Blackmagic Ursa Mini 4.6K camera

Blackmagic Design’s new Ursa Mini is a much more compact and lighter weight version of its large Ursa Super 35 digital film camera, and should appeal to a wider range of users, with prices starting at $2,995/£2,149/€3,519 for the 4K EF-mount model. It can also come with a 4.6K image sensor, with either EF or PL lens mounts, switchable global or rolling shutter, up to 15 stops of dynamic range, a 5-inch fold out viewfinder and dual Raw and Apple ProRes recorders.

Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera

Blackmagic Design has announced what it claims is “the world’s smallest digital film action camera.” It also boasts an “innovative remote control”. The Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera has a Super 16mm-size sensor (12.48mm x 7.02mm) with 13 stops of dynamic range plus a new expansion port that provides access to many of the camera’s functions via widely-used wireless remote control systems, such as those for model aircraft. It will be available in July for $995/£709/€1179.

The expansion port features PWM and S.Bus connections that are used on model aircraft remote control gear for connecting to servos to control the aircraft. Such systems cost little as they are consumer hobby products and feature multiple “channels” that can be connected direct to the camera itself. These channels can be mapped to any camera or lens setting (such as iris, focus, audio levels, and start and stop recording) and then remote controlled via the radio controller. Because a standard, easy-to-solder DB-HD15 connector is used, even simple wire cables and switches can be created for controlling the cameras.

Blackmagic Ursa upgradable camera

Blackmagic Design has announced a new high-end digital film camera with a user-upgradable sensor and lens mount, larger-than-normal 10-inch fold-out monitor, and a multi-screen design that should make it simpler to use. Its feature set and upgradability cover many of the most common requests on user’s wish lists.

The Super 35-sized Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) image sensor has a global shutter (so no more CMOS sensor rolling shutter effects) and will be replaceable, along with the lens mount, which can be EF or PL, or even, with a broadcast video sensor, a B4 mount.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera

Blackmagic Design keeps on keeps on disrupting the market with broadcast equipment at lower prices than the competition, and has done it again with two new cameras: The £665/$995 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and the £2,675/$3,995 4K Production Camera.

Both offer high quality lossless 12-bit CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes recording, and lots of interesting features that should keep prospective buyers salivating until they ship in July.

BBC buys 500+ GY-HM650 cameras

JVC has recently made a big breakthrough in broadcast news use with the order of more than 500 units of its GY-HM650 ProHD network-enabled camcorder by BBC News for use in newsgathering throughout the UK and globally.

The lightweight cameras record HD or SD in multiple file formats, including native XDCAM EX (.MP4), Final Cut Pro (.MOV), and AVCHD, to SD cards. The 650 also supports MXF files for metadata.

One of its advantages for news is that it has dual codecs, so that it can record full HD files on one memory card, while simultaneously creating smaller, web-friendly files (1/4 HD or SD) on a second card. It also has built-in FTP client and network connectivity, so that it can deliver the footage back to a station without a microwave or satellite connection (all it requires is a WiFi connection or mobile broadband).

It has a secure web server built-in, to allow you to take full control of the camera – including zoom, Rec start/stop and metadata editing – via any browser-enabled device such as an iPad or smart phone.

Other features include: three, 1/3-inch 12-bit CMOS sensors, each with 1920x1080 pixels; a 29mm-667mm (35mm equivalent) Fujinon 23x autofocus zoom lens with optical image stabilizer; manual focus, zoom and iris rings, plus three ND filters; auto-focus with face detection; good low-light performance (F12 at 2000 lux in extended mode); a 1.22MP colour viewfinder and 3.5-inch LCD; a second trigger and servo zoom control on the built-in handle to make it easy to record while holding the cameras at low or high angles; Pre Rec to continuously record and store up to 15 seconds of footage in cache memory to help prevent missed shots of breaking events; built-in stereo microphone plus two XLR inputs with phantom power; separate input for a wireless mic receiver; LANC remote connector; time-code synchronization input; plus HD-SDI and HDMI outputs. It also has Flash Band Correction, to avoid rolling shutter problems if you shoot an event there are flash guns going off.

The camera has been tested by Alan Roberts (whose reports are always worth reading) and met the EBU’s criteria under EBU Tech 3335 for journalism use (Tier 2J), and will also meet the requirements for general long form HD programming (Tier 2L), when used with a suitable external recording device supporting 50Mbps or greater recording (it records up to 35Mbps internally).

By David Fox

Sony PMW-F5 + F55 4K cameras

Sony has announced two new 4K cameras (the PMW-F5 and PMW-F55), plus the impending arrival of the 4K upgrade for the NEX-FS700, as it begins to get serious about moving beyond HD. The new cameras will use a new codec: XAVC. All the cameras use single Super35-sized CMOS sensors.

Sony started its move into 4K (4096x2160 pixels) with the F65 last year, and now has a range of 4K-capable equipment, including domestic and professional LCD and projector displays.

The high-end F65 is well regarded in the film industry, and the camera has been used on such movies as Oblivion and After Earth.

In fact, the F65 is now going beyond 4K, following its version 3.0 upgrade it will also be able to shoot 6K and 8K Raw (it uses a full 8K/20-megapixel sensor). It will also be able to shoot at up to 120 frames per second in 8K. It can be fitted with a new 0.7-inch OLED viewfinder (the first such for this type of camera), and has received several other film-related additions, such as anamorphic lens support.

However, as the F65 moves even further upmarket, the F55 and F5 should slot seamlessly in underneath it.

Open codec architecture

The cameras will support four codecs: XAVC, for high frame rates and 4K, MPEG2 at 50Mbps, MPEG4 SStP (Sony’s SR Master codec) and Raw 4K “by the switch of a button, depending on what job you want to do,” said Olivier Bovis, Sony’s Head of AV Media.

The F5 and F55 will need the new AXS-R5 recorder for Raw, but everything else will be recorded internally on a new, faster, memory card: SxS Pro+, which will support higher frame rates and bit rates – it is about 20/30% faster than an SxS Pro card at writing/reading and comes in 64GB and 128GB versions.

The F55 will be able to simultaneously record both MPEG2 50Mbps and XAVC 4K to the same SxS Pro+ card, which means you can have a readily usable 50Mbps version for offline editing in a 4K production, or just hold an archive of 4K shots for the future while shooting for today’s broadcast standards. You should also be able to record Raw 4K at the same time to the R5 recorder.

Internally, the F55 will be able to record HD (1920x1080), 2K (2048x1080), QFHD (Quad Full HD - 3840x2160), and 4K, while the F5 will be limited to 2K and HD, but once you add the R5 both will record Raw 4K and higher frame rates.

The F55 “has a very wide colour gamut [same as the F65] and high frame rates: up to 180fps in 4K and up to 240fps in HD,” said Bovis. It also has a Global Shutter to avoid any rolling shutter skew effect or flash banding. The F5 will shoot at up to 120fps in HD. The F65 can shoot at up to 180fps at 4K and up to 240fps in 2K Raw.

The cameras are promised to offer a wide dynamic range (14 stops), high sensitivity, and low noise.

Viewfinders + monitors

Thanks to a new digital interface, the PMW-F5 and F55 will also be able to use the new DVF-EL100 1280x720 OLED viewfinder. There is also a new 3.5-inch 960x540-pixel LCD viewfinder (DVF-L350), offering 10x the contrast of previous Sony LCD viewfinders plus a flip-up eyepiece for direct monitoring, and a 7-inch 1920x1080 LCD on-camera monitor (DVF-L700).

The PMW-F55 can also connect to Sony’s new 4K 30-inch 10-bit LCD monitor (PVM-X300) for on-set monitoring, dailies and editing using four 3G-SDI interfaces to monitor pictures at 4096x2160 resolution at up to 60p while recording and playing back XAVC 4K images. It can also be connected directly to the 84-inch BRAVIA 4K LED TV for monitoring, but at a resized horizontal resolution of 3860 pixels.

Batteries + rigs

The F5 and F55 also use compact new Olivine (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries that promise twice the lifetime of conventional Lithium Ion cathodes and provide an hour of power for Raw recording when using the R5 with either the F5/F55 (Raw is more power hungry than the other codecs). There is also a new 2x faster battery charger.

The cameras will also have a new shoulder rig, “so you can easily use it shoulder mounted. It’s very modular in how you want to use it,” said Bovis.

PL-mount lenses

The F55 and F5 cameras come with a PL lens mount, for use with high-end cine-style lenses, but Sony is also launching six new CineAlta T2.0 PL-mount lenses for the cameras (20, 25, 35, 50, 85 and 135mm).

Each is certified for 4K and is designed to minimize geometric distortion, vignetting and breathing. A 9-blade iris should deliver pleasing bokeh (out-of-focus effects), and the focus rings rotate 240°. For easy lens changes, each has the same external diameter, matte box diameter, and gear locations for follow focus and aperture. All are the same lenght except for the 135mm. 

The cameras are fitted with a native FZ mount (but the PL-mount adaptor is supplied), so users will also be able to fit other adaptors for Canon EF, Canon FD, Nikon DX, Nikon G, Leica M and even 2/3-inch B4 lenses.

Availability

The F5, F55, F65 upgrade, and lenses should be available by the end of January, but 2K and QFHD recording for the PMW-F55 and 2K for the PMW-F5 will be available through a firmware upgrade. Frame rates higher than 60fps will also require a firmware upgrade.

Prices should be announced in November.

NEX-FS700 + HXR-1FR5

At its introduction, last April, Sony promised that the NEX-FS700 would be able to record 4K, and soon it will, using the new HXR-1FR5 interface unit, which has 3G HD-SDI input, to deliver Raw data, and the new AXS-R5 recording unit – which uses a new generation of Access Memory Card with 512GB of storage. It will also require a firmware upgrade.

Although the FS700 can already record high frame rates in HD, it won’t have that feature in 4K, where the available frame rates will be 23.98p, 25p, 29.97p, 50p and 59.94p.

The HXR-IFR5 and firmware upgrade should be available between April and June 2013.

By David Fox

P+S Technik PS-Cam X35 speeds in

P+S Technik's new PS-Cam X35 combines the benefits of sync-sound and higher speed rates into a single, flexible digital camera, which can record at any speed from 1-450 frames per second.

It has a Super-35 CMOS sensor with global shutter (which avoids rolling shutter jello effects), base sensitivity of 640 ISO, dynamic range of 11 stops, and HD-SDI outputs (1.5 or 3Gbps). Onboard memory (18GB) records more than four minutes in normal speed or 40 seconds at 150fps. It will also deliver 24-60fps shooting via its HD-SDI output.

"The PS-Cam X35 is the first film-style digital cinematography camera made for the DAILY creative use of various kinds of special speed and motion effects (slow motion, fast motion, ramped motion and time lapse)," the company claimed.

It is "a proper all-purpose sync sound camera" and "an exciting alternative for crews and producers who want to make the leap from film to digital as seamlessly as possible while having motion effects capability with their main camera package at their fingertips." It means the main camera can be used for any motion effects footage without the additional cost of a separate high-speed camera and technician.

It will take just about any type of lens thanks to the PS-IMS (interchangeable mount system), which can accept a wide range of cine, TV and stills lenses.

It will initially record uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 HD, with both 10-bit 4:4:4 uncompressed and 12-bit RAW uncompressed planned future options, and P+S is working with Codex Digital, whose Onboard Recorder can be used with the camera and subsequently generate whatever editing formats might be needed, such as Avid's DNxHD, Apple ProRes or DPX. Price should be about €58,000.

This is the first camera that is a 100% P+S Technik product (it co-developed and manufactured the Weisscams and SI-2K). It will compete with the likes of the Red Epic and Weisscam's upcoming T-1, as the whole area of higher-speed cameras begins to open up.

There is an interesting blog post about the X35 from Joel Bergvall (director, DoP, editor, etc.), who had the chance to try out the prototype on a shoot and goes into a lot of detail. He also has a "Thank You For Not Smoking" commercial shot with the camera on another post.

Related post: P+S Technik to launch PS-Cam X35

By David Fox

Adobe revamps CS5.5 Creative Suite

Adobe has launched version 5.5 of its powerful Creative Suite post-production package, including major updates to After Effects, and completely revamped its audio software.

The complete package offers what Eric McCashey, its Group Marketing Manager, Desktop Solutions, claims is "the industry's most efficient post-production workflow," which is why it has been adopted by such broadcasters as the BBC, Turner and Hearst.

"It is rare to see a piece of media that has not been touched in some way by Adobe technology," he said.

With CS5.5 Adobe 'is attempting to stay ahead of trends in the industry," and it is changing its release schedule to do that. In the past it has released new versions of Creative Suite every 18-24 months, but it is now moving to every two years, with bigger interim releases (such as 5.5). Its main rival, Apple is expected to announce a complete revamp of its Final Cut Studio suite tonight (Tuesday).

Although Adobe is committed to its Flash interactive and video format, it has recognised that users of its Creative Suite also have to deliver to devices, such as the iPad, that don't support it, which is why CS5.5 will also support HTML5 authoring (including the easy addition of different video codecs), and will allow easier creation of rich, interactive applications for iOS, Android and Blackberry.

Indeed, Adobe is also making use of such devices to allow creatives to create ideas or interact with its desktop software, particularly Photoshop, for which it has created three new iPad apps: Adobe Color Lava (($2.99 - for mixing colours to create a palette in Photoshop), Adobe Eazel ($5 - for drawing and painting, and export to Photoshop), and Adobe Nav ($2 - for controlling Photoshop tools from your tablet, handy for people who don't have a large enough screen for what they want to do).

Audition piece

Adobe's digital audio workstation software, Audition has returned to the Creative Suite, and is now on both Mac and Windows. It will replace Soundbooth.

Audition has been rebuilt and is "much faster and much more responsive," claimed Niels Stevens, Business Development Manager, Video Products, who demonstrated how quick and easy it is to capture a noise print from a clip and reduce background noise from a dialogue track. "It's a really, really fast workflow. Much faster than real time," for export back to Premiere Pro.

It also gains a full surround sound mixer, and there is a new clip merge function, to re-synch the audio from an external recorder to video captured on a DSLR or digital cinema camera. The Merge Clips command can sync up to 16 audio clips to a single video clip.

Warp factor

After Effects features improvements for stereoscopic 3D users, including control over divergence and convergence of pairs of virtual cameras in 3D graphical models.

The new Warp Stabilizer requires no user intervention, being completely automatic. It was demonstrated taking shaky footage from a hand-held camera phone and making it look as if it was on a tripod (either with a slight pan or locked off), with the conversion happening in seconds with minimal loss of quality. It can also deal very well with any skew effects caused by the rolling shutter on CMOS cameras.

Also new are Camera Lens Blur, to control which parts of a scene are in focus, and Light Falloff, to manage how light behaves in a 3D scene.

There is also full OMF, AAF and XML import and export in After Effects and Premiere, and Adobe has improved the Mercury 64-bit playback engine, which now supports a wider range of nVidia CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) graphics cards, with more effects running natively on CUDA. It has also enhanced its offerings for Red (with Redcine now supported), and added support for Canon's XF format, including the ability to view spanned clips. In After Effects, users can now import CinemaDNG files and export XDCAM-EX footage.

Metadata created in Adobe Story, its online service for collaborative script writing, can be carried all the way through production, and using Premiere's speech-to-text abilities, can be aligned with the video, so you can edit using the script. There is tight integration between the applications, allowing users to move projects easily between Premiere and other editing tools, and iterate quickly thanks to Dynamic Link between After Effects, Premiere, and Encore (for DVD and Blu-ray authoring).

The Media Encoder has been improved to make it easier to use, and to do renders in the background, taking advantage of multiple CPU cores. It supports a wide range of output formats, including FLV, F4V, Windows Media, QuickTime, and other popular codecs such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, and (new for CS5.5) AVC-Intra and DPX.

For users creating video or web pages for mobile devices, an enhanced Design Central allows them to test any content on different devices, without having to own them, including how it looks when you rotate the device.

Adobe will also be introducing a new way of paying for the Creative Suite, using subscriptions, which should make it easier and cheaper to add temporary licences for freelancers and one-off projects, although more expensive than buying the package if you require it full time.

Related post: Apple reveals Final Cut Pro X

By David Fox

JVC's new GY-HM750 ProHD

JVC Professional will be showing its latest GY-HM750E ProHD compact shoulder-mount camcorder at BVE 2011. It is claimed to offer "the industry’s fastest shoot-to-edit workflow by recording native HD or SD footage in ready-to-edit file formats on low-cost SDHC memory cards."

It uses the same 3-CCD imaging system as the GY-HM790E, JVC’s ProHD flagship camcorder, and records HD in 720p, 1080p, and 1080i, as well as SD (576i) at selectable data rates up to 35 Mbps.

It has a dual card slot design that records to SDHC cards and/or an optional SxS recorder. This had been requested by customers and allows simultaneous recording to both SDHC cards, for instant backup or client copy.

Users can record in ready-to-edit file formats for Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere (.mov), or as Sony XDCAM EX files (.MP4). For standard definition work, it can also record DV files (.avi or .mov).

Building on the modular approach of the GY-HM790E, the GY-HM750E includes a 68-pin chassis connector for a clean, direct interface to various modules. The new KA-AS790 ASI output module, for example, provides a direct feed from the camera to a satellite uplink or microwave transmitter via BNC, ideal for broadcasting live HD from the field. The GY-HM750E automatically switches to low-latency mode (less than 300ms delay) when the module is in use.

JVC has also improved its Pre Rec (cache) feature, which continuously records and stores footage in cache memory and helps prevent missed shots of breaking events, which now stores 20 seconds. Other features include variable frame rate recording, extensive image customisation, a high-resolution (1.22 million pixel) LCOS viewfinder and 4.3-inch flip-out LCD monitor, and JVC’s Focus Assist. It also has two XLR audio inputs with phantom power, plus manual audio level controls with an audio meter.

The GY-HM750E includes a Canon 14:1 zoom lens, but accommodates any lens with a 1/3-inch bayonet lens mount.

Because it uses CCDs instead of CMOS sensors, it doesn't suffer from any rolling shutter effects (such as skew or flashes from photographers covering only part of the frame). Combine this with its 20-second cache, quick workflow, and reasonable price (about £6,000) and it seems to be one of the best choices for news or event coverage - CNN bought 177 of its little brother, the HM100 for news use.

By David Fox

GoPro sports 3D Hero HD

GoPro has developed a small, waterproof 3D rig for shooting full 1080p 3D video with its tiny Hero HD cameras. These are already widely used for TV production to get shots in wet, dusty or difficult conditions (such as fixed to a ski helmet).

The upcoming 3D Hero Expansion Kit will allow users to fit two of the 1080p cameras in the one housing, with a synchronization cable that connects the camera's bus outputs (it says that this synchronises "video capture and settings", hopefully including the auto exposure). The kit should cost less than $100, and each HD Hero costs $260 (although many production companies and cameramen will already have one or two of them).

The interaxial distance between the lenses can be adjusted, by simply turning one of the cameras upside down (going from about 60mm apart to about 25-30mm - my estimate) – although rolling shutter effects with verticals skewing in opposite directions may make this unusable for some shots. The normal GoPro housing is waterproof to 60m, so presumably the 3D rig will be too. The whole rig should weigh less than 400g, including cameras. The kit should be available soon, and will probably lead to lots of 3D base-jumping, skydiving, snowboarding and climbing videos on YouTube.

GoPro also supplies 3D conversion software to import video from one camera and have the other camera's video automatically imported and aligned to create a 3D file.

Related post: GoPro acquires CineForm - Goes 3D

By David Fox

Rolling shutter artefacts: fix it in post

HD DSLR and CMOS camcorders suffer from rolling shutter effects during camera moves – but this can now be rescued in post.

Anyone who pans a DSLR while shooting video will notice that any vertical lines in shot lean over. On some DSLRs you can barely move the camera without this happening. It is a fault inherent in the way CMOS sensors are read out. It can be addressed if the manufacturer uses higher clock rates, but is difficult to avoid completely.

It is, thankfully, something that can be fixed in post (although rarely perfectly), with a variety of software plug-ins. These range from high-end products, such as The Foundry's RollingShutter (costing £300 for After Effects or its own Nuke compositor); or more affordable varieties, such as CoreMelt’s Lock & Load X ($149 for Final Cut Pro and After Effects), and its latest $79 version, Lock & Load Express, which is the first stabiliser for Final Cut Express.

This sort of software can be surprisingly effective, even the stabilisation option in Apple's latest version of iMovie can restore demented verticals (as Philip Bloom demonstrates on his blog).

As a mid-range option, Lock & Load Express can give hand held footage "a professionally shot steady cam quality instantly without the need to set tracking points," claimed CoreMelt founder, Roger Bolton. It is not as sophisticated as the version for Final Cut Pro, which is claimed to be "one of the fastest video stabilizers available" at least 12 times the speed of FCP's built-in stabiliser (whereas the express version is just six times as fast as FCP), and offers more advanced tracking features (including keyframes and background processing). Lock & Load Express has presets for the main HD DSLRs, CMOS camcorders such as Sony's EX1, and the likes of Apple's iPhone or the Flip HD.

By David Fox

Sony PMW-F3: Budget filmmaking?

Sony's upcoming Super-35mm sensor camera, the PMW-F3, will cost more than twice the price of Panasonic's AF100/AF101, but adds a 4:4:4 option.

The PL-mount camcorder will record to Sony's SxS format, using the XDCAM EX  35Mbps 4:2:0, 8-bit, MPEG-2 Long GoP format. However, it will have HD-SDI and HDMI outputs for recording 4:2:2 50p or 59.94p on to external recorders (while recording to the SxS cards at the same time). Users will also be able to record full 10-bit 4:4:4 video via an HD-SDI dual-link output option to an SR Memory Portable Recorder that should be introduced at NAB in April. The SR Recorder will use a proprietary memory pack, recording the open standard MPEG-4 HDCAM SR format. It will be considerably smaller than the existing SRW-1.

This will mean that the F3 could be used as a B camera for users of Sony's high-end F35 and SRW-9000L cameras (which also use S-35mm sensors and PL mounts), and intercut seamlessly with the SRW-9000L in its optional 4:4:4 mode (where the F3 can record 1080 23.98/25/29.97PsF – it can also record 10-bit 4:2:2 1080 at 50 or 59.94p).

The PMW-F3 is aimed at indie filmmaking, commercials, pop promos and TV production and its "tentative list price" is €14,500 for the PMW-F3L body-only version, rising to €20,700 for the PMW-F3K with three PL lenses. First deliveries are scheduled for January 2011.

"This is very competitive for a true Super 35mm camera," claimed Bill Drummond, Strategic Marketing Manager at Sony Professional Europe. "There is a lot of competition in the 35mm world, but we need to compare this to a similar Super 35mm camcorder with a sensor that has been specifically designed for motion picture capture.

"We have designed the camera to offer ultimate flexibility. Many users have produced movies using XDCAM EX, but yes at the top-end of the market users may choose a higher data-rate, so we have implemented 10-bit 4:2:2 output. The dual-link HD-SDI option offers the ultimate picture quality of 4:4:4 recording onto SR Memory." The SR Memory will be cheaper per GB than SxS.

The PMW-F3K will include three Sony PL-mount prime lenses (35mm, 50mm and 85mm – all T2.0, manual focus with a 95mm filter diameter). Sony also plans to introduce a range of zoom lenses directly compatible with the F3 mount, and will show these at NAB - probably including a video style zoom.

The PL mount will be compatible with a variety of cine lenses such as Cooke, Arri, Fujinon and Zeiss, and there are also hot shoe interfaces for Cooke/i and Arri Lens Data System technology, allowing the camera to capture lens-related metadata.

Sensor sensitivity

The approximately APS-C size Exmor Super 35mm CMOS imager boasts high sensitivity  (ISO 800, F11) and low noise levels (a signal to noise ratio of 63dB in 1920x1080/59.94i mode), as well as wide dynamic range. "The latitude is 460% in standard mode or 800% in S-Log, which is equivalent to about 12 Stops of Dynamic Range," explained Drummond. S-Log and four levels of Hyper Gamma can be selected and will allow users to tailor their images during post-production in the same way they would in a film based workflow, with Look Up Table information recorded onto the SxS cards - making it an ideal format for colour grading.

Although CMOS sensors exhibit rolling shutter effects (such as skew), this is claimed to be "vastly reduced due to the fast refresh time of the CMOS sensor."

Recording formats include 1920x1080 and 1280x720 (35Mbps), plus 1440x1080 (25Mbps HDV), at 23.98/25/29.97p, 50/59.94i and, in DVCAM mode, 25/29.97PsF and 50/59.94i. Frame rates available for slow or fast recording are: 1 to 30 frames per second at 1920x1080p (17 to 30fps in dual-link mode) and 1 to 60fps at 1280x720p (17 to 60fps dual-link).

The F3 has a 3.5-inch 1920x480 pixel LCD Screen, which uses a hybrid design with both transmissive and reflective panels to offer clear viewing in bright sunlight (the same screen as the EX1R). There is also a 0.45-inch 16: 9 viewfinder.

It also has genlock and timecode interfaces for multi-camera use. A 3D system link option, coming in April, will allow users to synchronise timecode, genlock and control functionality with a single cable, locking together left and right cameras to simplify 3D acquisition.

Average power consumption is 24W, so it can record continuously for just under three hours (with dual-link option off) using a BP-U60 battery.

It weighs about 2.4kg (without battery or lenses), and the body measures about 15x19x21cm.

Input/Output: Composite BNC;  Audio output - RCAx2; SDI output - BNC, HD-SDI/SD-SDI selectable; HD-SDI Dual Link Out - BNCx2 4: 2: 2 1080 50/59.94P 10bit output; i.LINK (FireWire IEEE1394); Timecode input - BNC; Timecode output - BNC; Genlock input - BNC; USB - Mini Type-B connector; Headphone output - Stereo mini-jack; 12-volt DC input - 4-pin XLR type (male); Remote - 8-pin; HDMI output.

It records two-channel 16-bit, 48kHz linear PCM uncompressed audio, with two XLR connections. It comes with a stereo microphone (with windscreen).

There will be 2 SxS memory card slots, but an optional MEAD-MS01 or MEAD-SD01 Media Adaptor allows recording to a high-speed Memory Stick or SD memory card. However, these won't have the ability to record slow motion or to salvage files if the card is removed while recording.

Conclusion

It is likely that the F3 will be used to produce some great images, and will almost certainly find itself used for high-end productions, whether as a B camera for movies, or a compact camera on a Steadicam or in confined spaces for commercials, where the ability to record 4:4:4 will be particularly useful.

Certainly, anyone who might want to occasionally record 4:4:4 for movie or effects work should consider this camera. But, for anyone who just wants the 35mm shallow depth of field look, then the price of Panasonic's AF100/AF101 at €4,900 (list) makes it more appealing (especially given the high cost of SxS media compared to SD cards). However, the Sony has a bigger sensor (exact dimensions haven't been released, but it is probably about 30% larger), so it will give even shallower depth of field – similar to a much cheaper, but feature-limited APS-C sensor HD DSLR. For all practical purposes, the more efficient AVCHD codec of the AF101 at 24Mbps will at least match the older MPEG-2 compression at 35Mbps used by the F3.

It might not be the death of the HD DSLR, which will still be the first option for those with lower budgets or stills photographers shooting occasional videos, but between this and the AF101, it should finally put paid to the market for 35mm adaptors for the EX1 and other small camcorders.

Related posts: Panasonic AF100 / AF101 - the movie,  Sony's HD DSLR in a Handycam, Sony embarks on 35mm camera development and SRMemory lets Sony go beyond HD

By David Fox

Nikon D7000 full HD DSLR launched

Nikon D7000 Launch from UrbanFox.TV on Vimeo.

Nikon's new D7000 is not, as some rumours had it, a replacement for its D90, but will sit in the Nikon range above the D90 and below the D300s.

It is Nikon's second full HD DSLR, following the recently introduced D3100, but has a lot more to offer than the entry-level model.

In our brief tests of a pre-production model, there seemed to be a fair bit of noise from the auto-focus motor. At 1600 ISO, there was noticeable grain, but it wasn't objectionable – although a JPEG taken at the same setting exhibited less grain. As you'd expect with a CMOS sensor, there was skew caused by the rolling shutter, but this seemed to be less than was evident on the D3100, and barely noticeable at any sensible panning speed (and got lost in motion blur if panned much faster).

We shot several videos (which we can't show because it wasn't a production model), but the bit rates on these varied from 23.96Mbps to 27.82Mbps – a higher rate than on the D3100 (which averaged about 20Mbps), however, these were shot indoors, in an artificially lit room in fairly poor light (at ISO 1600), which would probably push the compression a bit higher than the better lit conditions we tried the D3100 out in. That said, the picture quality was good, with accurate colour rendition.

Price (list):
£1099.99 / €1303 (Body only) or
£1299.99 / €1540 (D7000 + 18-105mm VR kit lens bundle)
It should start shipping 29th October 2010.

Features include:

• 1920x1080 @ 24 frames per second, 1280x720 @ 24, 25 and 30 frames per second;
• MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression using  .mov file format;
• Stereo microphone mini jack input - recording 16-bit PCM audio at 48kHz;
• 3-inch TFT LCD Monitor, with 921k-dot resolution;
• Video clip trimming;
• Mini HDMI output;
• Simple, direct access, Live View and video recording control;
• Tone and colour controls that let you set the look and mood of your pictures and movies before you shoot;
• Good low-light performance (100-6400 ISO, extendable up to 25600 ISO);
• Twin SD memory card slots (SDHC and SDXC) allow for extra storage capacity;
• Bundled ViewNX 2 software, easy-to-use Windows software for editing photos and movies;
• New image-processing engine, EXPEED 2, which delivers higher image quality and faster processing;
• New 16.2 megapixel CMOS image sensor; 
• Rugged, magnesium top and back with dust and moisture sealing;
• Glass Pentaprism Viewfinder with 100% frame coverage and 0.94x magnification;
• Newly developed AF system featuring 39 focus points, including 9 cross-type sensors in the centre;
• AF-F during video recording, giving continuous focus;
• Face detection with contrast AF that is claimed to be is faster than previously;
• The ability to detect up to 35 faces within about 0.08 seconds, even if subjects are not directly looking at the camera;
• Subject Tracking to keep moving subjects in focus;
• New 2,016 pixel RGB metering sensor

Weight: 780g including battery.

Magnesium top and back

Level indicator

www.nikon.co.uk

[UPDATE: Nikon has posted a firmware update for the D7000 that reduces occasional video problems where shots of dark scenes or objects might exhibit bright spots]

Related posts: Nikon D3100 full HD DSLR + Nikon D3100 video interview

By David Fox