Sony’s HVR-Z7U is finally in stock at B&H, pre-orders should ship out in the order they were received. We have previously covered this camera thoroughly here. And if you’ve missed the first Z7U user reports you should definitely read the comments on this recent post, particularly in regards to it’s reported lack of rolling shutter vertical skew. That is good news indeed.

Over at VideoUniversity, user Shawn Lam has posted a number of pictures from his brand new Sony HVR-Z7U as well as a detailed description of overall design and features. It’s quite informative. Here’s a few key points that caught my eye (a few have been noted previously):

* Menu scroll dial is on left side, not back.
* The CF recorder module covers the battery when attached to the proprietary connection port.
* Tape transport door is in vertical configuration, opens to the back.
* Connections on back include Component, Composite, LANC, Headphone and 6-pin Firewire (yes, that is the big plug). A HDMI port exists on the left side of the body.
* As stated in previous documentation the top handle has a second cold-shoe, towards the back. It comes dissasembled but can be added with a screwdriver.
* A/C Adapter is a fake battery that occupies the entire battery port. The charger handles two batteries and has a LCD status display. Like the EX1, it makes you choose between charging the batteries or powering the camera, not both at the same time.
* Shawn says “7 LBS 2 OZ with tape, large battery, and CF recorder attached.”

Read on for the pictures and more details. B&H has the Z7U listed at $6,299.95. You can read more of FreshDV’s Z7U and S270U coverage here.

I just noticed that B&H dropped their price on the PMW-EX1 camcorder. It was previously listed at $6699.00 and has been recently reduced to $6,449.00 (and is currently marked “In Stock”). This is a great development for a camcorder that is still in high demand. New EX1 buyers should also remember to take advantage of the 8GB SxS card rebate (PDF) and also the EX1 + Accessories rebate. We’ve been been doing a series of EX1 reviews and tests, click on over for more info on our results.

Canon’s amazing 1200/5.6L USM tele still lens is a beast that weighs in at 36lbs, is over two and a half feet long and sports a massive 9″ wide front element. Canon builds this lens on a special order basis and since 1993 has shipped less than twenty of them. No word on what it costs new (if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it), but B&H does have one used 1200/5.6 for sale for a cool $99,000. Just in time for Valentines Day…

“The viewfinder is surprisingly bright, and though somewhat sluggish as compared to the latest-generation Canon EF lenses, the 1200 was usually able to nail the focus on the first pass. The hard part is figuring out what you’re focusing on because the angle of view is so narrow. If you’re not familiar with the landscape you’ll find yourself peering out over the top of the camera every so often trying to figure out what you’re looking at. As for image quality, even wide open it’s quite lovely. Stopped down to f/8 and f/11 it’s actually quite remarkable. How remarkable? From midtown Manhattan we were able to read the street signs on the corner of JFK Boulevard East and 43rd St. in Weehawkin New Jersey when viewing image files at pixel resolution.”

“…Apart from a few minor cosmetic blemishes, this particular lens is extremely clean inside and out. Included with this lens is a leather slip-on ‘lens cap’, a fitted aluminum trunk case, and a prodigious measure of ego satisfaction. Pack mule not included.”

Simply amazing. I’d love to see this on the front of a 35mm adapter rig…

LetusDirect has announced an update for Letus Extreme shooters who are using the adapter system with the new Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1 camcorder. Some users have reported that edge sharpness appears to suffer on the new Sony camera. The new “Sony EX1 optimization kit” includes an achromat lens that is tailored to work specifically with the unique Sony Fujinon lens, and a 77mm thread ring that fastens directly to the Letus. The kit is available as an addon to new or pending orders for $199, or as a standalone package for $349.

Cinevate Brevis Flip 35mm Lens Adapter Review (Part2 of 2)
By Matt Jeppsen

Cinevate
www.cinevate.com
(647) 723-2664 (Canada)

The following is Part 2 of FreshDV’s two-part test and review of the Cinevate Brevis flip adapter. Today we cover Image Performance and Workflow, Accessories and Miscellaneous and finally Summary and Conclusions. You can read Part 1 here. Download the supplementary archive of all referenced charts below.

Image Performance and Workflow
Having a flip option solves one of the biggest issues in the 35mm adapter shooting workflow. Without an adapter that inverts the image correctly, users are forced to find inventive ways to monitor and frame their images. Many arrive upon the solution of a production monitor like the Ikan or Marshall, mounted upside-down on an articulated arm. On some cameras you can use a strong neodymium magnet to engage an LCD’s forward-facing flip, while others even do minor surgery on a camcorder to engage that switch. I should note that with any 35mm adapter it is highly recommended that you use a high-quality external monitor to check critical focus…when you are shooting wide open on a fast telephoto lens DOF can be as shallow as mere inches and minor focus errors will ruin a shot. That being said, it is not impossible to use only your camcorder’s LCD, particularly when it is as sharp as the EX1 or even the Z1U. And using an adapter that flips the image really opens up this option for users.
The other area of workflow that the flip improves on over the Pre-flip is post-production. When shooting with a non-flip adapter, footage has to be manually inverted in your editing software. This is relatively simple to accomplish, but can introduce other challenges. For instance, when you place inverted footage on a Final Cut Pro timeline, the thumbnails on the clips remain upside down. This is a minor annoyance, but it really can impact the speed of editing if you have learned to lean on that particular feature. Shooting with the Brevis Flip is elegant in the sense that you don’t have to mess with these workarounds and patches. It just works.
Continue reading ‘FreshDV Hands-On Review - Brevis35 Flip Adapter (Part 2)’

Via CDM comes this link to an Instructables article on creating your own “time-slice” capture rig ala The Matrix. Interesting project.

FreshDV took a close look at a number of popular follow focus units in 2007. We also spent some time working with the Bartech Focus Device (BFD) from Bartech Engineering. The BFD is a wireless remote-controlled system that drives the 35mm lens on your camera rig. It allows Steadicam operators to move freely, can help control a camera mounted on a jib, or simply frees up space next to the operator in tight shooting locations. Bartech’s system is designed to work a variety of motors, but they recommended that we review the system with the M-One motor from Palomar Engineering. We found the M-One to be a compact and lightweight design with incredible torque and accuracy. Bartech claims that they have not found a lens that the M-One motor cannot move. It can move very fast when you need it to, but most importantly it responds to remote commands immediately and without drift. In the following video review, Kendal Miller shows how the Bartech BFD system assembles and mounts to your camera rig, and takes the unit through it’s paces.

Traditionally, remote focus solutions are pricey. There are only a few options available, and the BFD package is arguably the most affordable professional solution on the market today. It is also surprisingly well built, as you will see in the video. If you tuned in last year for our extensive NAB 2007 coverage, you may remember Bartech’s Jim Bartel from this segment. You may also be interested in our informative three-part series on the role of a First AC and Focus Puller.
Continue reading ‘Bartech Remote Follow Focus System Review and Setup’

Vision Research has announced the Phantom v12, a high-speed camera system that can record 1280×800 resolution images at 6,315 frames-per-second, 128×8 images at 1-million fps, and a wide variety of combinations in between. The V12 offers “sub-microsecond shuttering” as fast as 300 nanoseconds, 8-bit or 12-bit options, and records to built-in RAM or optional CineMag memory packs. Read more at visionresearch.com. If you’d like to see some amazing slow motion footage from a previous models of the Phantom, view their Gallery.

Cinevate Brevis Flip 35mm Lens Adapter Review (Part1 of 2)
By Matt Jeppsen

Cinevate
www.cinevate.com
(647) 723-2664 (Canada)

The following is Part 1 of FreshDV’s two-part test and review of the Cinevate Brevis flip adapter. Today we cover an Introduction, Imaging Elements, Design and Construction, and Setup and Configuration. Read on for Part 2 which addresses Image Performance and Workflow, Accessories and Miscellaneous and Summary and Conclusions.

Introduction
The last few years have seen an explosion in the use of small-format HD and HDV cameras for production. So-called “prosumer” and even some consumer-oriented camcorders are in wide use by amateurs and professionals alike. One market that has also been growing in leaps and bounds are 35mm lens adapter systems. This review takes a detailed look at the latest revision of Cinevate’s lens adapter line, the Brevis Flip. In addition, we will examine the latest in their series of swappable imaging elements, the CF1Le diffuser.
Continue reading ‘FreshDV Hands-On Review - Brevis35 Flip Adapter (Part 1)’

This article is part of a series of tests FreshDV conducted with the Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1. Thanks to Miami rental house and Sony dealer Midtown Video for providing a XDCAM EX camera. And thanks to DSC Labs for providing test chart patterns. You can read more about ours and others experiences with this camera here.

We are still knee deep in footage and image tests of the Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1 camcorder, so stay tuned here at FreshDV for continuing coverage as we make sense of it all. Today we present a 8-minute video demonstration of the EX1 camera body and external controls layout. I walk through each button and feature on the body of the camera and explain what each function is. For a detailed analysis of the regular camera menus and picture profiles, check out our previous coverage of the EX1. You can download the hi-res Quicktime video manually, subscribe to our audio/video podcast feed, or watch the embedded Flash version below.

Continue reading ‘XDCAM EX1 Hands-On - Camera Body and Controls Layout’

This article is part of a series of tests FreshDV conducted with the Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1. Thanks to Miami rental house and Sony dealer Midtown Video for providing a XDCAM EX camera. And thanks to DSC Labs for providing test chart patterns. You can read more about ours and others experiences with this camera here.

After shooting with the XDCAM EX1 for a few days and reviewing gigs of footage, Kendal and I have a lot to talk about. This audio podcast is a discussion about my personal experiences and tests with the Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1 camcorder. We open with a discussion about the evolution of shooters and how they tend to seek upgrades as they evolve in their craft and hit the ceilings and limitations of their gear. We then cover the EX1’s ergonomics and layout, menus and image control, lens and handling, the SxS workflow with FCP, transfer software and metadata, codec and compression (and how it fares against DVCPRO HD in initial comparisons), and finally CMOS sensors and all the good and bad that comes with this variety of imager. You can listen to the discussion via our normal Podcast Feed, or download the MP3 manually below.

Thanks again to both DSC Labs and Midtown Video for making this EX1 test series possible. Stay tuned here or at our EX1 link page for more test results.

Apple has announced updated MacPro computers with eight-core standard configurations and a new system architecture. The systems consist of two Quad-Core Xeon chips running at up to 3.2GHz. The case will handle up to 4TB of internal storage. No high-definition burner option from Apple yet. They state in HDV rendering tests that the new 8-core 3.2GHz Mac Pro is:

* Up to 1.8x faster than Power Mac G5 Quad
* Up to 1.4x faster than Mac Pro Quad-core 2.66GHz
* 1.2x faster than the previous-gen Mac Pro 8-core 3.0GHz

Stated performance gains are even higher for HDV Encoding, ProRes Rendering, ProRes Encoding, and AE CS3’s Nightflight benchmark. See for yourself here. The Apple Store is updating right now, but I imagine will repoen soon for those that are looking to upgrade soon. A standard eight-core config will cost $2799.

This article is part of a series of tests FreshDV conducted with the Sony XDCAM PMW-EX1. Thanks to Miami rental house and Sony dealer Midtown Video for providing a XDCAM EX camera. And thanks to DSC Labs for providing test chart patterns. You can read more about ours and others experiences with this camera here.

For this test the XDCAM EX was shot in a controlled studio environment using a DSC Labs CamAlign MultiBurst resolution chart. The test pattern was evenly lit at 45-degree angles by two soft light sources, the resolution chart surface measured an approx spot value of 78 IRE. The EX1 camcorder was locked off on a tripod with the zoom set to Z54 (the EX1 zoom range is Z0 through Z99) and the iris locked at f/6.7. The electronic shutter was locked at 1/125 for progressive modes and 1/250 for interlaced 60i. Picture Profile was set to Matrix Standard, Gamma STD1, and Auto Knee. Detail and Crispening enhancement settings were at 0 except where noted (those settings are fully adjustable in single increments from -99 to +99). We present here full-resolution uncompressed TIF frames exported directly from the FCP 6.0.2 timeline in three of the most useful formats the XDCAM EX1 offers.

Please right-click, Save As to download them individually, or snag the last file which is all nine framegrabs in a single 23mb zip archive.

Thanks again to both DSC Labs and Midtown Video for making this EX1 test series possible. Stay tuned here or at our EX1 link page for more test results.

At NAB last year Jim Jannard & Co. mentioned they had plans to create a “Pocket Pro” camera, as well as a line of 4K projectors. And it appears that we will see the new camera mockup and associated specs at NAB this year…Jim has confirmed that they are calling it “Scarlet.”

(Link via Ajit)