Production – rgbFilter

The death of DSLR revisited: Blackmagic Design’s new affordable digital motion picture camera

June 1, 2012September 26, 2012 kingpinlei Adobe, BlackMagic, BlackMagic Design, BMD, camera, Cinema, DSLR0 comment

Amid all the shiny new toys announced and demoed at NAB 2012 by the usual suspects of companies such as RED, Arri and Canon, one company not even known for cameras at all lay the smackdown on all the camera manufacturers. Past the initial shock and gadget giddiness, I’ve had a chance to collect my thoughts on this exciting new development.

Blackmagic Design -best known for their high end video capture cards and cross converters- unveiled their new DIgital Cinema Camera to the shock of everybody at NAB2012. It is a 2.5K camera that shoots in Prores, AVID DNx, and RAW in the ADOBE CinemaDNG format in 23.976/24p/25p/29.97/30p fps. All for $2995 USD. This is big news. Seriously. The key lies in how it shoots and records

Arts Computing Photography Production

Canon 60D or Nikon D7000: A Filmmaker’s Decision Part 3

May 1, 2012September 26, 2012 kingpinlei camera comparison, camera shoot out, Canon, DSLR, Nikon, Nikon D700016 Comments

It’s been a while since I first embarked on this 3-part article. Since then, life happened as it always does and before I knew it, quite a bit of time has passed and the digital camera landscape has completely changed. But always for the better. Newer and more affordable video and cinema cameras have surfaced that surprised everybody. For the sake of completing this series, I will not discuss any of the new developments. That is best left for another article altogether.

Arts Featured Film Photography Production

The death of DSLR?

July 15, 2011July 19, 2011 kingpinlei apertus, Death of DSLR, DSLR, NAB, National Association of Broadcasters0 comment

I’ve heard this argument from people who attended NAB this past year. Apparently, with the release of new prosumer video cameras that have DSLR sensors in them, professionals at NAB have proclaimed this coming year to be the “Death of DSLRs” for shooting video. Seriously?

Computing Featured Photography Production

Adobe and the mobile revolution: tablets, napkins, and the creative process

April 11, 2011April 13, 2011 Danny X Adobe, Android, Apple, BlackBerry PlayBook, CS5, CS5.5, iOS, iPad, Photoshop, tablet3 Comments

It’s been a busy month for Adobe so far. Hot on the heels of the recent preview of Photoshop on the iPad, Adobe has today released the official Photoshop Touch SDK for tablet devices. The fact that Adobe has decided to release an SDK is exciting, since it strongly indicates that not only are we a step closer to a full-featured Photopshop app for tablets, but also full Photoshop integration into the core builds of third-party applications. From the press release: The Photoshop Touch SDK and a new scripting engine…

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…

Panasonic GH1 HD-DSLR hacked into awesomeness?

June 11, 2010June 12, 2010 kingpinlei EOS HD, GH1, HD DSLR, Magic Lantern, micro four-thirds, Panasonic, Philip Bloom, Tester135 Comments

This bit of news via DP (director of photography) and filmmaker Philip Bloom’s website is pretty impressive! With all the fanfare the Canon HD-DSLRs have been getting lately about their astounding HD video capabilities, it’s left other less capable HD-DSLRs out in the cold. Such is the case for Panasonic’s Micro Four-Thirds HD-DSLR, the GH1. Although a solid still camera, with some great Lumix lenses available for it – even the mighty Leica makes lenses for the Micro Four-Thirds format – it just doesn’t have the chops for HD video. …