Creative approach to filmmaking and editing can provide really simple solutions. Imagine you had three days to prepare for, shoot and edit a scene. In his How I would film it: dialogue scene by waterfall Luke Neumann presents a number of tricks to deal with some issues that can be foreseeable and some that cannot. Watch the step-by-step tutorial for setup, audio recording, lighting and editing.
Neumann suggests that working with limited time, resources and crew filmmaking will bring challenges no matter what you are doing: "I think this is a setup a lot us have. As in the filmmakers we don’t have big crews. Problem solving is something that I think we all deal with from time to time and maybe seeing the way I went about solving some of these problems will help you out down the line in a certain sticky situation you might get into."
And just for the record - Neumann’s gear list:
Canon 5D Mark III
Panasonic Lumix Gh2 (Behind the Scenes)
Juiced Link Box
Rode NTG-3
The Canon EOS 100D is the world’s smallest and lightest APS-C DSLR camera that offers the full DSLR experience, and is a great product if you want to have a reliable, but small and light camera. The guys at DigitalRev took a look at Canon's tiny newcomer and while they report that the 100D is not quite compact-sized, it still does compete with some mirrorless cameras in terms of size. The camera has a newly developed 18.0-megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor which should perform better than the one you can find in the older budget models, and a high-performance DIGIC 5 Image Processor. The AF system is also new and it includes a Hybrid CMOS AF II sensor, which provides a wider focus area when shooting photos or video in Live View mode, and a continuous AF speed that's increased from previous EOS models. The camera is available for an estimated retail price of $649.99 (body). Anyway check out the video review for some tasty details!
And here are the main specs (via DPreview):
Small form factor DSLR weighing 400g/14oz.
18MP APS-C sensor with 14-bit DIGIC 5 processor
'Hybrid CMOS AF II' system with 80% frame coverage
Continuous autofocus in movie mode with subject tracking
ISO 100-12800 (expandable to ISO 25600)
4 fps continuous shooting
1080p30 video recording, monaural microphone (stereo input jack)
3-inch fixed capacitive touch-screen (same as EOS M)
9 point AF (central sensor is cross-type)
'Creative Filters' image-processing controls, previewed live on-screen
The new Magic Lantern hack version is probably one of the most important updates made by this gifted team and it brings the Canon 5D Mark III to a completely new level! Continous 24fps RAW video shooting, wow, who would've expected that? Let's not forget though that the 5D Mark III is a high-end DSLR, so it is not cheap and as Magic Lantern is not approved nor endorsed by Canon in any way, using it will probably void your warranty. This is why while this firmware hack is an amazing thing and allows you to shoot videos in amazing quality, you should learn how to use the new options and make sure that you install the hack with accordance to the instructions (check out the FAQ section, here). Kraig Adams did a great video tutorial that explains in detail how to install and use the Magic Lantern hack, so if you want to be sure that you do everything correctly, don't miss this video!
What's more, Cinema5D did a short sample video, so if you want to see what's the quality of the footage coming out of the camera in RAW shooting mode, make sure to check it out. Of course for the best quality, you should download the video from Vimeo.
And here's some more info on the video:
"RAW recording in this camera price range was till now only possible with the Blackmagic cinema camera which has a relatively small sensor, un satisfactory low light performance and in some conditions a major amount of moire. By introducing a RAW recording possibility for the Canon 5d MarkIII you can now enjoy full frame image, Canon’s extremely clean high ISO performance and almost moire free footage
The high quality footage coming out from the camera in RAW mode is simply INSANE!. I recommend downloading and watching it on a big screen in order to appreciate what ML did. Yes, there are still some glitches like horizontal color lines popping up un-expectedly in the footage (you can see one at 00:53:22 ) and the actual digging in the ML menu in order to activate RAW recording can be a pain but all in all this feature implementation is huge!"
Last but not least, here's the equipment that was used to shoot this great video (via Cinema5D):
As you might already know, the Magic Lantern team did a huge thing - they enabled continous 24fps RAW HD video recording on the Canon 5D Mark III. This can be a game changer and Andrew Reid just published a new test video in which he compares the Canon 5D Mark III RAW vs H.264. His aim was to match the RAW as closely in post to the H.264 as possible and he notes that this footage could look even better if it was craded more artistically - however the purpose of the video was to see how each perform in low light. Let's not forget that the Canon 5D Mark III even without the hack performs great in low light for a DSLR, but the Magic Lantern update makes a big difference. Just make sure not to judge the noise from the Vimeo footage as the compression leaves its mark on the video. You can download the DNG file from here if you want to grade it yourself.
Andrew also writes:
"As you can see Magic Lantern's raw is not just cleaner than the already fantastic performing 5D Mark III was in low light, it is several fathoms above in terms of tonality, colour, highlight roll off, latitude and shadow detail. There's massively more data in the image.
This is a performance worth raving about. The ISO 6400 is easily as clean as the Canon C300, the current $15,000 low light king and ISO 12,800 exposures are perfectly doable! Yet with the power of raw you have full control over noise reduction in post, dynamic range, white balance and highlight / shadow retention unlike on the C300."
Andrew plans to shoot a comparison between the 5D Mark III with the Magic Lantern hack and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, but he already reports that the 5D Mark III has some advantages on the specs sheet (via EOS HD):
Less noisy (in low light)
Less noisy (no fan!)
Small interchangeable battery and good run times on one charge considering tiny battery
Full frame sensor
60fps raw (at 720p… In 1080p the data rate is too high for the CF card)
22MP stills
Smaller and lighter form factor
More physical controls
For more information on this low light test, head over to Andrew's website (here).
The cameras that we find in smartphones are getting better and better and now they can offer some amazing picture quality. HTC One is one of the hottest premieres of 2013 and it is also features a 4 "ultrapixels" CMOS sensor, that delivers cleaner images than the higher-resolution iPhone 4s. In good light conditions the HTC One might not produce as good pictures as some other top smartphones, but it can be the king of low light. Besides in reality pictures and videos taken in good light are also stunning - especially if you take into consideration that this is still just a phone, so the lens and the sensor are tiny. Digital Photography Review did a great test of the camera possibilities and here are some samples:
And now some sample images taken in daylight:
As you can see the camera performs reasonably well. The first daylight image is a little bit overexposed, but it still looks great for a smartphone. Sadly you cannot set the exposure manually, but this is nothing new:
"On the HTC One's default camera app no "traditional" exposure compensation is available. Instead exposure is linked to the focus point, very much like on Apple's iPhone. If you tap and focus on a bright part of your scene you'll get a darker exposure and the other way around. The samples below illustrate how this works, the green square indicates the focus/exposure point. For comparison purposes we have also included a shot taken in HDR mode. (...) Sometimes you might have to tap a few different areas before you get the desired exposure but mostly this system works quite decently and makes sure your focus area is well exposed. However, the tap-exposure works best in scenes with balanced lighting."
But pictures are not everything and for many what counts is the video quality. Of course you shouldn't expect footage similar to the one produced by DSLR cameras or even higher-end pocket cameras, nevertheless HTC One offers stunning video quality (especially if you consider, that this is a YT video, so recompressed) - just check out this sample below - really nice for a phone:
Sadly the quality drops if you shoot in HDR mode - the frame is quite heavily cropped and then resampled to 1080p and this affects, for obvious resons, the quality.
Anyway still a nice piece of hardware, so if you want to find out more on it, make sure to read the whole article - you will find it here.
