To tie in with the release of the rather nice new slider from Kessler Crane and the re-launch of my website Eric Kessler has generously come up with the idea of giving one away in conjunction with a fund raising for a charity very close to his heart. The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Make-A-Wish grants children with terminal or life threatening illnesses wishes to give them hope. To give them some joy when they have none. It’s a really special charity.

To be in with a chance of winning a Stealth all you need to do is donate $10 or more (more is better!) to any of your local Make A Wish chapter and send a receipt of it to this address. The fundraiser will last 2 weeks and I will make the live draw on Feb 12th. More details to come.

The great news is Eric will match the donation up to $5000. So get donating!!

About the slider: The Stealth is an all black hybrid between the basic pocket dolly and the top of the range Philip Bloom Slider.  Whereas my one comes with a case, feet, flat head adaptor and crank. This a build your own system (not possible to add the crank. With a starting price of $799.95 for either the 2 foot traveller or 3 foot standard.

Not everyone wants a flashy red ended slider like my model. Some want it all in black and of course some people naturally don’t want my name on it either! So that is where the stealth comes in. Sexy black. Minimalist. As smooth as all the pocket dollys. This is the dolly you don’t want to attract attention to…hence the name “Stealth”

If you want to order it click here or the banner below. It’s generally in stock unlike the Bloom dolly which is available in small batches once a month near the end of each month.

Rode has announced two new microphones the Stereo Videomic Pro and the Videomic HD. The Stereo Videomic Pro features a stereo option ideal for recording music and is available for pre order at a price of $299. Pricing for the

Fenchel Janisch posted one of the first video comparisons of the new Nikon D4 versus the new Canon EOS 1D X. He used Sigma 50mm F 1.4  and Sigma 85mm F 1.4 lenses on both camera as well as shooting

Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand, is now shipping the Hilio high intensity LED lighting fixtures. Daylight color balanced Hilio is a small footprint LED fixture capable of emitting 5600°K illumination over a 20’ to 25’ (6.1 7.6 M) distance without

Chase Jarvis's advice for getting high quality audio for your DSLR on a microbudget? Purchase the Zoom H4n. He says, 'With a little hack, spending a little more cash and buying one extra cable plus a hot shoe adapter you

Here’s an interesting analysis you might be intrigued by – rolling shutter comparisons across a group of 6 Canon and Nikon HDSLR cameras. I don’t think there’s any major surprise here, but it is an interesting read.

Brief Snip

via Rolling shutter comparison test | Too Much Imagination.

I finally come around to piecing together part of some old tests I did last year. Part of my big DSLRs test, comparing Canon EOS 550D, Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, Nikon D3s and Nikon D300s all with 50mm lens on the body, was rolling shutter. I had the rig with which I could simultaneously record with six cameras so it was perfect for that kind of testing.

Rig for simultaneously recording with six DSLR cameras.

This is the rig I had made from various Manfrotto parts. You can read more about the rig here. 

The sample video

But don’t just look at the video – go read the blog – there are comparison photos and measurements and stuff!

[source: tweet]

(cover photo credit: snap from the blog post)

What is more exciting than a big sale? You’re right, new cameras HAHA! Cinevate let us know about this sale they’re having so they can move to a new office. Your big chance!

They’re moving

Cinevate is about to change HQ. We’re moving from our crowded 2nd floor offices to our newly renovated building. We’re pretty excited about moving but not excited about actually having to move stuff – enter the slider sale. That’s right, instead of lugging all of our sliders from one building to another we’d rather put them in a box and send them to our customers. You can now pick up ANY of our sliders at 30% off – our best slider prices ever. The sale runs until February 8th and is available through Cinevate.com.

We’ve also snuck in 2 new slider lengths – a 58 inch version of our Atlas 10, and a 35 inch version of Atlas FLT – both included in the sale.

Sale Flyer

Disclaimer: Cinevate is a planet5D sponsor but we don’t publish this news just because they’re paying us. We publish gear news because our users have asked us to let them know when we find things that may help them improve their shooting. If you’re a gear maker and would like us to publish your HDSLR related products, please contact planet5D

(cover photo credit: snap from cinevate)

This might be product announcement Friday ha! We’ve gotten several new product announcements that we need to get out to you and this is one of several. Chris Skirrow from Lindos Electronics sent this one in.

The Minisonic Mic Kit

Lindos Electronics has just launched The Minisonic Mic Kit. Aimed at musicians and videographers the kit comes with two mics, a preamp, holders for attaching them to mic stands, a lapel clip, a pop-screen for recording vocals and windshields.

Video mics are available separately. They use the same mic capsule as the mics with leads giving the same performance on videos filmed out and about. Their collapsible telescopic design allows for stereo capture, whilst still allowing them to fit into a camera bag or the box that comes with the kit. The video mics also come with a pair of very effective windshields.

The preamp powers the mics, provides gain control and connects to a DSLR camera using a camera adapter. It can also connect to any other recording device (like a portable audio recorder or a computer sound-card for example) using breakout cables to XLRs, jacks etc. The camera adapters optimise the quality of your camera’s audio recording capabilities, minimising the noise added by the camera and correcting the bass response of the camera’s mic input. Recording sound to the camera removes the need for syncing sound from a separate recorder in post, saving time and expense and the bass correction makes music recordings sound fantastic!

Come and watch a demo video!

Priced at £199 for the kit and £99 for the video mics.

Find our more at www.lindos.co.uk ——————–

Lindos Minisonic Mic Kit

And there’s a PR

Lindos Electronics, makers of professional audio test equipment for 30 years, has today (8 December) launched a microphone kit for the consumer market. Compact and affordable, the MiniSonic Mic Kit will bring exceptional-quality audio recording to musicians and home movie makers as well as professional studios.

Priced at just £199, the MiniSonic Mic Kit comprises two miniature, calibrated, omni-directional electret microphones, a stereo preamplifier and accessories.

To experience the natural sound, solid bass and low noise of the MiniSonic Mic Kit, watch a demo video at www.lindos.co.uk/microphones.

Chris Skirrow, proprietor of Lindos Electronics, says: “Lindos Electronics has spent 30 years in the audio test field, so we’re passionate about high audio standards. By adapting our measurement microphones we realised that we could produce a fantastic-sounding piece of recording kit for musicians and HDSLR filmmakers at a fraction of the cost of anything equivalent on the market. We’re excited to be producing the MiniSonic Mic Kit entirely in the UK.”

Key features of the MiniSonic Mic Kit

Two miniature, calibrated, omni-directional electret microphones. Based on our measurement mics, these give superb-quality, uncoloured sound. * A custom-built preamplifier with stereo microphone inputs, independent left- and right-channel gain selection in 10dB steps and balanced/unbalanced professional line-level output to your computer, camera, mixing desk, iPhone or portable audio recorder. * A range of accessories designed for both close-miking and spaced-pair recording, including mic holders (to fit conventional mic stands), a custom-made pop-shield, lapel clip and windshields. * A range of camera adapters, each specially designed to achieve optimal performance from a specific camera, adapting the camera’s mic input for professional line-levels and correcting the camera’s bass roll-off. ** A pair of calibrated video mics which attach to your camera on telescopic mountings, perfect for capturing stereo or dual mono sound when you’re out and about. To experience the clarity and stereo effect of our video mics, watch a demo video at www.lindos.co.uk/video_mics. **

* Included in the MiniSonic Mic Kit (also available separately) ** Priced separately

Uses of the MiniSonic Mic Kit

From aspiring bands to music videographers, home movie makers to professional studios, the exceptional quality and low price of the MiniSonic Mic Kit make it ideal for a wide range of users. Here are just three examples of uses:

Millions of amateur musicians now use social media – especially YouTube – to connect with audiences. With a MiniSonic Mic Kit connected to an iPhone, bedroom musicians can have studio-quality sound on their YouTube videos.

Many modern HDSLR cameras have excellent video capabilities, and increasing numbers of amateurs and professionals are using them to make exciting films. But the audio quality of HDSLRs is often poor, with high noise and very little bass. The MiniSonic Mic Kit and camera adapters (made for specific HDSLRs including the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 and the Canon EOS 5D mkII) mean that film-makers can have sound to match their pictures. Many recording engineers would like to use miniature omni-directional mics when faced with recording challenges like acoustic guitars or choirs. The MiniSonic Mic Kit makes this choice affordable and practical.

Pricing

The MiniSonic Mic Kit is priced extremely competitively to reach as wide a market as possible. The kit is available to buy at www.lindos.co.uk.

MiniSonic Mic Kit: £199 Camera adapters: £35 Telescopic video mics: £89 (pre-order for dispatch 1 February)

Disclaimer: these guys are not a planet5D sponsor tho they have offered to send us a set to review and we haven’t taken them up on it yet. We publish gear news because our users have asked us to let them know when we find things that may help them improve their shooting. If you’re a gear maker and would like us to publish your HDSLR related products, please contact planet5D

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

So here we are. About 6 months later than I had hoped but better late than never. My site is reborn with I hope a cleaner, fresher design. Easier to find content and more pleasing to the eye.

What has changed?

Obviously cosmetically it is totally different. New background by my frequent shooting partner James Miller (maybe Percy is TOO big on my shoulder?). Cleaner less obtrusive ads (yes I know there are two on this post) but the top banner is now just one that rotates every new click instead of 6 rotating. Much nicer. Same with the side banners.

We now have top posts rather than most popular posts. Ones which I think would interest you the most. A nice simple twitter feed and a Facebook “fan page” link, this is where you go to see what I am doing every day if you have not already been there.

Very important to me is my work. So the films section is now organised into which camera they were shot on AND genres…although this is a work in progress. I need to add a Documentary section. Again, nice and organised.

There is also now a better and clearer education section with nice clear sections. If you have any suggestions about organisation of this section or any other please let me know below. I am trying to make this easier for you! I know every single post that I have done but you do not so if you can suggest even easier ways to find stuff do let me know!

In one weeks time I will launch my forum. Yep a forum. I have had a forum before…it was a bit shit to be honest. Then I used buddypress in wordpress. Even worse. So now we will have a proper professional forum integrated perfectly into the website. Comments will still be on the posts unlike say EOSHD where he has moved all comments to the forum. That is not what I want. I want a place where new and experienced can meet and help each other out.

I have had mixed experience with forums in the past. The one that stands head and shoulders over the rest is DVinfo. A place where you can ask questions without being attacked, hounded or banned! It will be a REAL NAME only forum and will have to be heavily moderated. The moderators will be selected amongst my readers. If you interested email me at work@philipbloom.net telling me about yourself and why you would be a good moderator.

It will be a place if you want to ask questions about my work or ask in depth questions…this it’s the place to do it, rather than comments on posts. I want to try and keep the right things in the right places. It may well be a total disaster…but that is down to you. Together we can make it work.

Ideally within it I will also have a database of shooters/ soundos etc in different areas. So if you are looking for help. It’s the place to go to .

There will be different sections for the different cameras. For different gear and to showcase your work. Again, it will be a work in progress but I hope you sign up!

I will try and keep the content up like I have been. I cannot do daily posts as my day job of shooting gets in the way, but I will post as often as I can and will continue to have guest posts like I have had in the past from Preston Kanak and Eve Hazelton. I will continue to be me. Helpful, funny (I hope), occasionally short and snappy (sorry but I am human and get stressed!) but what you see with me is what you get. I am honest, true to my word and don’t do BS! Remember my ethics statement when in doubt!

So bear with me. I doing my best to make the new site as seamless as possible. There WILL be glitches. A lot of them as the site only went live today so it’s the real test!

This film reaffirms why I believe the iPhone is the single most amazing tool ever - in the palm of your hand you have a digital darkroom with an astonishing array of inspiring post-production tools. In one device you have a camera, post-production editing suite, and music production studio. If you hit a creative mental roadblock, you can relax with a game of Angry Birds.

Create wherever you are.

In case you didn’t catch the announcement, Cinevate is offering 30% off all Slider Models until February 8th. Find all the models and pricing options through the banner below.

Sundance’s mission: “After Robert Redford bought as much land as he could to preserve it from development, he ultimately welcomed fellow artists to the place to experience its power.  There, collectively, they made a commitment to free expression, creative experimentation and to cultivating and promoting original thinking independent of common commercial pressure.  They called the place, and their mission, SUNDANCE.”

The HV mission: Is to create a collaborative think tank to inspire and educate filmmakers globally with practical storytelling techniques to improve their speed, expand their creativity and make them more marketable in the entertainment industry.
The pilgrimage to a small town in the Utah mountains has been going on for years. With creativity and wonderful storytelling, the Sundance Film Festival has grown to be the place to see new talent, to acquire films, meet and greet industry insiders and just enjoy the love of filmmaking.  I have been going every other year for about 12 years and it is a source of creative inspiration for me. Connecting with artists that choose the path of original stories, experimentation and just plain independent thinking and not CGI and flash bang is where my head space is.

Snowy Park City, Utah. Image Courtesy of chichi212.com

The parties are epic; the wine and drinks flow and the networking I find is a wonderful time to catch up with many of my directors, colleagues, producers and close friends that make the journey from all over the world.

Maurice Marable

Maurice Marable

This man is a creative force.  The brains behind the incredibly visual Six Feet Under, Entourage, Carnival and Boardwalk Empire promos.  Maurice and II I have worked together for 14 years now and I have to say he is an inspiration to me and a wonderful collaborator.  You can always spot him in the crowd with his signature hat.

Greg Haggart

Greg Haggart

Producer extraordinaire.  Greg and I met on “Act of Valor.”  He was the line producer on the film and from there, we have done about 25 commercials together.  He has been my producer when I direct as well. This man knows how to produce DSLR’s.  He can get money from a stone.  A labor of love for both of us was Po Chan’s film “The Last 3 Minutes”. Greg used his incredible skills to bring Po’s story to life on a very limited budget.  I plan on seeing a couple of films with him by my side, along with many glasses of wine.

Jacob Rosenberg

Me with Jacob Rosenberg, Sundance 2012

Post production genius, talented filmmaker.  Jacob’s Danny Way documentary was just accepted into South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas. He helms at Bandito Brothers, along with Scotty Waugh and Mouse McCoy, the directors of Act of Valor. Jacob and I have been collaborating for about 3 years now on many projects and he is one of the reasons AOV looks so good.  His post work flow on this movie will become the benchmark for all DCP prints in the future. Trail blazer, post innovator.

 Steven Poster

With Steven Poster at Sundance

Head of the Local 600 union. Amazingly talented cinematographer, still photographer, visionary leader and a good friend. This man donates tons of his time to lead a union that he believes in. He unites and inspires thousands. Thank you for all that you do for us and our families. Your hard work never goes unnoticed. We met on 1/19 to show him our new MCS (Master Cinema Series) gear platform for the Canon C300 before he headed up to Park City. Steven and I have had long discussions about the power of the DSLR platform in feature films along with Canon’s wonderful color space and sensor technology. Great conversations, amazing stories, just an incredible filmmaker.

Make a difference, believe in yourself and bring your story to life.  These are the things that I always seem to take away from the Sundance Film Festival.  It fuels me and gives me the ability to never get comfortable and always ready to veer.

This was just posted on twitter by @loricnet and I’m posting it to get the word out quickly – I admit that I don’t understand it yet, but Canon filed for a patent on “RECORDING SUCCESSIVE FRAMES OF RAW SENSOR DATA DEPICTING A MOVING SCENE” – it was filed on July 21, 2010 and the document was published today, Jan 26, 2012

Patent Abstract

The recording of successive frames of raw sensor data depicting a moving scene is provided. The raw sensor data comprises pixel data for an image sensor having pixels arranged in correspondence to a mosaic of plural different colors in a color filter array. A first sampling mosaic pattern for sampling the pixel data at a first resolution is designated. A second sampling mosaic pattern for sampling the pixel data at a second resolution which is lower than the first resolution is designated. One of the first or the second sampling mosaic patterns is selected for a frame by applying a predetermined rule. Pixel data of the frame is sampled using the selected sampling mosaic pattern. The sampled pixel data for the frame is recorded onto a recording medium.

Discussion

Like I said, I’ve just seen this and so I don’t quite understand it yet, maybe my friend Craig over at Canonrumors.com will help me out.

I also can’t get the images to display

(cover photo credit: snap from the video)

This is something I've been wanting to do for some time now: record a time-lapse of me doing an oil painting.

Usually I use a set of painting knives to lay the paint on the canvas. However, this time I decided to use brushes since I have not used brushes in a long time. First, I start with a ground of burnt sienna on stretched canvas. The burnt sienna sparkles through the semi-transparent layers of paint, adding a vibrancy to the finished painting. I then draw in the shapes of the lily pads. Next comes the water. I finish the painting by embellishing the lily pads, adding the lily flower, and signing the painting. I did it all in one day. There is something about painting that makes you forget the passage of time.

The time-lapse was taken with my Canon 5D Mark II. I used a 24-70mm f2.8 L lens. In retrospect, I should have stuck with using one of my old manual Nikor lenses so as to avoid flickering between shots.

Below is the finished painting. Yes, it's for sale. Contact me by email if you are interested.

The Jade Pond - Oil Painting By Carl Olson, Jr.

Grand Rapids MI Workshop

By Dan Chung

Wide angle users with APS-C/Super35mm cameras are well catered for by the excellent Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. It’s my personal favourite ultra wide angle zoom thanks to it’s constant f2.8 aperture and 77mm filter thread size. It is now firmly established as the number one choice for many large sensor video camera shooters because there is no direct equivalent from Canon or Nikon. Duclos lenses makes an excellent conversion of this lens which adds better geared manual focus, aperture rings and optionally a PL mount.

The Tokina AT-X 11-16 f/2.8 PRO DX Ⅱ

This week Nikonrumors.com is reporting that Tokina has announced a version 2 of the lens which they have said has a new aspherical element, ultra-low dispersion glass and faster autofocus motor (not that I would use AF for video with this lens). It’s too soon to say if this version 2 lens is substantially better than the old one, but if it is then it is sure to be popular. Availability is said to be March for the Nikon fit version and July for the EOS one.

IFC's hit original comedy series Portlandia (@PortlandiaTV) brings viewers a romanticized and dreamy rendering of Portland, Ore., while gently satirizing the earnest Pacific Northwest community. Fred Armisen, who is on Saturday Night Live, and Carrie Brownstein (@Carrie_Rachel), guitarist and vocalist

By Dan Chung

Fotodiox filter adapter for Nikon 14-24mm f2.8

Right in time for the launch of the Nikon D4 and Canon EOS-1DX comes an elegant front filter solution from Fotodiox that allows the use of screw in neutral density filters on the popular 14-24mm f2.8 Nikkor lens. The lens is very sharp and has been very popular with both Nikon and Canon shooters (who use a G lens adapter) looking for a fast ultrawide zoom. There are few full frame alternatives and none at f2.8.

For video DSLR use there has always been the issue of how to fit a ND filter. Up till now there hasn’t been any simple screw in solution for an ultra-wide zoom lens on full frame cameras. The only option was to add ND to the Nikkor 14-24mm was to put gels on the back of the lens, or buy a custom Lee filter square filter holder.

The Fotodiox adapter kit complete with 2 ND filters

The Fotodiox solution consists of a metal adapter ring that attaches to the lens that has a huge145mm filter thread on the front and a custom lens cap. ND filters in this size would usually be quite expensive but Fotodiox offers their own moderately priced ND4 and ND8 filters along with a circular polariser. Hopefully they will bring stronger ND filters as well soon. The price for a kit with the adapter, cap, ND4 and ND8 is $299.95.

You can see more about here.

February 2012 Digital Video | Online Index     update Extremely Loud && Incredibly Close Opts for Codex ARRIRAW Workflow Fujinon Captures Rescue of Otter 501 Original Uncovers Sunken Treasure with Pirate Island Biscardi Posts Environmental Series Panasonic Cameras