DSLR

Mat Gallagher of NewsShooter writes: In the first of our discussion panels, originally streamed live from the Teradek booth at NAB2013, Matt Allard hosts Andy Shipsides from Abel Cine, Jason Wingrove, and Paul Schnieder as they discuss the question ‘is DSLR Video dead?’ With the growth of cameras such as the C300, Epic and Blackmagic, cinematographers are moving away from the DSLR, but does the EOS 5D still have a use?

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

3D CineCast reviews transcoding tool 5DtoRGB, writing, "5DtoRGB is an awesome tool that extracts every last drop of video quality from cameras that record to the AVC/H.264 video format. Cameras like the Canon EOS series of HDSLRs record video in this format with subsampled color.
 Because of this compression, the picture is at risk of massive quality loss during the post production pipeline. By using a very high quality conversion process, 5DtoRGB gets you as close as possible to the original data off the camera's sensor while putting the brakes on any additional quality loss."

Read the full post here.

In the below video, Tony Reale explains how he shot a live rock concert with only 5 DSLRs and achieved some of his best close-up shots by making the smart decision to also film the rehearsal.

He writes on NextWaveDV, "A year ago we were asked to shoot a multicam, high-energy rock concert for the band Separate Ways. Working within a no-budget scenario, I used what was available to me which was a Canon XA10, 2x Canon 5D MkIIs, Canon 60D and a GoPro. We also had my Kessler Pocket Jib and a DIY dolly. As I plotted out the shoot, I realized to get a the fast pacing that they wanted, we’d need more footage than we would get just from 4 or 5 cameras. This caused me to suggest recording the rehearsal. By doing this, we were able to go onstage and get closeup shots we wouldn’t have been able to get do during the live concert."

Martin Leeger was recently charged with developing a rig that could produce 360-degree rotatable images in a small garage. The results are these step-by-step instruction where Leeger shows how he was able to construct the rig that uses 50 DSLRs to create The Matrix's bullet-time style photographs.

Read it here on PetaPixel.

Don't own a Lytro but still want to play around with the focus of your images after you've shot them? The Chaos Collective has a hack for your DSLR to create a similar effect as to that of a light field camera like Lytro. First thing you have to do is shoot just a few seconds of video.

They write, "The idea is simple; take lots of pictures back to back at various focal distances (collecting the same information, but over time). Then later, we can sweep through those images to pick out the exact focal distance we want to use. But wait... A sequence of images is just a video! And since most digital SLRs these days make it super easy to capture video and manually adjust focus, that's all you need. Just hold the camera very still (a tripod is nice, but not necessary), shoot some video, and adjust the focus from near to far. That's it."

Richard Harrington and Robbie Carman explain what a DSLR loupe does in this video from Lynda.com's DSLR tutorial series. Says Carman, "[Video loupes] attach to the back of the camera and they do a couple of things. First, they magnify the actual image that you're seeing on the camera LCD, which is essential when you need to get critical focus. The other thing that they do is they block ambient light."

Watch below.

It should be pretty obvious that we here at Creative Planet Network are big proponents of the kind of beautiful footage that can emerge from DSLRs. That being said, a recent post by Digital Anarchy's Jim Tierney offers some food for thought: DSLRs may not really always be the best tools for the job.

It's no secret that DSLRs shoot beautiful video but one of the secrets to making that video look professional is steadying your shots. Digital creative agency bv02 lists some of their favorite accessories for rigging up your DSLR. They write, "In terms of DSLR video, a rig is an apparatus that attaches to your camera to give you more control over your camera. In this post I am going to look at rigs that help with stabilization by breaking down a few cool little rigs we use here to bv02 to aid us in our video shoots."

Light Stalking provides a nice primer on selecting the right filmmaking lenses for your DSLR. They write, "While there are many lenses out there, a lot of them are still designed for still photography, especially lower end kit lenses. There are a couple of things that you should take into account when selecting lenses for DSLR videography that can really help enhance your filmmaking, and things you should avoid as to not hinder your work."

Read the full article here.

The footage you see on your DSLR's screen can suddenly look different across Quicktime, Windows Media Player and VLC players. Why? Because of gamma and the different way each player decodes the luminance of the image. So how do you make sure you're showing a client the image you want them to see?

Future Media Concepts (FMC), a digital media training organization, has announced it has partnered with NewBay Media to offer two half-day training sessions for video professionals June 20 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, in conjunction with DV Expo East.

The documentary "Clouds" showcases the work of James George and Jonathan Minard who have created the open-source RGB+D toolkit which lets a simple DSLR and Kinect mix to create a 3D holographic effect.

Says George, "The goal behind the toolkit is to capture our aesthetic research and make discoveries repeatable...Because everyone involved has different backgrounds, it’s super important that the tool can be used by people who aren’t programmers, so everything is controlled through a graphical user interface."

The DV Expo East Conference is designed for intermediate to advanced video professionals who seek to maximize their creativity and efficiency on their tools of practice.

Ready to try out some DIY projection mapping? The RGBD Toolkit provides you with a workflow and downloadables for getting your DSLR to work with your Kinect. Says PCWorld, "The video quality is still pretty rough, with ragged edges and lots of depth noise, but it’s a start. It also looks really badass in terms of space-hologram-looking virtual 3D-video."

Mike Palmieri discusses his camera choices on new documentary film Off Label, which he co-directed and shot using four different DSLR cameras. He says, "I never set out to make Off Label on four camera systems, but the technology was changing so rapidly that I ended up trying a lot of things out over the course of shooting it.

Canon U.S.A., Inc. has introduced the EOS 60Da Digital SLR Camera, a long-awaited successor to the EOS 20Da that is optimized for astrophotography.

Dan Chung of DSLR News Shooter does a real-world test of the video capabilities of the Nikon D800 and Canon 5D Mark III, using the same lenses, framing, ISO, shutter speed and aperture on each camera.

Gizmodo pits the Nikon D800 against the Canon 5D Mark III in terms of shooting video, declaring winners in battles like low light shooting, sharpness, moiré, and rolling shutter. Ultimately, they say, "Clearly both have their strengths and weaknesses.

What is it really like to experience your worst nightmare? With crops of found-footage horror films popping up like dandelions—from The Blair Witch Project in 1999 to the Paranormal Activity series, Quarantine, The Last Exorcism and Apollo 18 to The Devil Inside in 2012—it’s refreshing to see a different take on the horror experience.

SlashGear rounds up some of the best pre-production images and previews from the upcoming Canon 5D Mark III. They say, "The super powerful Canon EOS 5D Mark III is starting to make waves among photography buffs around the world.

If you're just starting out shooting video with your DSLR, you may want to check out Digital Camera World's 10 essential tips for editing your footage. From paying attention to continuity, to understanding the 180-degree rule, to even focusing your story, this short blog post could also read as the basic tenets of film school. Read it here.

Today, with the prevalence of large single-sensor cameras, the number of lens options for the HD shooter has increased exponentially. Not every lens will work with every camera, however. In a previous DV101 column I discussed crop factors, utilizing lenses designed for larger target (sensor) areas on smaller targets, and the changes in apparent focal length/field of view.