the world is abuzz with the rumors of new cameras coming out constantly, well here is one that i am pretty excited about, the sony nex fs100. sony is going to unveil it at this years nab conference. it’s going to be an amazing step in the whole hdslr vs. camcorder war that is going on. sony was very smart in recruiting the people at f-stop academy to get their input about why everyone is so excited about the hdslr’s and what are the pro’s and con’s of them. working together with them, they were able to create, what i think, is going to be an amazing camcorder to finally match the quality of the hdslr’s that i have been using, but also add the functions of a real camcorder that we all have been missing from shooting video with a dslr camera. read all about the processing and the amazing features of the camcorder on f-stop academies site here and here is also the video featured on that page announcing the camcorder.

NEX FS 100 Video Blog from Den & James on Vimeo.

great things coming video nerds!

prost netz!

hello internets, how was your weekend? oh mine, well i finally got bored and decided to go out and make my own camera jib instead of spending the hundreds of thousands of dollars on one. how you might ask? well, i went to home depot, grabbed a shopping cart and walked around the store looking at hardware that i thought would work well on a jib. turns out that most the hardware you will need is in the fencing and bolt isles. so anywho, here’s a list of what i used:

2 8 foot square aluminum tubes
1 flat fencing mending plate (later bent into L shape for camera mount)
5 10 inch mending plates (found near the door hinges and such)
2 eye bolts to keep the sand bags on
a bunch of good old 1/4 inch nuts and bolts to keep the thing together

total cost ~ 75 bucks (way cheaper than anything you can get online)

viola! camera jib!

now i know it’s not the most sophisticated piece of equipment, but it works and i have plans in mind for a jib 2.0 to correct some of the mistakes that i have made on this one. but hey, it’s my first jib and since i have never used one or really seen one, besides pics on the nets and such, i figure its a pretty good first try.

many thanks to thomas rangner for helping me out with the construction and also my brother for taking the pics, letting me use his backyard, and garage!

prost netz!

so i have been researching the best way to get audio when recording with the canon 7d and everything always pointed to the zoom h4n, but being the researcher before buying person that i am i have been weighing the pros and cons of it forever. well, a project finally came up that i need to shoot and it is imperative that i have great audio, so i broke down and bought the h4n. let me tell you, this thing is amazing! It records everything from .mp3 48khz to 24bit 96khz. It has built in stereo condenser microphones and two XLR inputs which means you can record 4 channels of audio at the same time. It records onto SD cards and runs on 2AA batteries for about ten hours. It costs about $299. sure recording video and audio on 2 separate devices could add a little time in post, but to me having phenomenal audio is worth it. also, with applications like plural eyes, which does the syncing for you in a matter of seconds, it’s a freaking cinch!

i purchased the h4n at a local audio shop called superdigital and if you are in the market for anything audio i would suggest going there or ordering online. donnie(sp?) is the gentleman that helped me and i honestly have not have better customer service anywhere compared to how he treated me there. he took the time to show me all the important things about the h4n, answered all of my questions, stupid or not, and also made it a point to introduce himself and get my name as well, AND he remembered it. the topping on the cake was that he even let me know that if i had problems on my shoot that i could give him a call and he would help me fix anything i had going wrong with the h4n. definite props to superdigital, thanks a ton donnie(sp?)!

prost netz!

the camera records in 1080p, 720p, and 480 in multiple frame rates, so you can get some coveted slow motion shots!  it comes with a plethora of adaptors so you can pretty much put it onto anything and i know some people were upset that you couldn’t mount it without the waterproof housing, but i see this as extra protection for the lens.  it records everything in the h264 codec, rock on, and saves it on an SD card, which finally gives me a reason to use the SD slot on my macbook pro.  one of the main problems i can see and have had with it is there is no built in monitor so you can preview what you are recording.  you basically have to estimate your shot and hope that you have it.  i have seen there is an external monitor you can purchase to use with it, but i have not yet purchased it.  for a full list of the specs and some of the companies videos visit their site HD Motorsport

here’s a quick sample vid i made up over the weekend. i didn’t try to fix any coloring or stabilization in post because i wanted you to be able to see the video that comes straight out of the camera.

if you are into any type of action sports i suggest you log on and buy one of these now. the little guy really is amazing.

prost netz!

Here is my own personal take of why I bought the Canon 7D…

I have worked with both the 5D and the 7D and let me tell ya, you won’t be disappointed with either purchase.  After a lot of research and pulling my hair out about how much to go into debt, I decided to go with the 7D.  Mainly because of the video frame rates it can shoot at and also the price.  For $1900 you can get the camera and a kit lens, which is a really nice lens.  The two cameras are pretty identical, but there are a few differences.

For video:

Canon 5D only shoots in 1080p 30fps, not 29.97fps.  There are rumors going around the blogosphere that Canon is going to release a firmware update early this year that allow the 5D to shoot in 1080p 24fps, but no release date has been set yet.

The Canon 7D, on the other hand, can shoot in 1080P 29.97 and 24fps and can also shoot in 720p 60fps.  The 60fps is great if you want to shoot anything in slow motion, granted it’s not extreme slow motion, but it is able to stop it down by 50% without any frame loss, which is pretty nice.

Both shoot video at the same bit rate and in the h264 video codec, which is great for compression.  It also makes it very easy to transfer to the editing suite of your choice, mine being to render it as the Apple ProRes codec then using in Final Cut Pro.

Currently there is a firmware program called Magic Lantern that is only available for the 5D, rumors have said that it will be available for the 7D soon, but nothing as of yet.  This program gives the 5D a leg up on shooting video from the 7D b/c it adds the ability to see and adjust the audio levels, allows you to view zebra striping for over exposure, has on screen crop guides for different resolutions and also allows you to turn off the AGC (auto gain control.)

For photos:

Not sure if this is why you are buying it, but both take amazing photos.  The 7D shoots at 18 mp and the 5D at 22 mp, which really won’t matter, unless you are wanting to blow up some images to crazy banner size images.  Both shoot in RAW format as well as JPEG and both with many options.  The RAW photos I have taken come out at about 20″ x 16″ so that’s large enough for anything that I may print off for photos.

The 7D does win when it comes to burst photography over the 5D.  The 7D is able to shoot at 8 fps bursts or photos and the 5D can only shoot at 3.9 fps.

That’s really all I know about the photos, I’m just getting into the photography aspect of the camera, mostly bought it because of the video.

One of the big factors between the two that people tend to say is the breaking point is the image sensor size for each camera.  The 5D has a full frame sensor which is said to be equivalent to shooting 35mm film.  It’s image sensor is larger than the 7D so it can shoot in low light much better then the 7D.  Although, I have not fully tested my 7D in low light, the videos I have shot, I have not had any problems with it, and I can always boost the levels a bit in post if needed.

Because the 5D’s image sensor is full frame you do not need to worry about any image cropping, unlike the 7D that has a 1.6x crop b/c of it’s sensor.  Really it’s not that big of a deal, unless you want to get an extreme wide shot, but it also adds to the telephoto of the shot, so if you want to get something farther away the 7D is a little better at that without changing lenses.  Basically what the crop means is that if you have a lens, like the base lens that comes with the kit, that shoots at 28-135mm, b/c of the crop it is actually shooting at 44-216mm.

I think that’s most of what I was going through when I was debating the two cameras.  What it really came down to for me was the ability to shoot at multiple resolutions at multiple frame rates and also that I could get a 7D for $1900 with a kit lens where as the 5D with a lens was around $3300.  Don’t get me wrong, both cameras are amazing, and both shoot amazing photos and videos, but for me just getting into the HD DSLR video market the 7D made more sense for a purchase.

Hope this has been helpful to others that may be pondering the choice…

Prost netz!

this is one of my first attempts at time lapse and i think it turned out pretty well. i am very interested in it though, and i recently ordered an intervalometer to work with, b/c the canon software that comes with the camera works, but it crashes a lot.

hope you enjoy world, more to come…

Prost netz!

Thanks to mano-destra for the soundtrack.

Cheers netz!