Revolution Cinema Rentals will take part in an Open House in collaboration with Hollywood DI

Join Revolution Cinema Rentals in collaboration with organizer Hollywood DI at an Open House with working demonstration this Saturday, Oct. 20th, from 10 am – 4 pm. They will highlight the use of streamlined workflows to increase efficiencies in the production and post pipeline while at the same time reducing your costs and enhancing overall image quality and production value.

Other participating vendors at the event include Aberdeen Systems, Assimilate, BlackMagic Design, Christy’s Editorial, Codex Digital, ColorFront, Dolby Digital, FilmLight, LumaForge, Sonnet Technologies, and Sony Electronics. This group includes five of this year’s Emmy Technical Awards Winners.

Award winning cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, ASC will be presenting several brand new cameras from Canon and Blackmagic Design.

Keynote Presentations

The Main Hall: 11am and 2pm
 - Canon’s 4K Arsenal for Storytelling

Shane Hurlbut, ASC will take you on an immersive journey of innovation and discovery with the new Canon 4K platform. Camera etiquette, workflow, short cuts, tech talk, color correction and new rig systems that will increase your speed and accuracy in the field. Use the unique qualities of these compact cameras to best tell your stories.

Fairbanks Theater: 12:30pm - 
Pulling Back the Curtain in Color Correction with the New Line of 4K Cameras
Shane Hurlbut, ASC will discuss the color correction process of the Canon RAW 4K files from the C500 and MPEG 4K Canon LOG files of the 1DC, as well as the RAW 12 BIT 2.5K files from the Black Magic Cinema Camera. A Q&A will follow. (Please note that seating is limited)

Doors to the Fairbank’s Main Hall where the Expo will be held open at 10 am. There will also be look management and color correction demonstrations held in the Fairbanks Theater throughout the course of the day. The doors close at 4pm. For more information, call Kalani Leon on 323-850-3550.

Entrance and parking is free but please register at the link below beforehand:
http://collaborativeworkflow.eventbrite.com/

Location: The Lot, 1041 N. Formosa Ave, Fairbanks Gym, West Hollywood, CA 90046

Be there.

Canon announces the highly anticipated EOS 5D Mark III

Around the world, even people who have no association to the filmmaking community are well aware of the Canon 5D Mark II – a landmark camera that has changed the production industry like no camera before it. Even before Canon knew what they had, professional cinematographers began to flock to the video-enabled DSLR to create cinematic images with the 5D Mark II’s VistaVision-sized sensor. Once the 7D was released, DSLRs began to spread like wildfire creating a filmmaking revolution, led by shooters like Shane Hurlbut, ASC and Vincent Laforet and helped by filmmaking blogs and social media. The question became, why go to an expensive film school when you can create and exhibit professional looking movies for next to no money?

Even though Canon has dominated the indie filmmaker camera space for many years, the marketplace is evolving. Video cameras like the Sony F3 and FS100U, RED Scarlet and Panasonic AF100 were released as a result of the 5D Mark II. Canon recently launched Cinema EOS with the C300 being their first large sensor professional video system. To make things even more interesting, Nikon has announced two DSLRs, the D4 and D800, that I believe will give Canon a run for its money and possibly create a rivalry between the two camera manufacturers once again.

Let’s put it this way: for Canon, the update to the 5D Mark II had to be big. So is it?

The 5D Mark III contains a new 22.3-megapixel full-frame Canon CMOS sensor

The 5D Mark III

After patiently waiting for more than 3 years (the 5D Mark II was released in Sept. of ’08), Canon has finally announced the long awaited successor to the landmark 5D Mark II.  The 5D Mark III contains a 22.3-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor and a new high-performance DIGIC 5+ imaging processor.  It’s the 3^rd full-frame camera in the EOS line, sandwiched between the 5D Mark II, which will still be available, and their new flagship DSLR, the 1D X. For still photographers, it has a new 61-point AF system, which dwarfs the 5D Mark II’s 9-point, and can capture 6-fps, compared to the Mark II’s 3.9-fps. What’s also impressive is that the ISO ranges from 100-25,600, which is two stops higher than the standard range on the Mark II. In essence, ISO 25,600 on the Mark III will be in the same ballpark as the Mark II’s 6,400. Pretty impressive.

True Motion Pictures

But this is HDVideoPro, so we must talk video. At first glance, the 5D Mark III’s specs do not jump off the page. Breakthrough technology would have been 4K and RAW motion capture but at the moment, no DSLRs have that capability. What I think the 5D Mark III adds are subtle yet significant adjustments and features that experienced DSLR filmmakers will truly appreciate, which include better noise reduction, longer recording times and more audio control. The 5D Mark III has virtually the same motion capture features as the $6,000 1D X. It captures 1080p Full HD at 24p, 25p, and 30p: 720p HD recording at 60 and 50-fps; and even SD recording at 30 and 25-fps. You you can capture up to 30 minutes across multiple 4GB files. In terms of memory, the camera accepts Compact Flash Type 1 and SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. So far so good, but you’re probably not blown away yet, right?

The Sensor and DIGIC 5+

So here’s where the “Wow” factors start to happen. The 5D Mark III’s new full-frame CMOS sensor and DIGIC 5+ processor is what experienced 5D Mark II and 7D shooters will really focus on. The sensor has a new gapless microlens design, a new photodiode structure and improved on-chip noise reduction. An eight-channel readout doubles the speed of image datea throughput from the sensor to the DIGIC 5+ processor, which gives you a much cleaner signal for better image quality.

The greatest thing to know about this camera is that line skipping is no longer implemented for video capture. Yes, you heard that right! Nasty color artifacts and moiré patterns, mainly due to line skipping, has been an Achilles’ heel for most cinematographers and filmmakers. On the 5D Mark II, because of the size of the full frame sensor, line skipping was the only way to get a reading off the sensor to downsample to 1920 x 1080. According to Canon’s Technical Advisor/Professional Engineering & Solutions Chuck Westfall, the DIGIC 5+ processor is 17 times faster than the DIGIC 4  so the Mark III doesn’t need to employ line skipping, thus obtaining a much cleaner signal for motion capture. But remember, just because there is no line skipping, it does not mean that the camera will be devoid of all artifacting or moiré. Unlike say, an Canon XF300/305, which has a native 1920×1080 chip, the 5D Mark III still has to downsample down to 1920 x 1080 from it’s 22-megapixel sensor. But still, the removal of line skipping for video capture should be a huge improvement to perhaps the system’s biggest flaw.

For filmmakers, perhaps the best new aspect of the camera is the elimination of line skipping

For most Canon 5D Mark II and 7D users, one aspect of the camera that many of you are aware of are native ISOs. For Canon DSLRs, it’s been determined that the native sensitivity is ISO 160 with the native ISOs being doubled when you apply gain (160, 320, 640, 1280, etc.). What’s most intriguing is that DSLR shooters have observed that the 1/3 stops between the native ISOs appear to perform worse than it’s higher native ISO, i.e., a cleaner picture at ISO 320 than 200 or 250. The camera has a native sensitivity at roughly ISO 160 and the other ISO values that are calculated from that essentially apply a “digital pull” along with the various gains the amplification circuit is producing. According to Westfall, since no full production models were currently available, it’s undetermined whether or not the Mark III has this. We’ll be sure to investigate this as soon as we obtain a review unit.

Sound Control

Along with line skipping, audio has been another workaround for DSLR filmmakers. Like the Nikon D800 and D4, Canon is offering both a stereo mic (mini jack) input and headphone jack. You also have greater manual audio level control with 64 levels, which is very impressive. The latest RØDE Stereo Videomic Pro would be a great solution if you need to capture basic audio on location but if you’re working on a professional production, you’re still going to want to shoot dual system. But I’m still waiting for a DSLR with an XLR input. Although it would up the price because of the added electronics, I’m sure this is a feature most DSLR users would be willing to pay for. Maybe next time.

New Compression Formats

One new key feature for filmmakers is that the 5D Mark III (and 1D X) uses two compression formats: intraframe (ALL-I) and interframe (IPB). Intraframe has less compression and is better for editing because each individual frame is compressed by itself rather than rendering frames like you would from a typical compressed video stream. Since it’s a variable bit rate, the range, according to Westfall, is in the “40s”, which is similar to the bit rate of a 7D. Keep in mind that the file sizes will be much bigger but with the cost of memory cards and storage coming down, intraframe is the format you’ll probably want to use on professional productions.

IPB compression uses algorithms to compare the frame before and after to gather up information. Because it’s looking at essentially three frames at a time, it ups the compression, but enables the file sizes to be smaller. For most users capturing both stills and video, IPB is definitely a great way to go.

The 5D Mark III also lets you capture two SMPTE-compliant timecode embedding – Free Run and Rec Run. Recording hours, minutes, seconds and frames, you’re now able to record much needed timecode for both multicam and single camera shooting. A great added feature for filmmakers.

The 5D Mark III has a new 3.2" LCD screen with 1,040,000 dot resolution

HDMI Features Fall A Little Short

Sounds great so far, right? Indeed. But with improvements in the chip and imaging processor, there’s one feature that may have made the Mark III an absolute must-have camera, which is a clean HDMI output. The Nikon D4 and D800 both feature a clean HDMI feed that enables you to output 8-bit 422 files – although not uncompressed like many have stated – instead of H.264 files. Using a digital recorder in tandem would make the camera more like a professional video system. Yes, you still need to purchase an extra device but a recorder like the Atomos Ninja, which can record ProRes 422 files is selling for only $1,000. And the Ninja can also function as a monitor and playback system as well. (Soon I’ll be doing a comparison between H.264 AVC and ProRes 422 files.)

Speaking of the the HDMI feed, another feature that Canon has not fixed is the ability to view both the LCD screen and an external LCD or EVF when output via the HDMI port. The LCD still gets knocked out when the HDMI is engaged. This makes it touch if you have both a camera operator behind the camera and a focus puller standing next to it.

But one piece of good news is that there are improvements to the 5D Mark III’s LCD screen, which features a new 3.2-inch Clear View II LCD screen with 1,040,000 dot resolution – an improvement over the 5D Mark II’s 3.0-inch, 920,000 dot resolution.

Pricing & Availablity

The 5D Mark III will be available at the end of March and will be priced at $3,499, which is approximately $500 more than the retail price of the D800. The same kit lens is available as the Mark II kit (EF24-105mm f4L IS USM) and the price of that kit is $4,299. When you look at the price of the F3, Scarlet and C300, the 5D Mark III is almost a third of the price. Although it’s still not a video camera per se, $15K-plus prices out most filmmakers in terms of ownership so I’m positive the 5D Mark III will be a huge hit.

Although it’s not a perfect camera system feature-wise (no camera is), it looks like the 5D Mark III is a solid update to the 5D Mark II. The line skipping removal and two stop improvement are terrific new features that will greatly enhance motion picture capture for filmmakers. Look for a future hands-on review of the camera in an upcoming issue of HDVideoPro.

For sound, the 5D Mark III now offers headphone jack, the first EOS DSLR to offer one

For more information, please visit: www.usa.canon.com. Let us know what you think.

Adobe's CS5.5 Production Premium was named HDVideoPro's top product of the year

I recently named Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium as my top product of 2011. With the release of their Mercury Playback Engine, as well as Apple’s release of Final Cut Pro X, Adobe has slowly but surely taken back some of the NLE marketshare that Apple has dominated over the years. With the ability to throw almost any codec at Premiere Pro and edit natively, Adobe has recently partnered with Automatic Duck to help improve the workflow integration into the system.

HDVP recently spoke by phone with Adobe’s Bill Roberts on Adobe’s great year as well as what will be in store for 2012. As the Director of Video Product Management, Roberts oversees product planning, design and development efforts around Adobe’s digital video and audio products. He has worked in professional video and audio for more than 20 years, with the majority of his career focused on developing software tools for creative professionals.

HDVP: So it seemed like 2011 was a huge year for Adobe, especially in regards to CS5.5. Do you think a lot of that was due to some blowback from the FCP X release.

BILL ROBERTS: That was interesting but because of Apple’s size and scope, we can only ponder about that. But looking from the outside, it was a smart financial move for them because Final Cut Pro X ranks very high in the App store. And you’re absolute right. It did cause a lot of attention to come our way and I think for us, we were just happy and ready for the attention. If Apple had chosen that path a couple of years ago, I don’t think we’d be in the same boat. But starting with CS5.0, which was in April 2010, we put in the Mercury Playback Engine and we really started to focus on professional quality performance. That started to move a trend. In 2010, before Apple released Final Cut Pro X, our business on the Mac had grown 45%. There already was a strong momentum for us in that space and when Apple did that, it really didn’t change most people’s day to day workflow. People weren’t saying, “Oh my God, Apple has released a new piece of software, I must stop using FCP 7.” What it did do was force people to think about where Apple is going so it did bring a lot of attention to us. But like most things, people won’t spend the money unless they’ve tested out the software. For 5.5, we spent a lot of time thinking about what it was like coming into Premiere Pro if you were coming from an Avid or Apple background. What are the things you would expect to work in a certain way? We spent a lot of time on that, which was a big plus.

The thing that has really shined for us is that the Production Premium Suite is really the last suite in the market. Kudos to Apple, they’re playing by their own rules. They disassembled their suite to put it on the App store. Recently, the thing that really resonated for us was Dynamic Link, which is a feature that enables you to work between After Effects and Premiere Pro seamlessly. You have the ability to have a shot in Premiere and pop it across to After Effects, create something, have it work in the background, have it appear in your timeline, and then dynamically have all the changes working back and forth. We saw an incredible interest in this since After Effects is so ubiquitous in this space and people are using it as an on-ramp to Premiere Pro. At the end of the year we had top-tier post houses around the world calling us up and asking, “Can you walk us through these Dynamic Link workflows.” It’s been a big plus and one of the main trends we’re seeing in 2011 as well.

According to Adobe's Bill Roberts, CS5.5 is the last NLE suite on the market

HDVP: Are you worried that with the $300 price point of FCP X that many of the DSLR users – who will eventually become working pros – will stick with the NLE.

ROBERTS: It’s interesting that you bring that up. I’ve said before, Apple plays by its own rules. With Final Cut Pro X, now you have an editor where you can do a little color correction on it but you have to buy Motion separately. You don’t have a photo editor or an audio solution so you have to go out and buy them. So when you start to look at this, if you’re going to be any sort of digital professional today, chances are the two things you’re going to want in your arsenal are Photoshop and After Effects. When you look at those two stand alone things , all of a sudden the value proposition of Production Premium at $1,700 (in North America) is extremely good. I think that a $299 price point is a bit of a loss leader because you pretty much only get an editor for that price. If we wanted to sell an editor for $299, we could but we base all of our stuff on value. When you look at that, we’re comfortable with Production Premium and the power of the suite is something that is in line with where the industry is going. Moving forward, if you can’t afford the upfront software, we’re going to have an offering where you can get all of the software in Master Collection as well as Tablet apps, and Cloud Services – all for a low price.

There’s all kinds of ways to skin this cat but I’m not intimidated by their price point. I think it’s a great move for Apple because if we see what’s happening in this space, we see digital video echoing what happened in digital imaging, which was one of the first large scale areas where professionals led the way and the consumers followed through. Apple did a smart thing in getting in front of the broader use of DSLR for video but it’s not necessarily all the same users that you would see in the professional domain. They’ve opened their market to a new space, but closed a little of their professional space.

HDVP: What sort of trends do you see for 2012?

ROBERTS: This year we acquired IRIDAS, who produce SpeedGrade, a very competent and powerful GPU grading solution. One of the reasons we did was we started to see video heading down the same path stills did with extended and high dynamic range capture. So if you looked in 2011, you started to see the forefront of this with our close partner is RED, who is starting to move into extended dynamic range by capturing a stop up and stop down. It will be able to capture as much light as you want to. Some people will manipulate the light on set to get the look that they want. Other people will want to capture as much latitude as possible and create that look downstream. This will be something that benefits everybody that produces content, not just the folks in stereoscopic. I think HDR video is going to be huge.

One perk of the suite is a great screenwriting software, Story, which can be integrated into Premiere Pro

A tool that is getting a lot of play for us and again, that’s the power from the Suite, is Adobe Media Encoder. It allows you put your content out in every format. In 5.5, we made it really easy because we didn’t talk about things like the raster size and cadence. It was more like, “I just want to send this to an iPad.” People don’t want to understand the medium just so their customers can consume content. They want to focus on telling their stories as richly as possible.

DSLRs have been huge for us. We just had filmmakers Vincent Laforet (December 2011) and Shane Hurlbut, ASC (December 2010) speak to our sales force. We also really got out in front of the technology with the Warp Stabilizer feature in After Effects. We continue to get the love from our users on that.

Currently if you’re working in DSLR, you’re working with 8-bits of latitude. It can look brilliant if you work with it very carefully but it can also look really rough if you don’t manage it well. We had an interesting kerfuffle earlier in the year. Paul Joy, who does a great blog on DSLRs, was commenting his images didn’t look the same coming out of Premiere Pro rather than Final Cut Pro. Basically with the Canon DSLR format, you have two ways of reading it. You can go through QuickTime or the way we do, which is natively to the bit. As it turned out, just from our analysis, and this has not been confirmed by Apple, but if you go through the QuickTime wrapper, there’s a certain amount of filtering and softening going on, so we’ve put the time to go to the raw data and we pull all of the information out of that.

HDVP: So what can we expect from CS6.0?

ROBERTS: (laughing) I can give you a few anecdotes. It will be one of the biggest and most exciting video releases ever on the video front. In my career, you get times where certain forces manage to line up and you get big releases and multiple products at the same time.

For more information on Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium, please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production.html.

The Swedish filmmakers behind PressPausePlay (photo by Martin Wichardt)

2011 is the official year that technology fried my brain. Because of the huge explosion of tech gadgets and services launched in the past few years, I can honestly say I have the attention span of a five year old. Thanks to my iPhone and iPad, apps, Netflix, Roku box, Spotify, Twitter feeds, Facebook updates, the Cloud, etc., it’s become difficult for me to sit and read a novel, watch a serious movie on DVD, or listen to a CD from start to finish. Like most people, these are activities that I previously found enjoyable. Also, thanks to our new digital culture, these three mediums are going away quickly – whether you like it or not.

But don’t worry, there is a bright side. Just because these particular platforms are disappearing, the ability to create art and express yourself is stronger than ever. The digital revolution has allowed anybody with an idea the tools, technology, and distribution platforms to complete their artistic dream project. Earlier in the year, we profiled an excellent documentary, PressPausePlay, that takes a look at our new democratized culture (see HDVP August 2011). The film, which was made by a couple of Swedish filmmakers (very appropriate), brings together artists such as filmmaker Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), musicians Moby and Robyn, technology guru Sean Parker (Napster, Spotify), and many others to discuss how technology has empowered a whole new generation to creatively express themselves. What makes things different now is that for the first time, this art can be distributed to a global audience wherever, whenever.

The  Internet And The 99%
PressPausePlay also asks an important question: Does a democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature? Well, this is a difficult question to answer. For our purposes at HDVideoPro, let’s examine filmmaking – indie filmmaking in particular. Helped in most part by the DSLR Revolution and video sharing websites like Vimeo, it’s now easier than ever to create a professional looking movie, distribute it in 1080p on a video sharing site and then promote it for free through social media. You can even raise funds from total strangers for your project through crowd funding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The result has been an explosion of independently produced narrative features, shorts and docs. The only problem is that there aren’t enough silver screens in the world to accommodate these movies, especially at the multiplex where low budget films would have to compete with studio franchises (Harry Potter, Transformers, Pirates, etc.). So where will all of these movies end up?

A typical kiosk on Main St. in Park City during Sundance. Is the film festival model dead?

The obvious answer is the Internet. Festivals like Sundance and SXSW are still going strong in discovering new talent but what happens if your film doesn’t get accepted (the majority)? With the Internet, you can upload a high-quality 1080p version of your latest short for anyone to see on YouTube or Vimeo and there is no gate keeper (aka film festival programmer). There are also many filmmakers who aren’t even bothering with the film festival submission process. One filmmaker I interviewed earlier this year, Eliot Rausch told me after he uploaded his short film to Vimeo, he was invited to screen the film at over 50 film festivals but decided to just let his film live on the web. “With the Vimeo platform,” says Rausch, “it becomes this thing where they can throw up anything they want and it’s celebrated, embraced, and other people are able to witness it. You don’t have to appease any brand, any client, or any sort of specific guidelines. It’s just a pure heartfelt endeavor.”

Film Schools And Festivals Are The 1%
When I was in college, I had several filmmaking heroes, including directors like Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders and David Lynch. I still remember the line around the block at The Nuart Theatre in West LA for the latest Krystoff Kieslowski film and thinking nothing of it. These were filmmakers who had an original voice and created films outside the Hollywood system. At the time, I wanted to make movies like these mavericks but did not have the resources, equipment or experience to even conceive of doing this. For young filmmakers today, the opportunity to create movies is easier than ever but I wonder if  the current environment would produce a filmmaker like Jarmucsh or Lynch? Perhaps, but a more important question is would they actually be discovered? Because of the low cost of filmmaking tools and the Internet, cinematographers and filmmakers like Shane Hurlbut, ASC, Philip Bloom and Vincent Laforet are the new filmmaking heroes because they’re out in the field shooting projects while using the Internet to inspire and coach young filmmakers to go out, grab a camera and make a movie.

Filmmaker Clive Mohale at Hurlbut Visuals' Boot Camp (courtesy of Hurlbut Visuals)

At the Hurlbut Visuals Boot Camp last year, I met a young filmmaker, Clive Mohale, from South Africa, who was truly inspiring. Mohale had a small circle of filmmaker friends in his hometown, who pooled all of their money together to send him to America to attend the boot camp. Because of money, he only stayed in LA for the two days that the bootcamp was offered and never even really saw Los Angeles. His main goal was to return to his country to share all of the information he learned about DSLR filmmaking. For me, Mohale’s beautiful story is a reflection of the power of technology and how it’s truly a global phenomenon.

As HDVP editor Neil Matsumoto noted in his first post on our NAB 2011 experience here, the convention and the industry as a whole was able to struggle through the recent economy thanks in large part to the video-capable DSLR revolution. First introduced only a bit more than two years ago with the Nikon D90, the technology has certainly had its limitations, but it has also instigated a whole slew of new products designed specifically to address the burgeoning market, as well as retaliation from the video manufacturers with large-sensor, interchangeable lens camcorders like the Panasonic AG-AF100 and Sony’s NEX-VG10 and NEXFS100U.

Though no new HD DSLRs were announced at NAB 2011, a great deal of DSLR accessories for video were announced and previous products have been further refined. Keep your eye out for the upcoming July/August issue where we will explore the technology of video-capable DSLRs more in depth with an article from tech editor Michael Guncheon, as well as the Releases section which will cover many of the most exciting new product announcements from the show. In the meantime, here are just a few of the more impressive HD DSLR accessories that we saw over the week.

K-Tek introduced the Norbert accessory frame at NAB 2010, and this year sees a Norbert Filmmaker Kit with a new height adjustable frame and 15mm rail system support for working with other systems, matteboxes and follow focus units. There are seventeen accessory slots in 1/4″ x 20 and 3/8″ x 16 threads, as well as nineteen standard shoe mounts for lights, audio, monitors and other devices.

ikan had a variety of accessories to showcase, including follow focus systems, shoulder mounts, stabilization rigs and a unique ELE-TTD Tabletop Dolly that will support cameras up to 15-pounds. They are also offering a variety of impressive LED lights and affordable monitoring solutions, like the VX7e, which won Best Monitor at the show.

Tiffen has paired with ubiquitous D.P. Shane Hurlbut for a new line of Tiffen HV Filter Kits designed specifically for the Canon 5D Mark II and other HD capable still cameras. There are currently four kits available in the line that include a variety of neutral density filters of varying strengths, a WW Ultra Circular Polarizer (depending on the kit) and a belt loop style pouch for keeping them organized and accessible. One of the difficulties with HD DSLRs is that they do not include internal ND filters to stop down light.

New tripods and tripod heads for camcorders and for DSLRs populated the show. Davis & Sanford, OConnor (who was also showing a new Glow-In-The-Dark Follow Focus Marking Disc – image above), Sachtler and Vinten were a few of the companies with new models available for HD DSLRs. Sachtler, for instance, is offering the Cine DSLR fluid head with a low payload range of 2 to 11-pounds and 3-step damping for reducing vibrations. Sachtler has also updated its artemis line of camera stabilizers with the artemis Handheld and its low dead-weight of 2.2-pounds, similar to the Tiffen Steadicam line and the new Glidecam HD-2000 (see a video on that here).

Cinevate had a variety of admirable HD DSLR and small camcorder products, including tracks, dollies and DSLR rigs. The Atlas FLT Lightweight Camera Slider was interesting in that it could be used horizontally, vertically and at angles. Their Cyclops DSLR Viewfinder (image above) fits to the Proteus Simplis DSLR Rig and magnifies the LCD screen nicely. You can hold it to your eyes to block sunlight during bright days, but the viewfinder is so large that it’s not necessary during normal shooting. There were a LOT of DSLR rigs from Redrock Micro, Zacuto (as seen in the lead image in this post), ikan, Cinevate, Camtrol and many, many others. In fact, there was a LOT of EVERYTHING this year, so stay tuned to the HDVP blog for more new product coverage.