Via Zoom-in Online comes this quick tip on automatically matching images to song beat points (well, more or less automatically). Watch the video tip here.

A company called Microvision is working with Motorola and others to integrate “Pico” projector tech into mobile devices like cellphones. Devices are apparently in the works, and their concept gallery shows what could be one of the more popular applications…iPod integration. Looks very interesting, hopefully we’ll see the resulting devices sooner rather than later.

Zoom-in has a short audio interview with Adobe’s Hart Shafer from the NAB expo floor. They talk specifically about the integration within Adobe Production Premium CS3.

Around NAB CoreMelt announced new plugin packages for FCP and After Effects Mac; ImageFlow Fx 1.12 and CoreMelt transitions. ImageFlow Fx is a set of plugins that deal specifically with still images. You can quickly created complex-looking animations and image manipulations without tedious keyframing. It comes with two free non-expiring plugins called “Continuous Random Pan” and “Filmstrip.” PolyChrome transitions is a 40-plugin package of 10-bit transitions with fine-grained control over parameters. The free trial also includes 4 freebies.

Since CoreMelt plugins are 10-bit, naturally they have written a few white papers on how to leverage these plugins and effects to complete 10-bit finishing workflows in Final Cut Pro. Here’s a writeup on how to finish Red Digital Cinema footage within FCP, retaining maximum color information. For more details on 10-bit codec and effects pitfalls, read this article.

One of the fantastic panels at NAB 2008 was the A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget Super Session that featured Stu Maschwitz, Dave Basulto, Alex Lindsay, Taylor Wigton, and Brian Valente of Redrock Micro. You can watch about 45 minutes of this EXCELLENT discussion at ProLost, thanks to a bootleg video obtained by Dave Basulto and Mark Christiansen. In addition to sponsoring/organizing the panel, Redrock Micro brought the FreshDV film crew in afterwards for a personal Q&A with the panel of filmmakers. We will be releasing that video very soon, so stay tuned.

Cinematech has a nice summary of three current online film financing options, IndieGoGo, ArtistShare and IndieMaverick.

Panasonic solid-state shooters have had a fantastic tool called P2 Genie for quite some time now. The software simplifies and automates the process of dumping P2 cards to disk so they can be re-used in a shoot. I’ve used it, and it works beautifully. So I was delighted today to see a similar application for Sony SxS shooters, ShotPut EXpress. It’s cross-platform for PC and Intel-Mac users, and at just $49 it looks like a worthy investment. Here’s the scoop:

ShotPut EXpress features Single card (manual) and Multiple card (auto) modes. Simply insert the SxS card into a PowerBook or Notebook’s ExpressCard slot and ShotPut EXpress makes secure, verified copies of the SxS card’s video contents (the BPAV folder) in up to three (3) locations. ShotPut EXpress makes a printable activities report log of all the file transfer activities. This text file shows all the details including names of cards and files, the copy destination names, file sizes, duration of each transfer and aggregate transfer time, date, etc. A great way to document and organize your project and billable time.

Fast Copying: Perform copies at top speed without the overhead of Finder or Explorer.
Automatic or Manual Copies: Manually select one or more drives to copy. Or use the auto offload mode to sequentially copy SxS cards upon insertion.
Easy Folder Naming: Save time and improve consistency and organization by auto-naming the copy folders.
Improve Workflow: Make up to 3 simultaneous SxS card copies at the same time.
Reformat Cards: After offloading is finished, automatically Erase the BPAV folder contents and Rename the card so it’s ready to return to the camera.
Security: Verify byte-to-byte comparisons of your media copies to ensure integrity of the files.
Verification Report: Create a record of file transfer activity, how the copies were named, time, date, etc. Save complete details for project organization and billable time.
Print Offload Log: Offload results are presented in a text file, printable with the click of a button.
Session Error Checking: Prevents overwriting of existing folders and duplicate offloading of the same card.
Progress Bar: Displays overall percent completion and file-by-file progress during the copy process.
Copy Cards or Disks: The BPAV contents of any mountable volume (drive) can be copied.

You can purchase ShotPut EXpress for Mac or Windows via Imagine Products.

Here’s a beautiful tutorial on how to effectively fake full mocap using simple trackers and the Puppet Tool. Brilliant!

Jim Arthurs has posted a Red footage vs EX1 footage bluescreen key test. Can you pick out which is which? I think I can, but I’m not certain. Which is a very interesting result in itself…

Via Engadget: The ¥17,800 (about $175) DVR-BP features a 1-mm pinhole CMOS camera, mic, 2-hour battery, and 2GB of memory to store all your video deceit at 352 x 288 pixels.

B&H is running a special on Vegas Pro 8. The Sony NLE normally retails for $469 for the full packaged version. B&H is now offering a basic retail version (no printed manual) for just $129. I’ve edited a few projects using Vegas back around version 6, and while I personally am not a huge fan, I can see it’s value in certain applications. Like any NLE, Vegas has it’s pros and cons. So if you are a Vegas user or looking to become one, here’s a decent offer.

(Via Film Flap)

James Cameron’s recent Variety interview was a good one. He talks about working creatively with 3D and the need for a further immersive experience over conventional filmmaking.

“I believe that Godard got it exactly backwards. Cinema is not truth 24 times a second, it is lies 24 times a second…It’s all illusion, but the prize goes to those who make the fantasy the most real, the most visceral, the most involving. This sensation of truthfulness is vastly enhanced by the stereoscopic illusion.”

“…A 3-D film immerses you in the scene, with a greatly enhanced sense of physical presence and participation. I believe that a functional-MRI study of brain activity would show that more neurons are actively engaged in processing a 3-D movie than the same film seen in 2-D. When most people think of 3-D films, they think first of the gimmick shots — objects or characters flying, floating or poking out into the audience. In fact, in a good stereo movie, these shots should be the exception rather than the rule. Watching a stereo movie is looking into an alternate reality through a window. It is intuitive to the film industry that this immersive quality is perfect for action, fantasy, and animation. What’s less obvious is that the enhanced sense of presence and realism works in all types of scenes, even intimate dramatic moments.”

Another interesting sidenote in the interview is the 4K discussion…in lieu of 4K resolution, Cameron would prefer twice the framerate (48fps) at 2K.

“…people have been asking the wrong question for years. They have been so focused on resolution, and counting pixels and lines, that they have forgotten about frame rate. Perceived resolution = pixels x replacement rate. A 2K image at 48 frames per second looks as sharp as a 4K image at 24 frames per second … with one fundamental difference: the 4K/24 image will judder miserably during a panning shot, and the 2K/48 won’t. Higher pixel counts only preserve motion artifacts like strobing with greater fidelity. They don’t solve them at all.”

Here’s a bit more discussion on that topic.

The following article is a review by FreshDV guest contributor Eugenia Loli-Queru.

Geeks.com sent us over a Kodak Z885 for a review, one of their 8 megapixel digital cameras they carry on to their store.

Description
The Z885 is an 8.1 MP camera, with a 2.5″ LCD screen. It features a 5x optical zoom, 32MB internal flash storage, SDHC support, digital stabilization, JPEG capture, MPEG4-SP VGA capture, A/V output. It uses two AA batteries to power. In the box we found the camera, batteries, a USB cable with a proprietary port on the camera side, a hand-strap, a dock for Kodak’s printers, a CD, and a getting started guide.

The top of the camera has a dial button where you can select between “Favorites”, “video” mode, scene mode, auto mode, manual mode, ISO mode and image stabilization mode. Next to the dial you will find the on/off button, the flash, the burst/timer button and a mono speaker. On the back side you will find the zoom in/out rocker button, a “delete” button, an “info” button, the 5-way operational joystick, menu, review and “share” button. On the side you will find the USB port and the SDHC port. A mono microphone with no windscreen is found next to the 36ñ180 mm (35 mm equiv.) f/2.8ñ5.1 lens and the flash.

Usage
The usability of Kodak’s cameras has been improved a lot in the latest generation of their cameras. It’s very easy to figure out what is what and how to get there. The software allows for presets of white balance (although no custom white balance is possible), several algorithms for focusing and exposure, sharpness levels, redeye removal support, sensor orientation, power management and color mode (high color, natural color, low color, sepia, black and white).

There are over 20 scene modes for those who can trust the camera to pick the right settings, although the true benefit of using the Z-series from Kodak is their manual mode. In it, you can select focusing distance, ISO, exposure, aperture and shutter speed.

HDR photography
My favorite feature of the Z-series is exposure bracketing. With it, the camera captures three images with a single shutter click, but at different exposures. Then, you bring these images to applications like Photoshop or Photomatix and with some lite manipulation you can add new details to your picture. Or, you can artistic with it and create some crazy looking pictures like the one below. I believe that this Z885 camera is the cheapest camera on the market that supports exposure bracketing. You will have to pay $450 to get the Powershot G9 if you want the same feature from a Canon, for example.

Before and after:

Video
The Z885 only shoots VGA video at 30fps, or at QVGA resolution. Quality is not too bad and it has the added bonus to save the video in MPEG4-SP of 3.5mbps instead of MJPEG. This means that you will fit more VGA video with this camera than any other camera in the market that uses MJPEG. Unfortunately, there is no exposure compensation for when shooting video. If VGA is not enough for you, you can consider upgrading to the Z1085 or the Z1285. These 10MP and 12MP versions of the Z-series have all the features of the Z885, plus 720p 10mbps HD recording (the Kodak V-series have a 13mbps high quality HD mode, but they don’t have any manual settings).

Conclusions
The Z885 is a good camera especially for the mere $110 it costs. Picture quality is pretty good, it has manual controls, battery life is acceptable, stabilization, and even exposure bracketing. You can’t go wrong with all that and at that price. The only feature we would have liked added (except HD video with exposure compensation support), would be custom white balance.

Rating: 7.5/10

FreshDV guest-contributor Eugenia Loli-Queru is a Senior News Editor at www.OSNews.com. You can catch up with her online at eugenia.gnomefiles.org.

Just noticed that Automatic Duck is offering a $100 coupon code on any of their software tools…Pro Import and Export for FCP, Pro Import for AE, and Pro Import for Combustion. This NAB-related special is good through the end of April, simply add the software to your cart and apply the following coupon code after you fill in your shipping details. Coupon code: NAB2008

The Digital Cinema Grant Program is a recurring grant that awards a Red Digital Cinema camera to filmmakers for PSA’s, indie features, shorts, and non-profit productions. They are now accepting applications for productions starting in August 2008. Have any FreshDV readers had experience with this program, or it’s founders?

To have your project considered for the Digital Cinema Grant Program, you must submit a complete proposal to the program. This proposal is then reviewed and a decision is made as to whether or not the proposal meets and scheduling requirements. What to include in the proposal:
A cover letter describing the status of your production, who you are, etc.
A shooting schedule - or at least potential shoot dates.
A copy of your script
A copy of your budget
Resumes and bios of all key people involved
A three line synopsis
Application Fee ($55)
Feel free to add anything that you think will cause you proposal package to stand out (location photos, storyboards, past work, etc.) After receiving and reviewing your proposal, we will notify you as to
the possibility of you obtaining an equipment grant. We will respond as quickly as possible, but please allow three weeks for an initial response.