Redrock Micro has announced the long-anticipated upgrade to their flagship product, the M2 Cinema Lens Adapter. With the new M2 Encore, Redrock claims just a 1/2 stop light loss, new image flip unit, collimating lens mount, completely redesigned interior and optics for edge sharpness, and an improved spinning ground glass allowing shutter speeds upwards of 1/500 without grain.

These are significant improvements to the venerable M2 system. For starters, light loss…a half-stop of loss is currently the market standard, so this was a necessary improvement. The collimating lens mount will also allow users to swap lens mounts without opening up the unit. The latest batch of HD camcorders has introduced optics issues for adapter makers, and the M2e’s improved internals are said to address this as well as improve sharpness overall. The new M2 Encore will start at $995, with complete packages running $1995.

In addition to the new M2e, Redrock has also officially announced their improved microFollowFocus V2 unit with the 19mm rod adapter option, new camera cage kits, and an active lens mount for Canon EF lenses called Live Lens. Previously, 35mm adapter users could not fully utilize Canon EF lenses due to the fact that aperture functions are controlled electronically. Live Lens mates to Canon glass and provides the necessary controls to adjust the aperture on these lenses, using hard buttons and a built-in LCD screen. An upgrade port is also included on the unit, to facilitate future features and updates. So maybe we’ll eventually see autofocus on a 35mm adapter rig?

I’ve been told that the microFollowFocus v2 will be the same price @ $545, and they will also offer an upgrade for existing v1 users at just $295. The 19mm rod adapter option is $245, or buy 15mm and 19mm together for $775. Pricing on the other new products including the LiveLens is forthcoming. We’ll keep you updated.

Just a quick post to note that B&H has enabled pre-orders for the new 35Mbps GY-HM100U camcorder from JVC. The camera is listed at $3999 USD, and pre-orders placed now will ship out when stock arrives.

Scott Simmons, the latest contributor to join the PVC team, notes a patent application that seems to indicate Apple is developing a storyboarding application. Details here.

Spec’ing a new NLE system? Want to know recommended best practices for your existing computer? Videoguys has an great Video Editing Storage Frequently Asked Questions article that covers the bases well. So if you want to know why you shouldn’t configure your computer with just one huge RAID-0 array for storage, or simply don’t understand RAID and what each level offers, check this article out. There’s also a handy chart that indicates disk space requirements for the various flavors of HD and SD.

While you are over there, make note of Videoguys Specials page, currently offering $25 off any order of $500 or more.

Phil Bloom wrote in to tell us about a narrative short film contest he’s put together, Bloomfest 3. The contest calls for shorts under three minutes in length that reference or pay homage a well-known movie in some way, shape, or form. There is no specific guidance on what would be considered “well known”, so I suppose just go with your gut on that one. The deadline is March 15, 2009. A winner chosen by a panel of judges will be awarded a Letus Extreme 35mm lens adapter, and the audience choice winners are entitled to several other great gear prizes including a Cinevate Proteus Glider (the little brother to the Pegasus heavy lifter), Zacuto Zamerican arm kit, Magic Bullet Looks, or the ingenious Hood-Pro Sock Loupe (great review by Adam Wilt here).

Today Letus officially launches their 2/3″ B4 relay mount options for the Letus35 line of lens adapters. Letus states they are 1/2 stop more light efficient than the P+S relay, and can be used to mate an Extreme, Elite, or Ultimate adapter directly to the camera body.

This option now allows you to use the adapter as a lens, instead of shooting through the stock camera lens (obviously you’ll need a camcorder that has a removable lens). It should shorten up camera rigs, reduce weight, and simplify configuration. I imagine that some image quality improvement will be seen as well. The removable-lens capable $8,300 XDCAM EX3 should perform nicely with this configuration (when the 1/2″ version is released, see comments).

There are two relay lens modules available, a 12-lens group Pro Relay option listing at $5999 USD, and a $3499 9-lens group Compact Relay version. Both are pictured above for comparison. I’ve been told that Letus is in full production and are ready for orders. We look forward to hearing the first user reports from the field!

UPDATE: The Letus 2/3 B4 adapter is now available for preorder at Zacuto’s online store. And given that they are the pros in the know on gear like this, I’m sure they’d be happy to answer pre-sales support questions.

If you missed the FCP SuperMeet at Macworld, you missed JVC’s announcement of the new HM-100 camcorder. We’ve posted on the camera recently. There are also two fantastic videos from the event, one in which the camera is revealed for the very first time, and also an exclusive interview with JVC’s Craig Yanagi. The first video also demonstrates the FCP workflow towards the end. If you are at all interested in this camera or it’s big brother the HM-700, check ‘em out!

TriggerStreet and Stella Artois have teamed up to offer a very interesting project. It’s a short film contest that offers the winner $50,000. The subject of the short should be “Sacrifice” or “Perfection.” Having seen a number of very edgy and creative Stella Artois commercials, I’m not that surprised they would go this route. I am a bit taken aback at the cash prize, 50K should attract some excellent production values.

“TriggerStreet.com and Stella Artois are proud to present the Stella Artois Short Film Project, which will be giving a $50,000 cash award to one filmmaker whose short film (10 minutes max) exemplifies the theme of “Sacrifice” or “Perfection. This contest is unlike anything the site has ever offered. Films will be uploaded, rated by the community, and the Top Ten highest rated will eventually go to a panel of entertainment industry leaders who will chose the recipient of the $50,000. The Stella Artois Short Film Project will open to submissions on January 26th 2009 at 8:00 AM Eastern Time. From June 16, 2009 to July 31, 2009 the films will be available to watch and rate by the community (the ratings will determine the top ten finalists). You must be a member of the site, be 21 years of age before January 26th, 2009, and follow all of the other contest rules to be eligible to participate.”

B&H have posted their hands-on review of Canon’s HD-licious new DSLR camera, the 5D Mark II. Most of this info is already out there in one form or another, but they do go in-depth on all levels of the camera. It’s a very solid review, and will get you up to speed quickly if you are just now taking a look at this camera.

Fans have sourced 400GB-worth of HDV footage from three Nine Inch Nails concerts, and the Trent Reznor has publicized it on the official band forum. It’s being seeded with bittorrent. If you are a NIN fan, this is a unique opportunity to get your hands on a ton of footage.

(via @nicholasrivero and @tylerginter)

Miller High Life will be debuting 1-second ads at this year’s Superbowl. Sounds impossible, right? See for yourself at 1secondad.com. They are surprisingly effective, particularly when shown as a series.

Magic Bullet Quick Looks 1.0 has been released. This $99 stripped down version of Magic Bullet Looks offers 100 quick one-click presets for users who don’t particularly care to have the customization and fine-grained control of the full version. More information at www.redgiantsoftware.com.

Zacuto has posted the second webisode of their FilmFellas series. The video is embedded below, and a short description follows.

FilmFellas – webisode 2 from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

“…the Fellas begin to reminisce on their past experiences, hardships and roles as young filmmakers working in the biz. They discuss how important it is to utilize any avenue of learning such as; film schools, courses, mentors and the internet in order to advance your knowledge.”

I just read an interesting article talking about the new Sony DSC-G3 still camera, apparently a lightweight Linux distribution runs the camera. It got me thinking, what other current Sony cameras utilize the open-source operating system? So after poking around, I discovered a few other camcorders and still cameras that do. It turns out that the DCR-DVD810, HDR-CX12, and the forthcoming DCR-SR87 camcorders all run Linux. Sony also has a web page that lists other still cameras that use the OS.

The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation has posted a roughly comparable test of the Red One vs Canon’s $2700 5D MK2 DSLR camera. Results have not yet been posted in English, but here is Google’s translation and a number of still frames for comparison. Scenes were deliberately lit to stress the cameras. They’ve also posted a video clip (direct link, MP4) as well as a torrent of all the original footage for your perusal and color correction abuse. Here’s an English-translated excerpt of their 5D conclusions:

Positive aspects of the Canon 5D Mark II
- Low noise at low light
- Even in well-lit pictures, there was less noise in the shadow parties in relation to RED
- Cheap (RED is about ten times more expensive)
- Small and light
- Very robust (can withstand a lot of humidity, cold, warm, kind and stresses)
- Access to very good optics

Negative aspects of the Canon 5D Mark II
- Lack of manual settings
- Hard compressed recording format with low dynamics
- Only 30 frames per. seconds
- Difficult to focus
- Not a headphone jack to check sound

What’s the bottom line? By my eye, the Red One clearly shows more dynamic range, and more detail in the lows. The 5D can resolve an image in lower light and tends to have cleaner blacks. It’s an odd comparison to make, given that the Canon is roughly 8-10x less than a basic Red kit, and there aren’t a lot of common attributes between the two cameras. With no real manual controls, the I don’t see potential Red owners dumping their orders for the Canon except perhaps in specific, niche situations. Nevertheless, this comparison was bound to happen, and now you can draw your own conclusions.