CONTENTS
AUSCAM | Issue 46
2.... From David’s desk 3.... News and new products 5.... Review : Sony’s NEX VG900 7.... Review: Sony HDR PJ790V 9.... Review : Panasonic HC-X920M 10... Review : JVC Everio GZ-EX355BAA 13... Review : Panasonic HX-WA30 14... Stan Harrington - Fim maker 16... Rode microphones 18... Review : The Atomos Ninja 2 20... Video at sea 23... Feature : V8 Supercars 26... Shooting 3D with the Sony XDCAM 30... Review : The Sony XDCAM 3D 31... 3D Editing 33... Review : Boris Red 35... Review : Premiere Elements 11 38... Ironman and Ironwomen 40... Review : HP Envy Touchsmart 41... Review : Datacolor Spyder 4 Elite 44... It’s a wrap : 10 years after
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
From David’s desk Over the last few weeks there have been so many new models of camcorder announced and released it makes the head spin! All four of the major manufacturers have chipped in – including JVC which seemed to have been in limbo for the last 18 months or so. Sadly there are no indications if the other vendor, Samsung, is going to come out to play; it seems to be rather occupied with mobile phones and TVs at the moment so perhaps has decided that this is not a game it wants to be in. There has been nothing new from Samsung for over a year as far as I can tell.
AUSCAM Publisher and managing editor
David Hague Contributors
Stephen Turner Dr Frank McLeod Ben Longden David Smith
What is very evident though are two major things all the manufacturers seem to have decided. First is that to get sales (and therefore by definition, market share), they need to pack their camcorders full of features. Each of the Big Four – Canon, Sony, Panasonic and JVC – has all gone in a slightly different direction in this regard and this is probably good for the consumer as it gives a bigger breadth of choice.
Design and layout
Depending on manufacturer and model, you can get an inbuilt projector, GPS, super slo-mo of 250 frames/second, wi-fi for uploading, using a tablet or smartphone to both remotely control the camcorder or play again, via wi-fi, play back footage on and more. And the price, the bang for buck, has dropped dramatically.
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A semi-pro camcorder that only a couple of years back would be in the realms of $4000-$6000 can now be had for under $1500 and features you’d expect in a $3000 can be had in a $600 one! The other thing that I have suspected is that the vendors have each decided that in the main, the ‘beginner’ basic camcorder is no longer needed. The folk that might spend $300-$400 on a starter unit are instead using their smartphones or compact still cameras to get their YouTube/Facebook moments, so it is far better to concentrate on the ‘real’ video enthusiast. The state of the market at the moment seems to prove that the world of video is growing again, albeit in a slightly different direction than in the past, and I think we can forecast some exciting times ahead!
Stephen Turner
www.stephen-turner.com.au Photography
Ross Gibb
www.rossgibbphotos.com.au
David Hague
david@auscamonline.com
0499 089 034
Auscam is published by : VBtheDog Productions Pty (ACN 128231 247) 4 Cox Place Echuca VIC 3564 Ph : 08 9467 5922 0499 089 034 auscamonline.com david@auscamonline.com Printed in Australia
Until next issue. Cheers!
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News and new products
AUSCAM | Issue 46
New Canon Models Announced
Joining in the new model frenzy, and proving that the market for video cameras is not dead – just moving upmarket – Canon has today announced three new models aimed specifically at the enthusiast, film maker and professional. All three models sport a brand new imaging system and have a 20x zoom 26.8mm lens with optics engineered originally for the top-of-the-range XF305. There is an 8 blade circular aperture employed giving what Canon call “beautiful blur” in shots with All three also include integrated HDMI, microphone, a shallow depth of field – commonly called the USB and headphone ports, and additionally, the XA25 “bokeh” effect. has HDMI-SD output. Wifi support is also available across the range and shot footage can be viewed on Also new is the ½.84 2.91 megapixel image sensor a smartphone or tablet via “Remote Browser”. and an enhanced Dynamic 3 mode optical stabiliser. Zoom or focus are via a front mounted switchable ring in front of the camera lens and another new feature Canon has engineered these models to all shoot is a rocker zoom incorporated into the body of the in multiple formats – either AVCHD up to 20Mbps camera, especially useful for tripod shooting as well as or MP4 (35 Mbps). Storage is the dual SD card slots handheld. and each card can receive data simultaneously As if that wasn’t enough FTP file transfer is also supwith one recording AVCHD and the other MP4. ported at up to 150Mbps via a wireless access point, The removable handle that was implemented on and with Media Server, WiFi can be used to play back the XA10 (Auscam’s camera of the year in 2012) videos on supported TVs or computers. has been incorporated in both the XA20 and XA25 and houses a range of controls including XLR inputs On paper, all three models sound very impressive inand an IR lamp for shooting say, nocturnal beasties. deed and we can’t wait to try them out, but sadly, we have to wait a few weeks for that treat, as well as what All three models share the same 1.23million OLED the pricing will be. flipout touch screen (and a viewfinder of course that is tiltable) and the screen also houses touch controls in conjunction with a customisable control dial for exposure, plus the dial allows adjustment for aperture, shutter speed, iris and gain.
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Review : Sony’s NEX VG900
AUSCAM | Issue 46
If you are a camera or camcorder enthusiast, you’ll know that a major element to the quality of the footage or photo is highly dependent on the size of the sensor. The sensor in a typical consumer camcorder is about the size of your thumbnail, and you’d have to agree in this day and age, with the advent of super-duper compression algorithms, that the quality of the footage is pretty damn good. If you doubt this, have a look at some footage shot via a 15 year old 8mm tape based camcorder. So imagine what you’ll get with a sensor that is more than 6x bigger? That’s what you’ll get with the new Sony NEX VG900. In technical terms, the VG900 has a full frame 35mm sensor that has a staggering 24.3 megapixels. What this means is that you get excellent low light sensitivity and a massive shallow depth of field capability – a large Holy Grail for lots of short filmmakers, and the reason many went the dSLR route a few years back (with all the inherent disadvantages that entails). In that vein, we all know that LCD and plasma screens are better than the old CRT TV; the next step up is OLED technology, and the VG900 has incorporated this into the viewfinder. As well as clarity, using OLED also reduces motion blur. Sony has also incorporated technology into the viewfinder that detects your eye and automatically turns the viewfinder on (or off). A major difference between consumer camcorders and ‘professional’ units is the amount of control you have over the aperture size (iris), gain and shutter speed. This is usually effected by the use of rings mounted around the lens barrel and side mounted buttons. On the VG900, Sony has incorporated three buttons to control these functions just forward of the flip out LCD. Separate rings on the lens control zoom and focus.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review : Sony’s NEX VG900 Speaking of the lens, previous NEX models we have used and reviewed had an annoying ‘lens creep’ issue whereby if the lens wasn’t locked at a specific position, it had a tendency to slowly extend itself ie. if you held the camera vertically, the lens would slowly end up extending itself to full zoom – an annoying trait if you suddenly needed to get a shot of something that was close. This issue has been eliminated in the VG900.
For audio, the VG900 incorporates ‘quad capsule spatial array’ 5.1 channel surround sound microphone. If you prefer to use your own mic, the VG900 has two top mounted shoes, on hot and one cold, for this purpose or alternatively say, you could use one for a mc and the second for a light. As per previous NEX models, the VG900 supports interchangeable lenses with its standard E-mount, but also comes with a adaptor in the box for those that wish to use A-Mounts for wide angle shooting.
Manufacturer Model Number Storage Format(s) eg SD, CF, Memory Stick HDD etc
Sensor Processor Recording format(s) eg MOEG2, AVCHD Optical Zoom Image stabilizer type (optical or digital) LCD screen size Audio in (Yes / No) Headphone out (Yes/No) Terminals Dimensions Weight Website of vendor RRP
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Ergonomically, the VG900 is a delight to use, well balanced and all controls comfortably to hand. The viewfinder tilts through almost 90 degrees to the vertical and there is enough recess that allows bigger batteries than the standard to be used without them protruding from the main body. External ports include mic in, headphone out, USB out, A/V out and a mini HDMI port. Sadly no HDMI cable is included in the box, although a mic fluffy and eye cup are. Documentation is up to the usual top notch Sony standard, and is a real, proper paper manual you can keep in the camera case for quick reference as required. All in all, this is a top notch unit, especially suited to the short film maker. At $3699 it is well worth the money in our opinion.
SONY NEX-VG900 Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2) / PRO-HG Duo / SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card Movie Recording on Memory Stick and SD/SDHC Memory Card 35mm “Exmor R" CMOS Sensor BIONZ™ HD: MPEG4-AVC/H.264 SD: MPEG2-PS 20x Optical SteadyShot™ (Active mode - Wide to Tele) 3.0 Xtra Fine LCD 270 degree swivel display Stereo minijack Yes HDMI, USB, A/V 105 x 130 x 227mm Approx. 825g excluding battery http://www.sony.com.au/product/nex-vg900e $3699.00(excluding lens which is $1099 as tested E18~200mm)
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Review: Sony HDR PJ790V
AUSCAM | Issue 46
An all-around camcorder excellent for film making or family use finds David Hague. New top-of-the-range models are coming thick and fast, and today we received the brand spanking new Sony HDR PJ790V and this is no lightweight fluffy point and shoot beastie – unless you want it to be. The standout on this camera has to be the optical stabiliser / anti-shake technology and the easiest way to describe it is as if the lens itself was floating in a viscous fluid. As you move the camera, or even stop it from moving suddenly, the lens seems to float in this fluid thus giving exceptional anti-jitter capabilities. Sony claims this is 13 times better than standard anti-shake technology. I believe it. Lens While we are on the subject of the lens, the 790V has a Zeiss-Sonnar 52mm lens (which these days is to be expected of Sony) with a 10x optical zoom and an ‘extended’ zoom of 17x. It shoots in full HD (1980 * 1080p) and when shooting stills, has a rating equivalent to 24 megapixels at 16:9 ratio. Three features make sure Auscam can give it the tick of approval; there is a proper viewfinder which slides in and out and tilts, and provision for an external mic to complement the inbuilt 5.1 Dolby unit as well as a headphone jack. Rounding out the Good Stuff (except for one thing) is a built in LED video light good for up to 150cm according to Sony. Storage Storage is to either the 96GB of inbuilt RAM plus there is a slot in the main body of the camera under the LCD that accepts SD or Memory Stick. The LCD is a 3 inch superfine unit and while still not as good as using the viewfinder in bright sunlight, was around 70% as bright as it shows inside and therefore quite usable for framing subjects and not showing any of the issues I had over the Easter long weekend
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(See http://auscamonline.com/issue/march-2013/ article/an-hour-on-the-murray-in-a-tinnie). Electronic goodies in the HDRPJ790V include smooth slow recording, “golf shot” mode, Bravia sync, face detection, smile detection and intelligent auto with 12 different profiles such as Baby, Tripod, Spotlight and Macro. An assignable dial on the front of the camcorder lets you run functions manually including focus, exposure, iris, shutter speed and white balance. As well as the aforementioned headphone and external mic ports, there is also a USB port and a mini HDMI port. And hallelujah, an HDMI cable IS supplied!
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Review: Sony HDR PJ790V On the top of the camera body is an active hot shoe allowing standard ISO devices to be attached (using the connection as a cold shoe) and GPS is built in allowing the geo-tagging of clips and stills. But there is one thing in the HDR PJ790V that sets this unit (and its siblings) aside from any other on the market. On the external side of the LCD monitor is a projector shooting 35 lumens out of it for immediate viewing of your videos (this is up from the 20 lumens in the 790V’s predecessor). Additionally, there is a micro HDMI input allowing you to plug other devices (smartphone, tablets etc) into the camera using it as a slave projector. Images, either from the camera or the external source can be projected from a Lilliputian 2” to 100” dWiagonally Pretty clever huh? Rounding out what is a very impressive package is a supplied lens hood. If you are after an all-around camcorder for serious filmmaking, but also want “family friendly” features, then the Sony HDRPJ790V I’d suspect will fit your bill, very nicely indeed. The RRP of the Sony HDRPJ790V is $1999 and more information is obtainable from www.sony.com.au/product/hdrpj790ve.
We liked Excellent anti-shake, superb image quality, especially in low light. Slow and quick motion recording. Dual media recording. Good battery life. External projector We disliked Nothing evident.
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Auscam Scoreboard Performance Documentation Features Setup Value for Money Help Functions.
9/10 8/10 9/10 10 /10 8/10 9/10
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Review : Panasonic HC-X920M
As we have said many times, the features and functionality of upper level consumer camcorders is today more than rivalling those of the ‘professional’ ilk of only a couple of years ago. Nothing personifies this more than the just announced Panasonic HC-X920. I had the pleasure of playing with one of these for a day at the recent Panasonic launch, and true to Auscam form, we had it tested under real conditions, not just on a “lab bench”. These conditions involved early morning on a beach and on a large catamaran sailing around the Flinders Gulf in South Australia while searching for dolphins to swim with (and subsequently testing another new release, the waterproof HX-WA30 “pistol grip” style camcorder). Image Stabilisation Of course being on the briny in a 15 knot breeze tests an important function that other camcorders we have tested in the past failed at miserably under similar circumstances – image stabilisation. The HCX920 has what Panasonic calls “Hybrid” O.I.S.+ which is 5 axis optical system that allows for correction of the imagery at both wide angle and on long zooms (the HC-X920 has an optical zoom capability of 12x, a sensible number thankfully). Additionally though, Panasonic has incorporated a system called “Level Shot”, and this has the effect of straightening lines if the footage when shot is on a slight tilt; think shooting a skyscraper with lots of horizontal lines in its makeup. Or the horizon.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Lens The lens system is the acclaimed Leica Dicomar breed with and F1.5, 29.8mm wide angle. This feeds to a triple MOS system allowing full 1920 *1080 HD. There is – hallelujah – a proper viewfinder (with a party trick, more in a sec) and a 3.5” flip out LCD incorporating touch screen controls, zebra patterning for showing over exposure and focus peaking for precise manual focussing. Speaking of focussing, the HC-X920 has a large manual focus ring surrounding the lens, and this can also be programmed to alter zoom, shutter speed and white balance. At this point, most of the functions a pro shooter needs have been addressed, but there is more, a lot more to this camcorder. Smart Functions What Panasonic calls iA, Intellgent Auto, when turned on, via “Intelligent Scene” automatically selects the optimum scene mode based on a number of factors including detected lights and objects. In conjunction, “Intelligent Contrast” continually measures the amount of ambient light intensity and compensates accordingly on-the-fly. Face Detection senses the current ambient light to adjust exposure and capture faces correctly even in dim and backlit scenes. Add to this Face Recognition and AF Tracking and you have pretty well covered all the bases. Not quite though as it turns out.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review : Panasonic HC-X920M Built in WiFi The HC-X90 sports built in WiFi enables broadcasting to Ustream in full HD. In others words, deliver footage to anyone with an internet connection in almost real time. You can even send an email to notify the start of the streaming event to pre-registered email addresses. For security purposes, the camcorder can double as a home video monitoring system too, or perform real time video conferencing with colleagues or family, incorporating a smartphone screen. Adding to this functionality, Panasonic has developed an APP called Panasonic Image for use on Android and iOS devices so that users can remotely check audio recording, zoom in and out and turn the shutter on or off while viewing the remote image on the device’s screen. You can even playback and share footage on social media sites using simple drag and drop operation. And being WiFi, if you have an access point setup say at home or in the office, you can transfer data to a TV or tablet to other places in the house or building. On prompting, Panasonic told me when quizzed about an equivalent Windows 8 APP, the response was along the lines of “we are watching that space closely”. So hopeful for Win8 (like me) adopters. Storage Recording is to either the built in 32GB RAM or there is a single slot for SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. In use I obtained around 1 hour recording on the standard battery supplied, and this is where the aforementioned party trick comes in. If you are a fan of using the viewfinder, which despite the excellent clarity of the 3.5”, 1152K dot LCD screen I am, when on pause or standby, by pushing the viewfinder into
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its retracted position, it automatically suspends power usage thus saving on battery life. Having said that, the serious videographer would most likely opt for a higher capacity battery than the standard one, and the battery compartment design is such that there would not be too much protrusion from the rear of the camcorder. And it goes without saying that there is provision for an external mic (the standard built in one is a 5.1 surround sound system with on screen metering of levels) and headphones. Conclusion I am more than impressed with the HC-X920. At this stage of the game, if anyone asked me what camcorder to buy sub $2K, this would unquestionably be it. It has all the functions you will ever need, and I’d almost call it a game changer. If there is camcorder to sway the pro away from the larger models as used in “run and gun” shooting for current affairs, short documentaries or films etc, then at the moment this is it. All the necessaries are there; top lens, manual programmable focus ring, face detection, manual or auto controls for contrast, shutter speed etc and of course superb imaging. And for future proofing, the HC-X920 also supports the optional 3D lens we have mentioned in the past. At $1699 RRP, here is everything you’ll ever need in a camcorder short of a supplied tripod. Any flaws? One. There is no HDMI cable in the box, a situation Panasonic has promised me they will look at. (Footage shot on the HC-X920 to uploaded shortly)
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review: JVC Everio GZ-EX355BAA
If yesterday we thought the GX-EZ555 was tiny, then its sibling, the EZ355 is miniscule, but inside the compact body there is still a fair swag of electronic wizardry. A lot of the EZ555 DNA is shared with the EZ355; the CMOS sensor is the same for starters and a lot of the features and functionality are on a par, that is, they both have face and smile recognition and the interesting pet recognition, time lapse and stop motion recording, intelligent auto etc. even the physicalityissimilar in that they both have a video light, wi-fi and the same 16GB RAM however on the EZ355 there is no accessory hot shoe. Both have a single SD card slot. They are so similar – size besides – in that it is easier to explain the differences. The EZ-355 has a 40x zoom as against the EX-555 with 38x and the image stabiliser is described in the specifications as “advanced” as against “optical” so we can assume it is the less precise electronic based. And while the EZ555 shoots in progressive AVCHD, the EZ355 does not using presumably interlaced as well as also shooting in standard definition. There is no head phone jack or mic in port although the mini HDMI connection remains and the simultaneous video and still shooting applies as does the ultra slo-mo via fast shutter speeds. The convenient Index Marking to assist in later editing is also absent from the EZ355.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review: JVC Everio GZ-EX355BAA Don’t get me wrong. There has not been a scrimping or corners cut on this camcorder. The lens for example is the much respected Konica Minolta flavour and they make some of the best glass in the world. No, basically I feel this model has been built with a specific market in mind and that market doesn’t want all the electronic doodads. I suspect the marketing boffins at JVC have thought “Hang on. Let’s make a camcorder with all the quality bits bolted to it, but aimed at those that would otherwise use their smartphone in terms of functionality”. If I am right, then the aforementioned boffins have succeeded admirably. At $399 it is keenly priced considering the functionality offered, small enough physically to sit in a pocket reasonably comfortably and robustly built.
We liked Value for money, functionality We disliked No HDMI cable supplied, no mic input or headphone output Auscam Scoreboard Performance Documentation Features Setup Value for Money Help Functions.
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7/10 6/10 8/10 9 /10 9/10 9/10
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Review: Panasonic HX-WA30
AUSCAM | Issue 46
A solid “active outdoor” camcorder, but don’t confuse it with a GoPro! Over the years, camcorders have gone through various fads in design, some good, many bad and some just downright weird! Some have been or are annoying – the lack of a proper viewfinder springs to mind as does placing the 12v input port behind the battery! For a short time, one trend was the “pistol grip” design and this was championed by the likes of Sanyo and Hitachi, neither of whom is any longer on the scene. I never felt there was a place at the time for such a design for a number of reasons, not the least being the aforementioned lack of viewfinder, and the inherent stability problems of such a design. However, as technology has improved, I have since found a place where such a design can work. Panasonic has released the HX-WA30, a full 1920 * 1080 HD unit that is designed specifically for the “active outdoor user”. Now do not for a moment that this is designed to compete with the Kaiser Baas or GoPros of the world. These are primarily designed to be mounted to something – a boat, go kart, car or skydiver’s helmet – whereas the HX-WA30 is purely a handheld camcorder. It is however waterproof to 10 metres, shockproof to 1.5 metres and freeze proof to -10O Celsius. This means it can be used where your standard camcorder is a-feared to tread – snorkelling, skiing, fishing and so forth, where you don’t need to be worried about a splash of water, snow and ice or a dust storm for example. It has a few party tricks available too such as Wi-Fi
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connectivity allowing playback on your smartphone or tablet and with the optional (free) Panasonic Image APP for iOS and Android, your device can be used to control shooting remotely including zoom and start/stop. This means, in my particular sphere of interest for example I can place the camcorder on a tripod in a place I personally am not allowed to stand to get unique footage. Think motor sport such as rallies, shooting those wonderful “mud” speed boats that race around 2” deep canals. Depending on the distance, you may even be a able to setup a WA30 on a tripod such as a Joby on say, the Great Barrier Reef underwater to get live footage of the action. The inbuilt time-lapse recording facility would be of special use here. Other effects available include Fish Eye, Monochrome, Vivid, Ghost Effect and Miniature Effect. The potential possibilities are really only limited by the imagination. Storage is to SD card and you can also shoot 16 megapixel stills. Video is shot in MPEG4 There is a 5x optical zoom and a 28mm wide lens that allows the shooting of panorama shots by simply sweeping the camera left to right or up and down. The WA30 can be used one handed with a single thumb joystick control and two large buttons for the shutter functions making it simple to operate. There is no viewfinder (it’s tricky if not impossible to use one with a face mask on!) but the backlit LCD rotates through 285 degrees. The RRP of the HX-WA30 is $399
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Stan Harrington
The name Stan Harrington has been a fixture in the more intimate world of independent films and film festivals in the US, but suddenly, the Aussie filmmaker and actor is drawing heat from some of the big boys in tinsel town. Originally from Melbourne, Stan (born SteliosGeorgiadis ), has won a multitude of awards for low budget indies but what has stood out about his work and consequently attracted the attention of established talent, has been the content of his films (performance, writing and directing). When you don’t have that pipeline to finance, you have to bank on the content and audiences will be far more forgiving of production value than they will of a boring or crappy story. Trained at the world renowned Stella Adler in Los Angeles, Stan credits his artistic and literary success to his strong theatre background. “When you find yourself immersed in great literature, studying the works of legendary writers like Miller, Albee, Shanley and the like, you quickly realize how lacking many of today’s screenplays are. It all starts with the script. Sure great actors and editors and cinematographers can do amazing things with limited source material but why work that way? Why not start with an amazing foundation. After all a movie is a story told in pictures right? Lost Angels, Stan’s latest film has seen a payoff for his patience and belief in great writing. Despite the humble scale of the film, Executive Producer, Charlotte Larsen jumped at the chance to make it all happen. Charlotte, a proud Kiwi, has produced such successes as the box office smash BOY, one of New Zealand’s most successful features, and the current Mike Newell vehicle, Great Expectations starring Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter. Newell is best known for hit films. Prince of Persia, Harry Potter and Donnie Brasco. “I like the company she keeps! It’s quite an honour that Charlotte has two films, one is mine and the other Mike Newell’s,” laughs Stan.
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The cast also is also laden with international talent. Toronto’s, Oliver Pigott, who the film was written for, created history along with his brother, Sebastian, on the hit TV show, Canadian Idol. The Pigott brothers were the first siblings in the show’s history to make it through to the finals. Oliver and Sebastian also wrote the soundtrack for Lost Angels. Most recently Sebastian was cast to star opposite Renee Zellweiger in the $6 million, Lifetime series, Cinammon Girl and Oliver, who the judges unanimously felt was the most talented person to ever audition for the show, takes on the lead role of Joshua in Lost Angels.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46 US actor, Alimi Ballard, Special Agent David Sinclair on Tony and Ridley Scott’s highly successful CBS crime drama NUMB3RS, plays record producer, Nathaniel. Alimi was also recently signed to star opposite Mira Sorvino in the new Jerry Bruckheimer series, Trooper. Robert Pralgo, Mayor Lockwood on The Vampire Diaries, portrays Director, Richard Steinberg. Doug Bennett, soon to star in a new Warner Bros feature as Charles Manson, takes on the intriguing role of Chick. Harrington himself plays Movie Producer, Samuel Rosen The beautiful Blythe Metz portrays publicist, Mimi. The beguiling Amanda Dreschler plays the lead female role, Charley and fellow Melbournian and the former “Face of Melbourne Spring FashionWeek”, Lucy McIntosh, Russian, Super-Model, Eugenia Kuzmina, Scotland’s own, Declan Michael Laird, and the stunning, Austrian, actress and dancer, Ursula Maria round out the cast. “The interest I’m getting from some of these amazing people is because of the quality of the material. It’s hard getting to certain people but soon enough artists will seek out the material. If I have been able to attract great actors, it’s because I treat them as great actors…not celebrities”. “I offer them a chance to show their skills by offering them roles that show their versatility, craft and talent. I’m not going to call Michael Madsen and ask him to play the guy with the cigarette and a gun. If you start with a great script then you give all the other artists on your film so much more to work with”. “Storytellers have suffered in this generation of uninspired, finance driven, celebrity obsessed, industry suits. But if you ask me, the formula of just getting the biggest names into one movie, if you can call it a formula, is a copout. It’s lazy and it’s self-defeating in the long run. Products that are made for quality are better than those made just for profit. It’s like Cadillac. Once they were the innovator of the automotive industry and Mercedes were unheard. Mercedes went through decades of trying to produce the highest quality and safest cars and GM tried to make the most profit forgoing quality and innovation. GM made huge profits for decades but eventually would have gone bankrupt if not for
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the government stepping in and I can’t imagine anyone, at that time, swapping the top of the line Mercedes for a top of the line GM car. They are miles apart in class. The price tags are also miles apart but it’s clear people will pay for quality- we just have to have faith in it. A quality story is where it all starts (and ends) and artists will compromise their pay cheques to work on art. With Lost Angels wrapped, the next objective was to find the best artist to handle the post production. Victor Du Bois, whose television shows include Grey’s Anatomy, Justified and Elementary and feature films include, The Last Samurai and Braveheart, joined the team.
“It’s just absolutely, incredible, and humbling, that someone of that calibre would sacrifice for a project of mine. It just reinforces my belief in staying true to the art. Have faith in quality and it will soon all come together. The talent will find you.” LINKS: LOST ANGELS TEASER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayT_nvSNk9g
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
RØDE
RØDE Microphone has never been slow to pick up on the market and get products out to suit. This Australian based company that is famous the world over for its products, especially the famed VideoMic has its factory in Sydney‘s west at Silverwater and also has offices in the US in California. At the recent CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, RØDE released two new microphones and some associated software. RØDE iXY iXY is RØDE’s foray into the world of Apple, being a dedicated microphone specifically for the iPhone and iPad. It is connected via a 30 pin connector allowing recording up to sampling rates of 24bit/96kHz. RØDE claim this is the only microphone on the market to support this functionality. At the heart of the iXY is a matched pair of ½” cardioid condenser capsules, fixed in a perfect 90 degree ‘near-coincident’ alignment resulting in trueto-life stereo recordings, captured in high detail. The iXY uses its own high-fidelity analogue to digital conversion ensuring all recordings are rich, smooth and accurate. The iXY is aimed at the markets involved in live music recording, meetings, lectures, reporting, dictation and sound design and there is a secondary market there too as an add-on camera for both dSLR and video cameras to pick up ambient sound or for speech recordings.A foam windshield is included in the package as is a zip up carry case. In conjunction with the iXY is RØDE Rec, an app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch designed to be a companion to the iXY. In conjunction they become a ully fledged field recorder. RØDE Rec allows for complete control of the iXY’s continuously adjustable input levels for recording in loud and quiet environments, as well as the high pass filter to cut out low frequency rumbling such as air conditioning or outdoor traffic noises. The app provides a full suite of features including multiple sampling rates up to 96kHz, equalization effects (compressor/expander, high-pass filter, low pass filter, parametric EQ), non-linear editing, geo and photo tagging, and one touch publishing to SoundCloud, Dropbox, email, FTP and iTunes. RØDE has also announced a feature-limited free version of the app, simply titled RØDE Rec LE.
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RØDE Reporter The second product is the RØDE Reporter, a handheld mic designed for handheld interviews as the name suggests. It is based around a omnidirectional dynamic capsule designed to allow freedom of use without the technique related issues typical of directional and address microphones.
AUSCAM | Issue 46
Additionally its frequency response has been specially tailored for voice reproduction, to maximise intelligibility and deliver crisp, clear results in almost any condition. The microphone features a durable die-cast aluminium alloy body coated in a discrete matte black anti-glare finish. An innovative multi-layer mesh basket protects the microphone from environmental noise without the need for a bulky and distracting foam wind shield. It is supplied with a removable microphone ‘flag’ that can accommodate high-visibility branding
To get more information on either the RØDE iXY or Reporter please go to www.rodemic.com. The RRP of the RØDE Reporter is $220 and the iXY is $199.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review : Atomos Ninja 2 Data flow is the life blood of today’s world of high definition video. Modern image sensors can pump out streams of uncompressed video data at rates that few computers can handle, so data compression is an essential fact of life. MPEG-2 and H.264 mp4 compression systems are extremely efficient, producing very high quality images in surprisingly small files. Typically the source video is compressed by up to 30 times to achieve this balance. A point that must be stressed, however, is that MPEG-2 and H.264 are delivery formats, ideally suited to projects ending up as DVDs or as files on the Internet. As such they work remarkably well, but they are emphatically not suitable as editing formats. A good example is the astonishingly popular GoPro Hero camera family. These use H.264 mp4 compression to give very long recording times on SD cards. I have tried editing the resulting files after transferring them to my computer and the crunch comes when you finally render out this edited project to post on YouTube or Vimeo. Re-compressing the already heavily compressed video gives a very disappointing result with blocky motion artefacts and colour degradation. For this reason, Cineform GoPro has now released its free GoPro Studio software which allows you to de-compress the camera files using the Cineform wavelet-based codec. This produces a file about ten times the size but with most of the interframe data fully rebuilt. Smooth playback and editing are now possible and when the Cineform data is finally compressed the quality remains very high indeed. So what if there was a way to avoid or at least greatly reduce compression of the original data from a camera’s video sensors? If this could be achieved then video editing and production could be achieved at data rates an order of magnitude greater than is typically the case. One excellent solution is the ATOMOS Ninja 2 reviewed here. This device takes uncompressed data from the camera sensor system and converts it in real time via hardware compression to an Apple ProRes® file. This format uses much less compression, typically between 6 and 10:1 and so is much gentler on your system than the 20 or 30:1 compression used with H.264. The trade-off, of course, is that the files are much larger and so require much more storage space. The Ninja 2 provides a rugged and elegant solution to this dilemma, by providing a hot swappable Master Caddy system that can use either SSD or 2.5” hard disks for effectively unlimited storage.
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The heart of the system is the Ninja body which incorporates a well designed touch screen based on the AtomOS operating system. The body includes a slot for the Master Caddy, slots for two Sony InfoLithium batteries, HDMI in and output jacks and two jacks for audio in and headphones out. The operating system is clear and intuitive to use but iPhone or Galaxy users will find it a little different in that a much firmer touch is required to select icons on the Ninja. This is quite deliberate to reduce the chance of inadvertently interrupting a recording. Once an appropriate camera or other video source is detected by the S, the record and play buttons will appear in red and green respectively. A yellow monitor button and blue menu button are also available. Time code and real time can be displayed along with information on the codec selected, in this case ProRes HQ. Once data has been recorded the Master Caddy is transferred to the Master Caddy Docking Station, in turn connected to your Windows or Mac computer via USB 2 or 3 or Firewire 800. All appropriate cables are supplied with the unit. File transfer is rapid and the .mov file is then ready to be placed on the timeline of your NLE for editing. The main unit features clever shock protection in the event of bumps or jolts. Recording will continue even if the disk rotation is slowed following the shock which is a good safeguard. To inform you that potential disk damage has occurred a small ‘Skippy’ kangaroo road sign icon will appear for each jolt. Too many Skippies would require a new hard drive or perhaps replacement with an SSD drive.
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Importing via USB 3 was exceptionally fast with a 60 second clip ingesting in less than 5 seconds. The file size indicated data usage of approximately 100GB per hour. That compares, for example, with approximately 15GB per hour for HDV video . Fortunately hard drive storage continues to become more cost effective with time. Preview playback of the MOV file in Vegas Pro 12 was smooth and rock steady at 25 frames per second and the visual quality was nothing short of superb.
Summary
This is an excellent product that has been thoughtfully designed and extremely well built. Everything from the rugged and carefully laid out carrying case to the inclusion of all power supplies, cables and spare Master Caddies indicates a product designed for rugged field use in a high-end professional environment. The touch screen is designed to require deliberate firm pressure when selecting items and while this is a different feel from smart phones, this is intentional and designed to reduce operation errors in a field environment. Features 10-bit 4:2:2 / 220Mbps / 2.5” HDD or SSD The Ninja-2 takes any uncompressed HD or SD source and encodes it in real-time to 10-bit, 4:2:2 Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD at up to 220Mbps. Because Ninja is portable, it can record from the ultimate image source, the sensor of the camera. Recording is always in 10-bit, even from an 8-bit source. Color registries are added for integration into higher bit-depth graphics from CG, animation and special effects. This avoids banding and makes editing and grading, in fact any precision effect, more accurate. AtomOS 3.0 Touchscreen The real power of the Ninja 2 comes from AtomOS -- an innovative and intuitive operating system. One-Touch Access all of the Ninja 2’s operations via the fast, responsive touch interface -- everything is one touch away: one-touch recording, one-touch monitoring, one-touch review, etc. Volume Display Lets you adjust the volume of the professional quality headphone amplifier. Audio Meters Touch audio meters to adjust 4 channels of audio. Current Input Format Displays native format from source signal, for example -- 1080i 59.94. Recording Format Select the variety of ProRes or Avid DNxHD codec you are recording to / Avid DNxHD-220X (10-bit), DNxHD-220 (8-bit), DNxHD-145 (8-bit), DNxHD-36 Proxy (8-bit) + all ProRes options.
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Auscam ratings Ease of use: Features: Build quality: Value for money:
9 10 10 8
We liked: Concept, build quality, rugged case with all required extras and cables supplied, intuitive operating system. We didn’t like: Nothing to dislike Price: RRP AUD$995
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Video at Sea : Frank McLeod
I live on the south coast of New South Wales, in which state safety in the coastal waters is managed by Marine Rescue NSW. One of our local units, Marine Rescue Ulladulla, recently took delivery of a new rescue boat and I managed to hitch a ride, along with my muchloved Sony FX1, to record her welcome to her new home. I know how unfashionable it is to stick with HDV but it will not be until someone takes this camera ‘out of my cold dead hands’ that I – or my spirit – will move to another HD format. Since I can’t see the difference between the quality of the image from my camera and those of the newer generation on any HD TV, I can see no reason to change. Anyway, enough of that and on to the day’s events. I scammed a place on the 58 foot ‘Encounter’, a big powerful twin turbo-charged diesel of mature years when she left Ulladulla Harbour. She was accompanied by the small, fast – but bumpy – catamaran ‘Lewis Dunn’ and they both progressed to meet the as yet unnamed Steber-built 38 foot new girl on the block, call - sign ‘3-Zero’. The progress of 3-zero had been followed down the coast by the Ulladulla radio room and we met her about 2kms off the coast. At this time I was some 6 metres above the water rockin’ and rollin’ beside
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the boat’s skipper in the elevated external control station. In situations like this, you can forget about monopods and tripods. In fact, the best stability I can obtain in such fluid (pun intended) environments is the traditional ‘camera to the eye’ shooting. I close the LCD viewer – less light confusion and more stability – and attempt to follow the action as best I can while bracing myself against the boat’s superstructure. And so, 3-zero finally came into sight having been closely watched on the radar for some time. Her crew did not disappoint and she put on quite a display – seemingly and tasteful as you would expect from a young lady in the presence of her elders, but, lordy, could she move. Again with twin turbo-charged modern diesels and a serious planing hull (for the boaties in our readership) she had a top speed of 35 knots, no mean feat for a boat of this size.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
She made a couple of passes, to the accompaniment of Encounter’s horn. There was enough of a sea to make her cresting the swells and falling into the following trough a visual spectacle and I was doing my best to get this all recorded. We were out for about two hours and I came home with 35 minutes of footage. To be honest, the last bit was taken from the breakwaterv with the FX1 on a tripodas every young female debutante deserves to make her entry into society with maximum gravitas. In post, I had quite some issues with shot stability from the on-board shots. As an admitted Adobe fan, I am using their CS6 suite and have the luxury of Warp Stabilizser. ( We all have our problems and mine is with the US use of the letter ‘Z’. While it might be more phonetic in use, it just ain’t English as she is writ.)
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If I needed a reason to shoot in HD, even though the final product was a standard definition DVD, then image stabilisation is that reason. Since stabilisation requires up-scaling often to achieve its end, the additional pixels obtained by HD recording, in addition to the extra detail, is always worthwhile. In the end, I used SmartSound for the music to add mood to the video, cut the 35 minutes down to under 6 minutes and presented it to the assembled Marine Rescue Ulladulla crew. Apart from stuffing up the call sign and calling the ‘Encounter’ the ‘Endeavour’ (DOH!) it seemed to be well received and it is now being distributing the corrected version within their organisation and overseas. You can get into some interesting and unique situations using video in community projects. Just a thought…
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Perfect sound without the background noise.
The Sennheiser MKE 600 Professional Shotgun Condenser Microphone is ideal for video journalists where high quality audio and simple p operation p are required. q Interference noise is suppressed pp and the microphone’s p low cut filter ensures the additional attenuation of handling and wind noises. The MKE 600, along with its professional accessories, make up a sophisticated system for flawless recordings.
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Feature : V8 Supercars
Outside broadcasts (OBs) are high tension events. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of physical elements to get right, a similar number of things to go wrong, and that’s before you get to editing it and putting it out. One of Australia’s biggest regular OBs is that of the V8 Supercars. Handled since 1997 by Global Television, under contract from V8 Supercars Australia (the contract is up for renewal as we speak), and transmitted via Channel 7, this near-weekly effort is seen by millions around both Australia and the world. So how does Global do it? Auscam attended the penultimate 2012 round at Winton, Victoria, last year to find out. The equipment varies round by round, but at a small race like Winton, the broadcast centres around a single HD4 truck. It’s an impressive beast. Packing essentially a whole studio into a space only 26.4 metres long, 3.6 metres wide and 4 metres high (fully expanded), the HD4 has a central production room, 5.1 Dolby Surround audio desk, EVS storage area, editing booths and six Sony MSU 950 camera control units (CCUs). Think of it like a giant, outside broadcast TARDIS. Interestingly, 2012 marked the first year Global Television had done an HD broadcast from Winton, so we were lucky to catch the HD4 at that round. Despite the challenges that sometimes come with using new equipment, Global’s director of technology services,
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Mark Segar, said it was a no-fuss deal, too. “From our perspective, you couldn’t really tell – the program was exactly the same. The HD4 truck was a nicer place to sit, but at the end of the day, it was a very seamless transition”. Next to the HD4 is a separate porta-cabin for the archiving desk and two Avid highlight editing suites, which are connected to the truck via gigabit Ethernet cables. Finally, we have the trackside and mobile cameras. The trackside units (12 at Winton, but again, this varies each round) all sit on a single cable loop. This ensures quicker rollout – important when you’ve got a minimum of four-to-five kilometres of cable per round – but also provides redundancy due to the nature of the cable. To whit, what looks like one cable is actually three – one power and two fibre. One fibre cable carries footage while the other carries CCU signals. And if anything should happen to one data cable, the other can step up to carry the load, even if you do lose CCU control. As for the mobile units, depending on the event, you have between two and six Sony XD Cams running Link L1421 transmitters. These cover the pits and any trackside action the fixed units can’t cover. Finally, you have the multiple in-car cameras, supplied by Globecam (no relation), using the same wireless protocols.
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V8 SUPE AUSCAM | Issue 46
Feature : V8 Supercars What boggles the mind is how this all scales for larger events. Come Bathurst and the like, everything basically triples. You have up to three daisy-chained HD trucks, 40 trackside cameras, six mobile units, plus unique elements like hard-wired in-track cameras (which are actually separately-supplied, customised HD security cameras, given the likelihood of them being destroyed), aerial cameras, cameras embedded in the pit wall and at Bathurst, Flycam zooming over the pitlane.
Despite this, at least at the smaller rounds with only one truck and a few cameras, the workflow is relatively simple. At a single truck round like Winton, footage from all cameras comes into the HD4 truck, where it is both stored on EVS tape drives and displayed live on the main production room’s 52 10.4-inch and 14 17inch HD source monitors. Sound is handled separately by the audio desk, but fed through to the production room as well. From there, the director decides what they want in the broadcast and the basic live feed goes out. The only time this workflow gets disrupted is when any ‘special events’, such as overtakes or crashes, occur. Such footage, while sometimes caught by the current primary camera, is often only captured by other units. Luckily, in such instances, the director can not only pull the footage at will from the EVSs, which record four channels and playback two, allowing up to ten different angles can be viewed at once, but also direct the archiving and Avid suites to store and edit the footage together for highlight and bumper packages. These are then sent back to the truck whenever the director needs them. Of course, while it may sound easy, as with any OB, there’s stress, tension, quick thinking and the humdrum time sucks of set-up and pack-up, but from a purely technical standpoint, that’s how it works. Given all this is a fairly polished exercise, then, what about the future of V8 Supercars OBs? According to Segar, second-screen broadcasting is the likely direction. “The next generation of integration is second-screen viewing, where you might have your phone or tablet to view extra content while watching TV. Because we have EVSs already, which can send low-resolution content to tablets or phones while simultaneously handling HD content for the regular broadcast, we’re prepared for that.” However, he stressed none of this was confirmed yet due to the contract for V8 Supercars broadcasts being renegotiated at time of writing (mid-January).
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ERCARS AUSCAM | Issue 46
And thanks to this situation, any such set-up was only likely to happen in the second half of the year. One other hurdle was that the streaming and second-screen content already available is handled by Telstra, not Global, so changes to the logistics would have to be worked out. Technically, options for transmission include sending it via regular phone lines, co-hosting the equipment on-site, or Global providing the equipment to allow off-site handling.
Given any IPTV broadcast has to cope with 500,000plus people viewing it at a time, though, equipment for which Global “just does not have on-site” right now, Segar says it’s likely that if IPTV does happen, control will be handed to either the V8 Supercars office or their own in Sydney or Melbourne. If second-screen broadcasting does go ahead, Segar said the system could allow viewers to choose which camera they view from, akin to Sky Sports’ F1 broadcasts. For those with fast internet, this could a huge boon, considering such options are generally the reserve of pay-TV.
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Asked about the other technological elephant in the room, 4K, Segar says this will actually be quite simple, at least from a data throughput and storage standpoint, thanks to newer and better codecs. “History shows that for every major jump in television technology, be that black and white to colour or colour to 16:9 HD, there’s been a clever way of trying to squeeze the same amount of information into the same bandwidth. And if you look at HD today, most HD might be four-times the resolution of SD at two-times the bandwidth. But the truth is there are new, efficient codecs out there; Sony’s XD Cam 50 system being one of them. As a result, SD is 50Mbps and now, good quality HD is also 50Mbps.” And this will only continue into the 4K era, he said, with codecs like DNX HD 120 and HVC. Speaking of the Avid standard, while it is still double the storage of HD, Segar said “it looks absolutely fantastic”. “In five years’, six years’ time, you’ll be able to squeeze 4K into HD bandwidth. That’s just the natural evolution of codecs”.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Shooting 3D with the the Sony XDCAM As I mentioned some time ago, I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a Sony PMW-TD300 XDCAM that has a bit of a party trick in that it shoots in 2D or 3D. Now this is not a camera where you get the 3D effect after the fact with a pair of those blue/red glasses; not on your nelly! This is a fair dinkum $30,000 + pro camera with all the bells and whistles. The major difference between it and other Sony XDCams is of course the 3D ability.
But there is a lot more to it than that I can assure you. I was lucky enough to do a one day workshop with the lead of the 2nd 3D unit of Avatar around 18 months ago (courtesy of Panasonic it must be said) and gained a glimmering of the mathematics behind it all. I’ll try and translate the guts of that first.
This is achieved via a special twin lens feeding dual 1/2-inch type Exmor Full-HD 3CMOS sensors and writing to a pair of sXs Express cards. HD-SI out, HDMI and Genlock are all built in as would be expected. Now it is fair to say I have never really fired a camcorder of this ability in anger before, generally only doing the Auscam ‘First Looks’ pieces and letting my peers in the form of Messrs Longden, Turner and Smith get to play with the big boys toys as they use them continuously in their day-to-day comings and goings. But I wanted to do this review specifically as it related to 3D to show how an almost novice in the genre could if he or she wished, delve into this technology.
Convergence Point The key to 3D is what is known as the convergence point. When you look at an object your left and right eyes see an object from a slightly different angle – each eye in effect sends to the brain a slightly different image. The difference between these image the pointy heads call ‘parallax’. The brain composes these pictures together, and this is why and how we gain an awareness of depth and stereoscopic effect.
Although I haven’t as yet had the chance to view The Hobbit in 3D, watching the 2D version (and having Avatar in 3D) gave me enough information as to how the sets have been subtly changed or modified to take advantage of 3D if viewed that way and give the viewer that “immersive” experience (to use a hackneyed phrase).
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This is the same technique that shooting in 3D explores by using the twin lens system, each representing a human eye so to speak. And this is where the convergence point comes in; the point where the axis of the left and right lens meets. At this point, the difference or parallax between the two lenses is zero. In a 3D movie viewing this is actually the exact point at which the screen is located. Subjects before the convergent point appear to pop-out from the screen, and objects behind the convergent point are increasingly in the distance.
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So, it is essential the convergent point is set correctly when shooting. If the parallax is too large, then the left and right images cannot be processed by the brain correctly and the image will look unnatural. Viewers can even get eye fatigue and become nauseous in extreme cases.
AUSCAM | Issue 46
And here is where the mathematics comes in for those that like that sort of thing. The parallax angle (Ɵ) is obtained by subtracting the angle (α) or (β) between the right/left lenses at the subject position from the angle (ϒ) between the left/ right lensesat the convergence point where the optical axes of the left/right intersect. The parallax angle is negative for subjects that appear to pop out of the screen and positive for subjects that appear to recede into the distance. The parallax angle for comfortable 3D imagery is less than ± 1° (The above two paragraphs are direct quotations from the PMW-TD300 manual). Bewdy, so in the field everyone will need a slide rule, a bloke in a white coat with a pocket computer and knowledge of algebra and physics!? Thankfully no.
Setting the Convergent Point The PMW-TD300 has the facility to set the convergent point between 1.2m to ∞ (infinity). When the subject is in focus you can automatically set this convergent point to the subject distance or to a fixed percentage from -20 + 20% either side (in front or beyond) using the auto convergence button. Later, with the convergence dial, you can fine tune the convergent point distance.
3D Shooting Guide Functions To paraphrase the Sony manual again, the amount of To aid in all of this the PMW-TD300 offers a bundle of parallax on the screen should not exceed the space assistance on screen so you can get this stuff right with minimal fuss and knowledge of higher mathbetween the eyes. Since the space between the ematics eg you can display the subject distance eyes is an individual trait, a rule of thumb is to keep the amount of parallax to less than 5cm. If the screen range in the viewfinder (or on an external monitor) When the parallax is too large because the subis small (<195 cm) maintain a parallax on the screen ject is too close or too far away a coloured outline that cannot exceed 5cm. If the screen is larger the appears around the subject. (Red when too close amount of parallax becomes larger (exceeding the and blue when too far). This will warn you to reset 5cm), so it is very important to consider screen size. the convergence point. Likewise, if the subject is closer than the convergence point and cutoff by the left or right edges of the screen, a black triangle appears. A grid is also available to check the left/right parallax.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Shooting 3D with the the Sony XDCAM Practice, practice, practice. And then experiment some more. Of course, at the end of the day, like anything else, to get fully used and conversant with the technology, lots of practice is needed. From my experiences (which are ongoing), I recommend using a tripod (you need a decent one such as a Miller as the PMW-TD300 needs an optional tripod mount for a proper pro tripod) and experiment with a series of objects over varying distances – preferably with some movement to them. I used a flowerbed of Agapanthas blowing in the breeze and moved the tripod forward and away to get different settings. My next challenge is to master a Parrot Drone 2.0, have the camera locked off and get some 3D flyby shots which when I have claimed success I’ll place on Vimeo and YouTube’s 3D channels.
Conclusion Just as I’ll probably never get to race a Ferrari at Nurburgring so I doubt I’ll ever have the option to own one of these fantastic cameras – and I am guessing this would apply to 95% of the video shooting population more’s the pity. But if you want to pursue this avenue, and I strongly suggest you do, then you also do not need to spend a deposit on a small house to get there either. As well as the $30K odd PMW-TD300, Sony has the much less costly $2100 TD-20VD and Panasonic the HC-X900 for $1799 that has an optional 3D lens attachment for a further $399. Just as in standard video or photography, with 3D, the principles don’t change between a top shelf camera and the more – ah – conservatively priced ones, just that you also need a 3D TV and the glasses.
Auscam Online Don’t forget to keep up to date with all the latest developments in the world of filmaking. Visit : www.auscamonline.com Auscam online has all the latest news plus feature articles, camera tests and videos.
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Meet your new Best Mate: With 1/2" sensors, 50mbs & 4:2:2 – it’s got it all!
The start of a new Bromance. The PMW-200 has been designed to be your perfect camera for fast and efficient broadcast quality production. Three ½” sensors together with 4:2:2 50Mbps recording deliver the low light performance, image quality and flexibility in post that you have been wishing for. Compatible with all major editing systems, the PMW-200 fits straight into the well-established XDCAM ecosystem. Make the PMW-200 your new work partner for your next documentary, corporate spot or TV production. Call your Sony dealer or visit our website to find out more. The new PMW-200 XDCAM. SO12701/C&T
pro.sony.com.au
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“SONY” and “make.believe” are trademarks of Sony Corporation. “XDCAM” and are trademarks of Sony Corporation.
AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review : Sony 3D XDCAM
How easy is the Sony 3D XDCAM camera to use? We gave one to Ben Longden to try out. Oh, and we hid the instruction book.. I got a call from David to pop into Chez Auscam, and check out the new offering from Sony – their new 3D camera. It is exactly what it looks like, a 3D camera squeezed into the current XDCAM body, but with a massive 3D optic welded on the front. Having used Uncle Sony’s pro gear for the last decade in ENG work I picked up the camera and wondered how easy this would be to use – without first undergoing a degree in the new tech. Well, the new camera is surprisingly easy to use and operate for those familiar with any of Sony’s professional shoulder mount cameras. I still use the Digital Betacam system, regarded as the Gold Standard for television work, especially as I use it to shoot news as well as the odd TVC, doco and corporate work. To their credit, the engineers at Sony have decided NOT to reinvent the wheel, but use an existing and proven design with switch and controls laid out in much the same place on the old models. For starters, the power switch is in the same spot. The record button is in the same spot… and so are the colour balance, ND filter wheels, white balance and the like. You do not have to go hunting for the basic controls. Even on the other side of the camera body, the four SXS card slots are just where the tape/Disc would have been. And also, thankfully they have decided to retain the same tripod mount plate – the venerable VCT 14 - which meant it was a cinch to attach it to the Miller sticks. Just this alone is worth a truck load of valium, because it guarantees a universal fit for those with a Sony system.
as this camera also offers auto focus, with a manual option. Looking through the viewfinder is a bit daunting at first. My DigiBeta has the good old black and white screen (so super critical focus can be set) but this one has colour, which is a boon as white balance issues can be noticed pronto, but it also features vision from each of the optics. So you see a double outline of whatever is being framed. This certainly helps with the convergence issue, to make the 3D look natural.In terms of sheer usability and intuitive capability for those familiar with any of Sony’s pro series cameras since Betacam was introduced here in 1982, this camera is a standout. Spec wise, this camera uses two half inch EXMOR HD CMOS chips, which are far better than the early generation CMOS ones, recording in MPG2 at 35Mbs with a colour space of 4:2:0. Besides being a specialist 3D camera, this one can also record 2D. The recording medium is the (old but new) SXS card, with four slots offered. It also has four audio inputs on the rear (XLR) at a native 16 bit, 48Khz and a slot for Sony’s wireless radio receiver which makes it a truly versatile camera. Ingesting is a cinch, provided you have the SXS reader. Sony Vegas is perhaps the best software to use for this camera, as it natively supports 3D AND this camera. Ingesting is as easy as taking vision off any other data card. For sheer usability and familiarity I just have to say this camera scores the full 10 out of 10.
My first thought when playing with this camera was how to ensure a 3D watchable image? Because I shoot in 2D, and still think 3D is ‘white man smoke trick’ mainly because I can’t figure out the complexities of the 3D vision yet, but I’m sure Auscam will have that sorted soon thanks to David Hague, who has taken to 3D like a duck to water. The convergence issue can either be set manually, or by using some of the pretty amazing software built in to the camera. Just where the focus puller is on my DigiBeta, Sony has a convergence wheel, with an ‘auto’ button in the middle. So, all I had to do was compose the shot, do the white balance, and away we go. I only had to forget racking focus,
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3D Editing
AUSCAM | Issue 46
I’ve been playing with 3D editing for over a week or so now, from footage shot on both the $30,000 + Sony XDCAM PMW-TD300 and the $2K Panasonic HCX900. The differing ways that cameras actually shoot 3D can be confusing for the newbie to the genre. The Sony for example, uses SxS cards and has four slots to accommodate them. Why four? Let’s say you fill two slots each with a 32GB card as I did; the left hand lens will shoot to the number 1 slot, and the right hand lens to the number 2. If you have all slots filled, then when 1 and 2 are filled, recording automatically carries on into slots 3 and 4. So when ingesting (capturing) the footage to your editing package (I am using Sony Vegas Pro 12) you import the left stream into track one and the right stream into track two. The Panny on the other hand, records to SD cards and has both streams (one each from the left and right lens) embedded into a single file. And this can make things a little more confusing. But NOT for the reasons you may think! When editing for 3D, it is obviously useful to see what your final output will look like. And this depends on the type of monitor you have. If you have a 3D video card, or can set an external preview monitor via HDMI that supports 3D (I have a Sony Bravia 40” that does), then this is a factor in how you set up the project for editing. The actual EDITING of the project, is no different from any other job; you can add cuts, dissolves,
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effects, do slip and slide edits and so on exactly as you would any other standard 2D project, but to SEE what it will look like in 3D relies on seeing the two separate video streams using the appropriate glasses (at this stage of the technology anyway). For ease and simplicity, and as any monitor will play such a thing, the best way is to setup up for anaglyph when starting out. This will overlay the two video streams using the cyan/red system clearly visible, and when you view the preview video with the glasses, you can make sure the convergent point is correct (any video editing software that supports 3D will enable you set the convergent point correctly and override the camera. Having said that, setting the camera correctly before shooting cannot be beat!) Once you have more experience, and want to output the preview to a genuine 3D monitor, you can then start playing around with other options of adding video to the timeline using methods such as full (side by side), half (side by side) and so on. You then need to “pair” the two tracks (and the left hand lens must ALWAYS be on the top track) into a stereoscopic configuration. Once this is done, you can edit as per normal and preview with active shutter glasses. Except for one thing.
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3D Editing You must remember that you are editing 3D; this means that adding titles and so on need to be adjusted in 3D space otherwise they may look a little dodgy. Don’t panic, this is not that hard assuming you use an editing package that is 3D aware! Conclusion If you ask around, many will tell you that 3D is / was a passing fad spurred by the movie Avatar. I disagree as do the folk-that-know at Sony and Panasonic (Neither Canon or JVC make a 3D camcorder at this point). Yes, little (if any) is being played on TV - although I personally await with bated breath the 3D Dr Who that is coming in May I believe! But they tell me a shipload is being SHOT in 3D, and these are the guys selling the cameras that do the job! In a sense, shooting in 3D now, is akin to shooting in HD was a few years back. The footage is future proofed, and will not have to be rehashed to make it pseudo 3D as I understand say, Alice in Wonderland was. When it becomes mainstream, and trust me, it will, your footage will be ready and willing to go, off the shelf. There are ways to sort of “turn” 2D into 3D – Vegas itself, even the more basic – but very, very able - Vegas Movie Studio can fudge this by duplicating a 2D track and offsetting the second to mimic a left and right lens.And Arcsoft has a tool to do a conversion (we are currently playing with this too and will have a separate review of that as soon as we get some info back from Arcsoft) – but there is no substitute for shooting in 3D to start with.
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And once you have the basics of the ingest, project type, preview options and then finally the render options to the final distribution media sorted (which of course need to be Blu-ray or hard disk), then you too can amaze your friends and family – as they say. And the process is very creative, cutting edge and a lot of fun! I would HIGHLY recommend if you are a video enthusiast looking at a new camcorder, to consider the Sony and Panasonic offerings (and they will of course shoot 2D as well) But a final word of warning. Choose your subject matter carefully. Shooting a wedding ceremony from 10 metres away in 3D is going to be a waste of time for example. Ditto any sports unless you are REALLY close to the action. A 3D cam mounted on a car using a Hague mount (no relation by way of disclosure) can be brilliant! My tip, and what I did, was to rent a whole bunch of 3D movies (Avatar is a top start) and see how the experts do it, and see what scenes are in 3D and those that are not. I can’t wait to get my hands on The Hobbit 3D as I missed it at the theatres and dissect that too. Ditto for Life of Pi. You’ll be surprised at how little of the actual final footage IS 3D! If you have any 3D questions, and I stress I am still learning myself but happy to pass on what I know so far, feel free to email me via david@ausccamonline. com, call on 0499 089034 or SKYPE to vbthedog.
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Review : Boris Red
Over the last few days in the lull that is “PD” (pre-deadline), I have decided to revisit an old friend, one that I have not had occasion to use beyond the basics for quite some period. Not that I don’t want to, but simply have not had the time to do the types of projects that demands this amount of grunt. It is Boris RED, possibly the most underused and over looked program out there. At least in Australia. Indeed Boris products in general don’t seem to get the credit they deserve. What is RED? Well it has nothing directly to do with RED cameras, but is instead is one of the applications classified under the moniker of “Motion Graphics”. The most well-known of these is probably Adobe’s After Effects, but at the moment I cannot use that for a simple reason. As of the CS5 version, it only supports Windows 64 bit (as does Sony Vegas 12) and so only still running 32 bit, it is off my Start Menu. Sure I could upgrade to 64 bit, but frankly, that is a right royal pain in the big toe when you have as much stuff installed as I do and work literally on a day-to-day deadline. To refit (so to speak) a full computer is at least a full day’s work. I know I’ll have to do it one day, but until it is an absolute necessary, or I get a new computer, I’ll hold off as long as I can.
Many tend to think of “sci-fi” types of effects when they think RED of AE, such as spaceships blowing up, death rays zapping across space and so on, but in reality these apps can do far, far more than those! Just a look at the Filters screen shot will give you an idea of the depth of possibilities, from 3D titling to colour correction, creating smoke, snow or anything else that uses particles, animations and more.
But I digress, back to Boris RED. If you are not familiar with motion graphics, let me explain. Programs such as RED and AE are designed Some of these functions more advanced NLEs can mimic, but to a much lesser degree than RED’s. This is because RED has far more preto do very precise graphics over cision to it than a standard NLE. Take entering a text title. To an NLE, a short periods of time. letter is a letter, but to RED, it has a position in time AND space, is built Certainly, if you were brave, and from “faces” that can contain objects such as textures, still images or frankly pretty thick, you could edit even moving clips. a whole project in either of them, but it would be a painful process. Instead, you would switch to RED if say you needed to apply an effect to a clip of which there are multitudes, or build an entire sequence to apply a project.
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Every possible parameter of an object can be key-framed over time; a simple letter P could morph from lower case to upper, change position either smoothly or erratically or even change to another letter or become a word, switch from 2D to 3D, spin, change from a chrome reflective surface to shatter into a million pieces and fall like rain. The base track the clip goes on (as it would in an NLE), has a myriad of subtracks containing all these parameters that can be applied.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review : Boris Red
Motion graphics applications also rely very heavily on a functionality known as alpha channels. A lot of folk, me included in my early days of using RED and AE, used to mix up alpha channels with transparent GIF images. A transparent GIF works by telling it that certain colours in the palette making up the image – usually only 256 – are well, transparent. An alpha channel on the other hand has to work with a full palette of colour the NLE uses so trying to pick one or two or even a hundred would be painful. Instead, it designates via an alpha ‘channel’ which areas are transparent and which are not. It does this using a system that says if something is black, it is opaque and if it is white it is transparent. Imagine a stencil over the top of an object. Where the cutouts are (white), you can see through the stencil. Everywhere else (black) you cannot. To add to the flexibility, in between colours (from black to white) have more and more transparency. The colour black is designated a number of ‘0’ and white is ‘255’ ergo, something that is “colour” ‘128’ (grey) has 50% transparency. Masks take advantage of transparency, letting the person building the scene (the compositor) make sections invisible to overlay other clips onto. This is precisely how all those space battle shots are made, or you see the corner of a house explode for example.
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Of course they don’t really, just that the areas that the compositor are masked off and other scenes built using 3D programs meshed in via these masks. Sometimes if you look very carefully in programs such as Spooks, Strikeback, Torchwood and their ilk, you can just detect something showing the masking. But these guys are very good at what they do – New Zealand has built an industry around it via WETA Studios who do Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit among others, and in the UK there is The Mill (Dr Who, Walking With Dinosaurs). Sydney also has its own specialist in the form of Animal Logic. Working with RED does need a bit of a mind switch as to how things work, and the precision built in, but when you grasp it, it can be very satisfying letting you add elements to your videos that others cannot and make them stand out. Luckily, you can download a trial version of RED and run through the tutorials to give you a grasp of the concept (all the other Boris programs can similarly be trialled) for both Mac and PC and I heartily suggest you give it a whirl. If nothing else it will add to your knowledge of video making and it IS a lot of fun too!
See : www.borisfx.com
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Review : Premiere Elements
Adobe’s Premiere Elements is now in its 11th version. It is a far cry from what it was even a few years ago, and in the same way that its big brother, Adobe Premiere Pro, has grown in sophistication, so has Elements. What might have been called an ‘entry level’ editing program some years ago is now much closer to a fully-fledged serious editing tool. Usually packaged with Adobe’s Photoshop Elements, this is a most attractive bundle for amateur and hobbyist videographers and editors. However, for reasons known only to the pundits at Adobe, the interface presented to the user in V11 is a lot different to earlier versions – and ‘different’ doesn’t always mean ‘better’. On running Elements, you are presented with a choice of two separate but inter-related programs – the Organizer, and the Video Editor, which really is Premiere Elements itself. The Organizer is in reality a cut down version of Adobe Bridge which works in association with Premiere Pro. This subsidiary program makes is a lot easier to classify, rate (‘tag’) and generally manipulate whatever assets you wish to have included in your production. This can make organising the multiple clips, still photos, music and other sound files a lot easier and more efficient. However, let’s restrict this review to Elements itself.
‘Quick’ versus ‘Expert’ Interface
AUSCAM | Issue 46
tion of entering either the Quick or Expert interface and then adding media. This is where Organizer, especially on a two monitor system is very helpful. By having it open on one monitor, it is a piece of cake to simply drag whatever clips you desire onto the timeline. Alternatively, by selecting the Add Media you can then sort through the various sources for your clips. Options offered are the Organizer itself, then AVCHD, HDV & SD cameras, DVD and webcam devices, photos from memory cards or cameras and finally files already on the computer. Inboth Quick and Expert versions, the program will adjust the project settings to the standard for the video you import and will adapt itself if you mix video types, e.g. AVCHD and HDV. In the Quick mode, the timeline is very basic and does not display the audio separate to the video track – note track, singular. Rather, the option is there is drag in additional audio to the specified narration and other audio tracks. Once the clips are selected and ordered, a very intuitive Action Bar at the base of the screen allows access to all the necessary tools, effects, titles, etc. that could be needed. At the right hand margin of the screen are two additional tabs, the Adjustments tab which accesses light and colour correction controls and the Applied Effects tab which opens up the controls for any applied effects, including Motion and Opacity.
When you open the Video Editor,you have the op-
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
I have no doubt that this ‘Quick’ interface will be a boon to the novice editor, making entry level editing quick (pun intended) and painless. But for those who want a bit more control and flexibility, it will be the Expert interface that they will use. ‘Expert’ Interface The first thing to be noticed on opening the Expert interface is the appearance of 3 pairs of video and audio tracks. Additional tracks can be added by right clicking on the track header and inserting the desired number of either paired video and audio or single unpaired tracks. You will NEVER run out of additional tracks in Premiere Elements 11! (Note that if yu swap from Expert to the Quick view, only the clips in Track 1 will be visible.) Other than that, the only immediate difference that I could see was the addition of a Project Assets tab up the top let hand of the screen next to the Add Media tab. All the tools down the bottom of the screen on the Action Bar as well as the menu bar headings up the top stay the same although there are a whole lot more Effects available in Expert view. The Applied Effects tab at the side is unchanged but the Adjustments tab offers a couple of more options under Expert view giving more complete colour and lighting control. While the various windows can be resized to an extent, V11 has the option for dual monitor display. When selected under the Window menu, the project monitor view is maximised on the primary computer display and the timeline moved to the secondary screen. The Action Bar and Adjust & Applied Effects controls remain in place. It is really easy to access pretty much everything with one exception. I didn’t like thenewly introduced method of splitting a clip. The Scissors icon is now attached to the Current Time Indicator (or Playhead). With the Timeline as the focus, when the CTI is over a clip, a faint (VERY faint) ghost-like Scissor icon appears almost obscured in the title text of the clip. This icon brightens up when you cursor over it, and does the deed when you click it, but for me, in V11 I would prefer to use the keyboard control of CTRL-K to split a clip. Like a lot of Adobe software, the twirl-down arrows continue to be too small and fiddly but like menus everywhere, it is advisable to click them to find out what they hide. Also remember that the right mouse key is your friend. There are lots of valuable tools living there and to not fully explore the treasures hidden under the right mouse key is a miss a whole lot of goodies, the loss of which will seriously handicap your use of Premiere Elements.
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Review : Premiere Elements
AUSCAM | Issue 46
Effects & Filters
Mostly, the timeline view is pretty easy to follow and intuitive. However, - and I admit that I haven’t had a detailed look at Premiere Elements for some time - some of the effects have taken a serious jump in sophistication. Take the following as a prime example. The green screen effect is terrific. It is simple, immediate and capable of fine adjustments. It isn’t as good as the Keylight plugin in After Effects, but it is excellent in a program at this price point. In addition, you can easily apply and animate a garbage matte to mask out those areas outside of the green screen that is unwanted and the resulting matte (or mask if you wish) will follow the action. You have to admit – this is pretty swish for an ‘entry level’ video editing program. Apart from Effects, the other functions available through the Action Bar are pretty extensive. Some ofits actions will take you online, so, as is becoming the norm, there are marked advantages to being online when you make some choices. Using Instant Movie, as an example, once you chose a movie theme, the program immediately begins to download the full asset collection for that theme. Itis pretty extensive so it is better if you have a good speed connection to the internet. Whether or not you choose to use this is moot, but it could be a boon for the beginner.
Publish & Share
Some of the Publish & Share options are buried a bit deep and – I know I repeat myself - it really is worth the time scrolling through all the menus and submenus to check out what’s there. You can export in most formats, but they might be hiding behind a generic option such as web DVD, Disc, Online, Computer or Mobile Phones and Players.
Conclusion
Overall, I think Adobe Premiere Elements 11 is a terrific program. For the vast majority of amateurs, especially if working solo outside a club, I can’t see why they would ever need to go beyond this program at this time. Unless there is a need to do multicamera editing (and there is a workaround for that if you’re keen) I can’t see why you would spend the additional dollars.
AusCam Ratings Performance: Documentation: Features: Installation: Value: Help:
9 7 9 10 10 9
We liked : Everything except... We didn’t like: The placement, visibility and usage of the Scissors icon Vendor: Adobe Australia http://www.adobe.com/au/ Ph 02 9778 4100 Price: Under $150 commonly - bundled with Adobe Photoshop Elements
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Ironman and Ironwoman
It takes a particular type of individual to take part in an ironman or ironwoman race and the same can be said for the production company and OB providers responsible for broadcasting the intensely competitive events. Recently Videocraft provided a full production setup for Castle Media, the event specialists responsible for broadcasting the Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Surf Ironman and Ironwoman Series. Palmer felt that the Ironman series was better suited to Videocraft’s unique FlyPack mobile production solution than a traditional OB truck set up. The system chosen for the series was Videocraft’s midrange FlyPack that included six Sony HDC1500 cameras, a Sony MVS6000 switcher, two EVS servers, two CCU positions, a Yamaha M7 console providing full audio facilities and all outboard equipment, radio mics and links. The Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Surf Ironman Series features the country’s elite athletes competing in the most gruelling ocean-based competition on the planet. The 2012/13 series was fought out over six rounds at iconic Australian beaches including Perth, Newcastle, Portsea, Surfers Paradise, Coolum and Noosa Heads with all six races broadcast nationally on Network Ten. Palmer continued, “There was no room for error as getting spare equipment in Perth wasn’t an option. The Videocraft team really went the extra mile and all the kit turned up for the first race working perfectly. Each race broadcast also had the added chal-
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lenge of keeping all the sand and salt water at bay so the logistics were quite tricky too.” The Ironman series ran from December 2012 to February 2013, a very busy period for Videocraft as Liell explained, “In addition to Ironman we were also working on the Australian Tennis Open and The Tour Down Under at the same time. The only way to manage three huge events like these simultaneously is to have an experienced team, proven systems and good, reliable equipment.” Videocraft’s additional challenges for the Ironman series included ensuring all of the equipment worked to its maximum capacity with significant redundancy as each race was shot as a live event, irrespective of any delayed broadcast times. Slow motion capture also proved a potential sticking point. John Palmer concluded, “We asked Videocraft for a more cost effective slow-mo solution, something that would be a good alternative to using traditional super slow-mo cameras. In typical Videocraft fashion they came up with a new Sony NEXFS700 camera using a Canon 30-300mm cine lens. This enabled our camera operators to capture slow-mo action content for play on/off packages at more than 200 frames per second. Very clever, very cost effective. All in all it was a great series and all credit to Andy Liell and the entire Videocraft team including Rentals Manager Nick Gleeson and Systems Technician Glen Beaumont without who we simply wouldn’t have achieved such an excellent result.”
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EDIUS features the revolutionary HQX codec for 10-bit video support. The Ninjatechnology, by-passes in-camera compression recordthe your prisDesigned with scalable this innovative codectooffers highest tine, straight from HDMIplatform with image quality anduncompressed performanceimages available in any HDthe editing connector yourHQX DSLRcodec or camcorder directly to Apple ProRes support for alpha channel.ofThe not only provides superior luma while you’re recording! and chroma sampling of HD video, but features an adjustable bit rate for increased video quality when capturing and encoding on high-performance Now there’s no need for capture cardsvideo of I/O from boxesother systems. By using HQX, you can also export graphic Final Cut Pro users can just go straight lens to software withfrom alpha channel in 10-bit. timeline! New Features in EDIUS 6 EDIUS 6 offers more than 100 new features, such as 4K, 2K, and free size project support, advanced timeline workflow improvements, 16 ISO multicam support, new source browser, free shape mask filter, track matte keyer, and AVCHD exporter to name just a few. inc GST The editing engine has been tuned for better real-time performance,
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review : HP Envy Touchsmart
People are funny things. When the PC as we know it first came into being, it was generally made up of a screen, keyboard and some sort of expansion unit that while initially only contained a cassette tape interface, later grew to hold disk drives and hard disks. Demand told manufacturers they preferred an all in one unit and so PCs such as the Tandy Model II, Compucolor and others were born. Then IBM buggered everything up with the PC and AT and pretty much up until now, with desktops, PCs have gone back to modular units.
There is advantage in that; you can change just the monitor as technology improves, or buy a new tower with better capability or functionality for example. But of late, some manufacturers have decided that we should like all-in-one’s again and both Dell and HP have released models on to the market. (Not withstanding Apple has had them for a while). Indicative of the style is the HP HP Envy Touchsmart All in One 23 D005. As the name suggests, this is a 23” touch screen unit loaded with the gesture based Windows 8 64bit, and I have to say, after using a touch based PC, the whole experience of computing changes dramatically – and I like it. Specifications The HP Envy Touchsmart 23 is driven by an Intel Core i5 processor and comes standard with 8GB RAM. Graphics are from an AMD Radeon 7450 with 1GB on board. Packed into the 5cm think main body is a DVD Writer, TV tuner, 1TB hard disk and all the gubbins for a web camera, USB ports (7) wireless, LAN port, 6 in 1 card reader and remote control reader. Pretty much everything really. The keyboard and mouse are both wireless. The keyboard is full size, but the amount of tilt possible is quite minimal.
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The keys are also a little ‘soft’ for my preference; I like a bit of travel and lament the passing old mechanical switches. All up, at 16.5Kg it’s a solid beastie, but the plus side of that is a high stability factor. No-one is going to do a snatch and run with it either! Windows 8 In operation, its fast, and I had no hangs or dramas with Windows 8. Admittedly I didn’t load the HP with all of my daily software which is an extensive range of editing, graphics and writing packages plus Office and utilities including Evernote etc. I did load it with Sony Vegas for video capture, editing and compositing, and burnt a DVD and there was no drama there. To be fair though, if anything did go wrong, that would have been more likely an incompatibility with the app and Windows 8 rather than a fault of the hardware. Truly we cannot evaluate such situations until our daily software is certified A-OK with Win 8. At $1699, it is $100 cheaper than the recently reviewed Dell XPS All in One 27 with similar specs and styling although that model Dell has no touch screen capability. The direct comparison Dell unit will be reviewed later in the week. From a video editing point of view, there is no advantage at this time in a touch screen so the extra screen real estate on the Dell (27”) is worth the extra $100, but I for one cannot wait for software to be fully touch compliant and then the HP will be a contender for my dollar no question.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Review: Datacolor Spyder 4 Elite Datacolor’s Spyder4 Elite is its flagship colorimeter. Claiming to be 26 per cent more accurate and 19 per cent more precise than the Spyder3, as well as being more longevous, it seems a worthy tool for colourists or independent filmmakers.
The Spyder4 Elite also seems better value than its main rival – the X-Rite Colormunki i1Display Pro. You get a seven colour sensor as opposed to RGB, can calibrate all display types, not just computer screens and projectors, and importantly, you get video presets like PAL SECAM, NTSC, Cineon and ITU-R Rec. BT.709. Plus, you get an iOS app that can supposedly display your stills in calibrated manner. So what’s the catch? Initially, there wasn’t one. Set-up was easy and the software intuitive. However, problems occurred as soon as we ran the basic step-by-step wizard. Everything was fine until we measured brightness, whereupon readings taken to confirm how close we were to the recommended temperature varied wildly for no apparent reason. Of course, it turned out we forgot to turn off our fluorescent lights while calibrating – their imperceptible flickering distorting the readings. Now, pros know this, but newbies don’may not, and the fact such advice is not mentioned in either the instructions or software is unforgivable. Indeed, beginners can only discover the info on the Datacolor website Q&As. Note that even if you calibrate in pitch darkness, monitor flickering will lead to inconsistent readings, but not significantly so. Leaving the lights off, colour range on our test Dell U2410 went from 96 per cent of sRGB to 98. NTSC went from 92 per cent to 96 per cent. The typically oversaturated colours of a factory-fresh wide-gamut monitor lessened and everything looked peachy. So next up, we tried the Expert Console. This is the only way of getting infinite white point and gamma choices and accessing the various video-related presets.
than the photo-oriented base, while PAL SECAM and Cineon were broadly similar, being warmer and displaying less contrast. NTSC was almost the same as our base, with neutral colour balance and better contrast than the others. Finally, L-Star 6500 was slightly warmer than base with vastly less contrast and muted colours. We also tested the Spyder4 on a cheap, three-yearold Samsung 15-inch laptop to see what it could do with a poor screen. Surprisingly it did improve, with warmer, richer and more realistic tones for images. However, all non-image-related colours warmed up to unrealistic levels, too. Given the monitor’s sub-par quality, (even post-calibration it only managed 80 per cent of sRGB and 59 per cent of Adobe RGB), any more than this may be an impossible expectation, though. As for the SpyderGallery iOS app? Useless. It only calibrates within the app itself, not the whole device, which would be fine were SpyderGallery a decent portfolio app. It’s not. It’s ugly and only allows swipe-to-scroll if you turn on location tracking. Creepy. Otherwise it’s ‘press arrows to scroll’ time. And that’s if the calibration works at all. We could only get it to work on our test iPad 3, not our iPhone 4, and that was only after we plugged the calibrator into our laptop, as it refused to work from our desktop. So, given all these flaws, is the Sypder4 Elite still worth it? Surprisingly, yes. If you know what to do when calibrating, and don’t mind the creepy and useless iOS app, it’s still a great colorimeter. And the video-specific presets are almost worth it in themselves. However, unless they’ve read this review, we can’t recommend it for beginners.
To set a base, we used the recommended settings (6500K brightness and 2.2 Gamma), but given they were the same as step-by-step, obviously nothing much changed. Choosing iterative grey balance saw a marked improvement, though. sRGB gamut rose to 100 per cent, while NTSC rose to 97. Contrast improved and colours finally looked truly natural. If only we didn’t have to consult the distributor to find out this was the way to go. Another black mark. Finally, we tried the video-related presets. ITU-R Rec. BT.709 definitely showed its much cooler white point
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Auscam Subscriptions
Auscam is the only magazine on the market that caters for the video enthusiast, whether you be a raw beginner or experienced broadcast professional. We review camcorders and dSLR cameras, accessories, editing and special effects software, computer hardware, have interviews with industry luminaries, feature stories on interesting projects, case studies and much, much more In the last 12 months we have reviewed dozens of consumer, prosumer and professional cameras and software packages, countless accessories such as microphones, tripods, camera bags, lenses, filters and more and given lots of tips, hints and tricks on helping make your videos and projects better. And interviews have ranged from Paul Worsteling at iFishTV (Channel 10/One) to Anita Jacoby who was Andrew Denton’s partner at the time responsible for Randling, Gruen Transfer and other famous shows. Writers at Auscam are all professionals in the field of video. They either are of have worked for most of the major broadcast companies in Australia including the TV stations and are experts as well as top writers. Auscam is available for AUD$79.90 for 12 editions posted to you (Australia) or AUD$99.95 for 12 editions (overseas). We accept Mastercard or Visa, PayPal, or send a cheque or money order by post. Use the coupon below or go to www.auscamonline.com and click on “Store” in the menu bar.
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
Training Materials Making Money Making Video
Making Money Making Video is the first-ever DVD that outlines how to be successful in the Video Production Industry. Kevin Hicks and Brian Balog guide you through the entire process of Making Money Making Video. Over an hour in length, this DVD covers every step of the process including: Getting Established, Negotiating, Saving Money in Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production, and lots of Expert Tips. Watch Making Money Making Video and Increase Your Profits in all stages of your video production business.
RRP $69.00
Light ‘Em Up
Light is the most important part of visual communication. Without it there can be no picture and all that you capture when you film an image is the light reflecting off of the objects in your scene. So Make sure you are doing it right with the Light ‘Em Up DVD. With over an hour of instruction, this contemporary guide to video lighting is an absolute must have for anyone who wants to take their productions to the next level visually
RRP $69.00
Camera Confidence
Get the inside look with Douglas Spotted Eagle and Kevin Hicks as they guide you through every angle of camcorder use, regardless of the camera you own or your level of experience. All basic camera features and functions are discussed and explained in this DVD. Learn how to control light through shutter speed or aperture, and see the difference. Go indepth on topics such as codecs and file-based workflows. Watch practical demonstrations of the 180, camera movement, frame rate and coverage. Get advanced info on 35MM adapters and tips on achieving the elusive “film look” in your video projects. From beginners to seasoned pros, there’s something for everyone to improve their camera knowledge and operation.
RRP $69.00
Inside HDSLR Filmmaking
HDSLR Film and video production is immensely popular, for good reason! Stunning imagery and unlimited possibilities are at your fingertips with a DSLR camcorder. Raymond Schlogel and Douglas Spotted Eagle expose all aspects of HDSLR film and video on this two and one half hour training DVD. From lenses to metering, to preparation and peripherals, Douglas and Ray show you how to get the most out of DSLR film and video production.
RRP $89.00
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AUSCAM | Issue 46
It’s a wrap! : Ten Years After It’s ten years to the month that I started to scribble about cameras and all the associated activities. I was at the 2003 Avalon Airshow and was watching the huge crowd do a really bad job of filming the flying machines. There was much single handed waving of cameras with the LCD doors open and I can only imagine how crap those videos were to watch. So I wrote two articles on how to shoot aircraft at an Airshow like Avalon. Ten years have flown by and I went back to Avalon this year. So what’s changed? Well not much actually. Another huge crowd gamely waving their cameras overhead in the vain hope of getting something watchable. It so wasn’t going to work. A couple of things have changed. It’s all HD now so you can bask in the glory of rubbish filming on a huge screen. Next is the mobile phone. OMG! Why would you? Seriously, enjoy the show and buy the DVD. Phones are very wide angle with no zoom and are quite good for landscapes. Just a touch useless for getting the Raptor as it flies by at a gazzilion kilometers and hour. To make matters more laughable the number of people holding the phone upright was astounding. So on the big screen will be tiny little dot on a vertical screen with large amounts of black either side. Invite your friends over to watch that one! Next are the DSLR crowd. Quite a few out on the day gamely trying to follow the planes across the sky. Hand held and watching the screen with predictable results. Out of curiosity I got my 60D out and had a go. Total waste of time. Great for stills and that’s where it ends IMHO. So what did I do? I did the conventional thing. Small domestic camera (Canon HDV) hand held. I wasn’t after a professional result. I wanted a little home movie. After years of filming at airshows I’ve learnt to grab the bits I want and then actually watch the show. A minute of each is ample for a short highlights film. The camera is glued to my eye so a viewfinder is essential. In bright sunshine you see squat on a screen no matter how pricey the camera. I keep it loose an just occasionally try for the close up money shot. Slow fly bys are good for this. Fast passes are tricky so I let the plane fly across the frame and out. It’s too hard to track a passing fast jet without any jerking. The best way is to allow the action to happen in the frame rather than trying to follow so loose is better and more stable. My home movie cam be seen here : YouTube.com/ stpehnturnersfilms Remember it’s just a home movie!
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Scan to see the smartLav in use
Professional audio,
anywhere, anytime.
L A P E L M I C RO PHONE Broadcast quality audio, anywhere, anytime. The smartLav makes it easy and inexpensive to record multiple actors in one scene.
iPhone® and iPad® are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Mount one mic to each actor and simply connect to their Apple iOS or Android device, check levels and hit record. Once the director calls ‘cut’, collect the devices and download the audio direct to your project. Using the RØDE Rec app you can send to Soundcloud, Dropbox, FTP or email all direct from the device!
www.smartlav.com
3MOS Full-HD Camcorder HC-X920M www.panasonic.com.au