Want to see some examples of how Canon 5D MKII footage keys using the various built in picture profiles? Curious to see how the super-flat Marvel custom preset keys in comparison? Watch below.

Green Screen Compositing Test - Canon 5D MKII from Mook Genius on Vimeo.

After years of internal development and use since 2006 for national TV broadcast in Sweden, CasparCG has been released open-source. Not only is CasparCG open-source (free as in freedom), it is available at no cost (free as in beer). Here’s a quick look at the features, check out the Caspar website for more info, case studies, and a copy of the software.

CasparCG is a Flash and video play-out server that:
* Is free and open sourced
* Plays multiple Flash SWFs with full dynamic control
* Plays all common SD & HD video codecs with alpha and audio
* SDI & HD-SDI output to both interlaced and progressive + to computer monitor
* Plays uncached videos from disk and transitions between two videos
* Can collect data itself from DB, XML, RSS feeds or external sensors
* Can use the same Flash application in both broadcast and on the web

Patrick over at Stillmotion has posted a quick test shoot they did with one of the first Steadicam Zephyr units. The Zephyr is not yet available for purchase, and in this test they had a limited amount of time to work with the unit. If you’ve been curious about this unit, take a look at the video below. Over at Vimeo Patrick has written quite a bit about the test and their setup, so definitely check that out.

On a related topic, here’s FreshDV’s NAB 2010 video segment with Garrett Brown on the Steadicam Tango (the Tango is a new 6lb accessory that mounts on a Steadicam sled to enable floor to ceiling freedom of movement):
freshdv_nab10_Steadicam&JVC

Filmmaker Nino Leitner has been talking about the pros and cons of shooting DSLRs for video, and his most recent article explores the idea of Canon possibly enabling a “windowed sensor mode” for the 5D, 7D, et al. A windowed or crop mode would essentially just extract a small 1080-lines-tall block of data from the center of the image sensor.

What this would do is allow you to capture that video chunk unscaled, eliminating the line-skipping method Canon seems to employ to take a high resolution image down to 1080 lines (this has not been officially confirmed from Canon, but smarter people than I suggest they are line-skipping every 3 lines to downrez the sensor image to 1080 lines…hence the jaggies and aliasing issues). Advantages of a windowed sensor mode would be no aliasing issues, and a 3x telephoto factor (200mm lens becomes 600mm at no addl light loss). Disadvantages would be, well, a 3x telephoto factor…your beautiful wide shots on the 5D would no longer be possible in a windowed mode.

It’s not a perfect fix for aliasing issues on the Canon DSLRs…in fact, it’s not a fix at all, unless you shoot everything telephoto. It would be a completely different feature, and a very interesting one at that. It remains to be seen if Canon will ever implement this, or if we’ll see it from the unofficial firmware folks at Magic Lantern. Check out Nino’s article for the full explanation and some diagrams that make it all a little simpler to grasp.

Jem Schofield of The C47 tracked down a really cool product at NAB from Zylight, it’s an active diffusion material that electronically changes at the flip of a switch to soften harsh sources. You have to see it to believe it. Watch below.

Gearbox - Star Trek Space Age Diffusion

CineMods has a few PL, OCT19, and Leica M <> PL adapters for the Canon 7D and 550D/T2i. They are $350 USD, and only work with certain PL or OCT19 lenses. Because the required flange distance for a PL mount offers a limited amount of internal space, there are many PL lenses that project too far back into the camera body and would contact the DSLR mirror. It is my understanding that certain Angénieux Optimo zooms with a retrofocus design are the right size and do not project too far into the camera body, making them viable for this application. Film and Digital Times has successfully tested the following Optimo lenses with the Canon bodies:

Optimo 15-40 mm (2.7x) T2.6 zoom
Optimo 28-76 mm (2.7x) T2.6 zoom
Optimo 24-290 mm (12x) T2.8 zoom

Another more intrusive option would be to have your 7D retrofit by Hot Rod Cameras, a relatively costly process in which the electronics and mirror are modified to allow the camera to work with most PL glass. So if you are interested in putting some sweet cine glass on the front of these flawed but powerful DSLR cameras, consider the PL adapter option. And there’s a pretty decent used market for OCT19 glass out there as well.

Via @VisionWrangler

Over at Shane Hurlbut’s blog, they’ve posted an informative article on the DSLR video workflow used by Bandito Bros, Shane’s partner in the Navy Seal feature and a number of other projects they’ve shot using Canon DSLR tech. Check this one out for sure (finally, some love for the PC guys!).

The creative folks over at Cinevate have posted a few fun behind the scenes vignette videos from their booth at NAB. It’s a fun look at what goes on during the show. I’ve embedded them below.

NAB 2010 - Day 2 Footage from Cinevate on Vimeo.

NAB 2010 - cinevate day 4. from Cinevate on Vimeo.

Jem Schofield has posted some info on the upcoming Filmmakers Intensive coming up this June in Florida. The training even runs from June 20 through July 3. There’s a $500 discount if you sign up by May 1. More info here, press release info and a funny video announcement below.

The Filmmaker’s Intensive
June 20th - July 3rd, 2010

Jem Schofield from theC47.com has launched the official web site for The Filmmaker’s Intensive. The rigorous program runs for two full weeks and focuses on storytelling for both documentary-style and narrative filmmaking.

The Filmmaker’s Intensive includes nine hours of daily sessions, eight world class teachers from around the world (including Philip Bloom), and instruction on screenwriting, directing, shooting, lighting, sound recording, working directly with professional actors and post production (editing for narrative & docs).

The program will run from June 20th through July 3rd at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg Florida and there are only 30 spots for the program. There’s a $500 early bird discount if you sign up by May 1st.

For more information visit www.thefilmmakersintensive.com

So after a week after we arrived in Las Vegas to cover NAB 2010, Kendal and I sat down to discuss what we’d seen at the show. It’s a candid and open discussion that we hope will provide some of our perspective on the announcements and tools shown in our NAB coverage. This is our last video segment from NAB 2010. Watch below.

Wrapup

As we ask towards the end, feel free to drop us feedback or comments either here or on Twitter.

 NAB 2010 FreshDV Final Wrapup Discussion [15:53m]: Download

Doug Hynes of AV3 Software gave us a demo of Get, their tool for FCP that allows you to search for specific spoken phrases in the audio stream from a video file. It looks like an incredible tool for post-production on documentaries and projects with a large amount of video content. I’d like to see them update it to work with line scripts as well, ala Avid’s Scriptsync. Watch below.

freshdv_nab10_av3software

 NAB 2010 AV3 Software: Download

At the Singular Software booth at NAB, Bruce Sharpe gave us a demo of Pluraleyes, the popular HDSLR dual-system audio sync tool. He also talked about their upcoming release of Dualeyes, a standalone tool that allows Other NLE Users to utilize the automatic sync tools Pluraleyes offers. Watch below.

freshdv_nab10_singular

 NAB 2010 Singular Software: Download

So on the final day of NAB 2010 we stopped by Matrox’s booth to talk with our good friend Wayne Andrews about what innovations and updates they are announcing this year. Wayne gave us a nice product update synopsis and also demonstrated some of their new releases. Watch below.

freshdv_nab10_matrox

 NAB 2010 Matrox: Download

There was a lot of buzz pre-NAB about CoreMelt’s new rolling shutter reduction feature in Lock & Load X, so we dropped by the booth to chat with Roger Bolton about the plugin. While we were there, we also got a quick demo of an app called Shot Logger Pro from Red Lightning Software. Watch both below.

freshdv_nab10_coremelt_prologger

 NAB 2010 Lock and Load X and ProLogger: Download

Ikonoskop was in Las Vegas, though not exhibiting at the NAB show. We arranged to meet with them during the week to get a sneak peek at their forthcoming camera system which has been in development for some time now. As you are probably aware, the A-Cam dII will offer a very interesting featureset, with uncompressed recording to a fast proprietary memory cartridge, standard lens mount options, and a unique form-factor that is sure to elicit polarizing opinions from shooters. If you’ve been looking for more information on this camera system and the philosophy behind it’s design, check out our segment on Ikonoskop below.

day5_ikonoskop

 NAB 2010 Ikonoskop Update: Download