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Canon have just released details of a new pair of pro video camcorders. I was a little surprised to see this information now with just a week to go till IBC. Perhaps there is more in store for IBC?

The XF105 and XF100 use a single full raster sensor to shoot 1920×1080 HD which is recorded at up to 50Mb/s 4:2:2 using Mpeg2. These cameras are sure to be very popular, assuming the image quality is up to Canon’s usual high standards.

They have a 10x zoom lens and all the usual features you would expect of this size and type of camcorder plus some additional features to make them easier to use on 3D rigs (like my Hurricane Rig). You can use the cameras optical image stabilisation system to compensate for errors in the zoom lens. You can program in an offset, store this in the cameras memory and thenwhen you zoom the offset gets applied to minimise errors between the two cameras. This is really clever stuff and will make the XF105 very attractive to 3D shooters. In addition the 105 has genlock and HDSDi out, so there won’t be any problems syncing them together. In fact to save money you should be able to use an XF105 slaved to an XF105.

While the OIS lens shift is great for 3D the cameras are still too wide (120mm) side by side use in many (most?)  3D applications so you are still going to need a beam splitter rig. But the light weight nature of the cameras will mean a very much reduced rig weight. I look forward to getting a pair on my Hurricane Rig!

You can read the full press release from Canon here.

I’ve know this for a while, but have not been able to tell you until now. The Hurricane 3D rig is to be manufactured by Genus. Genus are perfect partners for this project as they already manufacture a wide range of professional video and DSLR accessories including Matte boxes, follow focus units and camera support systems. They know and understand the broadcast market and also have the manufacturing knowledge to produce the Hurricane Rig to the very highest standards.

There will be a global dealer network with dealers trained in the use and setup of the rig, as well as regional workshops and training days in key locations around the world. When you buy a Hurricane Rig, you won’t just be buying a piece of hardware, but also buying into what I hope will become a community of users, trainers and S3D experts that will be able to help you through your first productions.

The Hurricane 3D Rig now has it’s own website: http://hurricane-rig.com. You can register your interest in the rig using the form on this page: http://hurricane-rig.com/?page_id=25

Panasonic HDC-SDT750

I’m a bit late on this as I’ve been away, but Panasonic have announced a stereoscopic micro 4/3′s lens for their camera range as well as a consumer S3D camcorder (well it’s actually a 2D camcorder with a conversion lens). The Panasonic 3D lens incorporates 2 lenses and is designed to work with the Lumix G micro system. It’s primarily a stills lens, but with the right firmware the cameras may also be able to shoot 3D video.

Panasonic have also released details of their HDC-SDT750 3D camcorder. This is a 3 chip 2D camcorder that can be fitted with a 3D conversion lens that allows it to shoot side by side 3D images. The left and right images are then squashed horizontally by 50% and recorded as a single 1920×1080 video clip that contains the two squashed images side by side. This has the advantage that when plugged in to a consumer S3D TV via HDMI the TV will show the footage in 3D (or stereoscopically to be correct). The down side is that each view only uses  960×540 pixels during capture, so it’s not full HD for each eye. On screen it probably looks better than this sounds as each eye is seeing slightly different images and this gives the impression of slightly higher resolution than that of a single image. What is exciting to me about this camera is it’s very narrow interaxial of about 30mm. This will make it suitable for POV and handheld video diary type shots, something not really possible with larger interaxials or beam splitter rigs. So even though the resolution may not be there, I can see one of these cameras finding it’s way into my camera kit. I’d certainly love to get one to review.

Anyway these are both very interesting and only goes to show just how quickly S3D is being developed. When consumers start to become used to seeing their home videos in S3D, we professionals are going to have to start producing more and more content in S3D.

IBC is just over a month away and I expect we will see lots more 3D products between now and then, including some more of my Hurricane 3D rigs

Oh… one more thing.. the camera does 1920×1080 50P!!

Beam Splitter Rig at 3D workshop

Just a quick note to say that there’s still a couple of places left for my 3D workshop in Prague on the 27th of June (Tuesday). Contact O-Video if you wish to book a spot. They are normally very popular and everyone seems to find them useful and informative. I cover the basics of S3D theory, shooting and post production along with a bit of production planning and production. There is a hands on session with a beam splitter 3D rig and live demos of S3D do’s and dont’s.

http://www.o-video.cz/3D_workshop.html

My 3D rig now has a name, we are calling it the Hurricane rig. It needed a name so that when talking to the design team and factory they know what we are talking about. I have a deal worked out with a well known, high quality brand for production and distribution of the rig world wide. I can’t give away too many details at this point but the rig will work with a broad range of cameras from DSLR’s up to Sony P1 compact studio cameras. It’s ideal for EX’s and Canon XF305′s etc. It’s a beam splitter rig with some clever tricks that make it extremely portable and very versatile. The aim is to produce the one and only 3D rig you’ll ever need. The  base rig will have manual control of interaxial and convergence along with adjustments for camera roll, tilt and height. A series of add-on and upgrade kits will also be available to add full servo control of interaxial and convergence, lens control and optional brackets for the Nano3D and Transvideo Cinemonitor 3D monitors.

A prototype has been built and used on several 3D stereoscopic productions so we know the design works. We are now working on the final CAD drawings and a pre-production unit  before going in to full scale production.

As anyone that understands optics will know the most important aspect of a mirror or beam splitter rig is the mirror itself. The mirrors we are using in the rigs are top quality optically flat mirrors with one of the very best coatings on the market. We have a true 50/50 split with negligible colour shift. Despite the high quality and relatively high cost of the mirrors we hope that the final price of the rig will surprise and amaze. My aim is to produce a rig that will make top quality 3D production available to everyone without breaking the bank.

Included with the rig will be a voucher that will enable you to get a low cost training DVD or discounted training course that will get you up and running very quickly, with as little fuss as possible.

Why use a mirror rig?

While Sony and Panasonic are working on one piece stereoscopic video cameras, these will always have limited applications. The key to good 3D production is the ability to adjust the interaxial or camera lens separation. For the majority of productions the camera interaxial will be below 70mm and very often, for 3D that is easy on the eyes, less than 50mm. For some scenes you may even be down to 25  to 30mm! However for scenic shots you may need greater separation, say 100mm or more. You just don’t get this flexibility with a twin lens camera. In addition a dedicated 3D camera will be an expensive piece of kit and may well not be suitable for conventional 2D. So when your not shooting 3D it will sit on the shelf gathering dust. Meanwhile the cameras from a beam splitter rig, are after all just a pair of 2D cameras so they can also be used for your 2D productions. If you already have a single camera, ten all you need to do is hire or buy a second camera and the rig. This will be far more cost effective than a dedicated 3D camera.

Due to popular demand I am putting on more workshops in association with Visual Impact.

In London the dates are : Stereoscopic Production: 13th July, 10th August, 8th September. Picture Profiles and Scene Files: 20th July, 12th August and 1st of September. NanoFlash Setup and Workflow: 14th July, 11th August, 9th of September. Full details are here: http://www.visuals.co.uk/course_list.php

In Prague there will be a Stereoscopic 3D workshop on the 27th of July. There will also be 3D workshops in Cape Town, South Africa on 23/24th of August. Please contact me direct if you are interested in these courses.

Then (Discovery/IMAX commitments permitting) I will be travel through Asia running workshops in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and possibly Hong Kong in October.

Hello all, I’m having a great time meeting all the blog readers and forum contributors from south East Asia. I’m in Singapore at Broadcast Asia doing some short seminars on XDCAM sensors and media as well as stereoscopic production. i spend most of my time hanging out around the 3D area of the Sony Booth, so if you are at the show do drop by and say hello. next week I will be in Malaysia running some workshops on XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX.

The Chapman Rig Mk3 Stereoscopic Rig at Broadcast Asia

I also have the very latest version of my stereoscopic 3D beam splitter rig on show on the event and I’m pleased to report it performing extremely well even side by side with an Element Technica rig and Speed Wedge Rig, both costing 20x the cost of my rig. I hope to have the rig in production and available for sale very, very soon at a price you won’t believe. It has some neat tricks, is really easy to align and will work with a wide range of cameras. My aim is to make high quality 3d stereoscopic production affordable for everyone. As well as the rig there will be some other very clever items from both myself and third parties that will allow you to buy an innovative package capable of producing anything from a low budget 3D corporate to a full blow 3D movie.

There are very few new products here at broadcast Asia. However I did help launch the PMW-320 into this region yesterday. As there is already a huge number of DSR-300 users in this region the PMW-320 will make a lot of sense here as people are used to using 1/2″ cameras. SD production is still the norm and there is a lot of 4:3, so HD is still very much in it’s infancy. One thing that is appreciated though is the cost savings that can be gained from a file based workflow. As you no longer need expensive VTR’s to play back tapes, so you can save money by using a PC instead. Plus the fact that the cameras have no moving parts so cost nothing to maintain, helps makes solid state very attractive to even the SD production companies and broadcasters. Transferring an hour’s worth of DV material from a PMW-320 to the edit suite via USB takes just 10 minutes! Anyway…. off to bed….. jet lag is grim…. baby Octopus for diner is interesting to say the least, but having a good time, will report more before the end of the show.

I’ve had this monitor for a couple of months now and I have to say it has proven to be an amazing tool. While it can provide a 3D view using shutter glasses, it is at it’s most useful when used in Anaglyph mode. I don’t wear the glasses to view in 3D a lot of the time, but the red/cyan fringes allow me to see at a glance the amount of dissparity I have in my 3D shots. On top of this the monitor can then add a grid that you can set to show the dissparity limits for your production. It just makes shooting 3D so much simpler and easier, especially with the kind of portable, documentary style shooting that I do, where a large monitor would be much harder to use. When your working to very low dissparity limits such as those set by Sky 3D it’s really important that you keep track of what you have.

I have also heard through the grapevine that the NanoFlash 3D is getting pretty close. This will be a revolutionary product that will be invaluable to stereographers. The ability to sync record two HDSDi streams is in itself fantastic, especially in such a small device. But then to be able to play back your footage in 3D, output in a variety of formats to suit different monitors and televisions is just fantastic. It’s these small little boxes from the smaller manufacturers that are making 3D production easier and cheaper. Black Magic design also have some new 3D capable capture and play back cards (for less than $500) as well as an adapter that can take two streams of HDSDi and convert it to DVI or HDMI suitable for feeding a 3D TV or Monitor.

I’m running a free half day workshop to introduce the basic principles of 3D stereoscopic production in Zurich on the 27th of May. Further details can be found by clicking here.