new” SLT technology Sony is unveiling with the A33 & A55 models is a Translucent…

Raindance Canada Sept. & Oct. Events

August 26, 2010September 25, 2010 kingpinlei canada, Film, filmmaking, Raindance Canada, seminar, workshop0 comment

Write and Direct Your First Feature! Sean McConville teaches a five night evening course that will reveal how to launch your career as a feature filmmaker by designing and writing a screenplay that is doable and inspiring you to make it into a movie.

Nikon D3100 Officially Announced by Nikon

August 19, 2010August 20, 2010 kingpinlei 1080p, camera, canada, D3100, DSLR, Film, filmmaking, HD, indie, manual movie mode, Nikon, Nikon D3100, photography4 Comments

First reported by Nikonrumors.com and turning those very loud rumors into reality yesterday when Nikon officially announced their new D3100 DSLR along with their new batch of lenses. This is very cool as it becomes the first Nikon DSLR to be able to shoot HD in glorious 1080 @24p! The Nikon Canada website has the D3100 listed with a street price of $569.95 for the body only, and $699.95 for the D3100 Kit with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G VR Lens. This is great news for indie filmmakers!

New Nikon and Sony DSLR Rumours Becoming Real

August 13, 2010August 17, 2010 kingpinlei alpha, D3100, DSLR, Nikon, Sony6 Comments

The very loud rumors of those new Nikon and Sony DSLRs have moved into the realm of the real! The first bit of news is courtesy of Nikonrumors.com. The German Magazine “Foto Digital” has revealed in their September 2010 issue (just delivered to subscribers) has posted in the official news section the first real photos and specs of the upcoming Nikon D3100 DSLR (along with 4 new lenses).

Nikon to Finally Show Some 1080p DSLR Love?

August 10, 2010August 17, 2010 kingpinlei 5D Mark II, A33, A55, A560, A580, Canon, D3000, D3100, D90, D95, DSLR, HD video, Nikon, photography, Sony Alpha1 Comment

UPDATE: Well, it looks like Best Buy has lent some credibility to the very loud rumors of the D3100. According to Nikonrumors.com, Best Buy has actually put the Nikon D3100 into it’s inventory system; the SKU is 1222817, “Nikon D3100 DSLR w/ 18-55mm v”, with availability: 9/18/2010. Hmmmm… ** DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER! RUMOURS AHEAD! PLEASE TAKE 100 µm (1×10^-4 m) OF SALT WHILE READING! ** Ever since Canon released their 5D MarkII, the smaller 7D and more recently the Rebel T2i — all with gobsmacking Full HD shooting capabilities —…

Panasonic’s New FZ100 Digital Compact Camera

July 22, 2010August 17, 2010 kingpinlei 60 FPS, FZ100, Lumix, Panasonic, photography, point and shoot3 Comments

Panasonic has just announced the release of some new fixed-lens point-and-shoot digital cameras (hmmm… we must be getting close to the Photokina trade show). With the exception of the new Lumix DMC-LX5, all their new cameras have been given the ability to shoot in full HD (1920×1080) using the AVCHD codec. Of particular interest is the FZ100 which has been given one very interesting feature…

Sony Announces New Interchangeable Lens Camcorder

July 14, 2010July 16, 2010 kingpinlei 1080i, camcorder, HandyCam, interchangeable lens, NEX-VG10, release, Sony, Sony Vegas1 Comment

It’s not surprising that with all attention HD video-capable DSLRs have been getting, companies like Canon and Panasonic have enjoyed a surge of popularity of their HD-DSLR/HD-EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) cameras. Now, they’ve also announced that they are planning on stuffing those gorgeous APS-C and 4/3s sensors into their next-gen camcorders. But they’re still much in development and won’t be in the market until 2011 at the earliest. In the meantime, Sony has jumped into the fray and has them done one better.