It’s here, finally! Magic Lantern announced previously that they found a CineDNG RAW Live View output on the Canon 5D Mk II and Mk III. However, they couldn’t record it for more than 10-12 frames per second at 1080p because the buffer was too large. They recently announced though that they figured out a way to do it at 1920 x 820–which is 2.35:1 aka anamorphic native on the 5D Mk III. Of course though, it helps to have a CF card at 1000x speed. Apparently from the post, 720p HD video is no real issue at all–but 1080p is. They can achieve 1928×902 recording for up to 700 frames before it stops; which equates to around just under 30 seconds of footage.
And from the samples that they’ve shown off, they really do seem to have that RED and Black Magic look to them. Unfortunately, after reading through their forums, it doesn’t seem like there is a solution for the Mk II yet. Take a look at two comparison videos after the jump.
Via No Film School
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Often when I shoot products for the website, I try to think of different and creative ways to light the scenes but also have a natural and lifestyle like appeal to them. Due to a busy shooting schedule, legitimate window light isn’t always available–so it needs to be faked. Firstly, we should keep in mind that the larger and closer a light source is to a subject, the softer the light is. And in general, the light coming in from a window is usually quite soft. Soft light refers to the quality of the shadows.
So when I shoot some images, I often simply take a speedlite, place it right up against a white wall, and shoot with an according shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Once again, shutter speeds control the amount of ambient light leaking into the photo white the aperture controls flash exposure but not flash output. Additionally, ISO controls overall light sensitivity in the scene. Often when I’m doing this, I use TTL. For this particular set of images above, I used a Phottix Mitros flash with their Odin triggers in conjunction with Tamron’s 90mm f2.8 Marco VC mounted to my Canon 5D Mk II. And if you didn’t know beforehand, you might just think that this was all shot with natural light.
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Nikon may not have Vitally or Magic Lantern behind them but they do have support from some diligent hackers. Today these brave souls have unlocked the first door to Nikons encrypted guts. Inside was the ability to record video without a limit of the usual 29 minutes. This patch is available for the D3100, D5100 and the D7000. Depending on the quality that you choose you are still limited to the archaic limitations of FAT32 of a 4GB maximum file size. A beta tester released these times on the dedicated forum page for the patch:
1080p 30 frame high quality – ~24 minutes
1080p 30 frame normal quality – ~42 minutes
1080p 24 frame high quality – ~24 minutes
1080p 24 frame normal quality – ~42 minutes
720p 30 frame high quality – ~42 minutes
720p 30 frame normal quality – ~59 minutes
720p 24 frame high quality – ~49 minutes
720p 24 frame normal quality – ~59 minutes
640p 30 frame high quality – ~59 minutes
640p 30 frame normal quality – ~59 minutes
Of course we at The Phoblographer can’t be responsible for whatever you decide to do with your personal time. If you would like to jump head first into the hack head over to the announcement page. Thanks to DIY Photography for the heads up.
Before we decided to post this, we did a little bit of research and confirmed it to be true. Sigma’s DP line of point and shoots such as the DP1, DP2 and DP3 Merrill have been hacked by the Chinese to use an M Mount. We first heard about this via Mirrorless Rumors, and it is indeed real. There are some more images of the hack in this Google translated forum and a company is charging to do it for users.
So what does this mean? Well first off, this is one of the most exciting pieces of news that we’ve heard in a while. Sigma’s Foveon sensor is actually quite good if you can think of it as a Hasselblad Medium format camera–which means that you need to use proprietary software to get the best results and that the ISO range isn’t up to par with others. In this way, you could probably call it the closest thing to a Mamiya 7 II in terms of digital formats–but many of us who have used that camera know that nothing could ever touch it.
But the bigger question is why isn’t Sigma doing this themselves? Back at CES, I spoke with the President of the company–and his desk (he doesn’t have an office) is in the same area as the engineers. But I really wonder what he’s thinking, and am confident he’s reading this and looking at it with great curiosity
We love crafty people and the crafty projects that they do. Kevin over at TheFilmme hacked his TLR to take Fujifilm Instax images. The way to do this is by using a black film changing bag, either the Instax adapter for the Lomography LC-A+ or an Instax camera, and a Rolleicord Plate Adapter. The entire hack requires removal of the camera back and placing the film very securely and safely in the plate adapter–hopefully within a dark room or changing bag if you’re that skilled.
The results are pretty darn cool if you nail them correctly. Check out the Google Translation if you’re interested.
Via Filmwasters and TheFilme
Great news, Magic Lantern has found their way into Canon’s latest EOS-M mirrorless camera and will be releasing a hack that address the firmware issues users are experiencing with the camera, particularly some of its current lacking features. They’re taking suggestions for new features right now on their website.
Don’t fret though, Magic Lantern still has the 5D Mk III and 7D on their high priority list.
Via Photorumors
