Lytro camera is a unique camera in which you can reset you point of focus after the picture is taken. To explore more with this, you can check out some of the pictures that Lytro posted on their site:

https://pictures.lytro.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=L8Nc316hJnQ

• 8x optical zoom lens with constant f/2 aperture offers a wide range of creative shots
• Unique micro-lens array with digital image sensor captures the color, intensity, and direction of light entering the camera
• Light field engine processes the four-dimensional data captured by the sensor, so you can view it on the screen and refocus with a tap
• 1.52″ back-lit LCD glass touchscreen display allows you to control most of the camera functions with a tap or a swipe

To purchase on Amazon

A hard camera to keep in stock, but some are now available on Amazon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iIJTfu9Kpqk

Product Features

• Full Area Touch Control Auto Focusing
• Cinematic Full HD Video 1080/60p (H.264)
• Ruggedized Splash and Dust Proof Diecast Body for Ultimate Reliability
• High Speed Contrast AF Accuracy
• Double OLED Display

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH3 Body (No Lens) Compact 16MP Digital Live MOS Sensor, Splash-and-Dustproof, Cinematic Full HD Video, Touch LCD Digital Single Lens Mirrorless (DSLM) Black

 

Professional Grade Sensor Technology

The 16.05-megapixel Live MOS sensor boasts wide dynamic range and high sensitivity image recording
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The DMC-GH3 features a 16.05-megapixel Digital Live MOS Sensor with a level of sensitivity that produces flowing gradation from shadows to highlights. Panasonic’s original pixel-mix technology is designed exclusively to minimize noise generation. The fine wiring provides high resolution and a wide dynamic range creating truly stunning images that look like you could reach out and touch them. High-sensitivity ISO 12800 (extended: ISO 25600) and extensive noise reduction give you remarkable images even in dim lighting. In the DMC-GH3′s Contrast AF system, the image sensor doubles as the AF sensor to resist any mechanical margin of error. Compared with Phase Difference AF, the focusing is precise even at small F-numbers and achieves a higher focus detection speed than most traditional DSLR models.

Double OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) Display

High-quality, high-speed organic EL displays are used for both the Live View Finder and the rear monitor.
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Master your frames with super fast double OLED displays used for both the Live View Finder and the rear monitor. These OLED displays give you 100% vision field and withstand bright daylight scenes to provide natural coloring with virtually imperceptible time lag. The Eye Sensor automatically switches between Live View Finder (LVF) and the rear monitor offering 614K dots with seven brightness levels, seven color levels, 11 red-green color levels and Blue-Yellow levels. The GH3K compact wireless digital camera’s Touch Pad offers Full-area focusing on any point you touch so there’s no need to have our subjects in the middle of the shot and you can frame your shots as you please. With Level Gauge, the camera detects angle views so that photos shot in portrait will appear vertically, regardless of the lens used. In Free-angle Rear Monitor mode, your wide-viewing angle rotates sideways 180° and tilts up-and-down 270° so you can get those low-and-high angles. Assist manual focusing by enlarging the image on the monitor by 4x, 5x or 10x with a simple touch of the rear monitor.

Go Hollywood and Create Cinematic-quality Videos with Creative Special Effects on the GH3K Compact Digital Camera

The Panasonic LUMIX GH3′s heat-dispersing body is built to support professional Full HD video recording technology
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If you’re eager to test your movie-making skills, then these advanced technologies developed by Panasonic for its professional broadcasting equipment, are just right for you. Not only does the camera give you Full-HD recording but progressive scanning records every frame, so twice the data is retained. Three types of quick-motion, 80%, 48% and 40% slow-motion video let you apply a variety of effects to the video timeline. An embedded Time Code makes it easy to synchronize your video footage or sound source in your post production workflow. The HDMI terminal easily connects to a large screen monitor, the 3.5-mm-diameter, general purpose mic jack allows for sound synched recording and the 3.5-mm-diameter headphone output terminal provides for real-time sound monitoring while shooting.

Click to see the DMC-GH3′s wide variety of recording formats, frame rates and bit rates used by broadcasting stations and production studios.

Field Tough For The Harshest Of Environments

The lightweight, sealed magnesium alloy design protects the camera and provides peace of mind in extreme field environments
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The light weight LUMIX DMC-GH3 mirrorless camera is rugged enough to withstand the rigors of professional use in virtually any environment. With a completely re-engineered body from its core, the magnesium alloy full die cast frame features tightly sealed joints to form a splash and dustproof design and added protection.

Professional Speed and Precision

Contrast AF provides higher accuracy while Light Speed AF locks on to fast moving objects.

Offering the best of both worlds for pro shooters, Light Speed AF is not only precise, its speed excels that of other high-end DSLRs. With Contrast AF (Auto Focus), the image sensor controls your focus giving you a greater range to create crisp, clear images. Light Speed AF is great for recording fast moving subjects like your little leaguer, migrating birds, or your best friend bungee jumping. And since you have a full-area AF touch, you select your desired field of vision. Additionally, Light Speed AF quickly locks onto a subject, making it possible to capture even fast moving subjects like your son, the dirt bike rider.

Customizable Hand Control with Conveniently-placed Buttons for Superior Shots

The Panasonic LUMIX GH3K camera’s shutter speed, exposure compensation, ISO and white balance settings can be quickly adjusted with the front / rear dials and rear jog dial
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Shooting with the viewfinder has been further enhanced in the DMC-GH3K compact mirrorless digital camera. Exposure compensation, ISO sensitivity, and white balance controls are positioned around the shutter button to make operation fast and easy while looking at the viewfinder.

The camera allows for you to customize a total of 7 function buttons (5 in button and 2 in touch menu tab) by allotting a function you use often. Custom Mode 1 and 2 let you register a series of settings you use often so you can instantly recall a pattern of the settings, Custom Mode 3 lets you register patterns for up to 3 more settings.

Focus, Shoot and Monitor Using Your Smart Phone or Tablet

A smart phone or a tablet can be used as a remote controller and a remote monitor.
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Built-in Wi-Fi takes your LUMIX compact mirrorless digital camera right into your social media circles. A Smartphone or a tablet can be used as your remote control and monitor. Focus on a sunrise with your GH3K and see it LIVE on your Smartphone or tablet. Use your device to set your focus, exposure compensation, ISO, WB and even Photo Style as well as your shutter release. You can also record in the moment and even geo-tag your location by using your device’s GPS log. Playback your footage to assure you are in the right frame so you can adjust or continue shooting. Instantly share your images from your camera using the LUMIX LINK app.

Redesigned Venus Engine with Intelligent Resolution Technology

The GH3′s Venus Engine reduces noise and ensures the correct exposure
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A redesigned Venus Engine produces clear, crisp photo and video images. Its MNR (Multi-process Noise Reduction) quickly detects brightness in every part of a shot and its HDR (High Dynamic Range) allows for several pictures taken at different exposure levels to turn into a single composite picture that eliminates over-or-under-exposure. The 3DNR reduces noise and clarifies rough edges.

Intelligent Resolution technology detects outlines, intricate texture, and gradation thus precisely processing pixel by pixel to render true-to-life color reproduction that is spot-on.

Heat Disbursing Body For Extended Use

The LUMIX GH3′s heat-dispersing design accommodates extended still image and video shooting without overworking your camera.
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Right from its initial design stage, the GH3K pursued a hybrid structure by incorporating an original heat-dispersing design that enhances super high bit-rate recording and extended continuous shooting for extended amounts of time without overworking your camera.

An interesting tour to look at all the different Canon cameras throughout the years.

http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/

Canon’s latest full frame DSLR. Not as good as the Canon 5D Mark III but the 6D is also cheaper.

http://vimeo.com/54352877

From the video:

The footage was taken with a pre production model camera and hopefully the video quality in the final version will be improved.

Camera weakness:

-Severe moire
-Soft image
-No headphone socket
-No audio through HDMI while recording (for monitoring audio on new EVF’s)
-No clean HDMI output

Notes:
-Format: 1080/25 All-I
-Video shot with available light. Litepanels 1×1 was used for the interview only
-Audio was recorded directly to the camera. No external audio recorder was used.
-ISO settings 640-1250
-Picture profile: Netural 0,-4,-1, 0
-30% sharpening was added in post (Adobe Premiere CS6)
-No CC was applied

Buy the Canon 6D on Amazon.com

If you ordered a Blackmagic Cinema camera or are thinking about purchasing one, there has been numerous delays since the announcement last year at NAB. If you want to stay update to date with fellow filmmakers who have also ordered this camera and maybe have it arrive, then check out Blackmagic’s specific forum related to this camera:

http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewforum.php?f=2

Hopefully they can ship a larger quality of cameras very soon.

It’s been out of stock on Amazon and BH Photo, but you can still get a good deal with the Panasonic GH3 on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Digital-Cameras-/31388/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=gh3&_sop=10

Originally 279.00, today only for 119.99

Sale only on Amazon

Special guest deal presented by our colleagues at Woot.com: “You never know. You just never know which nosegrind, which turndown, which cross-stepping rip will be the one to make history. So you have two choices: record every move you make, or spend the rest of your life as that sad guy always talking about that one thing he did on a snowboard. No, seriously, it was amazing, you guys. The Swann Freestyle action cam proves that 1080p, 30fps video is worth a million words. It includes three different mounts for helmets and flat surfaces, and a casing that’s waterproof to 65 feet. For a fraction of the price of the schmancy-name cams, you can have incontrovertible evidence of all your most thrilling victories. As for the agonizing defeats, well, nobody has to see those.”

With the huge success of the GoPro Hero cameras, there was bound to be knock offs from a variety of different companies. I was lucky enough to test out the Sony HDR-AS15 Action camera. I have already been using a GoPro Hero 2, so I wanted to see how these two cameras stack up.

Here’s my breakdown:

-I like the design of the Sony HDR-AS15 a little bit more, it feels less bulky and it keeps more of a low profile than the GoPro. That’s before you put it in the housing. If you’re using the Sony housing, it has a bright, fluorescent yellow hinge and even the mounts are the same yellow color. I’m guessing this is geared more towards action sports, so if your camera falls off – you might be able to find it easier.

-I’m surprised that Sony didn’t try to follow more of the specs of the GoPro Hero 2, instead they sort of followed what GoPro first released years ago. There is no 24p frame rate with the Sony, which GoPro later on released an update with their camera. The stills are less megapixels than what GoPro has to offer. GoPro you can shoot narrow view, but with Sony it’s only 170 and 120 degrees.

-You can’t turn off the Sony camera if it’s in the housing (you can set it up in the menu so that the camera can turn off after 10 seconds). Not a major thing, but worth noting.

-With the GoPro it seems like they also had the indie filmmaker in mind and I mean that by them updating their firmware to be 24 fps. Plus they also offer a new neutral profile setting, so you have more flex when it comes to color correction. The Sony camera does have a Zeiss Lens, so the optics should be sharper than the rest of these action cameras.

-It just surprises me that Sony had a chance to really follow GoPro, that they could have added a small LCD on the side or or even a small one on the back, just to check the frame.  They could have added the 24fps. Why? I don’t know. If you want to beat your competition, you should create a superior product. Something that challenges other manufactures to emulate you. With Sony, they simply didn’t do that.

-A good thing about Sony camera is that it gives you a countdown of how much time or how many stills you have left. That’s a plus, The GoPro Hero 2 just shows you how many stills you have taken already, so it can get tricky if you want do setup a long time lapse.

This is an action camera and I guess Sony just geared their camera for just that one user. That it’s for those that just want a simple camera that you can turn on with a press of the button and start filming. Not that it’s a bad thing, but since they are basically trying to steal the sales away from GoPro – they should have done a better camera.

Links for both cameras:

Sony HDR-AS15 on Amazon

GoPro Hero 2 on Amazon

Amazon is currently running a good deal with the Canon 5D Mark III with the Canon EF lens 24-105mm f/4 lens.

Tech Details:

Buy at Amazon.com

If you’re looking to upgrade your GoPro Hero 2 to the new Hero 3, here’s the spec sheet that you might want to look over. Remember that the 4K shooting style on the Hero 3 is 15 fps, so it’s mostly used for capturing stills with video or stop motion. Also, the Hero 2 now supports 1080p 24p with the new firmware update.

There has been a lot of buzz with the Blackmagic Camera since it was announced at NAB this year. It quickly became the go to camera with indie filmmakers and it created this myth about how Blackmagic was able to do something that the company Red only talked about.

Create a $3,000 camera that can shoot RAW (2.5K).

The first camera tests were from John Brawley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqZpy6Yi-Eg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7R3eulAWcE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Jp_-Yczn0

There was a few technical releases over the next couple of months and some of the main things to consider:

-Sensor size. This seems to be the biggest complaint among filmmakers.

-Built in battery. This is going to be fixed with other third party companies coming in and creating a new way to power this camera.

-Only Canon EF lens mount ability. Recently Blackmagic said they are going to release a micro 4/3 mount camera as well. That’s a good sign, not only because this new addition but because it shows signs that this company is wiling to listen to their potential buyers and make those adjustments.

Then they started to ship cameras out to a few camera testers.
A good review is from Philp Bloom:

https://vimeo.com/48956550

So it looks like the biggest complaint about this camera is with the firmware. Will this get an update? Most likely.

The problem is that you can’t see what f-stop you’re at on the camera. This is where a manual lens that gives you the ability to adjust on the barrel of the lens comes in handy. A problem but it can be corrected.

I’m sure a new firmware will definitely correct this problem.

The battery read out doesn’t seem that accurate. Only reads in 100/75/50/25/0%.

Once again, you’re going to need another battery setup if you want to film a full day with this camera. Film for an hour and then two hours of charging really doesn’t work in a real world setup.

The final thing is to consider is the amount of hard drive space this camera is going to require if you’re going to shoot RAW. The price of hard drive is dropping but not in the realm of the amount of space that this camera is going to require.

A simple breakdown is this:

1 hour of 24p video is 512 GB

Figure you’re shooting 7 hours of footage a day. 3,584 GB of footage a day. Backed up twice, just in case drives fail = 7,168 GB a day.

That is the main thing indie filmmakers need to consider. In the past, most of the cost was with the production. As technology changes, the shift is now with the post production costs and how to store this massive amount of footage.

This camera can also shoot in 1080p. So that is an option but it’s not the same dynamic range as RAW.

Full tech specs about this Blackmagic camera can be found here:

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/techspecs/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kjFeMkgEv-0

There’s a lot of hype with the new arrival of the Blackmagic camera. The ability to shot RAW and also to have over 2K resolution is a major plus for filmmakers. However, if you’re on a limited budget – remember the amount of hard drive space this camera is going to have with this specs.

Since the Blackmagic camera also has a different sensor, your current lenses are going to have a different field of view than what you would normally expect.

You can see this when filming with a Canon 5D Mark II (or III) vs a Canon 7D. With the Blackmagic camera, you probably want to stick to more of a wider lens.

Compassion test: Click here

Canon DSLRs are popular for video shooting, and you can pull beautiful footage from the low end Rebel series to the high end 1D series. But what is the difference in image quality in a price range from $1000-$7000? We’ve had a Rebel T4i, 5D Mark III, and 1DX all in ou possession, so we decided to take a closer look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_yieLYtLKzo

We took all three cameras and shot the same scene with the same lens (Canon 24-105 f/4) and settings (f/9, 1/50, ISO 100). We use a picture style with sharpness at 0, contrast at 0, and saturation at -2. We adjusted the focal length on the crop-sensor t4i to match that of the other two cameras. Obviously this isn’t completely scientific, but we did our best.

When viewed on the web at less than full-screen, the differences between the three are very faint. But when you blow ‘er up a bit, the first thing that stands out is the terrible moire patterns in the T4i shot. Look at the false color in the bricks. Clearly the 5DMK3 and the 1DX are worlds better at resolving that type of detail.

As for image sharpness, there difference is ever so slight, but the 1DX is a bit better than the 5DMK3, and the 5DMK3 is a bit better than the T4i. You can see it best in the leaves of the trees.

For the last step we added a bit of sharpness in post (Sharpen effect in Premiere Pro CS6, value of 55) to see how the footage responded. The difference immediately became clearer at 350% crop. The 5DMK3 lost a lot of detail and displayed more noise than the 1DX, while the T4i became sludgy and gross. Ew.

But AGAIN, this is pixel-peeping! Yes, the T4i’s low price is reflected in that terrible moire, but the difference in video quality on those higher end cameras is minuscule. Paying $6700 for a 1DX will get you a tad bit more sharpness, and probably a bit better performance at high ISOs (though we have not tested this yet). The 1DX’s real benefits are almost entirely in its beastly photo-snapping capabilities.

More info

The Blackmagic camera is going to hit the market at the end of this month, but they are making changes to the camera up to the last minute. They have added more settings to choose from when it comes to your white balance.

The camera now has 3200K, 4500K, 5000K, 5600K, 6500K and 7500K.

Canon has announced a new firmware upgrade for their Canon 7D. This upgrade will be available in August.

One of the main features is the ability to control your audio levels manually. Other features include:

• Improved maximum burst for RAW images (up to 25)
• In-camera RAW image editing
• In-camera Image Rating
• In-camera JPEG resizing
• Maximum Auto ISO setting (ISO 400-6400)
• Manual audio level adjustment in movie recording
• GPS compatibility
• File name customisation
• Time zone settings
• Faster scrolling of magnified images
• Quick control screen during playback

Some big announcements from NAB 2012 this year for indie filmmakers. Here’s a breakdown of some of the key stories:

GoPro Hero firmware update to 24fps & 35Mbit (previously 15Mbit).

This is great news because now you can match your Canon DSLR footage seamlessly with your GoPro footage. They are also going to release a Cinestyle with the GoPro, so you will have more color correction latitude in post.

More info at:

http://gopro.com/gopro-partners-with-technicolor-to-incorporate-cinestyle%E2%84%A2-into-gopro%E2%80%99s-new-protune%E2%84%A2-firmware-for-hd-hero2-at-nab-2012/

Canon released their DSLR 4K camera – the EOS 1D C. This was going to be a great new camera for indie filmmakers, then the price was released. It’s going to be around 15K, so that canceled out a lot of hopes and dreams  with filmmakers.

Then out of nowhere, the company Blackmagic released their 2.5K camera for 3,000. This was the best kept secret at NAB and this is the new buzz camera. The release date for this camera is going to be in July.

More info at:

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/

The one thing to keep in mind with this kind of footage is the hard drive space. 4K was the big thing this year at NAB but remember hard drives are cheap but not that cheap yet to be storing this kind of data. A quick breakdown of 4K storage is:

4K RAW (4096 x 2160), 24fps, 10-bit: 253.125 Megabytes per second – 15.2 Gigabytes per minute – 911.3 Gigabytes per hour

4K RAW (4096 x 2160), 24fps, 12-bit: 303.75 Megabytes per second – 18.2 Gigabytes per minute – 1.093 Terabytes per hour

4K RAW (4096 x 2160), 24fps, 16-bit: 405 Megabytes per second- 24.3 Gigabytes per minute – 1.46 Terabytes per hour

Then you have to at least store this footage twice, just in case drives fail.

An average 3TB drive is around 200 bucks.

With the Blackmagic camera, the breakdown is:

2.5K RAW – (2432 x 1366)  12-bit, at 24fps: 144 Megabytes per second.  6.8 Gigabytes per minute – 410 Gigabytes per hour

So that’s not too bad, but just remember your post workflow when dealing with these new line up of cameras.

These two cameras seem to be front runners for indie filmmakers looking for a camera under the 5K price range.

To see how these two cameras compare, more info can be found at: http://nikitapavlov.com/blog/digital-bolex-d16-vs-blackmagic-cinema-camera-comparison-table/

This is nice announcement from the GoPro team at NAB this year. They have announced that their GoPro Hero 2 will have the ability to shoot in 24p mode. They also have their own cine style setting, so that you have more flex with color correction in post. A nice new firmware update for GoPro users.

A bit more info from this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3KnH2NdiIk

http://es.gopro.com/gopro-partners-with-technicolor-to-incorporate-cinestyle%E2%84%A2-into-gopro%E2%80%99s-new-protune%E2%84%A2-firmware-for-hd-hero2-at-nab-2012/

Another big announcement out of NAB is the new Blackmagic Cineam Camera that can record in 2.5K resolution. With a price tag at around 3K, this camera came out of nowhere and is being closely watched by indie filmmakers.

More info at:

http://www.gamerlive.tv/article/nab-2012-blackmagic-outs-revolutionary-25k-cinema-camera-2995

http://vimeo.com/40513740

Back in November Canon announced their CS300 camera and along side some of the publicity photos, there was also one picture of a DSLR hidden in the shadows. Not many specs were given at the time about the DSLR.

Once the price was revealed with the CS300, the next question that indie filmmakers had was – What is the price of the DSLR?

Well, Canon has finally announced and released the specs of this 4K DSLR. More info about this camera can be found at Canon:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/about_canon?type=news&maxRowCount=10&fileURL=selected&dojo.preventCache=1334239879592&pageKeyCode=pressreldetail&docId=0901e02480533ee2#

Right now, the price is around 15,000 which is extremely high for indie filmmakers looking to the make the jump from their 7D or 5D Mark II cameras. Rumor has it that the price will be more along the lines of $10,000.

If you already jumped aboard with the CS300, you’ve already been upgraded. Canon also announced the CS500.

If the price stays around $15,000 then filmmakers will probably shoot with a Red Scarlet or switch over to Sony’s latest. Indie filmmakers that are on a limited budget will probably turn to the Digital Bolex camera.

When Red announced the Scarlet years ago, it was going to be a 3K camera with a price point of 3,000. Then came the DSLR revolution and that company went back to the drawing board.

They eventually released the Red Scarlet but no where near that price point.

Now another company is kicking around the same idea. Creating a 2K camera for about the same price point as a DSLR camera.

That camera is Digital Bolex http://www.digitalbolex.com/.

Thanks to an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign, it looks like this camera will actually happen with a release date happening in the fall.

The design of the camera:

http://vimeo.com/38016103

A video of what kind of images this camera can produce:

http://vimeo.com/38286282

Tech specs about the camera:

Swiss legend Bolex are on board

The sensor is Kodak sensor.

Adobe DNG codec

CCD, so no rolling shutter.

Sensitivity is 400 ASA, but as it shoots RAW and has a dynamic range of 12 stops, you can push it enormously to make it closer to 800 or even 1600 ASA.

It records sound with PROPER XLRs.

Expect about 8-10 minutes of raw footage per 32gb Compact flash.

12 bit 444

CanonRumors.com has posted a link about a possible Canon announcement at NAB 2012 this year.

Could be the new 4K DSLR Camera or it could be something with the Ron Howard Project.

Time will tell.

http://www.canonrumors.com/2012/03/canon-teases-exclusive-screening-at-nab-2012/