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			    <title>Sony | Personal View news aggregator</title> 
				<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/sony</link> 
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			<title>Leica teases a new “Mini M Leica”. Announcement on June 11.</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/leica-teases-a-new-“mini-m-leica”-announcement-on-june-11</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Leica is teasing the launch of a new “mini M” Leica camera. That beaty will be announced on June 11. As you see it’s placed right between the Leica M and the X2 Micro M. It almost sounds like this could be a sort of fixed lens Full Frame camera like the Sony RX1. You have a good guess what this could be?
Source: Leica Camera (found via LeicaCameraForum).]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 10:12:20 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Sigma 35mm f/1.4 for Sony is now in Stock at BHphoto.</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/sigma-35mm-f14-for-sony-is-now-in-stock-at-bhphoto</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Right now in Stock is the superb Sigma 35mm f/1.4 A-mount lens at BHphoto (click here). Found via DealsRunner.
One more deal news: Today Amazon updated the deals page and you can see a nice overview of all current Sony deals. Click on them to open the deals page:
Save $930 on the Sony Alpha SLT-A99V Digital SLR Camera, VGC99AM Vertical Grip and HVLF60M Flash
 Save up to $100 on Select Sony Handycam Camcorders
 Save up to $250 on Select Sony NEX Compact System Cameras
 Buy a Qualifying Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera and Save $100 on Select Sony Lenses
 Save $30 on the Sony HDR-AS15 Action Video Camera
 Save up to $130 on Select Sony Cyber-shot Digital Cameras
 Save up to $200 on Qualifying Sony Alpha Digital SLR Cameras
 Buy a Qualifying Sony Alpha NEX Compact System Camera and Save $100 on the Sony E 55-210mm Lens
 Buy a Qualifying Sony Alpha Digital SLR Camera and Save $200 on the Sony 18-135mm Zoom Lens]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 08:09:17 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Sony mirrorless startegy: enhance image quality, reduce size and weight and more higher-powered zoom.</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/sony-mirrorless-startegy-enhance-image-quality-reduce-size-and-weight-and-more-higherpowered-zoom</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
-
Sony officially released a press text (Click here) describing the Key Strategies for the future. There is a section concerning the Imaging Division. In short they want:
1) to expand the image sensor business
2) focus on 4K-compatible cameras
3) expand sales in the mirrorless market by “introducing models that leverage Sony’s image sensor technologies to further enhance image quality“. Also size reduction and new higher-powered zooms are described as key tech for to the mirrorless success.
Note: A-mount will become mirrorless too. That’s why (I guess) they didn’t talk about the DSLR system cameras  
Here is the full original Sony text regarding the Imaging Business:
“Placing image sensors, a particularly strong category for Sony, at its core, Sony is concentrating the focus of its imaging businesses on creating value-added products, while aggressively exploring new applications for its imaging technologies in both the consumer and professional markets. In terms of image sensors, the Company will continue to commercialize new sensor technologies capable of differentiating finished products, for use in a range of consumer and professional applications. The Company also plans to engage in aggressive capital investment in order to meet the robust demand for these components. At the same time, Sony is also developing technologies that further expand the range of sensor applications, including sensors capable of sensing beyond the visible light spectrum, and sensors capable of detecting and categorizing different types of information. For the professional market, Sony will continue to reinforce its professional camera lineup centering on 4K-compatible cameras, as well as cameras for cinematography. The Company will also target further business growth by extending the scope of its digital imaging technologies to new business areas such as security, sports and medical, and will reallocate resources accordingly. In the consumer market, where business conditions continue to shift rapidly, Sony aims to expand sales of value-added compact digital still cameras by introducing models that leverage Sony’s image sensor technologies to further enhance image quality, and also incorporate feature enhancements such as reduced size and weight, and higher-powered zoom. Sony will also seek to firmly maintain its number one global market share in the growing mirrorless lens camera category. Through these measures, Sony will target sales of 1.3 trillion yen and an operating profit margin of more than 10% across the image sensor, professional, and consumer categories by FY14.”]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 03:07:01 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Video of the Hasselblad Lunar event in New York</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/video-of-the-hasselblad-lunar-event-in-new-york</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Photorumors spotted that video of a Hasselblad presentation in New York. Ready to buy it?  ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 20:27:27 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Canon 1D C vs 5D Mark III Raw (and C300 / GH2 resolution comparison)</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/canon-1d-c-vs-5d-mark-iii-raw-and-c300-gh2-resolution-comparison</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
This test was conducted jointly with my good friend and neighbour Rudi at Slashcam – you can read his take on it in German / in English.
In the battle of the 1080p cameras, the game has changed. Here’s how the 5D Mark III in raw recording mode compares to the best 1080p output from the Canon C300 and 1D C.
The Canon C300 is a very good albeit highly priced $15,000 HD camera, producing an ultra clean and detailed image by oversampling from the same 4K sensor as the C500.
It is the current benchmark, so interesting to see how close the 5D Mark III raw gets in 1080p.

Pay attention to the circles!
12 o’clock shows vertical resolution, 3 o’clock shows horizontal. All the lines should be distinct. The extremely fine patterns also test for moire and false colour, as evidenced on the NEX 5N and 7D shots.
The 5D Mark III raw is impressive and compares closely to the C300, but has a few more tricks which elevate it.
The comparison above is shot at 1080p but with an anamorphic lens to correct the 3:2 aspect ratio, the 5D Mark III goes to 1280 lines from a full frame sensor, even higher in 1:1 crop mode. It uses a larger sensor than the C300 and the footage is more gradable because it is raw.
In 1:1 crop mode it gives you a lossless 1080p crop sensor mode, or higher resolutions and in this mode the camera is even more detailed and even cleaner.

Above: 1:1 crop mode in 1080p, 5D Mark III raw
Due to the way the crop mode framing works in the current Magic Lantern build we couldn’t do a final 100% perfect chart test for the 1:1 mode so please treat that last image as a work in progress not a final result!
The Panasonic GH2 is third best on this test, certainly closer to the C300 and 5D Mark III raw than the other cameras, which is astonishing considering the price difference.
The 5D Mark III is slightly cleaner than the GH2, with less aliasing, especially horizontally but it’s still a good result for the GH2.
The Sony FS100 seems to have a soft default output and a strong anti-aliasing filter. The 7D and NEX 5N are a big step down with plenty of moire.
To summarise, I’d put the cameras in order of resolution at 1080p as follows:

Canon C300
Canon 5D Mark III Raw (1080p)
Panasonic GH2
Sony FS100
Canon 7D
Sony NEX 5N / VG20

I’d tentatively say the 5D Mark III in raw 1:1 crop mode has the Canon C300 beaten for resolution, but more development is needed with Magic Lantern before we can say for sure with any finality. For all I know they could have a Super 35mm 4K crop working eventually, it’s too premature to judge the final resolution of the crop mode. Exciting times ahead!
Canon 1D C
The 1D C uses a 1:1 crop (at APS-H) to achieve it’s 4K image, a huge 4096 x 2160. The aspect ratio is slightly narrower than 16:9 and the sensor area used quite a bit less than the 5D Mark III raw in full frame mode.
When you scale 4K on the 1D C down to 1080p you get cinema standard 2K (2048 x 1080) rather than the full HD TV standard 1920 x 1080.
Here’s how the field of view differs between the 5D Mark III in raw (full frame) and the 1D C in 4K MJPEG mode (APS-H). Shot with a Zeiss 25mm F2.0 Distagon.
 
You have to bear this in mind and how it effects your lenses. The 1.3x crop of the 1D C makes the Zeiss 25mm a rather less exciting 32mm, and the crop vertically is even more due to the narrower aspect ratio compared to 16:9 (or especially 3:2) on the 5D Mark III in raw.
The 1D C and 1D X can do a full frame 1080p image too of course, but the 5D Mark III raw is a lot nicer and more detailed for that.
So 4K is what the 1D C is all about for me.
We shot in 4K Canon LOG, 1080p raw on the 5D Mark III and noticed a few interesting pros and cons for both cameras…

This example is not a proper dynamic range test as we didn’t have much time for the actual shoot setup, but upon spending an hour experimenting and grading the DNG to match Canon LOG I felt dynamic range was about 1 stop more on the 5D Mark III.
Raw also has a much more film-like gradation in the shadows and with skin tones than 4K MJPEG on the 1D C, without the odd colours and banding the 1D C throws up.

At ISO 800 the blacks are nice and clean in Canon LOG on the 1D C, because the camera applies noise reduction to the raw sensor output.
I did the same to the 5D Mark III raw DNG to see how close I could get it to the 1D C and indeed the black levels can compete…
This is an extreme push of the blackest BMW blacks, bearing in mind the camera was exposed for the sky! Magic Lantern offers raw zebras and these were extremely accurate. There was more noise in the 5D Mark III blacks but the noise reduction got rid of it without reducing resolution.

What about upscaling to 4K?
The optimal way to do this is to shoot 1920 x 1280 raw on the 5D Mark III with an anamorphic lens utilising the whole height of the 3:2 sensor. Then keep the horizontal resolution at the maximum 1280 and upscale the width to 2.5K.
Less optimal is to simply scale the 1920 x 1080 raw to 4K, matching both the horizontal and vertical resolution of the 1D C as closely as possible.
Upscaling to 2160 vertical to match the 1D C gives you 16:9 standard 4K at 3840 x 2160. The 1D C 4K is cinema standard 4096 x 2160. Here’s a 1:1 crop of both.
At infinity focus:

At near focus:

In reality the difference is less than these crops show.
The 1D C’s crop factor of 1.3x is helping it result more detail, especially at infinity as the effective focal length changes from 25mm to 32mm. The difference is less noticeable at near focus but still significant when viewing 1:1 crops like this. It will be less noticeable projected at 4K when the viewing distances aren’t enough to determine individual pixels at the one one level and the image is moving.
Summary
I feel the 5D Mark III in raw is both amazing and feature packed relative even to the professional $12k and $15k C-series offerings let alone other DSLRs. It is a dream for anamorphic shooters, offering very clean 2.5K anamorphic images with a 1280p vertical resolution. Various shooting aspect ratios such as 3:2 and 4:3 are not offered on the C-series cameras. To utilise the full height of a 3:2 full frame sensor is a genuinely new feature, as even the factory 5D Mark III crops the full sensor to 16:9 with the standard video mode. The Nikon D800 also crops the full frame sensor. With anamorphic on the 5D Mark III with raw you have a larger sensor recording area than any other DSLR on the market, and considerably different to Super 35mm, APS-C or the 1D C’s APS-H 4K MJPEG.
The 1D C is of course top dog for resolution but the image cannot be graded with the freedom of raw, even from Canon Log. Colour and gradation, especially when it comes to skin-tones are better on the 5D Mark III with raw.
The cleanness of the full frame 1080p mode is also excellent on the 5D Mark III in raw, ahead of any other DSLR on the market and so close to the $15,000 Canon C300 that in the real world it makes no difference. Only on the most demanding test chart could I tell.
These are astonishingly exciting times for 5D Mark III owners.
The post Canon 1D C vs 5D Mark III Raw (and C300 / GH2 resolution comparison) appeared first on EOSHD.com.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 13:17:11 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Zeiss Touit news and tests roundup (with first test on NEX-5n).</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/zeiss-touit-news-and-tests-roundup-with-first-test-on-nex5n</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
These new Zeiss Touit lenses look like a very great addition to the new E-mount lens range. SAR reader Rob had the pleasure to test these lenses on the Sony NEX-5n: “I just posted à long hands on review of the Carl zeiss touit 12mm on à Sony nex 5n. See http://transcontinenta.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/hands-on-review-van-de-carl-zeiss-touit-2-812mm/
I also did Many shots with the Sony nex 7 and the Same lens in the Dutch Keukenhof . See our flickr account for that with Many high res touit samples taken With the 32mm on à fujifilm XE-1 and à Sony nex 7.
Www.flickr.com/transcontinenta and then  the Carl zeiss touit collection .”
And there are plenty of new image samples and news to read: A new Zeiss Blog entry that talks about the lens design, 12mm Hands-on at Photographyblog and image samples at Photographyblog. 32mm Hands-on at Photographyblog and image samples at Photographyblog. Image samples also at Diglloyd. 12mm image samples at ThePhoBlographer.
Zeiss preorder links:
12mm f/2.8 at BHphoto, Adorama and Uniquephoto. In Europe at CameraCenter UK and FotoMundus.
32mm f/1.8 at BHphoto, Adorama and Uniquephoto. In Europe at CameraCenter UK and FotoMundus.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 09:41:46 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>(SR3) New Honami phone with 2/3″ sensor, xenon flash and manual controls like RX100</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/sr3-new-honami-phone-with-23″-sensor-xenon-flash-and-manual-controls-like-rx100</link>
			<description><![CDATA[You know it already…the compact camera market is dramatically shrinking and the present and future of photography is smartphones with high photo quality. That’s where Sony is investing their development sources. And the next “honami” phone is supposed to come soon featuring also a new JPEG engine that we may will see in future Alpha and NEX cameras too. According to a new source the new “Sony H2″ phone “will use a 2/3″ sensor with xenon flash and Cyber-shot branding and manual controls like the RX100.”
P.S: Do not confuse the H2 phone with the H2 cybershot  
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Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
—
Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 04:20:34 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>UPDATED: Sony A99 for 2399 in Germany. A99 deal in UK (free battery grip)</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/updated-sony-a99-for-2399-in-germany-a99-deal-in-uk-free-battery-grip</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
The A99 price if slowly dropping in germany too. Lately the price was floating at around 2600 Euro and now it dropped down to 2400 in Germany at Photo Preim. It’s even lower if you buy it at eBay UK (a little bit above 2100 Euro).
UPDATE: You get the battery for grip with the A99 at Wexphotographic UK (Click here).
Thanks Alexander for finding the deal!]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 23:09:02 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Sony A99 for 2399 in Germany.</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/sony-a99-for-2399-in-germany</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
The A99 price if slowly dropping in germany too. Lately the price was floating at around 2600 Euro and now it dropped down to 2400 in Germany at Photo Preim. It’s even lower if you buy it at eBay UK (a little bit above 2100 Euro).
 
Thanks Alexander for finding the deal!]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 23:09:02 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Sigma 35mm to finally ship this week!</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/sigma-35mm-to-finally-ship-this-week</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Finally after a very ling wait the new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 A-mount lens will ship this week! Bhphoto (Click here) just anticipated the shipping date from May 30 to May 24.
There are a couple of new lenses that will ship soon in USA:
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 on May 30. Preorder at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 on June 3 at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 on June 3 at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Sony 50mm f/1.4 Carl Zeiss Planar T* ZA Lens on June 10 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto.
 ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 12:47:52 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Panasonic GX2 coming in August. Zeiss Full Frame lenses for E-mount in 2014.</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/panasonic-gx2-coming-in-august-zeiss-full-frame-lenses-for-emount-in-2014</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
In August and September we will have a new huge wave of mirrorless product announcements. We expect a new Olympus OMD camera with Sony’s new sensor (and on sensor phase detection AF). In late August Panasonic will announce the new GX2 (specs not out yet). And Sony will announce the new NEX-7 successor.
What is also very interesting is that Zeiss Lens Roadmap that hints a completely new line of lenses. The chance is very high that this will be the new Full Frame E-mount lenses coming along the Sony NEX-9 full frame camera. That stuff will be announced mid 2014 (probably right before Photokina). Start to save your money now because the prices of the lenses will be around $2,000  ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 08:55:06 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Head over Heels – fun with the Sony RX100</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/head-over-heels-fun-with-the-sony-rx100</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Fun photos in the “Upside-down house”.
 
 
 
 
 
A while ago we visited a very cool place in my home county Tyrol – a house that was built upside-down as a tourist attraction. Strangely, I wasn’t able to find any good videos of it online, so we took one hour of our time and we used the tiny Sony RX100 (watch my video review by clicking here) that I had on me on that day.
Enjoy – it really was fun to jump around that house for an hour. And it’s worth visiting, so check out the website of “Haus steht Kopf” (which includes directions). Strangely, we are so used to seeing everything in a “normal” way, it’s very disturbing to see everything upside down – plus, you don’t really see all the details until you turn around the image or video afterwards. We are all so focused on the ground!
]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 05:40:54 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Zeiss Full Frame lenses for NEX-FF will be expensive. But which one would you consider to buy?</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/zeiss-full-frame-lenses-for-nexff-will-be-expensive-but-which-one-would-you-consider-to-buy</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
By mid 2014 Sony will launch the new NEX-9 Full Frame camera and there will be a couple of Zeiss Full Frame E-mount prime lenses will be announced too. I have no specs yet but sources told me that both, the camera and lenses will be expensive. I have no info yet about the exact price but I got the feeling a Zeiss prime lens could be priced at around $2000 (or a bit less depending on the lens). I took a look at the current Zeiss Full Frame range for DSLR. Le’ts asusme they will release lenses with similar specs. Which one would you consider to buy if they make it for the NEX-FF system?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post&#039;s poll.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 04:55:21 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>Zeiss presentation hints new lens line -&gt; guess it’s the FF NEX Zeiss lens :)</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/zeiss-presentation-hints-new-lens-line-guess-it’s-the-ff-nex-zeiss-lens</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Zeiss had an official presentation in Japan and the image on top shows their strategy and planned activities (Source: DC.watch). As you can see they don’t think that compact cameras and classic DSLR are growing markets. Smartphones, mirrorless system cameras and the very high end cameras are the growing (or stable) markets. That’s why they want to focus on high quality lens productions for top DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. And they also anticipated a new line for the future. My guess is that this could be the new Full Frame Zeiss lenses for the NEX-FF system  

As I told you months ago the new NEX-9 Full Frame camera is due for mid 2014. And there will be also a couple of primes coming along it. Yep, exciting and expensive  
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Zeiss Touit preorder links:
12mm f/2.8 at BHphoto, Adorama and Uniquephoto. In Europe at CameraCenter UK and FotoMundus.
32mm f/1.8 at BHphoto, Adorama and Uniquephoto. In Europe at CameraCenter UK and FotoMundus.
 ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 16:27:12 CDT</pubDate>
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			<title>2.5k CinemaScope anamorphic raw on the 5D Mark III</title>
			<link>http://www.personal-view.com/news/articles/25k-cinemascope-anamorphic-raw-on-the-5d-mark-iii</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Click here to view the embedded video.
Download the 2.5k 2560×1280 Vimeo file and playback on a 2.5K or 4K display for best results
Download a pack of DNG frames from the original raw files to judge quality

The spec sheet is impressive. 14bit linear bayer raw is sub-sampled from a 6K sensor, giving 1280 lines of extremely clean resolution with an anamorphic compliant 4:3 aspect ratio.
This is in a similar league to the image quality of the Sony F35 (Superman Returns, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland) which cost $250,000 just 5 years ago.
With 2560 x 1280 anamorphic in raw on the 5D Mark III it feels like a completely new camera.
I prefer the image and the creativity in post offered by raw over 4K MJPEG on the Canon 1D C. The 5D Mark III is capable of using all of the full frame sensor if shooting 1920×1280 (3:2), it isn’t a crop to APS-H like the 1D C in 4K.
Why anamorphic? It gets me away from 16:9. The cinema aspect ratio is wider. In the old days of Super 35mm film (remember that!?) the imaging area was approximately 4:3 and part of the audio track was on the film negative. To get CinemaScope, filmmakers used anamorphic lenses to compress more width into the frame. As the anamorphic only makes the FOV wider horizontally, it doesn’t reduce your ability to get a shallow DOF and a close up like a normal wide angle lens does. Furthermore when you are panning to track an actor with an anamorphic, you have far more leeway either side of the subject making for more graceful sweeping pans.
You can crop of course in post but it isn’t the same. You lose vertical resolution and you lose the cinematic character and flare of the anamorphic lens.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Above is a very wide aspect ratio I shot with recently with the Nikon V1 at 400fps, and I was forced to shoot in this aspect ratio due to the slow-mo mode being such low resolution. With the 5D Mark III in raw, you can choose not to crop and use all 1280 lines of resolution, almost at the 1350 mark of the Blackmagic in 2.5K!
What is more it allows you to upscale horizontally to achieve 2.5K without also needing to upscale the vertical res. As a result it really does look like 2.5K and that is the resolution gain anamorphic lenses were designed for, back in the day. Of course anamorphic lenses are still in widespread use today, with Quentin Tarantino shooting Django Unchained with Panavision glass as covered at EOSHD here. There’s more on what lens I used for this shoot further down the article.
Workflow
Raw makes the actual shoot more straight forward as all you really have to control is the lens – aperture, focus – and forget about the picture making box. You cannot really get the full scope of the image from H.264 on Vimeo, so please do download the original DNG files here and open them in Photoshop. You can do most of your exposure in post like you can with a 35mm film negative in a dark room. Bear in mind these are in 4:3 format and shot with the Iscorama 1.5x anamorphic so you should scale them to 2560 x 1280 or 1920 x 953 for the correct aspect ratio.
In-camera with Magic Lantern I used the 4:3 aspect ratio of 1720 x 1280, then a stretch in post to 2:1 anamorphic 2.5K.
UPDATE: With the Iscorama 1.5x lens 4:3 actually becomes 2:1 anamorphic not 2.39:1 3K as originally stated. With a 2x lens in 4:3 or with a 1.5x lens in 3:2 (1920×1280) you will get the slightly wider 2.35:1. I have corrected the video and re-uploaded it in the correct 2560 x 1280 resolution instead of the original 2:39: 1 (3000 x 1280).
This way I get pin sharp and detailed 2.5K footage. This is a formality with an anamorphic lens and great to finally get away from 16:9 thanks to the custom resolutions offered by Magic Lantern. That 14bit 12 stop dynamic range raw workflow is a beautiful thing indeed.
The camera can go as high as 1920×1280 for a still anamorphic friendly 3:2 aspect ratio giving 2.39: from a 1.5x lens and 2.66:1 from a 2x lens – this will be lovely but at this early stage it isn’t quite reliable on my fastest 1000x speed compact flash card, dropping frames after around the 20 second mark. 1770×1280 maintains the same number of lines of resolution but makes continuous takes reliable and gives you true 2.39:1 with the more common 2x anamorphic lenses making for a less extremely wide image than a 16:9 sensor delivers from anamorphic.
I’m really glad I have found my paintbrush. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera EF mount much as I love it is not full frame and there’s no other aspect ratio apart from 16:9 which doesn’t help my anamorphic work at all. The Sony FS100′s image just doesn’t match raw and again no anamorphic concessions to aspect ratios are present. I am going to sell the FS100 and replace the BMCC EF with the Micro Four Thirds mount version to use as a B-camera.
Initially I had concerns about losing the stella low light performance of the FS100 but the 5D Mark III is utterly amazing in low light with raw. My initial low light test it turns out did not exploit the full performance as I was handling it the same as the Blackmagic footage by changing the exposure in post from the native ISO of the sensor (800). What I later found was that if I shot at the desired ISO in-camera the image is cleaner than shooting at what I assumed to be the native ISO and adjusting the exposure in post, so it is likely the native ISO is more like 2500 than 800!
The raw workflow doesn’t phase me as I can efficiently work to deadlines armed with the right knowledge of raw in post, the right software and the right hardware. Admittedly when you don’t have this experience and the right tools, raw becomes very frustrating and time consuming in post.
When not on a quick turn-around and just painting with light, even going slowly isn’t a concern to me, because I enjoy spending a lot of time working through these challenges and certainly a lot of time grading, whilst with DSLRs prior I never really graded at all – I felt it hurt the image too much.

I think the anti-raw arguments are exactly the same as when DSLRs and 1080p first came onto the market. People complained 1080p was too slow to edit and demanding on their time – but mainly that they just didn’t need it at that point.
1080p became the standard very quickly though and some were ill prepared at that point as they hadn’t embraced it earlier! Don’t lose valuable time listening to the negative nellys telling you how much of a pain raw is. A gigabyte is the new megabyte and tomorrow terabytes will be the new megabytes. You have to move with it as the IT side just gets better and better, cheaper and cheaper with every passing day. Technical knowledge has never been more important in the armoury of a filmmaker. In the film days you had to have technical knowledge but it was of a different kind and it served you for longer. Today it is easy with digital to get quick and easy results but to really push you need that IT ability in spades and to not be intimidated by the fast pace of digital technology.
Raw2DNG from Magic Lantern even in such a rudimentary early stage crunches through Canon DSLR raw files faster than real-time (24fps) on my €1000 Hackintosh with RAID 0 array of 3 standard hard disk drives. The main operating system is on an SSD. There’s no recording limit as the 4GB file size limit of FAT has been broken and the camera uses ExFat formatted cards. You can also record ProRes via HDMI whilst simultaneously recording raw internally to compact flash card, which is handy for generating on the fly proxy files and playback. During this shoot I had no problems using my SmallHD DP6 for monitoring in the correct anamorphic aspect ratio via HDMI whilst recording raw, quite an incredible feat for a $3000 DSLR. Despite this being dev code I had no crashes or corruptions either! Quite incredible progress in just a week.
Partly thanks to Red, raw (at-least compressed raw) is already a cinema standard and I think we will be seeing more of it in other realms of production where image quality is a priority too. People complained there were a lot of amateurish hacks and workarounds with DSLRs when they first appeared but that didn’t stop a lot of very high end professional productions being shot on them because the image was lovely at the time.
Now it is again and you just need to rig them properly for them to be usable professionally. I don’t like overly complex and spidery rigs so I’m very happy with the rig which I came up for with the anamorphic shoot which is simply a Wooden Camera cage, Lanparte quick release with carbon rods and a SmallHD DP6…


Because I wanted a top handle as well I put the 5D Mark III into the Wooden Camera Blackmagic Cinema Camera cage – yes it fits! Though I had to use a very thin secondary adapter plate designed for something else. As you can see the monitor is mounted on the back of the rails for tripod use, but what is great is that it is on an articulated Sony hinge mounted directly on the rails and not one of those annoying spidery arms up high which puts the whole rig off balance.
The monitor is very light and takes the same batteries as the camera but also acts as a good counterweight for the weight of the lens. I can look down at the screen when shooting on a tripod at waist or chest height. This is much better than having to hunch over constantly to see the tiny non-articulated LCD on the back of the camera.
I found battery life to be excellent on the camera whilst shooting raw, better than Blackmagic’s internal battery by far – though an external battery is still preferable for longer shoots than a few hours.

I have a love affair with anamorphic glass especially Iscoramas, and currently have the 36, 54 and smaller 30. I’ve dubbed it the ’30′ because the rear element is 30mm compared to 36mm on the later Iscorama 36. If you are considering an anamorphic lens yourself or just interested in the advantages of using one you should grab my book on the subject here.
The ’30′ is the first generation Iscorama from the late 1960′s which was bundled with a SLR mount prime set to infinity. Focus is on the anamorphic. It flares more thanks to being single coated instead of multicoated and the smaller rear element helps introduce a more characterful vignette. When I want to tone these properties down (sometimes I do) and not go all out for J.J. Abrams flare, I use the multicoated Iscorama 36, which is even a bit sharper.
My favourite lenses to use with the Iscorama 30 are the Helios 44M and the Helios 44M   OK better explain that the original Helios 44M is a single coated 58mm F2.0 lens from Russia, very sharp wide open with an Iscorama. Though not as sharp or as contrasty as my Contax Zeiss 50mm F1.4 or Leica R 50mm F2.0 with the Iscorama, it does have heaps of character. It also goes well with my very rare Iscorama CentaVision 2x single focussing anamorphic and is the prime lens I used to shoot Zen in Shanghai shot on the GH2. With the GH2 you get much sharper corners especially stopped down. On the 5D Mark III the corners are shall we say ‘characterful’!
Click here to view the embedded video.
The second Helios 44M I have is of course the amazing modded Flare Factory 58 from Richard Gale’s Dog Schidt Optiks. Richard is an engineering genius as well as someone with a wonderful eye who I can trust to come up with character by the bucketload. The reason I used my bog standard Helios for this shoot is that I had the faux-anamorphic aperture insert in the FF58 and no time to disassemble the lens to take it out. I will be shooting with the Flare Factory 58 as the orange tint compliments the single coating flare on the Iscorama making it even more dramatic and even adding a hazy, glowing vignette which fully utilises the smooth gradation of 14bit raw. None of the flare or vignetting you can add in post digitally is this organic or dynamically shifting due to real ambient light sources.

Conclusion
Am I over the moon about the image quality of raw on the 5D Mark III?
Well before we were shooting 8bit, with all that banding and lack of flexibility in post. Now we have 14bit colour and can debayer the raw to 4:4:4 EXR using the full power and sophistication of an ILM workstation. That’s a bit of a step up from DIGIC 5. Effectively the image processor of the camera has been moved out of the DSLR and into the realm of Resolve, Intel and NVidia. That is a big thing. No more DIGIC debayer or mushy H.264 encoder.
Dynamic range and overall quality is pretty much identical to the 22MP raw stills on the 5D Mark III so you can imagine what a step up this is for any league of video camera, let alone one costing $3000. That Canon sensor is doing a very good job indeed and I am amazed.
One of the biggest improvements I’ve noticed, especially when watching the footage on my Dell 27″ 2.5K display which rivals the Apple Cinema Display for colour and contrast is the HUGE improvement to the look of colour on the 5D Mark III. All I can say is hello colour, hello blue skies, hello subtle shades where have you been all this time!? I’m amazed we put up with not having this kind of colour and tonal precision for so long.
Resolution in 1080p is very close to the full 1080 lines so clearly the sensor is doing a superb job of sampling the full 6K chip. The exact method is proprietary Canon knowledge but I’d be very surprised if there’s any line-skipping at all like there is on the 5D Mark II. I’ve not had a single incident of moire or aliasing yet. The only artefacts I’ve seen are when I’ve done something in post I shouldn’t have like pushing highlight recovery all the way to the right, which hurts the roll off. Better to let some highlights go to super-white than to hurt highlight roll off in my view.
Resolution in 1280p for anamorphic is of course even better and exceeds what the best 1080p broadcast cameras do, such as the Canon C300. It is a moving 14bit raw photo oversampled from a 6K sensor and stored in raw format ready for 4:4:4 sampling whilst the C300 is a moving 8bit JPEG image oversampled from 4K and heavily compressed in 4:2:2 MPEG, so I am not very surprised that the 5D Mark III looks a lot nicer.
The post 2.5k CinemaScope anamorphic raw on the 5D Mark III appeared first on EOSHD.com.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 14:33:56 CDT</pubDate>
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