Rarevision’s 5DtoRGB tool is making the blog rounds this week, and it looks rather amazing. Here’s a quick summary of the tool and links to initial user testing.

Auto Collapse is a very cool little one-trick-pony software by Edit Mule (so it’s a one-trick-mule?) that can quickly simplify a sloppy, complex FCP timeline. Scott Simmons has the word over at PVC.

I’ve seen a lot of filmmaking apps posts, but this one by far has been the most useful. These are excellent apps, I’ve purchased and used several of them and am now looking hard at a few others on the list. Check it out.

There’s a new firmware out for the Canon EOS 7D that fixes an aperture-change bug. No new features, just a few bug fixes. I’ve shot extensively with the 7D and haven’t personally seen this issue, apparently it only affects certain lenses. Get the 1.2.2 firmware update here.

Here’s a really handy app that simplifies production release forms. mRelease is a $2.99 app for the iPhone that includes built-in release templates for crew, appearance and location releases, these can be organized and generated on a project by project basis. When you need to obtain a release, simply snap a picture with the iPhone camera and have them sign with their finger on the screen. Their image and signature are automatically added to the release, and you can email a copy of the release directly from the app. You can read a more detailed writeup on this app at HandHeldHollywood.

Another option for release forms on mobile devices is Easy Release, a $9.99 app that also allows customization of the forms (mRelease does not currently) and additional options. Easy Release offers 13 language options and is also available for Android devices. Finally, there’s another $2.99 iPhone app called Photographer’s Contract Maker that offers some form customization options. So there you have it…one of those apps oughta cover your talent & personnel ass-ets.

Subject says it all. If you’ve got a Canon DSLR that is not equipped with a video function, you might still be able to capture HD video from LiveView with this open-source software. The software comes with all kinds of caveats of course, but hey, maybe it solves a problem for ya. Check it out.

Need a comprehensive PDF shortcut guide for Avid Media Composer 5? How about Final Cut Pro 7? Or Soundtrack Pro, Motion, or Color?

Not to worry, These folks have you covered. And they’ve also got PDFs with listings of common digital video and audio formats. A really helpful resource, check it out and pass on the word to your friends!

Over at PVC, editor Scott Simmons has posted about the new Magic Bullet Grinder tool, for prepping and transcoding your DSLR footage into an editable format. If you are looking for an introduction to this new tool and what it offers, Scott’s got you covered.

The DV Show recently posted about 14 free apps and utilities for Final Cut Pro, and they have some good ones on that list.

Scott Simmons has also put together a fantastic list of 14 apps, plugins and utilities for FCP editors as well. His list is apps that cost $, and not surprisingly I find most of them more useful than the free list from DV Show. You get what you pay for, it seems. Many of the tools I use all the time, like Nattress BBOT and Digital Heaven’s Loader. Check them out.

Frank Jonen has written an Open Letter to Adobe, in response to their passive-aggressive advert buy calling out Apple for not embracing openness (but really, Flash). Here’s a few telling snippets.

“I was an active Flash designer / developer starting in art school from 2001 to well into 2005 before I realized the damage my work is doing to clients. This was when SEO practices started to really become legit. I realized two things back then. Search engines are important, it’s how people find you and find you again. And second I realized I can’t justify a client’s site to be at the mercy of a single software company’s plug-in. It really is a ridiculous idea come to think of it. A company never truly owns their site. There is always something extra needed in addition to a browser.”

“Maybe if you focused more on evolution instead of hanging on to past investments your stock value might actually recover. Betting the house on Flash brought nothing but harm on Adobe’s value, it’s time to let old traits go, and maybe the people who came with it as well.”

Good stuff from a web developer’s point of view. And on a less serious note, here’s one blogger’s answer to the Adobe ad.

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

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.

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:

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few weeks, you are probably aware of the following two news items. So this update is for those rock-dwellers. Apologies to everyone else, carry on with your tweeting and such.

First, Canon announced a BETA availability date for their EOS Log & Transfer plugin for Final Cut Pro. Well, not a specific date, but sometime in March. This software product will be made freely available for DSLR video users and enables simple and straightforward acquisition of footage from CF cards via Log and Transfer, just like you would with P2, XDCAM, Red, etc. It’s a fantastic standardized workflow for FCP users, and kudos to Canon for making this available free of charge. If you were thinking that this software is eerily close in featureset to the Glue Tools product we demo’d at Cine Gear, well you’d be correct. That’s because it is. Missed that Glue Tools demo? No worries, I’ve embedded the video at the bottom of this post.

The second bit of news came in the past week, first in the form of that Canon 5D MKII firmware rumor we posted, followed by official news from Canon that the new MKII 2.0.3 firmware would be available worldwide March 17, 2010. New features confirmed in this firmware update include:

* 1080p 24, 25 and 29.97fps recording options. (24p is actually 23.976fps, and 25fps requires the camera first be set to PAL mode).
* 640×480 30 (29.97) and 25fps (25fps requires camera first be set to PAL mode).
* Video histogram display (Canon notes on this only show brightness histogram, but an earlier rumor presentation slide indicated RGB hist as well).
* Manual audio level control (with meters!).
* Audio sample rate changed from 44.1KHz to 48KHz.
* Aperture (Av) and Shutter Priority (Tv) in Video Mode.

This is an incredibly useful update for filmmakers, fixes several workarounds we’ve had to deal with, and GIVES US PROPER EXPOSURE TOOLS! The video histogram should prove to be incredibly useful. There are some limitations of course. For instance, the histogram cannot be viewed while recording, only before hitting record. If you’d like to see the framerate menu and audio meters in action, take a look at this behind-the-scenes Canon promo video And you can see these menus and other details in Canon’s posted notes on this firmware update.

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

Oliver Peters has written an incredibly detailed tutorial on how to accomplish post-production when tasked with editing and grading Canon 5D MKII footage. It’s an extensive article that demystifies some of the post questions, and I highly recommend taking the time to read it through. Fantastic work as always, Oliver.