Nikon D4 – High ISO With Uncompressed HDMI Output

Today Nikon announced their new the D4. A $6000 full sized 16.2 megapixel sensor flagship. It has an expanded ISO range of 100 to 204,800 for low light shooting and allows uncompressed HD output via HDMI.

From the Nikon website:

Multi-area mode Full HD D-Movie with three image area options.

The D4 can record 1080p Full HD video at 30/25 or 24p in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format with broadcast quality full of fine tones and natural colors. Located next to the shutter-release button, the dedicated recording start button makes operation intuitive and easy to access. Maximum recording time for a single clip is 29 min. 59 s. Thanks to Nikon’s latest image-processing algorithms, the D4’s video ensures a smooth look with fewer “jaggies” and less moiré while maintaining sharp edges, even in dark conditions, by using noise-reduction technology designed specifically … Continue Reading

$150 Sci-fi Movie

I saw this featured on IO9 and thought it worth featuring here. It’s technically a trailer for a non existent sci-fi movie named Goliath but I think it stands on it’s own as a visual short story. Maybe because I used to play Mechwarrior and because I am a huge sci-fi fan but I’d go see this film.

The director/creator took scenes from existing games and movies and added in his own footage to tell the story. Supposedly he only spent $150 on the process.
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Compact Light Meter for DSLR Video

I know a lot of you don’t feel the need to meter when shooting digitally but there are plenty of times that a good meter comes in handy. The Sekonic L-308DC is compact and it has different modes for shooting video and stills to keep the interface clean and simple. It sells for under $300 and I especially like it with the free orange rubber grip that you can get from Sekonic when you register it on their site. … Continue Reading

Kodachrome Home Movies of 1962 Vegas

Check out this cool found footage of Vegas in 1962 shot on 16mm Kodachrome. It’s really great to see well shot Kodachrome digitized and color corrected.

This footage ran live off of a Spirit Datacine, through a da Vinci 2k Plus, and then directly into Final Cut for capture as a Quicktime …. any piece of film, no matter what it is, is going to need color correction; its part of the process of going from a physical medium to digital (or analog) image. That said, older film like this does tend to get a little magenta-y, so that was compensated for. Other than that, this stuff was very clean.

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HDSLR Niche Market – Catvertising

The following video is great news for the millions of Canon 5DMKII users who constantly post videos of their cats on Vimeo and Youtube. It’s also justification (finally) for camera reviewers who are so lazy that they don’t bother walking outside to test shoot the camera who feature cats prominently in their reviews.

This trend is being watched carefully by advertisers and HDSLR photographers should take note of statistics like this:

By 2015, cat videos are going to represent 90% of the content on the world wide web – Catvertising

Check out this informative (and totally real) docudrama for more background on this growing trend. … Continue Reading

Audiophile Gear for Photographers

Photographers are often fetishists when it comes to gear and gadgets. I know I am. I think it stems from the fact that we rely on machinery as part of our creative process and we have to be familiar with the inner workings of these machines for our lively hood, especially now that our cameras are delicate electronic instruments. I think the following soldiers chant from Full Metal Jacket sums up our relationship with our gear nicely:

This is my rifle camera. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle camera is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle camera is useless. Without my rifle camera I am useless. I must fire my rifle camera true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy competition…

As a result of this symbiotic relationship with gear, our brains have become hard wired with an affinity and understanding of mechanical gear and electronic gadgets. The fact that photographers are primarily Mac users supports my fetishists theory. We like high style with great design that inspires us which includes iDevices loaded with shoot playlists and recreational soundtracks. … Continue Reading