12Apr Sit down talk with the guys from Next Wave DV
Ian and I had a chance to sit down with Tony and Sean from Next Wave DV yesterday morning. It was a bit informal but we had a pretty good time. I might have been off on a few things, i.e. 2.7k on the gopro not 2.5k and 32,000 iso is 8 stops not 10, but at 8 a.m. you make a few mistakes. Regardless, had a great time talking with Tony and Sean.
09Apr First look at the Panasonic GH4k – Hands on
Panasonic was kind enough to let us play around with the Panasonic GH4 and film at their booth. Not a whole lot has changed in terms of shape and design with the GH4. The body feels very similar to the GH3 I was playing around with last week. Up close the screen looked pretty nice and the viewfinder seemed to be improved. Both 1600 ISO and 3200 ISO looked good on screen but, we didn’t get a chance to record any actually footage in camera. If I get a chance i’d like to try that sometime today or tomorrow.
One thing to note is that Panasonic has finally fixed the on screen displays while recording. When I was playing around with the GH3 last week, i found it incredibly annoying that the on screen displays would go blank after about 10 or 20 seconds of shooting. The on screen displays seem to stay on indefinitely. I’ll keep you posted as our NAB adventures continue.
08Apr Sony a7s high ISO testing up to 80,000 – I’m in love
I mentioned last night that I was very impressed with the Sony a7s low light performance. But sometimes you really have to see it to believe it. Sony was kind enough to let me hang out at their booth and shoot these high ISO tests. They wouldn’t let me use a memory card in the prototype camera but they did allow me to shoot the display monitor as I shifted through the ISO range.
The Sony a7s blows everything else out of the water. Low light performance on the a7s is simply outstanding. I don’t know when I’d ever need to shoot at ISO 80,000, but the Sony can do it and it does it better than the c100 or 5d mark III by a huge margin.
I’ll keep you posted on my continued fun at NAB.
08Apr Que Audio Q 210 Hybrid Boom mic audio kit
Just announced by Que Audio is the Q210 Hybrid boom mic audio kit. We used the audio directly from the Q 210 to shoot this video. For $349 it’s a pretty decent little kit. This isn’t going to replace larger more expensive booms, but it’s nice and compact and seems pretty decent for travel purposes.
I’d like to see how this stacks up against other boom mics in it’s price range so I’ve added this to my list of things to review this year. Look forward to that coming up in the next few months. Onward to more NAB coverage!
08Apr DSLR FILM NOOB Travel log
Quick update on our travel to NAB. Almost missed our flight, but everything ended up working out. I’ll keep you posted as our adventure continues.
08Apr Quick Look at our NAB kit with Ian the Camera guy
Here’s a quick behind the scenes look at what Ian and I are traveling with this week at NAB. I let him dig through my camera bags and pick out his own kit. It isn’t anything crazy, just a simple well rounded kit for conference coverage.
- Canon c100
- Canon 16-35mm f2.8 lens
- Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 lens
- Canon 35mm f1.4 lens
- Sennheiser G2 wireless system
- Shure SM57 Microphone
Pretty much everything you need to cover a conference in a single mid size camera bag. I often forget to point the mic at myself when shooting interviews so I wear a lav mic, but if you can remember to point the microphone correctly, you can usually get away with a single wireless handheld.
We’ve been on the show floor all day seeing a lot of interesting stuff. I’ll keep you posted as I get time and internet access.
07Apr Changing my mind about the Sony a7s
I was a little disappointed with Sony a7s announcement yesterday. I was hoping for internal 4k recording and that seemed to be the biggest disappointment for me. I had almost marked the Sony a7s off my list until I had a chance to play around with it this afternoon. Even though the internal 4k recording option was pretty much a no go, the low light performance was, for a lack of another term, amazing.
I spent 45 minutes at the sony booth playing around with the a7s today and I was basically blown away. I’ve shot on the 5d mark III for years and I trust it for shots up to ISO 6400, the Sony a7s blows it out of the water. Ian and I shot from ISO 32,000 all the way up to ISO 80,000. Even at ISO 80,000 the noise was less than a 5d mark III at ISO 6400. The Sony a7s is incredible in low light and puts the c100/c300 to shame.
While I’m disappointed with the lack of 4k internal recording, I think low light performance makes the Sony a7s an all around winner for 1080p applications. The added benefit of adapting Canon lenses makes the Sony a7s a great option for future upgrades. I’ve added the a7s to my list of things to buy.
07Apr Pre NAB with Ian my camera guy
Ian is currently driving as we head off to DIA to fly out to NAB this morning. I’ll keep you posted on the adventure as it unfolds.
06Apr Sony Alpha a7s 4k camera announcement. Does not record 4k internally!
Well the Sony press conference didn’t provide much in the way of information about the Sony a7s. Here’s what we have learned.
- Ultra-High ISO sensitivity of ISO 50 to 409,600 (standard setting of ISO 200 to 104,400 in movie mode)
- Clean 4k HDMI video output “using the worlds first full pixel read-out without pixel binning”
- The a7s will be compatible with Sony’s XLR-K1M audio adapter interface
- Recording format S-log2, XAVC-S 50Mbps 1080p and 720p
- Supports 120fps at 720p
- Does not record 4k internally
Overall the information is pretty vague. Sony showed off some ISO 12,800 shots that looked pretty darn good, but didn’t mention release date, pricing, or cover any of the other in depth information about the camera. Seems like Sony simply wanted to say “me to” in the face of the Panasonic GH4 announcement.
Very disappointing that the camera is unable to record 4k internally. No idea what Sony was thinking on that one. With no sign of release in the near future, no internal 4k, and no pricing the Sony a7s seems to be a no go for video at this point. I’ll keep you posted as i find out more.
Update: Looks like pricing is out $2500 for the body, shipping in the next 2 months.
06Apr Live NAB 2014 Live BLOG
On top of the daily updates I’ll be posting as I cover NAB, I’ve also added a new tab to the site. This tab will have live blog updates gathered from myself as well as 20 other contributors on the NAB show floor. This will be updated 24 hours a day with photos and info from all over NAB as events unfold. Be sure to check it out for regular updates! Special thanks to Mitch from planet5D.com for getting this all setup.
