11Jan Sony RX10 with the XLR-K1M adapter – First impressions
The weather was nice this afternoon so I took the opportunity to run a few quick tests with the Sony RX10. After a little bit of playing around in the menus I can safely say that the Sony XLR-K1M mic adapter works perfectly with the RX10 camera. Simply slide the smart adapter into the camera’s hot shoe, turn off auto gain and you start getting good clean audio from the XLR-K1M mic. Note that since the proprietary hot shoe takes up the only mount on the camera, you’ll need a flash grip to make things work. The one used for testing is only $12 on B&H.
The Sony XLR-K1M’s included microphone is pretty decent, though not world changing. In the few tests I’ve done so far I would put it just above the audio quality of a RODE videomic pro, with a little bit better side rejection and a bit more reach. The controls on the XLR-K1M adapter cover everything you’ll need, with phantom power for both channels, 0db to -20db attenuation, low pass filters, and individual volume controls for each channel, you shouldn’t have a problem setting up audio.
Audio monitoring is pretty easy with the built in headphone jack, though you’ll have to adjust the headphone output levels via the menu. The HDMI port is a micro instead of a mini which is the same size you get on a Gopro Hero 3. It’s a little more fragile but it also keeps the camera nice and compact. Basically this is a full fledged all in one video camera, with a nice built in lens, and good low light performance, that also happens to be a good point and shoot.
It’s pretty easy to configure a clean HDMI output on the Sony RX10, in this case I have it plugged into the SmallHD DP4 monitor. No blinking or screen dropouts and you still get full display on the cameras built in screen. Video quality on the Sony RX10 looks nice though you do lose a little bit of the shallow depth of field with the 1 inch sensor. High ISO performance is in the range of a 5d mark II body with 3200 ISO and under looking pretty decent. I’ll try and get some test clips posted sometime next week.
I have yet to test out the wifi and remote phone apps for the Sony RX10 and I was surprised to find that the camera has a built in 3 stop ND filter which is pretty impressive for a camera this small. I’ll be playing around with the camera some more over the next week or so and posting more thoughts on the Sony RX10 and XLR-K1M audio adapter as I get used to it’s operation. So far it’s a pretty impressive camera, it would probably be perfect for ENG work and filmmakers who really need to travel light.
11Jan TP-Link TL MR3040 wireless DSLR monitor demo
I finally got around to filming a video demonstration of the TP-Link TL MR3040 router being used as a wireless monitor. As you can see from the video above, frame rates over wireless N are pretty decent, i’m getting something close to 20fps in the demo. As you can see from the video lag is minimal (less than a 2 frames) making this a useful option for jibs and steadicams.
A number of you have asked about battery life and max distance. I’ve been getting around 2 1/2 to 3 hours off of a single charge, you can also power the unit via a USB battery pack or rechargeable batteries. A decent usb battery pack should get you 6 or 7 hours of use. As for distance, in my testing lag and slower frame rates start to pop up at about 35 to 40 feet line of site. That’s not enough distance for a quadcopter, but should be more than enough to keep track of a steadicam operator or for use as a director’s monitor.
As for mounting this to a cold shoe, i’ve found one option so far. This guy can be had for around $20. It basically glues to the bottom of your TP-Link TL MR3040 router, it’s a bit overpriced, but it is an option if you don’t want to velcro this to your camera. I’m looking into a CNC cut design for the noob store for half the price, if I come up with something I’ll let you know.
Overall the TP-Link TL MR3040 router is a pretty decent option for $30. If you work by yourself and need to speak into the camera this is a great control option and as a monitor/camera controller combo it’s very handy to have around. For the price I’d say the MR3040 router is well worth having in your bag.
08Jan Sony RX10 & XLR-K1M adapter
I’ve been wanting to get a Sony RX10 in for review for awhile now. With a focal range of 24-200mm (35mm equivalent) and a constant f2.8 across the entire range, the Sony RX10 looks like a pretty decent camera on paper. On top of that it’s supposed to be compatible with the Sony XLR-K1M adapter (on the right) which gives it a full range of audio input functionality. Could this be a very nice little hybrid video camera?
Up close the Sony RX10 is a nice looking camera. The grip and design of the body in general makes it feel like a very skinny DSLR. Aperture and zoom ring operate nicely on the lens and all of the settings can be controlled with buttons. $1200 is a bit much for what I would normally call a point and shoot camera, but the Sony RX10 gives you the feel of a real DSLR and the 24-200mm f2.8 lens seems pretty nice.
If all goes well I’ll have a chance to pair up the Sony XLR-K1M adapter with the Sony RX10 this weekend. I’ll post some more info once i’ve had a chance to get a feel for it. I also plan to test out the clean HDMI out with Atomos Ninja to see how much improvement that provides. I’ll keep you posted.
07Jan Sony FDR-AX100 4K Camera for $2000
CES is in full swing right now and Sony just announced a 4k prosumer camera. At a list price of $2000, the Sony FDR-AX100 is currently one of the lowest priced 4k cameras to be announced to date. The FDR-AX100 appears to be based around the same 20.2MP 1″ Exmor R CMOS Sensor used in the Sony RX10 and uses H.264 level 5.2 video encoding under the label XAVC S to record 3840 x 2160p to SDXC cards.
This camera brings good news and bad news. The good news is that compression technology is getting to the price point where 4k can be offered in a prosumer camera that records to SDXC cards. The bad news is that XAVC like AVCHD was in the early days, isn’t widely supported yet. Infact direct codec support for XAVC isn’t currently supported by most NLE. XAVC editing is likely to be very processor intensive. Sony doesn’t actually give any specific requirements for real time playback but does offer up this statement.
the increased complexity of modern coding schemes do demand more computational power, which could be a major challenge when migrating the production infrastructure and associated workflow from one generation to the next. The amount of processing power requirements to decode a certain compressed bit stream is extremely critical when multiple files are simultaneously used in an edit session.
Without coming right out and saying it, it seems Sony is implying that you’ll need one hell of a machine in order to edit XAVC natively. While the Sony FDR-AX100 offers the ability to record 4k, it seems it could be awhile before a standard desktop is up to the challenge of editing it.
06Jan Wireless frequencies are going to disappear in 2014
Not the best news to start the year off, but it seems to be under reported. The FCC has proposed plans to eliminate public use of frequencies between 600 MHz and 700 MHz by the end of this year. You might recall that back in 2010 the FCC sold off the frequencies between 700 MHz and 800 MHz, this new proposed action will reduce public wireless UHF frequencies to the limited range of 500 to 600 MHz in the United States.
So how does this affect filmmakers? If you use wireless UHF microphone systems in your productions, this could affect you. I currently use 3 sets of Sennheiser G2 wireless body packs, two of these units are in the 500 MHz range which will remain free to use, but one set uses the upper 600 MHz band. That unit will become illegal once the auctions take place.
There are still 600 MHz band wireless units for sale and the price is the same as the 500 MHz units. If you plan to spend your hard earned money on a wireless UHF microphone system anytime in the near future, I highly recommend you look for units that operate in the 500 MHz range.
For small productions in lightly populated areas this shouldn’t be a huge issue. Sell off your 600 MHz stuff and pick up 500 MHz stuff before the FCC auctions take effect. For people working in high population areas, large productions, and plays this could be a big issue.
In many cities there is a theater district where 5 or 6 plays are performed within a 5 block radius each night. Before 2010 these theater districts had the option to use frequencies between 500 MHz and 800 MHz. After 2010 those frequencies were reduced by one third and by the end of this year the remaining spectrum would be cut in half. There are a lot of actors and actresses on stage at any given time in a theater production and each of them needs a wireless mic. Have enough plays going on at the same time and you’ll have a pretty hard time finding a clear channel.
This could have an effect on small productions as well. Imagine a car accident happens a few blocks away from your production location. Six or 7 news vans show up to cover the event in all it’s gory detail. The news anchors start powering up their wireless mics as well as units for interviews with the locals. Before you know it everyone of your wireless microphones on your small production are giving you interference and it’s either switch to a boom mic or give up for the day.
These are of course worse case scenarios, but it’s still something to think about. Hopefully this knowledge will save a few of you from buying 600 MHz units over the course of this year and get you to start thinking about the ever decreasing public bandwidth available for filmmakers.
UPDATE: A few of you have asked for more info, if you really want to dig into it here’s the briefing. You’ll find it under subsection “B” of “FORWARD AUCTION—RECONFIGURING THE UHF BAND”. It’s dry reading with big effects on spectrum.
26Dec Redrock Micro Cobalt Cage – First impressions
Just received the Redrock Micro Cobalt cage and it’s turning out to be one of the best Hero 3 camera cages on the market. Even without the battery power option it puts the Tehkron Gopro Hero 3 cage to shame.
Putting it side by side with its closest competitor the Combat cage, you can see that the form factor is pretty much the same. The Combat cage is slightly wider while the Cobalt cage is a little bit taller.
When comparing the two from the top down, you can see that the Cobalt cage (right) is slightly thicker than the Combat cage (left). The thickness actually allows the cage to protect the entire camera in metal, while the Combat cage only protects the sides.
It’s also easy to see that the Cobalt cage (right) has a lot more mounting points than the Combat cage (left). The access port for HDMI and USB is also quit a bit wider, making it easier to access.
Adding and removing the hero 3 from the Cobalt cage only requires a single thumb screw. No tools are needed. Sliding the Hero 3 in and out of the cage is pretty painless.
The Cobalt cage also includes a front cover plate. This allows you to protect the camera’s lens when not in use. You don’t have to worry about scratching the lens or causing any damage when tossing the Hero 3 into your camera bag.
The other nice feature is that the Redrock Micro Cobalt cage also includes a Hero 3 style mounting option. If you’ve already invested in a lot of devices that use this type of mount, simply unscrew the flat plate and attach the Hero 3 style attachment plate. With that installed you can use this on any device or mounting plate that would except the Hero 3 housing. I’ll post some more once I’ve had a chance to play around with it. So far i’m pretty impressed for the price.
24Dec Canon 5d mark III still at $2638
The Canon EOS 5D Mark III saw a price spike over the first few months of Magic Lantern’s RAW video exploit, but now it seems the prices are starting to settle out. Sites like B&H are selling the 5d mark III for $2699 with free shipping and even the somewhat infamous Bigvalueinc on ebay is only offering a $61 savings ($2638 with free shipping). Now that the honeymoon period of ML RAW on the 5dmkIII is over, what’s next?
There are rumors that the 7d will not have a mark II released in 2014, instead Canon will be focusing on lenses next year. However with the price of the 6d falling and stabilizing at around $1400 and the 5d mark III starting to settle out at around $2600, it feels like Canon is preparing for a new camera body release.
Canon’s cinema line of cameras has filled out the $10,000 and above market, but the c100 is really all they have going for them below that price point. Will the next “cinema” camera simply be a rebranded APS-C body with a headphone jack? If so, is that really enough to move people into a camera body upgrade? If that’s all it takes you can already pick up cameras like the Nikon d600 for around $1300 with a headphone jack included. The Nikon d600 even offers up clean HDMI output (with audio) in that same $1300 body.
I’m guessing that a headphone jack and clean HDMI output might be all the innovation we’ll see from Canon in it’s APS-C lineup in 2014 if we’re lucky. After all, they haven’t really done anything with the APS-C sensor in the past 3 or 4 years. Even the 70d’s “new” 20.2 megapixel sensor only gives you “Approx. 19.0 megapixels” which is exactly the same as the 7d before it. Those extra pixels are simply for focusing and end up reducing the photo site by 0.2 µm square. Innovations might be happening fast but as usual Canon’s moving slow.
It’ll at least be interesting to see what Nikon has to offer next year as they try to cram every feature possible into their newer DSLR lineup. They don’t have a video camera market to defend, so they’ve been a lot more open to the idea of providing new features. If we’re lucky it’ll force Canon to do the same.
23Dec Shark Slider S1 in the wild
I took the Shark Slider S1 out for it’s first round of shooting and so far it’s been pretty impressive. I’ll post some test shots once I get the footage in but everything I shot on set looked great. The flywheel sliding action really does an excellent job of achieving nice smooth moves.
On a side note, if you plan to use the Shark Slider for a bathtub shoot, fully extended it’s about the length of a normal sized bathtub. In order to fit the slider and stands into this tiny little bathroom we had to work with I had to assemble it in the 8 inches between the sink and the bathtub. It just barely fit in this space but with a 16-35mm f2.8 lens we were able to get the fx shots we needed.
After 20 hours of shooting with the Shark Slider the only real complaint I have is leveling. Fully extended the round travel rods have a little bit of flex to them. If you don’t have both tripod stands holding each side flat, the rods can twist just enough to bind up the slider towards the end of the slide. I started out using a Manfrotto magic arm for one side of the support, but the little bit of flex in it’s design was enough to mess up a few slides. Once we figured this out I switched over to two heavy duty tripod stands and that solved the problem. Not really something you would think about, but something to keep in mind.
I’ll post some slider demo shots from the shoot after Christmas. The Shark Slider so far is still one of the best sliders I’ve used for under $1000. Also special thanks to Jazmyne Van Houten for putting up with almost 3 hours in a bathtub while we set up and shot the special effects scenes.
20Dec Is Digital Bolex giving it’s kickstarter backers the shaft?
The Digital Bolex d16 finally has a release date after more than a year of waiting, but are they backpedaling on one of their promises to backers? In the stretch goal on the Digital Bolex kickstarter page it says:
If we reach $250,000 we’ll include an additional mount of your choice to anyone who buys a camera.
On April 11 2012 they met that stretch goal with a final backing of $262,661. Now Digital Bolex is telling backers that they will have to pay an additional amount for anyone that requested a PL mount for their camera. In a statement from Joe Rubinstein of Digital Bolex he writes:
What we were implying was a mount of your choice from the ones we make. At the time we didn’t anticipate other companies making our mounts for us.
Ironically the Digital Bolex camera is being made by another company (Ienso), as are most of the other parts going into the camera’s production. It seems to me it’s simply another case of kickstarter campaigns over promising and under delivering.
On the bright side, at least the camera actually materialized and didn’t end up as vaporware. Still, if you’re a backer I could see this being a big disappointment, a C-mount lens adapter isn’t horrible, but I could see many people wanting to use super 16 lenses with PL adapters on this camera.
In the end i’m glad to see cameras like the Digital Bolex being released into the world. More competition and selection leads to more innovation and better pricing. Maybe other kickstarter campaigns will take note, people are always happier when you under promise and over deliver instead of the other way around.
19Dec Canon 24-70mm f2.8 cinema converted lens
I’ve been seeing these start to pop up on ebay. It’s a Canon 24-70mm f2.8 lens that’s had a cinema conversion done. Basically this means that they’ve machined a new housing and added focus and zoom rings to the lens. The modification looks pretty sharp and the markup doesn’t seem outrageous. At the time of this writing, there are a few on ebay for $1526 with shipping
which is roughly a $400 mark up from the current price of a Canon 24-70mm (around $1100).
Is it worth it? Well if you already have a matte box, follow focus, and regularly use cinema modded lenses then it might be. Sometimes these conversations can run over $1000, so $400 doesn’t seem like a horrible price, though I’m guessing once these gain some traction the price will jump up closer to $2400. There are already a few listed in that price range mixed in with the $1500 units.
