First DSLR drama series in production

Norway's TV2 is believed to be the first broadcaster to shoot a complete drama series on a DSLR. The ten-part (23-minute) Dags Univers is a dark comedy about a marriage therapist who wants people to live alone. It is currently shooting in Olso and is scheduled for prime-time transmission in the Autumn.

It is being shot with two Canon 1D Mark IV cameras, which were chosen mainly as a matter of timing. Håvar Karlsen, the B-camera Operator/2nd Unit DoP and Canon DSLR consultant on the series, "had used the 5Ds for some time, and from what I could see the results were quite promising, and when we heard news about the arrival of the 1D Mark IV we got in touch with Canon to be part of an early arrival testing […] taking a calculated risk that the 1D would arrive in time for our production to start," explained the Director of Photography, Pål Bugge Haagenrud.

"Shooting under incredible low light levels was an advantage we wanted to take use of, since we are shooting in practical locations." The lighting has been planned with the option to use Venetian blinds to control daylight coming through windows, and includes a few KinoFlos, a Dedolight 400 Par, a Dedolight 400 Octodome, a Dedolight 200 HMI, and 200 Dedo Octodome (with the option to use 200W HMI Tungsten globes and Daylight globes). "In addition we have found great use in a small shiny board with flex fill to bring out the eyes," he said.

"But we discovered through a hectic week of testing (as we got the cameras one week prior to principal photography) that since we have such a compressed file, we had to light the way we wanted it to look, and with my background from more than 25 years as a cameraman, shooting 16mm reversal as a starter, the allegory was simple: light it like you are shooting good old slides or reversal film." What you see is (more or less) what you get.

Canon Norway helped out, and supplied a range of prime lenses and three zooms. "We were able to shoot at T1.4, but we have discovered that focus is then so limited that it is hard for our seasoned veteran for more than 25 years as focus puller, Anders Legaard, to be close to hit the focus target on moving objects, but we have managed to nail it on designed shots with fantastic results," added Haagenrud (pictured right).

Having been used to carrying large cameras, such as the Arri BL4S with 1000-foot magazine and a 25-250 zoom, he saw this as "an opportunity of a lifetime to work fast with small and lightweight cameras – grab shots from impossible angles – but at the same time treat the camera as a single camera film camera, with good old Ronford Baker F15S fluid head and solid baby and standard [tripods] and a lightweight dolly."

Haagenrud loves the size of the camera, which makes it easy to put "in impossible places. Actors love it, but it must be mounted to look like a camera or people won't take it seriously."

Depth of field

The option to use 35mm lenses with the shallow depth of field was also a reason to use DSLRs – as was the budget. "I would love to shoot on RED or even Panasonic 3000, but now I'm not so sure. This show, done 65% on controlled locations, with exteriors in the low light period of winter in the Nordic light, harsh contrast is not a problem, so we can easily control the exteriors, and have been blessed with clouds on our exterior days," said Haagenrud.

Prior to production, they did a week of testing and Legaard decided to take the Red Rock Cinema package and totally strip it down and build it the way he would want a film camera to work. "We tried for a few days pulling focus from the lens, but eventually brought in the Scorpio follow focus, and Anders is now pulling focus from a 17-inch TV Logic monitor, and also a great help to control the exposure from his dark tent," he added. "Since we are shooting with Canon Primes there is a great challenge to pull focus since the pull is so short on the barrel of the lens."

They use Black Magic HDMI-to-SDI converters and encounter a few seconds delay from when the HDMI signal leaves the 1D to arriving at the video village (where it is also recorded onto Panasonic AVCAM solid-state recorders) and the on board monitor. "We do also encounter quite a bit of static electricity that make us lose the signal to the onboard monitor, forcing is to turn on/turn off the monitor to get the image – a little bit like rebooting the RED, but still hard to cope with the instability of this problem."

There was a corrupted file in the first week, "which we do believe can have to do with a long take," but 39 days into the production that was on the only file problem they had experienced.

They mainly use the 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses, plus the 200mm and 14mm. While there is a Scorpio remote focus on the A-camera, the B-camera operator pulls focus on the barrel.

Haagenrud says that the Marshall 7-inch monitor "works great". It is powered from a Red Rock V-lock battery holder, equipped with Globalmediapro batteries that also run the Black Magic converter.

Getting the look

They shoot 1080 25p with no HLT (Highlight Tone Priority). Karlsen had read a lot online about HLT: "People were really uncertain about the pros/cons. After all, it's just a minor tweak in ISO settings to protect highlight. As we shoot mostly indoors, there's no need to complicate things." They also use 50p for slow motion work, and have selected a neutral picture style with sharpness, and contrast turned way down.

"The production house we are using are using Avid, so offline is being done there. I think the codec they went for is DNxHD 120, because of faster transcoding times. I did some online tests with some shots in H.264 and DNxHD 120, and after seeing more noise patterns etc. in the 120 version, we decided were going to assemble a H.264 online based on an Avid EDL. The online facility will then use uncompressed HD or DPX to the final master," explained Karlsen (pictured left).

In grading, "we're going to apply noise reduction and sharpening as a general rule. We took off all sharpening in the camera to reduce moiré, and we are adding this in post to get the punch in the focus back," he added.

"The main battle we are fighting every day with these cameras is rather focus than moiré. Since we have pulled the sharpness down in camera, focus can appear soft if not viewed in a proper full HD monitor. We know we have some moiré issues in certain scenes (background), but once the problem is identified, we always try to open the lens to hide the problem. In post (and especially in an SD master) we also have tools to reduce the issue. It remains to be seen how bad the issue is, but during shooting we haven't noticed too much," said Karlsen.

"We have put the image through grading and feel confident when aired we will deliver a notable new visual approach to TV drama, and that the heightened easy access to camera placement will increase the speed of production," added Haagenrud.

Making improvements

Improvements that Haagenrud would like to see to the 1D Mark IV are the addition of zebra patterns, colour bar, controlled sound levels (which has recently been added to the 5D), XLR inputs "in the bottom of the 1D", and lenses with film style focus options.

The mini HDMI cable coming out of the D1 should have an angled mount or some kind of lock option, they feel, as it has a tendency to slip out – and this will increase with more wear and tear.

The menu controls are easily accessible, but it would be nice to easier be able to view the right colour temperature and change it more quickly and "if Canon should choose to launch a lens series with a longer focus range (like Zeiss) that would be great."

He advises anyone contemplating using a DSLR to "treat it like a film camera, as much as possible. Light it like reversal film. Enjoy the loss of weight on your shoulder. Grab the frames it used to take hours to rig. Think multicamera."

Equipment list

Both cameras have been equipped with a complete Redrock DSLR Cinema Bundle package - including mattebox, follow focus and V-mount battery plate.

Both cameras have 7-inch Marshall on board monitors powered by Panasonic batteries and/or from the Globalmediapro V-mount battery pack.

The HDMI signal from the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV body is routed into a Black Magic Design HDMI/SDI converter to supply the video village with an SDI signal into a 17-inch TV Logic monitor and also input to a mini Panasonic AVCAM SD card recorder with 3-inch monitor.

Canon Norway supplied a prime lens set consisting of a Canon 14mm, 17mm TS, 24mm f1.4, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.4 and f1.2, 85mm f1.2, and a 200mm f2 telephoto lens. It also gave them three zooms 16-35mm f2.8, 24-105mm f4 and 70-200mm f2.8.

Karlsan has an excellent post on his blog detailing all the equipment used, with model numbers and photos, and lots more information about the production techniques they are using.

By David Fox

Video: The Future

At BVE 2010, we took part in an interesting seminar about the Future of Digital Video, organised by Rick Young of MacVideo.tv. Also taking part were Larry Jordan (Producer, Director, Trainer and renowned Final Cut Pro guru) and Matt Davis (Producer and Director).

Rick recorded the session with four cameras, and has put the resulting videos on the MacVideo.tv site - Part 1 and Part 2.

Topics covered include: how to adapt and meet the changing requirements of clients and broadcasters; how to make the right investments in kit; the importance of efficient workflows; how to make the right format choice; what codecs to use; and how to reach your audience.

It was a very good session, which got a double time slot, although we could have carried on talking for a lot longer - it must have been reasonably interesting as I can only remember one person leaving during it (maybe the others had dozed off...).

Thanks to Rick for organising it and inviting us along.

David Fox

Framerate upgrade for 5D Mark II

Canon has announced a mid-March update for its EOS 5D Mark II, full-frame 35mm HD DSLR. The free firmware update finally adds 24 and 25 frames per second recording to the camera’s video functions (it had been limited to 30fps previously), as well as several other improvements.

Users will now be able to shoot full 1920x1080 HD footage at 24fps (actually 23.976fps for cinema compatibility), 25fps at both HD and 640x480 resolutions for European broadcast use, and the update will also change the existing 30fps option to the NTSC video standard of 29.97fps.

Users will also get a new histogram display while shooting their movies in manual exposure mode (rather than having to hope it is correct and checking the histogram when they stop recording – it doesn't have video exposure aids such as peaking or zebra stripes, which require an add-on HDMI monitor, such as those from Marshall). Shutter-priority (Tv) and aperture-priority (Av) for video have also been added, and exposure modes will now be available in movie mode.

Audio has also been upgraded, to allow users to set sound recording levels manually using a sound-level meter displayed on the LCD screen. The audio sampling frequency has also been increased from the 44.1kHz CD standard to the 48kHz broadcast standard. However, the camera only has a mini-jack connection (typically requiring an add-on box, such as a Beachtek, to add XLRs, or a separate audio recorder).

The key attraction of the EOS 5D Mark II (besides its attractively low price) has been its full frame CMOS sensor, excellent low-light ability, and the wide range of lenses it can be fitted with (giving users the choice of minimal depth of field if needed). It had only been the lack of 24/25p that frustrated European users (in particular) who wanted to shoot for broadcast or cinema.

Extreme sports photographer Richard Walch was one of the first to use the new firmware, shooting a snowboarding video at Lax, in Switzerland. "The addition of the new frame rates opens up a whole new range of possibilities. If you’re a cinematographer, independent filmmaker or just enthusiastic about making your own movies, get out there and give it a try," he said.

The video is viewable on the Canon site, along with a 'making of' video showing off the camera's new features. The firmware will be available to download from mid-March from the Canon website.

[UPDATE: The 2.03 firmware came out, mid March, the audio didn't work correctly, it disappeared, and new 2.04 firmware came out a few days later].

David Fox

Steadicam Smoothee rig for iPhone

The smaller and lighter a camera is, the more likely it is to shake when you go hand-held.

Many cameras have built in image stabilisation systems, but some of the smallest and lightest don't, such as Apple's iPhone.

However, there's an app for that, or there soon will be. The Steadicam Smoothee, from Tiffen, is the smallest of the famed Steadicam camera stabilisers.

You simply clip your iPhone 3GS into a holder, fit it to a small carrying system, and you can do smooth looking camera moves, with no shakes.

It will also be available for the Flip HD, and probably for other small cameras in the future. As demonstrated by Robin Thwaites (International Director of Sales, Tiffen/Steadicam), it is quick and easy to set up, and to move. Its iPhone mount can also be used as a table-top stand or mounted on a tripod.

There's no price yet (it'll probably be in the £100+ range), or release date, but probably later this year.

Sony NX5 - features and workflow

We spent three days last week at Broadcast Video Expo 2010. While we were there we had a chance to talk to Rob France, Sony UK NXCAM product manager, about the practical aspects of the HXR-NX5, such as workflow, how it operates with the main non-linear editing systems, and where the NXCAM range will go next.


Sony NX5 - features and workflow.

One of its interesting features is its HD-SDI output. If you record the image from that it will be in the 4:2:2 colour space, which is better for those doing green screen work. The camera normally records 4:2:0 to flash memory or its add-on solid-state drive.

For those of you who've seen our NXCAM preview video (vimeo.com/7882773), this compliments that video, with practical tips for working with AVCHD and a discussion of the benefits of solid state.

Related posts:  Sony HXR-NX5 is NX big thing and Sony NXCAM video

Panasonic 3D camcorder gets AVCHD

Panasonic has released the specifications for its integrated HD 3D camcorder and confirmed that it will record in AVCHD. This may be a good choice from a cost point of view, but it isn't exactly edit-friendly.

It uses MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, a very efficient codec, that packs a lot into a little space (in this case up to 24Mbps), but because all the picture information is spread out among a group of pictures (typically over 12 frames at 24fps) rather than included in every frame, the computer has to work hard to give you the ability to edit on each frame. Or, of course, you can transcode all the video as you import it (as you have to do with Final Cut Pro and Avid anyway – Premiere and Edius can edit AVCHD natively).

However, the AG-3DA1 (as it will be called) does have dual HD-SDI outputs, so you'll be able to record to a pair of Convergent Design nanoFlash recorders, or Fast Forward Video's compact two-channel 100Mbps JPEG 2000 recorder.

The AG-3DA1 will weigh less than 3kg, have two lenses, with two 1920x1080 2.07 megapixel 3-MOS imagers, recording 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p and 50p. It can record for up to 180 minutes on dual 32GB SDHC cards at 24Mbps, and has HDMI output, two XLR connectors, built-in stereo microphone and twin-lens camera remotes. A lot of traditional 3D rigs use a lot of power, but the AG-3DA1 promises to use only 16W.

It incorporates stereoscopic adjustment controls, to allow the convergence point of the lenses to be adjusted for the best 3D effect, and it will also automatically correct horizontal and vertical displacement. These sort of adjustments are usually fairly fiddly on existing 3D rigs, typically requiring you to connect a laptop or some other video processor.

The camera could appeal to anyone wanting to do handheld 3D shots – if you find that the subject matter of some of the more extreme observational documentaries already make you nauseous, just wait until you see The World's Most Disgusting Diseases, Ever in 3D.

The camera will be available Autumn 2010 (made to order).

Related posts: Panasonic unveils HD 3D camcorder and Ikonoskop goes stereo with 3D A-Cam

By David Fox

Canon's codec choice

As the last of the major camcorder manufacturers to introduce tapeless professional camcorders, Canon has had a little longer to make its choice of recording codec, and it seems to have been listening to broadcasters as it will adopt MPEG-2 4:2:2 at 50Mbps and MXF for its upcoming professional file-based camcorders.

This has been the minimum requirement for full HD recording put forward by several European broadcasters, such as the BBC, so will be a welcome addition for what will almost certainly be a budget camcorder (probably in the £4,000 to £8,000 bracket). Rival camcorders from Sony and JVC typically record at 35Mbps, while Panasonic's most recent small camcorders have used 24Mbps AVCHD (the 10-bit 4:2:2 HPX301 is a larger, shoulder-mounted P2 camcorder).

Canon's current line-up of professional camcorders, the XL H1, XH G1s and XH A1s, are all HDV models, so the new model will record at twice the data rate, and with double the colour data, and will record full HD (1920x1080) instead of 1440x1080.

Canon showed a mock-up of the proposed camera under glass, which looks to be between the XL H1 and XH G1s in size (with 1/3-inch sensors and two XLR audio sockets), although the eventual form factor may be different.

Instead of choosing a more efficient codec like MPEG-4 or a wavelet-based codec (such as JPEG 2000), "MPEG-2 was chosen because it is widely compatible with current IT technology and workflow environments and therefore more beneficial to our customers. Furthermore, the MXF wrapper is the industry standard, with well structured metadata that is easy to search," explained a Canon Europe spokesperson.

There isn't a lot more information on the camera yet, but it will have two card slots (although the specific media hasn't been announced), and Canon is working with Adobe, Apple, Avid and Grass Valley "to ensure compatibility" with their software.

Canon took part in the recent Final Cut Pro Supermeet at Macworld Expo, and MacVideo's Rick Young recorded its announcement of the new codec (and, first up, the new DSLR plug-in for FCP). He also shot an interview with Joe Bogacz, of Product Marketing, Canon USA, which includes shots of the mock-up camcorder (pictured above).

[UPDATE: The cameras, the XF300 and XF305 have been launched - more at Canon fires out first 4:2:2 file-based camcorders ]

By David Fox

Panasonic does 1080 50p on a budget

Recording Full HD (1920x1080) at 50 or 60 frames per second has not been a realistic prospect for camcorder buyers on a budget, but it will be soon… at consumer prices. Panasonic has announced three new hand-held, tapeless "semi-professional" three chip camcorders that will record 1080 50p/60p in AVCHD (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) at 28Mbps (variable bit rate) – Sony's new NXCAM and Panasonic's own professional AVCHD cameras (AG-HMC41E, HMC151E) record at 24Mbps for 1080 at 50i/60i (or 24/25/30p).

The small new 700 series camcorders could be of interest for professional use, especially for sports applications (such as a helmet cam or in-car camera) as 50/60p is better for fast motion recording than 24/25/30p. The cameras are also claimed to be particularly good in low light, and will be available from March 2010.

However, there are compromises. The 3MOS sensors are tiny (1/4.1-inch diagonal – packed with 3.05 megapixels each, with a total of 7.59 effective megapixels in 16:9 – they can also be used for higher-resolution still images). The new "wide-angle" 12x Leica lenses are anything but – when most professional, low-budget camcorders offer lenses of 24-28mm (35mm equivalent), this is 35mm, so will probably need a wide angle adapter for in-car use – although in low light it opens to F1.5 and has a manual focus/iris ring.

The cheapest version, the Panasonic HDC-SD700, is £799 (and only seems to be available in Europe). It records to SDHC/SDXC memory cards. The HDC-TM700 (£899), records both to cards and 32GB of internal memory. The slightly larger HDC-HS700 (£1,099) records to a 240GB hard drive and the cards.

Other features include: Optical Image Stabilization; an Intelligent Auto function with Face Recognition, which can track any of up to six registered faces in the picture and optimizes the focus and exposure for them; Smile Shot, which automatically takes a still photo during video recording when it detects a smiling face; 5.1-Channel Surround Sound using five zooming (highly directional) built-in microphones (plus an external microphone mini jack); an improved Wind Noise Canceller for the microphones; Electronic Viewfinder; a 3-inch LCD that automatically adjusts its brightness according to the ambient light; and HDMI output.

Edius offer extended

Panasonic has extended its Edius Neo 2 Booster promotion, and will now bundle the Grass Valley editing software, free, with its professional AVCHD (AVCAM) systems until September 30th 2010

The promotion was due to end on April 30th, but has proved popular. It applies to the AG-HMC71EU, AG-HMC151EU, and AG-HMC41EU camcorders and the small AG-HMR10EU recorder. Edius (which is Windows only) can edit AVCHD natively (as can Adobe Premiere), but the format has to be transcoded when used with Avid or Apple's Final Cut Pro.

By David Fox

Canon cuts cost of HD

Canon has introduced a new, entry-level HD DSLR that will cut the cost of shooting full HD, taking it well below the price of any semi-professional camcorder. The new EOS 550D (Canon Rebel T2i in the US) camera will probably be available for under £800, including a kit lens, when it ships on February 24.

It uses a newly developed 18 Megapixel APS-C (22.3x14.9mm) CMOS sensor (more than five times the size of the 2/3-inch sensors commonly found in broadcast cameras), with Canon’s advanced DIGIC 4 14-bit image processor, as used in the larger 7D (which we used to shoot our video at the Canon event).

Users can record 1920x1080 at 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, or 720p at 50 or 60fps. As seen with the 7D, the 550D Rebel T2i should produce excellent pictures in low light – it can record at ISO settings of 100 – 6400 (expandable to 12800), with noise reduction delivering clean looking images. It also has a 3.5mm stereo microphone socket for an external microphone.

Highlight tone priority can be set independently for movie capture, without changing any still image capture settings. The 550D Rebel T2i also has a new Movie Crop function that records with the central 640x480 pixel area of the sensor, giving 7x magnification, however this isn't available for HD recording (where it would probably have to be 4x or 5x – perhaps an HD version is something for the future).

From an ergonomic point of view, the smaller size, and lighter weight (530g body) of the 550D Rebel T2i, may make it easier to hold than Canon's existing, larger, HD DSLRs.

For video output, there is a mini HDMI port, but this doesn't give access to the uncompressed video signal (for recording to an external recorder). Recording, to a SDHC card, uses the .MOV format with H.264 video and Linear PCM audio at 45Mbps (for a maximum duration of 30 minutes or 4GB file size).

There is also a 3-inch 720x480 pixel LCD screen (which has to be used in video mode as the conventional viewfinder can't be used because the internal mirror is locked up).

Plugging in to FCP

Canon has also announced a new EOS Movie plug-in for Final Cut Pro, to enable quicker and easier editing of EOS footage. A free Beta release of the plug-in will be available to download in March.

The plug-in will enable the log and transfer of video footage from the EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D, EOS-1D Mark IV and the 550D, and convert the recordings to Apple’s high quality ProRes 422 codec at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion. Users will also be able to add timecode, reel names and metadata.

Related posts: HD DSLRs: Still developing and HD DSLRs: nice pictures, nicer price

By David Fox

Ikonoskop goes stereo with 3D A-Cam

Ikonoskop has created a 3D version of its tiny A-Cam dII uncompressed HD camera. The Stockholm-based manufacturer already has several clients lined up who want to shoot with the new camera, which will be built to order and could be five or six times the cost of the standard version. Both versions of the a-cam should be available by the Summer – the A-Cam dII at the new, lower price of 5,000 Euros.

The A-Cam3D will record 1920x1080 at 25 or 30 frames per second, uncompressed, at 12-bits, using Adobe's Cinema DNG RAW format. The video signals from each lens will be captured to two separate, timecode-locked 80GB memory cartridges.

The initial version (pictured) has been designed for action use, with a distance between optical axes of 91.5mm, and would weigh about 2.8kg including battery and memory cards. However, models could come with different fronts, to allow for the use of different lenses or lens positioning. This is one of several aspects that will have to be worked out in conjunction with the initial users, according to Ikonoscop's creative director, Göran Olsson.

"What's great about our camera in 3D work is that we work in uncompressed RAW. It's a very good thing for compositing," he said. "Also, for action, it is very compact. You can mount it easily and put it in tight situations." The only other twin lens 3D camcorder yet announced is Panasonic's $21,000 unit, which will record a compressed signal. There are compact 3D rigs for small cameras from several makers, but these won't be as simple to set up.

"We can provide our clients with something they can't find anywhere else," he said.

By David Fox

HD DSLRs: Still developing

Review of the Canon EOS 7D - DSLR Camera

There has been a lot of interest amongst video users in digital stills cameras recently, mainly because DSLR camera manufacturers like Canon, Nikon and Pentax have brought out reasonably priced, large sensor models that can record HD. Now, if you want a 35mm camera that can shoot HD (720p or 1080p), and take different lenses, you can buy one for less than the price of a used Sony EX1.

Canon has been the major player, especially with its 5D mark II, although that only records at 30 frames per second. We have been promised a firmware upgrade which should add 24 and 25fps - possibly due April 2010.

However, the latest Canon EOS 7D already has all the frame rates, and costs less, although it has a smaller sensor (APS-C, about 23x15mm).

It is an impressive stills camera, but while its 18-megapixel CMOS image sensor is great for still images, CMOS is not so suitable for video (although many video cameras have them). One of its problems is skew. This happens when you pan the camera and verticals don't look vertical on recording because the CMOS sensor reads line by line rather than all at once.

Some users may also notice aliasing. 

But, in the right hands DSLRs can produce stunning results.

The Canon EOS 7D It is not exactly a light camera (it weighs about 1.39kg with an 18-135mm zoom lens). Even with the image stabilisation in the lens switched on it was tricky to hold still because you couldn't hold it up to your eye (in video mode it only uses the rear LCD) so, it went on my Miller tripod and stayed there.

The 7D offers ISO speeds of 100-6,400, expandable to 12,800. My first thoughts were that any image taken at such a high ISO would be very grainy – but the camera's DIGIC 4 processors remove colour and luminance noise to give a cleaner image.

It has the usual optical eyepiece and a 3-inch LCD with 920,000 dots. I'm used to staring at LCD screens on cameras like the Sony HVR-Z1 with only 250,000 dots, so the Canon's screen was a joy to watch. Unfortunately, it is shiny and you do get a lot of reflections that are distracting when trying to shoot. If you were seriously considering buying this camera (or any of the other DSLRs) for video work you should take a look at the Zacuto Z-finder V2. It will keep out the light from the screen and, importantly, act as an extra point of contact with your body, for stability, if you are going hand held.

For video the camera uses MPEG4 AVC encoding wrapped up in a .mov file, and records onto Compact Flash cards at up to 45Mbps.

This is not a format to edit with. So, you'll need to consider software to convert it to something more edit friendly. MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5 gets consistently good reviews and is free.

In HD mode you can only record about 12 minutes of video on a 4GB card. There is only one card slot – so you can't hot swap like a Panasonic P2 camera or Sony EX. Buying a bigger card won't necessarily solve the problem, as the camera will stop recording once the file size reaches 4GB. So this might not be the perfect camera for doing that 'locked off shot'.

	Recording times
	4GB card	16GB card
1920x1080 HD	12 mins	49mins	24p (23.976fps), 25p (25fps), 30p (29.97fps),
1280x720 HD	12mins	49mins	50p (50fps) 60p (59.94fps)
640x480 SD.	24mins	1h 39mins	50p (50fps) 60p (59.94fps)

Stills cameras have been able to shoot video for some time – although not very well. But now the technology has improved and it is hard to deny that the results can be very good. I recommend you type 'Canon EOS 7D' into the www.vimeo.com website search box so that you can see some incredible results. If you shoot news and docs look at Guardian photographer Dan Chung's work on Vimeo and http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com

If you are a Mac user there is a lot of help getting your footage from camera into Final Cut Pro. One very helpful page is on Chris Fenwicks site. Vincent Laforet is also very helpful with advice and mentioned an upcoming new plug in (again for FCP).

The audio however is a different story. The camera does have an on board microphone which may come in handy as a guide track but it definitely won't be good enough for broadcast, it will also pick up camera handling noise and wind noise.

You really do need to record the audio on a separate recorder. Trawling through the forums it looks like most people buy the Zoom H4n. It has its own built in stereo mic, if all you need is some atmos. But, it also has two XLR sockets and can record at 48kHz, which should keep your editing software happy. With a splitter you can take an output from the Zoom for monitoring and feed the recorded audio in to the camera as a guide track for synching later. The problem is where do you put it? Maybe it might signal the return of the sound recordist.

You can swap info with other Zoom users at the Zoom forum.

If you don't want to be tethered to the recorder. Then you'd better brush the dust off your clapper board as it will once again come in handy to sync sound with vision. Funny how the more technology improves the more we rely on the old ways of working.

The evolution of the video camera has given us a body shape and layout that puts everything you need just where you want it. The iris, gain and white balance can be found without even taking your eye from its fully adjustable viewfinder.

I know many GTC members hate the Sony Z1 type cameras because of (amongst other things) their shape. But these DSLRs are even trickier to hand hold for any length of time. Unless you have the arms of a weight lifter you'll also need some sort of rig to make it feel more like a shoulder-mounted camera. Add in the cost of the viewfinder and your cheap video camera starts to look a little more expensive.

Rigs available include:

• Zacuto
• Redrock
• Half Inch rails
• Glidetrack
• Vocas

Check out their sites for demonstrations of how to use the kit and examples of user's videos.

But, if your budget is tight, start with a good old fashioned tripod. I used the camera on a weeks holiday and to keep the weight down I used my Manfrotto 561B monopod (which has feet!).

There is no peaking to help with focusing (and, even if you wanted to, Canon doesn't recommend using auto focusing when the camera is in movie mode.) There are no zebra stripes either, but there is a histogram which takes up about 1/9^th of the screen. If you are used to using a shoulder mounted camera then using a DSLR will require some time to acclimatise.

Certainly, if you intend to use the camera, I recommend you download the manual (and any drivers you may need) and have a play with the camera before the shoot. For example, it took me a while to work out how to manually white balance. It isn't intuitive. 

You can also watch simple tutorials on the EOS 7D at Canon's USA site. 

Why buy one of these cameras?

Lenses, lenses and lenses. The range of lenses you can get for a DSLR is eye watering, but the prices generally aren't. So, if the director needs a one off special shot in a difficult location this camera could make you the hero of the hour.

I'd recommend you read photographer Doug Klostermann's page on "Why You Shouldn’t Buy the Kit Lens".

If one thing stands out, it is the possibility of very shallow depth of field. It seems everyone wants that film look and with 24p and a little help in post – you can have it at a relatively cheap price. The camera body costs around £1,200.

Time lapse on these cameras is stunning. If you are a timelapse newbie, start with Timothy Allen's starter guide. Take a look at the some great examples of DSLR timelapse by Tom Lowe at TimeScapes.

And if you mix timelapse and HDR (high dynamic range) photography - the results can be beautiful.

If you set the camera to record the largest still image size (5184x3456 pixels) you can import the time lapse stills into your editing software and pan and scan around the video. For a tutorial on how to do this on a Mac, Philip Bloom comes to the rescue. 

However, for timelapse you will have to spend about £100 extra on an intervalometer remote control unit to tell the camera when and how often to take each still image.

If money is tight, this camera may be all your low budget production can afford, and some people have shot incredible footage on it. It is not primarily designed to be a video camera, which means almost everything you do with it will be some sort of workaround, but considering the price, it could be worth the effort.

Would I buy one? 
I originally had a camera on loan from Canon for a week to write this review for the Guild of Television Cameramen's magazine, Zerb. I genuinely liked the camera - enough to buy it. I'm still experimenting with it and it really is essential to have the Zacuto Z-finder, which I now have on order.

Related post: HD DSLRs: nice pictures, nicer price and Canon cuts cost of HD

By Christina Fox

Panasonic unveils HD 3D camcorder

Panasonic has announced what it claims is the world’s first professional, fully integrated Full HD 3D camcorder. The Wall-E look-alike should start shipping late 2010, and Panasonic will start taking orders at NAB, when more details will be announced. It showed engineering samples of the solid-state camcorder at CES in Las Vegas, last week, and estimates that it will cost about $21,000.

The new camcorder should be simpler to use than existing twin-camera set ups, as its two lenses, camera head and dual memory card recorder are integrated into a single body. The camcorder also has stereoscopic adjustment controls. The twin-lens system allows the convergence point to be adjusted (according to the closeness of the objects being viewed), and there are also functions for automatically correcting horizontal and vertical displacement. Most current 3D camera systems require these adjustments to be made via a PC or an external video processor. The Panasonic camcorder will automatically recalibrate itself, making it easier to react quickly to changing requirements.

The camcorder is also a lot lighter and smaller than most current 3D rigs (although systems from Lux Media Plan [pictured right] and Polecam are smaller still, as both use two tiny cameras). However, the Panasonic model should be ideal for handheld use. Its simpler set up should make it particularly suitable for sports or documentary production.

Most conventional rigs require time-consuming adjustments whenever they are moved or knocked, but as this is a combined unit, the two cameras shouldn't go out of alignment. However, this may mean that it isn't as flexible in getting the perfect alignment for objects at certain distances.

All side-by-side 3D systems have an advantage over larger mirror rigs (where the cameras are too big to sit beside each other) as they don't lose any light coming through the mirror.

The Panasonic's left and right HD video streams will be processed separately and recorded as files on SDHC Memory Cards, with all the benefits that brings (less risk of being affected by dust or adverse weather, or knocks – compared to tape or disk), and reasonable costs compared to other solid-state media.

When Panasonic first showed a rather more curvaceous mock-up of this camera at NAB 2009 (right), it was to have recorded to P2 cards. That mock-up also had the AVC Ultra logo, but Panasonic hasn't stated what format the new camcorder will use. The fastest SDHC cards can record more than 100Mbps, but this could just as easily be an AVCHD device (at 24Mbps) – although AVC-I 4:2:2 would seem to be the minimum for professional 3D production and post.

Power consumption should be less than 19W, and it will weigh less than 3kg.

Panasonic is also developing a 3D Full HD LCD monitor for use on location and a professional HD digital AV mixer for live event production.

Like most of the big manufacturers, Panasonic sees considerable opportunities in moving to 3D, especially for its home theatre systems. It showed several 3D Plasma TV sets at the exhibition, 3D-enabled Blu-ray disc players, and 3D glasses, which will be available this Spring. It set up an Advanced Authoring Center (within the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory) last February, where 3D movies are authored for 3D Blu-ray.

[UPDATE - Related post: Panasonic 3D camcorder gets AVCHD ]

By David Fox

Sony HXR-NX5 is NX big thing

Sony's first NXCAM camcorder, the HXR-NX5, is now available. Details are pretty much as described in  our previous post and video, but now we know the name, and have a a little more information. Most notably, its two Memory Stick slots can also be used to record content on to the more widely available (and cheaper) SDHC cards, which makes the NX5 one of the most flexible solid-state camcorders yet built. You just have to remember to insert the SD cards the other way round to the MS cards, as its electronic contacts are opposite the MS card's ones. [UPDATE: We have a further video looking at the practicalities of using the HXR-NX5 and how it works with various non-linear editors]

Recording codec: AVCHD (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 - long GoP) at 24Mbps (Variable Bitrate), 8-bit sampling, 4:2:0, plus two-track PCM uncompressed (16-bit/48kHz) audio or Dolby AC-3 audio; MPEG-2 at 9Mbps for Standard Definition. It can also output 10-bit 4:2:2 video via HD-SDI or HDMI (for recording to a separate recorder, like the AJA KiPro, for example)

Recording media: Memory Stick Pro Duo (two slots - allowing consecutive "relay" recording) or SDHC (Class 4 or higher), plus optional HXR-FMU128 128GB Flash Memory Unit

Lens: Sony's own 20x G Lens (4.1-82mm - equivalent to 29.5-590mm); manual zoom, focus and iris rings (no end stops), Auto Focus can have manual assist; three neutral density filters; Optical Steady Shot image stabilisation with Active Mode (for added anti-shake)

Sensors: Three 1/3-inch Exmor CMOS chips using a ClearVid array for improved low-light sensitivity

Low-light sensitivity: 1.5 Lux (almost as good as the fabled PD170, which was 1 Lux)

Recording standards: 1920x1080 at 50i or 25p, plus 720/50p and Standard Definition - US version  offers 60i/30p/24p and 720/60p - an optional upgrade makes it 60i/50i switchable

Connections: HD-SDI, HDMI (both can be used at once), component, composite and stereo audio (using RCA jacks), USB 2.0; 2x XLR audio inputs with +48v phantom power; LANC remote control; Timecode link

GPS: Built-in GPS receiver,  which embeds GPS metadata when recording.

Display/Controls: 3.2-inch 921,000-pixel LCD (1920x480), with Touchscreen interface. There are also seven customisable buttons on the camera which can be assigned with different functions for quick access. Electronic, high resolution viewfinder (1,227,000 pixels)

Power consumption: 7.7 Watts (8.8W with HXR-FMU128)

Weight/size: 2.5kg; 175x193x342mm

HDR-AX2000

There will also be a less expensive, less professional version, the HDR-AX2000, which won't be able to take the 128GB drive, although, unlike previous cut-down versions of its professional cameras, the AX2000 will have two XLR audio jacks. However, it also apparently lacks HD-SDI (as can be seen in the picture on the left), 720p, Standard Definition recording, and GPS.

By David Fox

How to Cooke up a high-end lens

Cooke chairman, Les Zellan, with some of his lenses

An awful lot goes in to the making of a high-quality lens – but not arsenic, at least not since the European Union banned it from being used in glass (imagine if a sweet little infant were to suck on glass made with arsenic. The horror! The poor unfortunate would probably be dead within, oh…, a 100 years or so….).

Unfortunately, this effort from the EU to save us from ourselves makes life more difficult for lens manufacturers, as I found out on a visit to Cooke Optics' factory in Leicester.

The initial glass blocks come in from all over the world (Cooke uses more than 100 types of glass – each has a different colour and refraction index), and are ground and polished with incredible precision.

The lenses are then tested by eye, and rejected if there are any imperfections or bubbles. Unfortunately, these tiny bubbles don't show up until the elements are polished, which wastes a lot of hard work. This happens more often now, due to the EU ruling, because nothing matches arsenic at reducing the bubbles, which means: "We can't buy glass to the standard we reject it to," explained Les Zellan, Cooke's chairman.

Cooke makes very high-end lenses for 35mm film and digital production, a set of which can cost £100,000, but demand outstrips supply, as production takes time and requires great skill.

The Daily Grind

Glass initially goes to the grinding shop, where it is taken to about 20 microns of the eventual shape.

Then they polish it.

This can be done on wonderful leather-belt driven machines, which do the traditional spherical polishing. It takes longer, and is more labour intensive, but operators can do several elements at a time. Incredibly, the skilled operators can be more accurate than computer controlled polishers. They can fit up to 20 elements on a block (if they are small enough), which can also make them faster, even though it takes about eight hours per block (however many elements are on it).

It requires great skill as each type of glass has its own idiosyncrasies and a slight temperature difference between the centre and the edge of a glass element can cause the glass to crack at a later stage in the process, when even more has been devoted to it.

"It takes about five years to train a polisher, but for the first three years you don't even know if they'll be any good, so it's a big investment," said Zellan, who bought the company in 1998 (it had spent many years as part of the Rank group).

The computerised machines are faster, but only do one element at a time (they can do one in about 30 minutes).

On reflection

For most other manufacturers, the next part of the process is edging (blacking the edges to control reflections - pictured right), but Cooke goes to coating next – because it can, as its coatings are "really, really hard" and won't be damaged by edging.

Coating is done in large vacuum chambers, using a vapour of various metals. An uncoated element reflects 4% of the light for each surface, and as a modern lens can have 15 to 20 elements, this would considerably reduce the amount of light getting through.

Before coating, you might have an F4 lens with a transmission factor of T11 (indeed, that is why T stops came into being, as that was what the film labs cared about). With modern coatings, you lose less than 0.1% light per surface, which means that Cooke can build an F1.9 lens at T2.

Most manufacturers do multi-layer coating one layer at a time, but Cooke does all the layers at once.

To template each lens element, Cooke has about 4,000 master gauges (each of which is worth about £5,000 – about £20m in total), to which each new element is matched to make sure it is perfect. For every master gauge, there is a set of tooling.

Many of Cooke's machines are at least a century old (it has been manufacturing lenses in Leicester since 1894), although it also has computerised versions (designed especially for it) that were installed in 2008 (although they are unlikely to last so long).

"The lenses we put out are extremely consistent. There is lots of quality control checking along the way, so that a lens from today is virtually the exact same as one from ten years ago," he claimed.

It takes about three months for the whole process, from receiving the glass until the lenses are ready for delivery.

This could lead to very long delivery times, so Cooke sacrifices efficiency to make lenses in very small batches each month, so that it can deliver an order in one shipment.

An order for S4/i lenses can take one to four months. He hopes that the new Panchros will be a bit faster, as they are easier to put together), but the 5/i lenses are more complicated. "Every stop [wider] adds about a factor of eight times in terms of tolerances, so speed kills."

Two new lines

Cooke has about 80 staff, including a handful of designers (one woman was an original "computer" who did all the complex computations manually, although she now has a computer hardware to help her).

With so few people, it makes it even more impressive that they have developed two new ranges of prime lenses this year (adding to the S4/i line it already had). This was only possible because it has invested in new technology, and it now has eight computer-controlled machines running 24-hours-a-day five days a week.

"We've never been able to keep up with demand for our product," admits Zellan.

Traditional spherical lenses are relatively straightforward, but aspherical elements are a lot more difficult to polish, as they require extremely precise measurement.

It has a small network of grinding, polishing and measuring machines that talk to each other and make sure that the grinding and polishing is exact.

Several of the S4 lenses and many of the 5/i lenses have aspheric elements (which generally allows the lenses to be smaller and to use less glass).

The Panchro lenses cost less than half the price of the S4/i lenses, although it isn't a cheap lens. Indeed, it is essentially an S4 but with one stop less light. "We didn’t cut corners on the quality. What enabled us to cut the price is taking a stop out of it." At T4, it will match the S4 exactly.

Zellan doesn't know how long it takes to build a lens. "It takes as long as it takes to get right. It might take a few days or a week, depending on how long it takes to make so they are consistent."

Once the lens is built, it is taken apart again, to clean it, and rebuilt. Every lens is then hand-calibrated for iris and distance.

A 4K sensor (as on the Red One) only needs to be able to resolve 32 line pairs on a test chart, but the Cooke lenses are claimed to be able to resolve more than 200 line pairs (the equivalent of 18K or even 20K on a digital sensor – film is typically about 6-8K).

Besides its three prime ranges, there is also the CXX 15-40mm lens, which he claims is the "only fast, lightweight zoom" T2.0 lens.

The Cooke look

Its lenses are renowned for having a warm, attractive look. "The Cooke look is real. It tends to be a much more dimensional look than our competitors. The lenses are also warm, and flatter the subject," he said.

The designers aim for high resolution, but lower contrast, to give better results on film (or sensor) rather than in the viewfinder.

"Some of this is counter-intuitive. The reason our lenses look warm is because we pay a lot of attention to the blues and greens, which is what both film and chips are most sensitive to."

He says that Zeiss tends to accentuate reds and greens, which can make its lenses look cold.

"It's a combination of glass choices (all of which have different colour characteristics) and, to a much less extent, to the coatings."

Cinematographers who like the Cooke look tend to stick with it "Lenses are the paint brushes the cinematographers use," he explained, so aesthetics are very important.

This is why its lenses are used on many popular TV shows, such as House, CSI: New York, Bones, Grey’s Anatomy, 30 Rock and Burn Notice, as well as lots of movies, such as the Harry Potter series, The Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers.

However, it also helps that the basic maintenance needed for a Cooke lens is about an hour compared, he claimed, to about a day for its rivals. "This allows a rental house to get a lens back one night and put it back out the next day."

The new and the old: A 5/i with the first zoom lens

/i technology

Cooke, which manufactured the first ever zoom lens in 1936, has been a leader in putting electronics in the lenses. Its /i technology is a metadata system that it introduced in 2005, although it is only now really catching on. All of its lenses are smart lenses, so that they can talk to the cameras and other equipment on set.

The Red One adopted /i, although it only got that working fully late in 2009, but it can now read and record it. Other /i cameras include the Sony F35, Arri cameras and the new Aaton Penelope film camera – "It's quite a bit of work for them, because they have to put in contacts for the lens. But everybody now understands the need for metadata in post," he said. It is widely used in post production, such as by The Foundry for its Nuke system.

The lenses typically have two sets of connectors – four contacts on the lens mount and an external connector (although that is not on the Panchro).

As lenses become faster, everything about their construction becomes more difficult, including calibrating their scales, so Cooke had to build a new calibration area with computer controlled equipment for the 5/i range.

The scales are never pre-engraved on the metalwork, because they need to be exact for each lens, all of which have subtle differences. The /i technology is also set for each lens.

Zellan at IBC: with the new 5/i and Panchro lenses

New line for cinema

The PL-mounted Panchro By Cooke lenses are a modern redesign of the fast Cooke Panchro lenses that were much favoured in Hollywood from the 1930s onwards.

The Panchro is small, lightweight, and sacrifices one stop of light, at T2.8, compared with T2.0 for the S4. "Traditionally lenses were best used two stops down from the widest stop, 2.8 or 4.0, but the S4 was one of the first lenses designed to be used wide open, and today's lenses are all designed to be used at their fastest speeds," explained Zellan. However, "you only work at those speeds if you absolutely have to, because depth of field is so limited. Most shooting is probably done at F4."

The reduced size, weight and true focal length markings also make the Panchro range more suitable for 3D stereoscopic productions. It is available in 18mm, 25mm, 32mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm lengths.

Cooke sold out its first production run of Panchros, just before IBC, in just 90 minutes, and is now back-ordered six to nine months ahead.

The even newer 5/i lenses are a stop faster than the S4, at T1.4, covering: 18mm, 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, 75mm, 100mm, and 135mm.

It is the first set of lenses with illuminated scales. "This means the end of the assistant standing with a flashlight in their mouth in the dark," said Zellan. This is important as the speed of the lens makes them suitable for night filming. The lenses cost about 20-25% more than the S4.

By David Fox