One of Sony’s big announcements at IBC was the launch of the new PMW-150. The PMW-150 is a 3x 1/3″ XDCAM HD422 camcorder with a 20x zoom lens. The lens is the same as the one on the NX5 NXCAM camcorder and gives a very useful 4.1 – 82.0 mm (equivalent to 29.5-590 mm on 35 mm) range which is reasonably wide and usefully long. It sits below the PMW-200 and above the PMW-100 in the current compact XDCAM HD lineup.

All 3 camcorders record XDCAM HD 4:2:2 @50Mb/s on to SxS cards or XQD* cards or you can also record XDCAM EX 4:2:0 @35Mb/s on to SxS, XQD*, Memory sticks* or SD cards* (*via adapters). They can also record standard definition DV and have a wide range of useful shooting tools like slow motion up to 30fps at 1080p and 60fps at 720p, timelapse and cache record.

Although having a 20x lens on the PMW-150 is very nice the focus, zoom and iris rings are of the round and round servo variety, so there are no calibrated scales for distance and focal length as on the lovely Fujinon 14x lens of the PMW-200. From what I could see from my time shooting with it on the IBC booth the PMW-150 produces a good picture for a 1/3″ camera not a million miles from the pictures from the PMW-200. So if you need that extra zoom range, or your budget won’t quite stretch to the PMW-200 this could be the camera for you. The extra depth of field may help less experienced news shooters, VJ’s and PA’s keep stuff in focus while on the move.

I did manage to grab some footage from all 3 cameras and you can see that in the clip below. What’s nice is how well the colours match between the cameras. Also Sony have significantly improved the image quality from the PMW-100 since I first tried a pre-production unit some months ago.

Hi all. If your visiting IBC then please drop by and say hello. I’ll be on the Sony stand as usual, helping man the entry level production area. Should have all the latest F3/FS100/FS700 toys to play with. I have some video shoots in the mornings at ends of the day, so middle of the day is the best time to drop by for a chat. See you there!

This came in from Convergent Design today. If your at IBC what have you got to loose!

(30 August 2012, Colorado Springs, CO) Convergent Design is excited to announce the great Gemini 4:4:4 Giveaway at IBC 2012! Visitors need only stopover to Booth 7.D01, have your badge scanned, and retrieve your registration nomination; no purchase necessary.

A winner will be randomly drawn on 25 September 2012 and awarded a FREE Gemini 4:4:4 recorder, including Nanuk carrying case with anti-static foam, transfer station, and two SSD’s. This is a complete unit, a $5995 value!

Make plans to visit Convergent Design and see our multi-camera set up, including the recently announced, not yet available Canon EOS C500 with Gemini 4:4:4 recording 4K Cinema Raw, the popular ARRI ALEXA with Gemini 4:4:4 recording ARRIRAW 60fps, IndieCam to Gemini 4:4:4 2KHD raw, IO Industries Flare 2KSDI rig recording stereo 3D to Gemini 4:4:4, and the trail-blazing nanoFlash recorder.

I’m sure this post will get some flack, but I really do think that Blackmagics marketing of the BMD Cinema Camera is pushing the boundaries of whats fair and reasonable. This isn’t a criticism of the camera itself, which for the money is a great deal and I’m curious to see how it really performs in the wild. This is a criticism of some of the over inflated statements that BMD are making about it.
In a recent magazine article it’s quoted that according to Blackkmagic “the Cinema Camera has been designed to eliminate the problems of….. …. limited contrast range, a maximum of an HD sensor, poor quality optics and lenses and poor integration with NLE software… …. with these limitations they cannot (the competition) be used for high end work or feature films”
Come on BMD, who are you trying to fool, do you think your potential customers are really stupid enough to fall for that statement? For a start 13 stops of dynamic range can be achieved with many current cameras. The BMD camera is no more than HD itself, the sensor is bayer, so even though it has 2.43K pixels (it doesn’t even have the headline 2.5K), the resolution is still only more or less HD. It has a Canon mount so will often be using exactly the same lenses as much of the competition and every NLE worth having these days works perfectly well with all the common codecs like AVCHD, XDCAM or AVC-Intra. Try using ProRes (as used by the BMD along with DNxHD and DNG) on a PC, it gets truncated to 8 bits and there is no way to render back to ProRes. By their own account the BMD camera is no more suitable for high end work than most of the competition. In the past I’ve come across senior BMD sales reps that have tried to sell me the camera because “it’s 2.5K which is so much better than HD”. When I’ve challenged this all I’ve got is.. “umm, I don’t know the answer to that, I need to discuss it with the factory”. Come on Blackmagic. Don’t treat us like fools, many of us do actually understand all this stuff. You have a good product at a great price, don’t use ridiculous over inflated statements that don’t hold water, it makes you sound like dodgy used car salesmen. Sell it for what it is, a very low cost HD camera that can shoot raw with interchangable lenses.

Here’s some more footage from Arizona. Shot with the FS700. Theres a mixture of timelapse shot using S&Q motion at 1 frame every second as well as lightning shot at 480,240 and 120fps.

Here’s a little clip I shot yesterday as part of my Arizona workshop. As we had some time between storms we took a little side trip to the Grand Canyon to try shooting aerials with the F3’s and FS700. This clip was shot with the FS700 using the 18-200mm stabilised kit lens. It came out really well, I’m very pleased. I did add some additional stabilisation using Premiere CS6’s warp stabiliser, but if the shot isn’t reasonably stable to start with this can add some blur. Fortunately the FS700 active steadyshot is very good so this was not a problem.

We kind of knew this was coming, a lower cost super35mm camcorder from Canon. Slightly smaller than the C300 but using the same sensor recording to AVCHD at 24Mb/s and with a built in LCD panel as opposed to an external one this really does look like a nice little camcorder. Follow the link below for the full details from the Canon web site.

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/canon_unveils_eos_c100.do

I won’t be posting much this week as I’m in Arizona shooting storms and the Grand Canyon. I’m shooting with the FS700 and getting some great footage and clips. Here’s a few frame grabs for you. Believe me when I say the footage is even more amazing. lightning at 240fps is ver cool!

I received an email from Convergent Design this morning outlining how the Gemini 444 recorder will support 4K, 10 bit raw at up to 30fps from the Canon C500 via a chargable firmware upgrade. If you’ve got two Gemini’s you can even record raw 4K at up to 60fps which is pretty impressive, but one hell of a lot of data (approx 1.5TB per hour). I only wish that Sony and Convergent would get together quickly to do the same for the FS700.

Here’s an extract from the email:

“As anticipation for delivery of the Canon C500 mounts, Convergent Design is happy to announce support of Canon 4K Cinema Raw on the popular Gemini 4:4:4 external recorder.

Gemini 4:4:4 is a full uncompressed recorder and 5″ monitor that records to two 1.8″ SSD’s. Convergent Design offers an ARRIRAW Option, as well as a Stereo 3D Option, both as paid upgrades. Rounding out it’s functionality will be a Canon 4K Cinema Raw Option.

The Canon 4K Cinema Raw Option will capture 10-bit Log Raw (.rmf) up to 30fps on a single Gemini, and up to 60fps using two Gemini’s. Likewise, a single Gemini supports HD up to 60fps, while two Gemini’s enables a blazing HD@120fps!
Convergent Design is excited about this release. “The picture quality of the C500 is astounding; beautiful and crisp. We enjoyed shooting with it. Paired with the Gemini 4:4:4 it is not only a powerful camera, but a compact and sleek option for big pictures from a hand-held rig. The size and cost of Gemini 4:4:4 makes it a natural fit,” says Amber Cowles, MarCom Director.”

So, tomorrow I depart for Arizona to run a week long workshop on documentary video production. It’s monsoon season in Arizona so thunderstorms are an almost daily occurrence and these will be the backdrop to the workshop.  Amongst the kit need to run the workshop is the main camera, a Sony FS700, 4 lenses including that lovely Zunow, vinten tripod and a Canon 550D DSLR with special lighting trigger. I’m also taking a small motion control head and an extra tripod for time-lapse sequences that will include star trails, sunsets and sun rises etc. Then there is the laptop for editing and batteries to power everything.

The problem of course is that I only have a limited baggage allowance. 2 bags at 23kg each plus a carry on bag. Now I have, would you believe it, managed to cram all of the above into my allocated bags. I’ve even managed to include a weeks worth of clothes (they make up much of the padding to protect my valuable gear. One thing to consider when packing for travel is the weight of the cases themselves. A typical large pelicase or similar can weigh in at 6 or 7kg before you’ve even put anything in it. A similarly sized samsonite suitcase costs less to buy, weighs a lot less and doesn’t shout “valuable.. steal me”. For tripods a larger suitcase will often take a standard set of ENG legs diagonally across the interior or a roll along large sports bag will take a set of legs wrapped in your clothes and then the head can go in your main suitcase.

After packing all the essential I found I had a couple of kilos to spare so I’ve also included an NEX5N with a time-lapse controller and a few extra batteries. Out in the USA we will be joined by another instructor with an F3 and more kit, so between us we should be well sorted for a great workshop.

It’s not too late to join us if your interested in learning how to shoot storms, lightning, starscapes and time-lapse as well as many other documentary production techniques.Use the contact for if your tempted.

I’ll be blogging as often as possible from Arizona either here or on my Facebook page so do check back to see how we get on. Should be fun!