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Convergent design have released a new Beta of their soon to be released firmware update for the NanoFlash. This will add a whole bunch of new tools including the ability to overcrank. It also fixes a few bugs. Please see the release notes and updated user manual, included in the download for full details.  http://69.15.88.17/downloads/nanoFlash/nanoFlash_1.5.126.zip

Don’t forget to drop in and meet me and the guys from CD at NAB. We’ll be on booth C11731 which is in the Central Hall close to the Sony Booth.

This is from the CD press release. It’s really exciting. I’ve already used pairs of NanoFlashes to record 3D but now they have given us the ability to use them to play back ultra high quality 3D.

nano3D consists of two standard nanoFlashes, plus a nano3D kit, which provides for synchronized 3D recording from two cameras with high quality “Pixel Synced” Playback and much more.

Synchronized “Pixel Synced” playback enables easy, on-set playback of 3D with the proper monitoring equipment.

nano3D may also be used with a single camera for “Redundant Recording”, or simultaneous High Quality and Proxy Mode recordings.

Two standard nanoFlashes plus the nano3D kit are used to create nano3D. Any existing nanoFlashes may be used for nano3D, thus your investment in the nanoFlash has not been diminished.

In addition, a nano3D may be quickly separated into two independent nanoFlashes.

Convergent Design may be reached at www.convergent-design.com, 720-221-3861 or 803-278-0941.

Convergent Design has just released a Beta version of firmware that will allow the NanoFlash to overcrank (for Slo-Mo) and record up to 8 channels of audio. There is a whole host of other new features as well such as loop recording, 80Mb/s data rate, 1440×1080 recording etc. See the CD website for full details.

I’ve just returned from Norway where I spent the last 4 days trying to shoot the Northern Lights once again. This year I took a PMW-350 (with piggy-back NanoFlash) as well as my new mini 3D camera rig. As usual we travelled to my favorite location, a group of small cabins up in the hills near to Karasjok in Northern Norway. I like this location as it offers dark skies without the orange glow that you get near cities and normally at this time of year you get cloud free skies. However this year the weather didn’t play ball and we only really had one semi-clear night in Karasjok. The Aurora did play ball on that one night and I was able to grab a few shots. The PMW-350 (and nanoFlash) didn’t disappoint, it is very sensitive which is just as well as the Auroral display was only very dim except for one brief moment where it was spectacularly bright filling the sky with a multitude of ribbons of Green, yellow and purple. I used the 350′s slow shutter at 64 and 32 frame long exposure combined with 6db gain and timelapse to shot the Aurora. With these setting the 350 can virtually see in the dark. I’ll post a clip very soon!

During the short arctic day (just 4 hours) I played with the 3D rig, filming from the snow scooter and various other handheld type shots as well as shooting some scenic footage of the snow and ice with the PMW-350. I also had a new tripod to play with. I was using a Vinten 5AS which I am very pleased with. It’s a really good match for the PMW-350 being heavy enough to support the camera well yet light enough to be easily transportable. The head action is very smooth and the new side loading mechanism is so easy to use. I’ll write a more in depth report in the next couple of weeks.

I was filming in cold snow conditions almost all the time. This year was warmer than previous years, only getting down to -17c. I’m pleased to report that all the equipment performed flawlessly in the cold conditions. I’ll update this post with pictures and video very soon. I head off to Iceland on the 24th to run a 3D workshop and hopefully catch more of the Northern Lights then.

PsF is a mode that allows progressive frames to be recorded in an interlace video stream. The problem with it is that it was intended to look like a normal interlace stream to most video devices so that they will handle it without any problems. The catch though is that when you record it as a file on an external  recorder such as the NanoFlash you really want that file to be marked as progressive so that when you edit it, it is treated correctly.  The HDSDi specs for 1920×1080 do not include provision for Progressive frames. So if you want to output a progressive signal over HDSDi you have to break the progressive frame into two fields. The two fields are then output over HDSDi, so the signal, electronically at least, looks like an interlace stream. You can just record this as an interlace signal and then play it back and it will look completely fine, displaying as a progressive image. The problem however comes when you record it to a data file that you will then edit. If you don’t flag the recorded file as being progressive (PsF) then the edit suite will treat it as interlace and this can occasionally lead to problems when you try to render it to other formats.

The NanoFlash (and most other devices) cannot tell whether what is coming out of the camera is a real interlace stream or progressive hiding in an interlace signal. So in order to correctly tag the clips you have to turn on the PsF option in the NanoFlash if you are recording progressive. The catch to this is that if you then start to shoot interlace and you forget to switch off the PsF flag then the edit suite will treat your interlace material as progressive and this will certainly give you problems with any motion in the shots. So if you are at all unsure do not switch on the PsF flag as progressive material treated as interlace by the edit system will give far fewer issues than interlace treated as progressive.

Well we have just completed the first 3 days of shooting in London and so far all has gone very well. We have been at the mercy of the weather and the short daylight hours but so far everything has gone very well. The firsts days filming was around the City of London, primarily focussing on the buildings and overall cityscape. For this I used my usual side-by-side camera rig comprising of an EX3 on the left with the zoom handle and grip removed and then an EX1 on the right. The rig has a sliding rail for the EX3 to allow inter-axial (separation) adjustment and a convergence adjuster for the EX1.

Original EX side-by-side rig with NanoFlashes.

The minimum interaxial with this setup is about 4.5″ (140mm) which is OK for scenics and the kinds of wide cityscapes we need for this shoot. A rig with closer spacing would be needed for working with any subject matter closer than around 15ft (5m) from the camera. With EX’s this would mean a mirror rig and mirror rigs introduce a whole host of extra problems. Problems such as differences in polarization (and thus reflections), white balance and exposure introduced by shooting through a half silvered mirror with one camera and shooting the reflection in the mirror with the other. On top of this you have to work with one image that is upside down and back to front!

So why do I use an EX1 and an EX3 and not a pair of EX3′s I hear you ask? Well the viewfinder on the EX3 cannot be removed and it’s design means you can’t get two EX3′s close together, the viewfinder gets in the way. However you need Genlock to keep the cameras in sync and only the EX3 has this. As the picture quality from the EX1 and EX3 is identical you can use them together for 3D shooting. The EX3 is Genlocked to the EX1 by connecting the EX1′s  Y channel of the component output to the EX3′s Genlock in connector.

I am also using a pair of Convergent Design NanoFlashes. By using these I can record at a higher bit rate and in 4:2:2 as opposed to the EX’s 4:2:0 color space. Using the NanoFlashes brings several advantages, as well as improved picture quality.

The guys at CD made up a custom remote that triggers both NanoFlashes together and in sync. This makes editing the stereoscopic material much easier. By setting the left NanoFlash to use the embedded timecode from the EX3 and the feeding the EX3′s timecode out to the right NanoFlash both recorders have matching timecode. A single button put’s both NanoFlashes into record and the button flashes red to signal recording is taking place.

The second day of the shoot was an evening and night shoot around London’s West End. For much of this I shot using the EX’s slow shutter and timelapse to give those wonderful streams of lights and people as they move through the darkness. I can’t post any footage yet, but as soon as I can I will. During the night shoot I found my 3D rig a little awkward and cumbersome so I made some adaptations and had the Mk3 rig ready for the 3rd dat of shooting which took place at Canary Wharf.

XDCAM EX Stereoscopic rig Mk3 on Stedicam

For the much of this part of the shoot my new rig was used on a Stedicam operated by DP Dave Crute. Dave is new to 3D shooting so I acted as mentor and helped him with framing and understand what would and would not work in 3D. Dave is a very experienced Stedicam operator and I think between us we were able to get some really dramatic stereoscopic images of the modern buildings at Canary Wharf. The new modified 3D rig worked very well. The principle changes being to mount the two NanoFlashes in a tray under the rear of the two EX’s. A single V-Lock battery is mounted at the front of the rig under the camera lenses. The arrangement is more robust, easier to transport and the the center of gravity is right under the middle of the 2 cameras which makes it easier to use with the stedicam.

I am currently shooting a big budget series of videos for a major blue chip client. The principle video is being shot in Stereoscopic 3D using either a pair of XDCAM EX’s or HXR-MC1′s. Filming is taking place at several major city locations and includes many night scenes.

As an owner of a NanoFlash I really wanted to take advantage of the superb quality advantages gained from shooting at 100Mb/s with the XDCAM codec. So I purchased a second NanoFlash and the team at Convergent Design built me a custom remote to my specifications to control both NanoFlashes and to allow me to feed them both with timecode. I have been seriously impressed by the way CD handled my request, delivering the custom remote at short notice via FedEx in time for the start of the shoot.

The shoot started yesterday and the NanoFlashes have worked like a charm. They start up in perfect sync which on a stereoscopic shoot is such a time saver as it reduces the amount of work needed in the edit getting pairs of clips in sync. As ever the pictures are looking good and the extra robustness of the 100 Mb/s recordings is a big help when you have to tweak and manipulate the alignment of the stereo pairs in post.

As soon as time permits I’ll get some clips and photos of the 3D rig online. Once again a big thank you to Dan, Mike and the rest of the team at CD.

Friday will see the start of the principle filming of a major stereoscopic project I am working on. I am acting as 3D consultant and camera operator on a corporate video production that is being produced for a blue chip company. This is a big budget production involving complex 3d shoots in and above several cities. There will be helicopter shoots as well as stedicam segments and a range of other interesting, dynamic shots. The principle cameras will be a pair of XDCAM EX’s recording on to a pair of Convergent Design NanoFlashes. Convergent design have built a custom remote control to control both NanoFlashes and the EX’s will be genlocked together for perfect sync. Post production will use Final Cut pro with Tim Dashwood’s excellent 3d toolbox plugin. I’ll try and update the blog each day as the production progresses. Watch this space!

I’m playing with my EX1 and nanoflash, looking at ways to mount the nanoflash so that it wont compromise the portability of the camera. I’ve found that if I mount it on the rear right side of the EX1 it works really well. Having the Nanoflash on this side helps with the balance of the camera and it dosn’t get in the way. I am powering both the camera and NanoFlash from a single Swit S-8U62 battery. Sorry about the low quality picture. In between jobs so no time to fiddle around.

XDCAM EX1 with NanoFlash

A new version of the NanoFlash firmware is due out today. This is a significant update and includes many new features as well as some bug fixes. The new features include:

1. Time Lapse Recording: I-Frame only mode, 1 frame/HH:MM:SS
2. E to E Direct, provide 1080psf output during record and zero delay through the nanoFlash
3. Loop Play option: All/None; None option plays through all files on the card and then stops, very useful for dubbing to tape.
4. Record Ready indicator added to LCD menu
5. Option to leave LCD backlight on constantly
6. 2X Fast-Forward for QT/MXF files (by holding down the Play button for 5 seconds).
7. Option to hit record button (while recording) to create a new file
8. Expanded PreRecord buffer to 7 seconds (for bit-rates of 100Mbps and lower)
9. Added check for slow CF cards (buffer overflow). Error message will be displayed and the recording will restart at next lower bit-rate.
10. Added check for A/V sync errors. If detected and not in record mode, nanoFlash will automatically restart to correct problem.
11. Added SD support for HDMI recording.

http://www.convergent-design.com/