ARRI is nearly set to launch Alexa, their new digital cinema replacement for film, and Rodney Charters took a few minutes on-set recently to talk about the new camera system. One interesting feature is the ability to essentially do HDR on the fly…the camera captures two consecutive frames, one with more highlight detail, and seamlessly combines the two. It’s not yet apparent what the limitations of this HDR feature are, and if manages to render cleanly without artifacts on fast motion, but it certainly sounds very impressive. I’d love to see it in action, and I’m sure we’ll get a closer look come NAB.

Arri Alexa CU on Location Shoot in L.A. from Rodney Charters on Vimeo.

Previously I’ve read a side by side Red One and ARRI Alexa test here, it was a bit too crammed with hyperbole for my tastes but I suppose there’s good info to be learned. It’ll be interesting going forward to see dynamic range tests of Alexa.

Shane Hurlbut has another great post up at his blog, this one on tweaking the 5D and 7D image profiles for color correction purposes. Check it out.

On Monday April 12th at 8pm, right after NAB Expo day one, there will be a filmmakers poker meetup at the Hard Rock Casino Poker Lounge. Headliners will include Philip Bloom, Rodney Charters, Shane Hurlbut, Vincent Laforet, and Kevin Shahinian.

Buy-in is $60, and makes you eligible for a boatload of cool prizes and gear (some really sweet stuff on the list). For a look at what they are giving away, and how to sign up, check out the details here.

Zacuto has posted the first episode in their Great Camera Shootout series, a 25-minute behemoth episode which pits Canon, Nikon, and Panasonic DSLRs against each other and 35mm film. As Jens and Steve of Zacuto explain carefully in the introduction, various real-world scenes, setups and of course chart tests were conducted by Robert Primes, Gary Adcock, and Philip Bloom. Colorist Ryan Emerson conducted all the color timing of footage, and a number of industry professionals screened the footage and provided their commentary.

These tests are very interesting to me because they don’t appear to seek to crown one particular camera or format as the king, but they inform about the strengths and weaknesses of each in given filmmaking situations. One of the surprises for me was the 13-stop DSC Labs latitude test. The DSLRs fared rather well against film, which resolved all 13 stops of exposure in the test (no surprise). What surprised me is that the 5D resolved 10.5 stops, the 7D and 1DMK4 both resolved 11 stops, Nikon D3s 11 stops, and finally the GH1 measured 9 stops. I did not expect a measurable range above 10 stops from a DSLR video camera, and nearly all of these models achieved that.

Towards the end of the episode, Jens and Steve talk about upcoming videos in this series with resolution, greenscreen, and color tests. They wrap the episode by including Bloom’s Skywalker Ranch clip, that along with the credits accounts for the 35min total length. Quick note: the Canon T2i was not available for tests in this episode, and is supposed to make a showing in future episodes. It’s interesting to note (is my understanding) that the sensor in the T2i is identical to that of the 7D. I’ll be interested to see how similarly they perform.

Quick DSLR buy links (purchases via these links help support FreshDV):
Canon 5D Mark II $2499.95 @B&H w/ free shipping.
Canon 7D $1,599.00 @B&H ($100 instant savings until 4/3/2010) w/ free shipping.
Canon 1D Mark IV $4999.95 @B&H
Nikon D3s $5,199.95 @B&H
Panasonic GH1 $1,189.95 @B&H w/ free shipping.
Canon T2i $799.95 @B&H

It’s cool to see DSLR footage turning up in all sorts of broadcast applications. I spotted the tell-tale signs recently in a Black Eyed Peas music video, and Canon DSLRs were also used to shoot this year’s Saturday Night Live intro.

The latest cool DSLR use is in the new Tonight Show intro, shot Canon 7D with Redrock support gear. Here are some details from Redrock’s press release on the production:

With very little time to turn around a complete show package, Director Pete Conlon and Tech Director Brian Yarnell of Wut It Is decided to go with a primarily live-action piece that depended less on their fancier post techniques and more on in-camera-magic, the kind of magic that can only be captured by a talented cinematographer. There was a need for a small, low profile, shooting strategy taking place inside of real open venues, restaurants, and exterior spaces, while augmenting natural light for strong visual frames. Shooting with a Canon DSLR camera was a natural fit.

“(Director) Pete Conlon wanted an imperfect, spontaneous and present feel to the footage,” said Vasco Nunes, Director of Photography for the shoot. “We used a combination of Canon EOS 7D cameras on Redrock support rigs to capture the energy of Los Angeles and the City’s night life without competing too much with the spaces we were entering. The camera and rig were perfect for the shoot.”

Cool stuff. You can watch the new DSLR-sourced intro below, embedded via Hulu.

As promised, the EOS Log and Transfer plugin for Final Cut Pro has been released, you can download a copy here. It’s free, and works beautifully.

Scott Simmons has posted a short tutorial at PVC on how to use it, if you aren’t familiar with Log & Transfer. Canon’s tutorial is here.

By default, the plugin transcodes footage into your FCP Capture Scratch disk location using the ProRes 444 codec. For general use, I recommend changing the preferences (the little gear icon) to ProRes LT, which offers a data rate of 102 Mb/s @ 1080/29.97 fps and 82 Mb/s @ 1080/23.976 fps. As a side note, I know users that swear by the ProRes Proxy flavor for DSLR video transcodes. Note that is a lowercase M, (LT is around 11.5MB/s). Confusing stuff…

Nothing on the surface appears to have been changed from the Glue Tools demo we got at Cine Gear last June, so if you want to see the plugin in action first, have a look at the following video segment…

Here is the Glue Tools Log & Transfer plugin demo from Cine Gear 2009:

UPDATE: Canon has issued a new firmware for the 5D MKII, version 2.0.4, to fix the audio issues noted below for the 2.0.3 firmware update. Info below remains for reference, but consider it deprecated now that 2.0.3 firmware has been replaced.

Canon’s 5D MKII 24p/Manual Audio firmware has been pulled due to an audio issue, outlined yesterday in this post.

I had downloaded a copy of the 2.0.3 firmware a few days ago (message me on Twitter if you need a copy for troubleshooting and testing), and just took the time today to install and test it, as some users are reportedly seeing a black dot issue at high ISO settings in a situation where highlights are clipping. I’ve checked it on my 5D MKII body at various ISO’s above 800, in both 24p and 30p modes, and cannot replicate the black dot issue. Perhaps I’ve not found the magic mix of settings, or perhaps it only occurs on certain sensors (perhaps a sensor that had multiple hot pixels already…just speculating). At any rate, besides the manual audio issue with Custom presets, the firmware seems to be working for me. I’ve got a shoot this evening that we are using the 24p on (sync sound, so no audio concerns), so I’ll be testing it pretty thoroughly and will of course report back if I run into further issues.

As promised, Canon’s 2.0.3 firmware update for the 5D Mark II has been released. It adds 24p, 25p, a pre-record video histogram, and allows you to turn off the audio auto-gain. There are a few other enhancements, but those are the big kahunas that everyone has been asking for. You can download a copy here. Be aware that users are reporting an audio recording bug when shooting in Custom image modes (C1, C2, C3). Apparently when shooting using a custom image mode, audio is not recorded. Even worse, the audio level meters show levels, but nothing is recorded. Yikes.

This is a major bummer, as so many users utilize the Custom presets to flatten their image. There are some workarounds described here, but I’d say the safe thing for now is to either wait for the fix (Canon has acknowledged the issue and promised a fix), or avoid using Custom image presets when not shooting sync sound.

Here is Canon’s official response to the audio bug reports:

“We have learned that some users of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera are experiencing issues with Firmware Update Version 2.0.3. We are working on a new firmware update to address these phenomena, which will be available soon.”

Recently Avid contacted us and asked if we’d participate in a Community Q&A with the post-production team behind Alice in Wonderland. We asked a couple questions about the how editing for a 3D release may have changed editing style, and what new tools and workflows have changed the director/editor relationship. You can read these questions and their answers here.

You already know this, but it’s worth repeating. Good gear often makes tasks simpler and easier to accomplish high-quality results. But even the weakest of tools in the hands of an artist can deliver stunning results. Case in point…in the following video clip, an artist hand paints a Bushmaster ACR weapon using Microsoft Paint. Once again, artistry and ingenuity trumps “pro-level” tools.

The Digital Story has a short post on how to painlessly snag still frames from DSLR footage with Aperture 3, which now supports video. For what it’s worth, 1080p footage is approximately 2 megapixels (2.1 MP) and 720p is about 1 megapixel (0.9 MP).

While visiting PMA and WPPI recently, FreshDV snagged a few video segments that should be of interest to filmmakers and video creatives. We’ve posted all our coverage of PMA and WPPI over at ProPhoto Coalition, but you can watch just the video-related segments in our channel over at ProVideo Coalition.

It’s certainly an interesting commentary on the state of our industry when you can find cool video-related tools at a photography tradeshow.

Tyler Ginter has posted a fantastic video called “Why We Fight,” it’s a documentary short that focuses on the Afghanistan Special Forces called Strike Force Lion, on why they are fighting for their own freedom and way of life in Afghanistan. It was shot on the Canon 5D MKII.

Jim posted a framegrab from the forthcoming Red Epic, shot 5k 2:1 Redcode 28 @ ISO 800 on the Red Pro Prime 300mm lens. See it here.

FreshDV just picked up a new sponsor, Hawaii-based RedHead windscreens. You can see their banner in our sponsor sidebar to the right.

A lot of us are shooting sync sound with the Zoom H4n recorders, and RedHead offers a variety of “dead cat” type windscreens to protect your critical audio from gusty breezes. Not convinced you need a windscreen for your recorder? Then you should check out the following quick video demo. My jaw dropped when I saw and heard this.

Zoom H4n + Redhead + Canon Mark II + 85mm + Windy Maui’s North Shore from iamkalaniprince on Vimeo.

RedHead is a great example of what I love about our sponsors…they are companies that build tools that we can respect and promote without any reservation, tools for professionals that simply work day in and day out.