Revenge Of The Great Camera Shoot Out 2012

 

Revenge of the Great Camera Shoot Out 2012

Kudos to Steve Weiss and Jens Bogehegn for Revenge Of The Great Camera Shoot Out 2012. A brilliant documentary and important piece of filmmaking history. What more can I say?  It MUST be seen.

Revenge Of The Great Camera Shoot Out 2011

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SDHC Card Failure

Adata SDHC

I’ve been on the road a lot this year, and after returning home from a trip to Austin Texas I discovered one of my memory cards had been fried by the TSA. In going through airport security in Austin TX, the TSA left my carryon bag containing my photo equipment in the scanner for several minutes while they changed the settings and peered deeper into my cameras and lenses. I stood there and watched as the monitor changed colors as they increased the power to peer deeper and deeper into my gear. Like most of you I wasn’t concerned as I had been told by everyone that the X-rays would cause no harm to memory cards and gear. Then, they ran it through again repeating the same process and looking at my bag full of gear from a different angle. When I returned home my 32GB SDHC memory card that was in my Sony A65 was fried. The card was not recognized by the camera and would not mount in my Mac computer. Everything had been working fine before the intense TSA scanning. I tried Rescue Pro, Disk Warrior and several other disk / file recovery programs, but with the card not mounting, none were of any help. So I called several data recovery services who felt confident that the data could be recovered, but their prices were quite expensive. In talking to the data recovery services I found out that this is a fairly common occurrence. Then I noticed that the card has a Lifetime warranty so I decided to call the manufacturer Adata. I was pleasantly surprised to find the people at Adata to be very friendly and helpful. They sent me links to additional recovery programs, and when none of those worked they offered to recover my data and replace the SDHC card, which they promptly did. I’ve been using Adata memory for about 3 years now and with great customer service like this they’ve won me over as a satisfied loyal customer.

I travel a lot and this is the first time I’ve had this problem, but in talking to the data recovery companies and Adata this is more common than we have been previously told. With the falling prices of SDHC cards I have been using them as one of my archival backups. But another lesson that I learned from this experience is that SD cards and probably all sold state memory are only meant for short term storage of a maximum of three years. So I’m still searching for the ideal tapeless work flow.

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NAB Reflections

I’m back from a wonderful trip to NAB in Las Vegas. Technology races along at breakneck speed and conferences like NAB help me stay current and catch a glimpse of the future.

The Post Production Conference at NAB hosted by Future Media Concepts one again exceeded my expectations. The top presenters in production and post shared tips and tricks to make our lives easier; Richard Harrington, Jeff Greenberg, Abba Shapiro, Robbie Carman, Luisa Winters, Steve Audette, Steve Martin, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Alex Lindsay, Elaine Montoya, Christine Steele, Gary Adcock, and Jem Schofield did a great job of sharing their insights on our current workflows.

The Adobe presenters demoed Adobe’s new CS6 suite which Adobe announced a few days before the show. What a treat to learn about all of the new features that are included in Adobe’s CS6 suite. Adobe has lured many FCP users to it’s suite after Apple’s disappointing launch of  FCPX. Adobe continues to listen to its customers adding more requested features to each new version. This suite continues to gain in popularity making CS6 one of the highlights of the show.

And, with the latest round of features being added to FCPX it appears that Apple hasn’t completely abandoned the pro market. Only time will tell.

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Home At Last

I’m finally back after several weeks on the road. Two of the exciting events that I attended were After Effects training with Luisa Winters at the Future Media Concepts Adobe Boot Camp in Orlando Florida,  and The Editor’s Retreat in Austin Tx, which is also an FMC event. I’m home for a few weeks then in April I’m off to NAB, and the Post Production World training, another FMC event.

It’s great to be home at last, to be able to decompress and get some editing done. I like to travel light so I usually travel with a carryon filled with just photo gear, and no computer. But I feel those days are numbered, which raises the NLE debate once again. Just a week ago the choice was simple, sort of. I was going with Premier Pro and the only other decision was Mac or PC. But now with this new release of FCPX the debate is alive again. As I look at my options and decide what is right for me I’ll share my thoughts, which hopefully will be of help to you. Stay tuned. If you have an opinion about this, let us know.

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Onward Into 2012

 

Sony A65 / Panasonic GH2

2012 is off to a good start. 2011 was bumpy for me – technical and personal issues took a big bite out of what I wanted to accomplish. 2012 looks promising.

Being a cameraman shooting stills and video, and also as an editor, there are just too many exciting things happening on all fronts for me not to use this space to post my comments and share my experiences. So, even though this blog originally focused on FCPX, I’ve decided to use this space to discuss hardware and software that affect the cameraman and editor. And, we can hope that FCPX becomes a true professional NLE again soon. Apple, if you’re listening, multi-cam and more robust import / export at a minimum are needed for FCPX to be useable by most pro editors.

What I’ve been doing and will be discussing here are my experiences with the Panasonic GH2 and Sony A65. I was lucky enough to get one of the first GH2 and A65 that arrived in the USA. I’ve been shooting with several different lenses on both the cameras.  I’ll also be reviewing a new product from Cinevate.

I’ll be attending Future Media Concept’s Adobe Boot Camp, FMC’s Editor’s Retreat and NAB. I’ll also be discussing my photo and video kits, my workflow and more, so stay tuned. There’s so many exciting things on the schedule and we’re only 9 days into January.

An interesting link: A casual discussion with Rodney Charters discussing the new Canon C300, 4K, 10bit and more.

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Adobe Announces Tablet Apps. & Creative Cloud Service

MAX 2011

Today in Los Angeles, at its MAX 2011 technology conference, Adobe announced  Adobe® Creative Cloud, a subscription service offering access to the Creative Suite of software as well as Adobe Touch Apps six new Android and iOS applications. The new lineup of tablet apps includes Photoshop Touch, Collage (for creating mood boards), Debut (for tablet-based client presentations), Ideas (a vector-based drawing tool), Kuler (for selecting and generating color themes), and Proto (wireframing and prototyping for the web and mobile apps).  Through cloud hosting, the new applications will allow users to share files across devices and between tablet and desktop platforms, the service also includes 20 GB of cloud storage. Launching in November, the service will bridge CS desktop apps. and their tablet equivalents. The cost of the service wasn’t announced, but as a point of reference, a subscription to Creative Suite Design Premium is currently $139 per month or $1140 per year. Adobe said Creative Cloud would include Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Edge (for creating animated web content with HTML5 and CSS3), and Muse (a new web design tool). Also incorporated in the service will be systems for producing tablet-based publications and designing web sites, including technology Adobe acquired in its just announced purchase of Typekit, a web-font service.  Adobe Creative Cloud will become a focal point for anyone creative, offering community space to present and share your work and ideas with your peers around the world and a forum for feedback and inspiration.

The system is being pitched to the design community, for whom Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver are the workhorses. Demonstrating the system in a press briefing, Lea Hickman, the VP of design and web product management, showed a browser-based navigation system that allowed users to perform basic manipulation of content in the cloud, however it doesn’t support camera RAW formats.

Product manager David Macy showed a demo of Photoshop Touch with some surprisingly robust features which have been ported straight across from its big brother, including the “refine edge” capability for easily improving the accuracy of a selection, a must-have when you’re drawing on an iPad screen with your fingers, and using layers combined with content from the camera.

Creativity redefined, check it out.

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How To Start A Revolution Wins Best Documentary

Gene Sharp

How To Start A Revolution has won the Best Documentary and Mass Impact Award at at the 27th Boston Film Festival on the 18th of September it then moves on to the Raindance Festival in London on the 2nd and 3rd of October. A documentary on current Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Gene Sharp.
Producer / Director – Ruaridh Arrow
Director of Photography – Philip Bloom

From wikipedia:

Gene Sharp (born 21 January 1928) is known for his extensive writings on nonviolent struggle: he has been called both the “Machiavelli of nonviolence” and the “Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare.”^[1]

Sharp is a political scientist, professor emeritus, and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization which studies and promotes the use of nonviolent action in conflicts around the world.

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FCP X Update Problem

If you get a message that “you didn’t purchase FCP X from the App Store” don’t worry this is a known issue, and a simple solution.

Solution:

Drag FCP X into the trash – don’t empty the trash yet
Log into the App Store – Go to your account – Purchased
Download FCP X  from your Purchased account page.
Empty the trash

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FCP X Update

Today Apple released the first update to FCP X, version 10.0.1.This update addresses some of the issues that pro editors have had with the program, but still no multicam. Multicam editing and broadcast monitoring won’t arrive until the next update in early 2012.

Some of the issues addressed in this update are:

XML imports and exports

Multi-user work flows with Xsan

Camera Software Developer Kit

Also some bug fixes, and a Free 30 day Trial.

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IRS vs Documentary Filmmakers

A case now in U.S Tax Court in Arizona is IRS vs. Lee Story. The IRS is being asked by the judge to demonstrate whether or not the primary purpose of documentary filmmaking in general is “to educate and to expose” and is thus “an activity not engaged in for profit.” This is a very serious matter. If the IRS wins their case against Arizona filmmaker Lee Storey (Smile ’Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story), this will set a precedent and possibly effect all documentary filmmakers. Documentary filmmakers may no longer be permitted to deduct expenses associated with making their films from other sources of income. Furthermore, filmmakers who have already deducted these expenses from their taxes may be faced with potentially devastating audits, and may be hit with back taxes, penalties and fines.

The IRS has focused on the final one element of the 9 elements that it normally uses to decide these cases, “elements of personal pleasure or recreation.” It’s reported that the IRS is using video clips against Lee Storey where she states that she enjoys her work. The reasoning appears to be if she enjoys her work, it therefore can’t be work, it’s a hobby. And if documentary filmmaking is declared a hobby, you wouldn’t be allowed the tax deductions.

Is this just a case of the government picking on the little guy or a stronger deliberate suppression of the media, and a deliberate suppression of opposing thought. Projects of passion and truth will no longer be made unless they will make a profit. And profit can really only be guaranteed if we are on the side of big business, power and money.  To read the full story.

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2011/07/why-filmmaking-cannot-be-a-hobby/

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