New 5D Mark 2 accessories from Element Technica

I've been a bit busy lately, which is a good thing, but I managed to get a sneak peek of the new gear from Element Technica for the Canon 5D Mark 2. The items picture below are the new bridge plate and dovetail. I was at the DV Expo yesterday and I must say the other companies have nothing this solid.

The Eizo 232W, GREAT MONITOR!!!!

If you've worked with me over the years you know I only use Eizo's CG 211. The Eizo's have been very reliable for color accuracy for print campaigns and catalog work. Just recently did I have the chance to work with their new broadcast model, the 232W.

In working with the Eizo CG 232W monitor for the Image Mechanic Collision Conference. My demo featured shooting the RED, in vertical orientation. That said, you want to view your project the same way. The 232 unfortunately does not rotate to full portrait position, so I had to remove the stand and replace with a LCD VESA monitor bracket in order to achieve a vertical view.

The first thing I do is to calibrate and profile the monitor. Because the 232W uses hardware calibration, colors are adjusted within the monitor itself, and there is no loss of displayable colors (as opposed to software only calibration which only manipulates the computers video cards color output). The 232W comes with ColorNavigator software, and along with a device like Eye One Photo, you can accurately calibrate one or more monitors. The RED with an Element Technica Breakout box, has SDI outputs. The 232W, along with DVI, also has SDI inputs. Once I dialed in my color temp for the RED, I was able to see the results on the Eizo. This is the kind of thing not normally viewed (with other monitor brands). Looking at the model, we viewed the same color correct image on the Eizo. It was amazing to said the least. If you had this on set, and in the edit bay, your projects would be color beautiful from front to back.

Eizo's are not inexpensive, but I feel they are worth the money, and it is both easy to work with and accurate, what more can you ask for.

Von

RED In The Vertical Position

This past weekend I took part in a conference at LA Film School. The event was called Collision Conference, where still and motion converge. The event hosted by Images Mechanics featured a host of renowned speakers and lecturers from the still and motion world. Ted from RED, Shane Hurlbut, Vincent Laforet, Rodney Charters, Liam Finn, Alexx Henry, Frank Rohmer, Michael Britt and Illya Friedman.

The conference featured two cameras, the RED One and the Canon 5D Mark2. There were vendors from Red Rock Micro, Zeiss, Canon, Bogen, Ikan, Samy's Camera and more.

Demo's were held twice daily featuring the Canon 5D and the RED shot in vertical orientation (sideways). The reason behind this way of shooting is so a photographer can shoot for vertical ads and signage. Many of the new ads for automotive, cosmetics, movies, and just about everything else are using this format, and now with motion. I gave the RED in vertical demo, using the RED modified to sit vertically. Fairly straight forward, but I went off the path when I showed how I finished the edit in Photoshop.

Here a shoot that took 5 minute shot and finish magazine ad.

View large version HERE,

Von

WOW!! Entertainment Weekly to have 1st video in a magazine

Photographers and filmmakers will have new territory to shoot for, the new video ads appearing in magazines and books. This new technology is about to explode, and it all starts appearing on September 18, 2009 in Entertainment Weekly. So get out your REDs and your Canon 5D Marks 2's, Final Cut, Photoshop, and lets get busy. Oh you don't do motion? Better learn FAST!!!

Read on below:

From Digital Journal.Com:

Entertainment Weekly magazine is going high tech with a video-chip ad in the September 18 issue. The video will feature CBS's new fall TV season and Pepsi Max.

The revolutionary issue will only be sent to a few thousand who subscribe in New York City and Los Angeles. If you live elsewhere or want to buy a special copy at the newsstand you're out of luck.

The magazine is using Americhip for their technology. Each battery powered microchip can carry up to 40 minutes of video.

The video screen can be recharged with a tiny USB cord after the battery runs out. The average battery life is 65 to 70 minute

More info from the Wall Street Journal.

Editing content from Canon 5D Mark 2 and RED in Photoshop

What a day, what a day!!! I'm so lucky that I know brilliant people. While at Image Mechanics today, I learned that I could actually edit footage in Photoshop, can you believe it? Now I'm in love. PS has the tools I'm used to, and it can handle the content I throw at it. I will wait until the Collision Conference to reveal the info, but my friends, it's simply amazing.

I worked on two clips from RED, started in RED Alert, and ended in PS. I give much props to Michael Britt of Image Mechanics for his tireless efforts at the computer, tweaking and twisting until finally an image was born. He passed the knowledge onto me, and it's up for grabs at the Collision Conference. Below is but a sample (a position only piece), so let your imagination go wild. The REAL final will be shown at the conference.

I was taken aback at the images produced by the RED, it was as if I had discovered a brand new camera. So sharp, so kick ass, I'm in love again.

If you happen to notice that gray card on the cart, it's not there for show, it's my way of delivering clean neutral color to my clients. It's the only fast way to do 1st color for digital capture.

OK, so if that's not enough, I have the new Eizo 232W, in vertical orientation, calibrated, and profiled, tis awesome. I'll be showing you how to do this at the conference.

Von

Demo at the Collision Conference

The Collision Conference hosted by Image Mechanics is this Saturday and Sunday at LA Film School. Ted Schilowitz will be one of the key speakers along with other notables in the filmmaking and still world. I will be demonstrating the RED in vertical orientation for those seeking to shoot vertical for some of the new vertical motion ads.

Plus I'll have Eizo's new CG 232W monitor on display, I will also demo how easy and accurate this monitor is to software calibrate and profile on set. The 232W is a perfect viewing devise for the RED, and my guess is that it will be the de facto color reference monitor in the very near future (no more calibrating by eye).

Von

The RED Tech In Action

Today I worked with the Cortez Brothers Production Company on a commercial for Nestles directed and shot by Anton Klima.

The set up you see is are two MacBook Pro's and a Mac Pro, three Dell monitors and a AJA converter which can take a signal from the RED via SDI, convert it, send it to a MAC running Final Cut (log and capture), and in turn the Mac can display both real time "Live" video, but also record and playback each take on the fly. The second MacBook Pro was dedicated to ingestion of the RED footage via R3D Data manager and first pass color correction, and the Mac Pro was on set editing station.

The playback process takes HDMI to DVI cable plus HDMI to HDMI and SDI cables to complete the set up, but in the end, you have a complete video village able to record and playback on one monitor, display "live" capture on another monitor and even print files from still frame grab through Final Cut via Canon printer.

Jason Durdon a editor and computer whiz at Cortez Brothers was the idea man, and I helped. There are a few tech problems to keep on top of, but it is stable and will aid in your commercial, feature or TV shoots.

Von