Submit a clip to Samsung's "In a City" contest by October 30th for a chance to win a free NX-1!

Samsung and actor/producer/director Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Third Rock from the Sun, Looper, Don Jon) have teamed up to create a great contest for aspiring writers and cinematographers who want to work with JGL to crowdsource a short film, shot with the new Samsung NX1 (detailed rules in the video below).

As part of the contest, you'll have a chance to win a new NX1 - arguably the best value for money interchangeable lens 4K camera on the market. And if you don't win, you can always buy your own NX1 by clicking on one of the display ads below :) Good luck!

Preproduction Panasonic GH4 in the Field!

Eduardo Angel gives us a tantalizing taste of what it's like to shoot with the new Panasonic GH4 4K camera in a blog post entitled, "7 things we discovered after shooting 4K with the GH4. You won't like #4."

I'm not going to repeat Eduardo's 7 lessons here (you can head over to Eduardo's excellent post to read the list), but there are a few really great nuggets in his blog post that aren't explicitly spelled out.  For example:

• the GH4 seems to have no problem with a little snow and moisture - there's a picture of it sitting on the ground in the snow


• the GH4 fits GH3 cages without any issues - Eduardo used a Swedish Chameleon GH3 cage, but the $90 Photography & Cinema Fhugen Fusion Honu Cage should work just fine


• the Letus AnamorphX is relatively large - and really changes the look of the camera - a little more so than the SLR Magic Anamorphot

SLR Magic Anamorphot

Letus AnamorphX

It's also clear from Eduardo's experience that the price of SD cards for this camera is going to be a challenge. The $99 (on sale) 95MB/s R/W Sandisk Extreme Pro SDXC cards that work to record Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera RAW don't seem to work with this camera.

Fortunately for Eduardo, he had an early copy of the new Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-II 280MB/s(!) card - but he still plans to buy the pricey Panasonic 64 GB microP2 card when he gets his production version of the camera.

Here's a bonus for you Spanish speakers - Eduardo's interview in Español (no subtitles) with CineDigital.tv on his experiences with the GH4:




Really looking forward to seeing the footage that Eduardo and his team shot on this snowy New York day!

Poor Man's LCDVF Solution for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera

I apologize for the long break between posts, but a second trip to Hawaii got in the way (sorry) - this one was all business, though, and I had zero time for shooting, editing or writing blog entries.

But since my most recent return, I've been slowly addressing the challenges that I had on last month's vacation test shoot with the BMPCC.

One of the biggest challenges was glare on the LCD.  As readers of my blog posts and forum entries know, I am a big proponent of cameras with built-in EVFs.  One of the disqualifying weaknesses of DSLRs for me is their lack of a video-capable viewfinder.  This is one of the main reasons I don't buy or recommend DSLRs for video.

But I really wanted to get away from 8 bit 4:2:0 video cameras - and the BMPCC's 10 bit ProRes 422 and 12 bit CinemaDNG RAW were the only affordable option  - so I had to break the "built-in EVF rule".

As I wrote in an earlier post, I bought the Cavision MHE52 (along with an $8 3.5" LCD adapter) from Adorama before my BMPCC came in.  Sadly, there was no easy way to attach this viewfinder to the camera.  I had to place it over the LCD and then physically press the eyecup to my eye during the shot in order to keep it from falling off.  The screen looked great, it gave me another point of support for the camera - and it was the only way I was able to compose and focus my shots, but it slipped or fell off several times at critical moments.

It was nice that the loupe came with straps, so I could hang it around my neck and 'look like a director' - but this was not the optimum solution.

So when I came back, I ordered a $15 Viewfinder Sunhood from LCD4Video via Amazon.  This is a traditional LCD hood - but with the straps in a "V" configuration - designed to go around the lens in front of the BMPCC.   After adjusting the straps and the velcro size adjustment for the hood, it was a workable solution.

But I had lost a point of support.  Without an eyepiece, I could no longer hold the camera up to my eye for critical focus.  And there might be times when the sun was directly behind me that it would still lose the screen to glare.  I was resigned to switching the hood out with the Cavision in those situations.

Then I saw BMCC EF owner Chris Barcellos' post and video over on dvinfo.  He asked his wife to sew some black kitchen towels together, then wrapped them around a cardboard shade and stuck a viewfinder in the back of the contraption - not elegant, but it worked!

So I pulled the Cavision viewfinder out of the camera bag, wrapped the LCD4Video shade around it, and strapped the assembly back on the camera.  It was a perfect fit.  The entire screen was bright and perfectly visible, I was able to use my eye as a third point of support for the camera, and I have complete confidence that it won't fall off or shift during the shot.

This solution doesn't require you to glue a frame on your camera or buy an external EVF.  It also steadies your shots by providing a third point of contact with your body.  Another big plus for me, is that it takes me back 40 years to the Super 8 form factor. If I squint a little, I can see the outlines of my old Sankyo and Chinon Super 8 sound cameras!

If you like this solution, you can get the LCD4Video Sunhood for $15. Unfortunately, the standalone MHE52 is now $79.95 at Adorama, but you can get a $17 EZPhoto viewfinder from Amazon, and it should work just as well.

And if you want to go all the way with the retro Super 8 look - the Photography & Cinema pistol grip is $19 at Amazon.