Sony PMW-100 Announced at NAB 2012

Another compact video camera from Sony was announced at NAB and is available on pre-order from Jigsaw and Proactive Broadcast at £3234 inc vat. It looks fairly similar to the EX1 but Sony have fired a definite shot over the “Canon X105 bow” with a direct response of 4:2:2 colour space and HD broadcast standard 50Mbps instead of the 35Mbps of the EX1 and EX3. The PMW-100 records to S*S cards and the workflow remains the same. It’s marketed as an excellent partner for b-roll etc to the PMW-500 and borrows some cool features from the EX3 such as over and under-cranking. Unfortunately the PMW-100 has a fixed lens, but what do you want for just over 3K!? There are also genlock and SDI connections so all seems present and correct.

Video Production for Children England

We’ve just completed two videos for Children England. They were shot at their Manchester Conference held at the Midland Hotel in March. One describes the benefits of being a Children England member. The other describes the importance of children’s rights within their work.
Pleasure to work with Emily, Monique and Nick on this.

Adobe CS6 Launch Today!

Yes, it’s that time again. A bit like Christmas (although it doesn’t come around quite as often) where you don’t know what you’re going to get but you know you probably don’t really need whatever it is, and you know that the rest of whole occasion is likely to cost you a lot of money. The new full version of Production Premium (the one you want if you live in video land) is going to set you back £1810.80 precisely. If you’ve already got CS5 then the upgrade is £714.00 inc vat.
But wait…..there’s a new way to pay! In this downtrodden, cash-strapped climate we are all suffering at the moment Adobe is the new Brighthouse! – just pay for your software suite in several simple monthly installments and when you fall behing on the payments just give it back….just like the plasmay! – I like it.
It’s called Creative Cloud http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/creativecloud.html
Apparently you can download any Adobe software you like once you’re in the scheme.  Pricing is about £70 month to month or about £47 a month if you sign up for a year. So £564 for the year isn’t bad if you need loads of Adobe apps. It should only take you 12 months to work out how to use a few of them too. Can’t wait for CS7.
To be honest I’ve been an avid (please excuse the pun) Adobe Premiere user since 1996 and yes it has it’s little annoyances, but overall it gets the job done fairly simply and cheaply and it looks as though Adobe are heading for world domination in all things production. See the launch here:

http://www.adobe.com/uk/special/ccevent/index.html?trackingid=JSEEF

New camera from Blackmagic Design

NAB 2012 saw the launch of a brand new cinematic camera from Blackmagic Design. Clearly aimed at the indie film producer and possibly wedding videographers, this machine looks set to change the game and give Canon, Sony, Panasonic, and even Red a great deal to think about. A brief overview of the specs should tell you why, 2.5K image sensor with a wide 13 stops of dynamic range, a built-in SSD recorder, uncompressed RAW and compressed file formats, compatibility with quality EF and ZE mount lenses, a touch LCD monitor, professional quality onboard audio (1/4 jack not XLR) a headphone socket (Canon take note), and it even comes bundled with Blackmagic’s Da Vinci Resolve! Shipping date is July 2012 and list price is £1925

Blackmagic are also supplying a steady rig/handles for £125

As far as I know this is Blackmagic’s first attempt at production of a camera of this kind and let’s be fair, this is amazing at this price if it does what it says on the can. There is a lot of discussion on the web regarding this camera at the moment and it’s easy to find should you wish, but one thing is for sure, even if Blackmagic have not made a perfect camera first time around the foundations have most certainly been laid. This is really going to shake up the major players and that’s only going to be good for the consumer. Personally, my view is that there is a schoolboy error in the batery department (it is fixed/internal), I don’t like touchscreens for monitors (how can you see what your shooting with fingerprints all over it?), and the form factor looks a bit “domestic”, but apart from that….brilliant. Well done Blackmagic, long live the revolution.