PhotoTimes | News and Information for Photographers and Filmmakers

Adobe Releases RED EPIC importer

Bill — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:14:39 +0000

For those of you using Adobe Premier, After Effects, and Media Encoder (Version CS5.5), Adobe has a new importer that supports the higher resolution and HDR capabilities of the new EPIC system. Download the update here.

via 2-pop

Review of Nikon’s New 35mm f/1.4

Bill — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:50:10 +0000

The British Journal of Photography has a great review of the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.4G Lens. It’s the first Nikon 35mm f/1.4 lens to offer autofocus, and is quite respectable, though it has a few shortcomings, like slight axial distortion and some vignetting.

New USB 3.0 Dual-Card Reader from Lexar

Bill — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:43:55 +0000

Lexar has released an update to its Dual-card USB 2.0 reader, using USB 3.0 for higher throughput. In my experience, people that shoot video on their DSLRs are the ones who most benefit from higher throughput on card readers, so if you fall into that camp (and don’t already have the firewire CF reader, and have a USB 3.0 port available) head on over to Lexar and pick up the new USB 3.0 reader.

via Rob Galbraith

Adobe Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4 has a Data-Corrupting Bug in JPEG

Bill — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:36:58 +0000

Rob Galbraith is pointing out an issue announced on the Lightroom Journal; a bug in the way Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4 handle JPEGs with unusually large blocks of private camera data, that will corrupt the JPEG. The only camera currently identified as building a JPEG that can trigger the bug is the HP Photosmart R607.

Color Photography Turns 150

Bill — Wed, 18 May 2011 03:30:58 +0000

The fine folks over at PetaPixel are reminding us that today marks the 150the anniversary of the first color photograph, taken by Scottish physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell and photographer Thomas Sutton — inventor of the SLR camera. Their first color photograph was of a colored ribbon.

Updated May 18, 2011 @ 8:41 AM – Originally I left the word “color” out of the first sentence. Fixed it. That’ll teach me not to proofread at least twice.

Cinedeck Extreme Makes Direct-to-Edit Easy

Bill — Wed, 18 May 2011 03:26:06 +0000

I hadn’t yet heard of the Cinedeck EXTREME, but it looks to be a fairly cool and useful tool. There’s a press release over at Broadcast Newsroom which talks about a documentary shot by Evolve IMG Films in which the Cinedeck was used. The Cinedeck is an external recording device that has a 7″ “high res” preview/focus/playback monitor. It boasts an internal solid-state hard disk, and accepts HDMI, HD-SDI, and LAN camera inputs. According to the press release, Evolve IMG used it to record from both their Alexa and a Canon 5D. It stores recorded video as Uncomressed 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 HD, Apple ProRes, Avid DNxHD, or CineForm DI files. You can find more information on the Cinedeck Here (all-flash somewhat non-intuitive website… bleh), and the Broadcast Newsroom article here.

What Does a Standard Kit Look Like If You Rent From Hurlbut Visuals

Bill — Sun, 15 May 2011 02:35:18 +0000

I didn’t know Hurlbut had a rental division. However, in a blog post by Kevin Anderson, Hurlbut’s Rental Manager, talks about some of the Chaos his gear goes through and what their “Movie Maker” HDSLR kit loos like, including a 5D, a 7D, a full set of Leica glass, mattebox, tripod, batteries, EVF… this list is pretty extensive. Oh, and if you’re interested, heres the link to their rentals page.

Will Photography Make you Wealthy?

Bill — Sun, 15 May 2011 02:05:53 +0000

PetaPixel is pointing us at an interesting article by photographer Lawrence Kim called “Photography and the American Dream”, were he takes a look at the economics of being a pro photographer, and sees it as the worst possible career choice if your goal is primarily to build wealth. It worth a read.

And, we’re back!

Bill — Sat, 14 May 2011 17:25:02 +0000

When I was taking broadcasting classes, my instructors actually disdained the use of the terms “We’ll be right back”, “We’ll be back after this”, or “And, were back”. They rightly reasoned that since you weren’t actually going anywhere, it was grammatically incorrect to use such terms when pausing for “sponsored messages” (such a nice term for commercials, don’t you think?), and you risk losing the connection you have with your listeners when you tell them you’re leaving.

That being said, I feel such embarrassment for allowing PhotoTimes to languish these last few months, that “And, we’re back!” seems the only fitting phrase to use. I promise to endeavor to give the PhotoTimes the attention it deserves and keep you abreast of the news and information that such fine photographers and filmmakers as yourselves need to know.

Time Code for your HDSLR

Bill — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:53:42 +0000

Vincent Laforet has gotten very excited about a little gadget from Freelance Audiovisual Services call the Lockit Buddy. Essentially, it plugs into your camera’s mic input jack, and writes Timecode information to the right channel, and your reference audio to the left. It handles all the impedance and level conversions for you. The embedded timecode should work out of the box if you’re editing with Avid, and there’s a tool called FCPauxTC by VideoToolshed that will strip out the TimeCode data and create an auxiliary time code track for you to use in Final Cut Pro.

Nikon D7000 Teardown Reveals Sony Sensor

Bill — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:31:19 +0000

Chipworks is a company that famously tears apart higher-end consumer goods to have a peek a what makes them tick. Their Teardown of the Nikon D7000 revealed a Sony Image sensor, a Toshiba processor (well, microcontroller), 1 GB of onboard RAM, and of course the Nikon EXPEED image processor. For those of you wondering why two processors are necessary, the Toshiba processor is responsible for dislpaying images on the LCD, making the camera do things when all the buttons, knobs, and switches are used, monitoring the battery, etc. The EXPEED processor would be responsible for controlling the sensor itself, interpreting the raw bits coming off that sensor, and doing something intelligent with them before handing them off to the Toshiba to be written to the memory card.

via Rob Galbraith

P.S. Sorry about the “#pocketwizard” twitter tag. My browser thought it knew what I was going to type for tags, and I wasn’t paying enough attention to it :-)

Inflatable Studio for Easy-to-Setup Controllable Environments

Bill — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:16:38 +0000

I saw brief mention of this thing quite some time ago, but apparently now it’s been rolled into a real product line. It’s an inflatable studio-on-the-go. As little as 40″x15″ when folded up, it blows up in to a room that’s 20 feet long by 15 feet wide and 13 feet tall. Air is supplied by an industrial fan that is supposedly very quiet. The maker’s FAQ also mentions that the surfaces are not matte, but not reflective enough to cause issue, just make sure you bring a backdrop with stands as well as your blow-up studio.

I must confess that I’m more than a little skeptical. I have a hard time seeing any respectable photographer telling his or her client that they’re going to be bringing a studio in the form of a huge blow-up room. It doesn’t help that most of the photos of the product itself are badly photoshopped and that the only quotes the maker has are from generic tech pundits and not professional photographers.

Then again, I’d love to be wrong. Here’s to hoping this thing is awesome.

via Rob Galbraith

Phase One Announces New 80 Megapixel Medium Format Back

Bill — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:04:44 +0000

Phase One has made some waves lately, making bold steps to become a major force in the world of medium format photography. Today that trend continues as they announce a new 80 Megapixel back, due out in April. The new back has a dynamic range of 12.5 f-stops, and has a 16 bit color depth. The LCD on the back is “mutitouch” capable, to help you pan and zoom around an image as well as use the back’s menus, and the back has a new USB 3 connection, as well as firewire 8 for tethering and offloading your data. It looks like the new back will fit a range of Phase One, Mamiya, and Hasselblad cameras, as well as the Contax 645. Check out the datasheet for more info.

And the Award for Most Awesome Steadicam Operator Goes To…

Bill — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:51:14 +0000

This Guy. Seriously. In a shot that looks like it was done with helicopters and/or ziplines or quite possibly done entirely with CG, we get to see the behind the scenes where the Steadicam operator goes full speed on a Segway (with his First AC running beside him, pulling focus the whole way) to ditching the Segway and running onto stage (still pulling focus!) and around the lead singer in one smooth shot. Whoa. Thank you PetaPixel, for our “Holy Crap!” moment of the day. The music itself made me chuckle a bit though… It reminded me of unlaced Reeboks, pants with big holes in the knees, and Levi jackets with a massive patch on the back advertising your favorite hair band.

Documenting the Dying Art of the Photographic Darkroom

Bill — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:02:00 +0000

The UK’s “Guardian” newspaper has a cool little video about one guy’s quest to document photographic darkrooms. He sees them as giving way to newer technology, and wants to see them given some attention before they’re gone.

A Look at the Rapatronic Shutter Used to Photograph The Atom Bomb

Bill — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:04:54 +0000

After World War II, The United States Atomic Energy Commission contracted with defense contractor Edgerton, Germeshausen, and Grier to photograph atomic bombs as they exploded. EG&G built a camera with a shutter that had no moving parts called a Rapatronic Camera. The shutter was actuated using a magnetic field and was based on the Kerr effect. They could get shutter times down to about 3 microseconds, or millionths of a second. There’s a cool little video on the landing page. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a larger version of the video.

via Hack A Day

Break Out the Silver Nitrate and the 8×10 View Camera, It’s Time to Shoot Ambrotypes

Bill — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:08:30 +0000

PetaPixel has an awesome link to a YouTube video showing photographer Harry Taylor going the process of shooting an Ambrotype. An Ambrotype is like a tintype, but uses glass as the substrate. Watch Harry take a clean sheet of glass, make it light-sensitive, put it into a century-old view camera, take an 8 second exposure, and develop the positive right there. Check out more of Harry’s Work here.

Film School Rejects Say That a Movie Shot On iPhone Looks Like It Was Shot On an iPhone

Bill — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:36:28 +0000

There’s been a lot of hype about a popular South Korean director Park Chan-wook shooting a movie entirely on an iPhone 4. Film School Rejects took a look at the teaser and were, frankly, unimpressed. I have to say that I agree, it’s sort of anticlimactic. Repeat after me, kids: Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

Free DaVinci Resolve Workshops at the Final Cut Pro User Group’s SuperMeet in San Francisco

Bill — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:26:28 +0000

Blackmagic Design will be hosting a series of free workshops to attendees of the Final Cut Pro User Group’s annual SuperMeet in San Francisco on January 28th, 2011. Here’s your chance to learn DaVinci Resolve for Mac, and bolster your knowledge of color grading for motion pictures.

Pocket Wizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 for Nikon On the Way to US Dealers

Bill — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:16:42 +0000

Rob Galbraith is reporting that shipments of the much-waited-upon radio triggers for Nikon from Pocket Wizard are on the way to US Dealers, beginning today.

Sony Introduces New Camera-Top 5-Inch LCD Screen for HDSLR Shooting

Bill — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:19:07 +0000

Sony has introduced the CLM-V55 5″ LCD screen which has a hot-shoe mount for use with HDSLRs. It has an HDMI input so that it will connect to most HDSLRs, and controls to accept various aspect ratios, as you’d expect. No price yet. I expect these are intended to be the perfect match for the NEX10 HD Handycam, as they seem a bit underpowered for the rumored RED Killer.

via Engadget, by way of PetaPixel

Zacuto Introduces the “Z-Cage” DSLR Support Cage

Bill — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:22:21 +0000

Zacuto has introduced the “Z-Cage”, which sort of appears to be the Swiss Army knife of DSLR mounts, that will allow you to attach and position virtually everything you might need for a run-and-gun shoot. It’s certainly a bit of a departure from the traditional rails mounts, which may be both a good and bad thing. Good in that it’s always a good thing to think outside the box and make something that solves problems for people, bad in that I’m not sure this particular problem hasn’t already been solved with the tradition rails mounting systems, of which Zacuto already makes several variants. What do you think?

via Rob Galbraith

Polaroid and Chase Jarvis Announce Collaboration

Bill — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:59:42 +0000

At CES, Polaroid and Chase Jarvis announced a collaboration in which Jarvis will create and curate artistic content, presumably using Polaroid’s just-announced “grey label” product line, which includes an instant mobile printer, digital camera and camera glasses. Jarvis will also be advising Polaroid on “product endeavors”.

Personally, I would have been much more excited if Chase had announced a collaboration with The Impossible Project.

A Chat With One of Digital Photography’s Pioneers

Bill — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:56:43 +0000

We’ve all been hearing a lot about the demise of Kodachrome lately. One New York reporter began thinking about how it’s likely that digital photography helped bring about the end of the line for Kodachrome (and other film stocks, really), and decided to try and find someone that helped usher in the era we find ourselves in now. She found David Lewis, an electrical engineer that worked at Kodak to develop the digital camera and the CCD sensor, and asked what he thought.

Behind the Scenes With the MGM Logo Lion

Bill — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:05:31 +0000

Our friends over at PetaPixel have an awesome still of the setup used while capturing Leo the Lion for the famous MGM logo. Personally, I would have loved to have been that close to the Lion, though still a bit nervous.

New Service Offers Professional Critiques to Amateur Photographers

Bill — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:08:00 +0000

A new online service called GuruShots allows you to inexpensively hire a professional to critique your photos. Simply sign up, upload the photos you’d like critiqued, choose which professional photographer you’d like to hire to critique your work, and fill in a few details about the photos you’re submitting. Your first critique is free, each additional is reasonably priced, and there are price breaks for multiples. The critique you get back is nicely broken down into categories like lighting, impression, subject, etc., and contains useful notes from the pro explaining the scores they’ve given and any suggestions they may have for improvement.

This service launched in response to its founders’ frustration in finding meaningful critiques of their own photography via online discussion boards, especially when you have no way of determining what sort of experience the person giving the critique has when using those forums.

Scott Bourne Talks About His Backup Strategy

Bill — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:02:21 +0000

Today professional photographer Scott Bourne posted an article about the nitty gritty of his backup solution, and also mentions why he’s stepped away from using the often-vaunted products from Drobo. One of the best things about this particular write up is that it presents an easy solution for a photographer that doesnt have enterprise-class server hardware and dedicated IT personnel. As much as we love Chase Jarvis’ work and his famous end-to-end workflow video, his backup solutions are really out of reach for most professionals that like doing everything themselves.

Oh, My, Look at the Time!

Bill — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:37:34 +0000

Life, at times, tends to run away from you in much the same way a playful puppy does… just when you think you’ve got your hands around it, off it darts with surprising speed in another direction. And so PhotoTimes has languished a bit these last several months as I’ve been trying to get ahold of things, and now I’m embarrassed to see how long it’s been since our last post. So I’ll start back up today, and plan to not let PhotoTimes slip away again!

Is Microstock Unsustainable?

Bill — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:50:13 +0000

The Russian Photos Blog has an excellent writeup covering a full-out firestorm between iStockPhoto and it’s contributors. Apparently the agency is claiming that it’s fundamental business model is unsustainable and needs to decrease payments to contributors. Meanwhile, traditional stock agency photographers are gloating a bit and a few I-told-you-so’s are being thrown in as well. iStockPhoto competitors are happily taking advantage of the situation as well.

via A Photo Editor

Sony Working on a ‘Red Killer’

Bill — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:01:59 +0000

According to ‘Brodcast’ in the UK:

“Sony is to introduce an ‘affordable 35mm camera’ as it looks to move in on the market currently dominated by Red Digital Cinema’s Red One. … Details were thin on the ground but Sony did reveal that once completed the new shooter will offer a shallow depth of field, PL mount and cost less than the Arri Alexa.”

Sony’s always been a little scattershot IMO, but they might stumble into something big, here.