Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes

This past weekend my Canon HFS100 and Azden SGM 2x shotgun microphone was stolen.

I was setting up to do recording for a video I’m working on with AlMaghrib and it was my mistake to not notify some of the people there to keep an eye on it while I go into the seminar room to make a note of which people I’d be doing recordings of. 20 minutes later I come back and find my equipment missing.

As it was a major bummer to find my equipment stolen, I figured it’s a great opportunity to upgrade.

The following setup is what I’m considering :

The breakdown of which is:

• $1,600 – Canon 7D body
• $350 – Canon 50mm EF f 1.4 lens
• $600 – Tokina 11mm-16mm f 2.8 wide angle lens
• $318 – 1 meter Glidetrack
• $125 – Manfrotto Tripod head
• $150 – UV and Neutral Density Filters
• $100 – Hoodman Loupe
• $140 – Battery and 32 GB memory card

Total cost: $3383.00

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I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on the setup:

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[ UPDATE: 12.26.2009 - 3:41 AM ]

Turns out that there are several types of 3D development over the years.

The type that most people are familiar with is “3D Stereoscopic” which is basically capturing with two sources and then having it projects in two different colors (red & blue -or- red & green) and the goofy glasses would cancel out the non-overlapped colors to give the artificial depth.

3D Stereoscopic can be duplicated in a low-budget project, it just takes proper planning – mounting of the camera with the right measures – and understanding of how to sync two different video files and audio files together in the same time line so editing is fully synced.

The end product will be like your classic 3D videos.

In today’s day and age of digital film making – instead of the diffusion of red and blue colors, its the diffusion of light known as “orthogonal polarizing”

During production you have a camera that has 2 lenses mounted in the front where it records the video data in two separate streams, much like how stereo audio is recorded in two separate streams.

The final cut is then projected via dual lens projector where each projector lens has “orthogonal polarizing filters” mounted on the front of it so than when you wear the 3D glasses – which also have orthogonal polarizing filters on them cancel out the non-overlapping image ads an artificial depth to the video.

More on this here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarized_3D_glasses

Question:
How does one jimmy rig two separate projectors with “orthogonal polarizing filters” to play back two separate video streams at the same exact time?

Is there a software out there that could output two video streams using a video card with two video outputs to a projector and the program sends two distinct streams onto a screen so viewers can watch the feature in 3D?

I’d love to hear your responses!

[ UPDATE END ]

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With the release of Avatar Ive been wondering, what does it take to produce a 3D film on a short budget and what knowledge is needed?

I found some links that might be a valuable resource: 3D Stereoscopic Production & Delivery

A couple more links that may prove to be educational:

• Shooting Avatar
• Panasonic new 3D HD video Camera
• 3D Film (wiki)

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The day I wrote the post on the Canon HFS100, I had the highest amount of readers in one day ever. However, the following days lead to a HUGE drop off. As you can see in the pic below this isn't normal.

The web traffic hasn’t been affected. Only the RSS readers. Anyone know what would cause such a drop after a over six months of consistent rising?

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

For the record:
This is not a technical review of the features of the camera. There are plenty of those out there. This post is simply an overview of specific benefits this camera may or may not carry based on your level of familiarity with film-making.

If you are looking for a technical review then see the CamorderInfo.com review of the Canon HFS100.

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LET’S START WITH THE BOTTOM LINE

If you’re new to the game and have never purchased a camera before then this camera is NOT for you. I recommend this camera ONLY IF you are looking to upgrade your current system. A camera system usually consists of:

• Camera
• Filters – polarized, UV, etc
• Lens – wide angle, zoom, etc
• XLR Shotgun Microphone
• XLR audio adapter
• Wireless Mic Receiver
• Tripod
• Movement assists – Steadicam, Dolly, tracks, etc
• Lights
• Computer to edit
• Hard Drive – for storing footage

If you’re thinking about putting down $800+ for this camera and you’re missing some of those elements then my recommendation is to not purchase this camera. Rather purchase the Canon HG10 or HF100, both of which you can probably get for under $400.00 USD used from Amazon or eBay.

Spend the money you save on completing your camera system.

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MY REASONS FOR PURCHASING THE CANON VIXIA HFS 100

After spending over two weeks filming Ilm Summit 2009 with my Canon FS100, one thing I came to realize is that editing would be so much faster if I didn’t have to spend so much time cleaning up the images.

My old camera is really no good at filming in low light and you end up with a lot of “visual noise”.

The computer has to spend a lot of time in post-processing to reduce the “visual noise”. The resulting image tends to become very “soft” in nature which doesn’t really scream quality.

I had been experimenting with different HD cameras but none satisfied my desire to be able to shoot well in low light.

One camera I did like was the Canon HG10. I shot Hollywoodland – Browntourage Episode 2 with that camera and was quite satisfied, except in extreme low-light conditions.

When IlmFest 2009 came up I decided to purchase the camera. I figured I’ll have the weekend to really test it out. I took a walk out to NYC to purchase a much needed wide angle lens for the camera which ran me about $300.00 USD.

After the weekend I realized that this camera is great, but it’s not worth the $1,100.00 USD retail sticker price, so took it back to the store and returned it. The guy was nice enough to not charge me a restocking fee.

About a week later I found the same camera on eBay for about $830.00 USD and purchased it for keeps.

THE WINNING FACTOR

The lens it the best part of the camera. The lens is the same lens used on the old Canon GL2 DV cameras.

The images look brilliant and it’s ability to absorb light after sunset is great with the assist of a portable light.

The latest Browntourage episode – Hollywood Again – was shot with this camera.

THE KILLER

Canon doesn’t consider XLR audio adapters when they design their camera.

With the BeachTek attached to the HFS100, you can’t open the flash disc slot to eject the SDHC memory card.

It’s a pain considering I’m usually shooting with the Steadicam Merlin. To change the card I have to off load the camera from the Merlin and screw off the BeachTek to eject the memory.

What I end up doing usually is using my Laptop to transfer the video data via USB to a portable HDD. It’s a temporary solution, but it doesn’t give that quick satisfaction of having more recording space available.

The upside to this is you’ll be limited to shoot only 60 mins of video on a 16 GB SDHC card. On a day’s worth of shooting, be sure to make each shot count.

What I might end up doing is cutting up the BeachTek device to allow for the camera to open up the memory slot or get a 32 GB SDHC card instead.

Reading time: < 1 minute

Below is the new stats view for a video I uploaded Conversations in Heaven & Hell – last week on YouTube:

All of this information was available before, but you’d have to check the insights button and click in several different areas to get all this info. I love how its all laid out in front of you in one easy click.

Thanks YouTube!