There is a great interview in Variety with James Cameron and his perspective on 3D films (pun intended). Of course, what he says is quite convincing, and salient. I met him once. He made some convincingly salient points then too. Via Daring Fireball, via John August.
Read MoreApril, 2008 Monthly archive
It is always interesting when you take a diversion from concentrating on “visual effects” and go see what other people are doing with graphics technology. In many ways, the SIGGRAPH conference is a yearly fix of all things interesting, but you have to stop working to get there, and residing outside of the US doesn’t make it any easier. The alternative time-sucking solution, is web surfing.
Sometimes you come across something which really gives you a jolt. The work Robert Hodgin does is clever and beautiful:
Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo.
He uses Processing, an open-source programming environment for graphics and audio. See their exhibition space for more examples of what can be done. Robert Hodgin has a bit of his stuff on that page too, and great explanations of how the software was used (Birds/Flocking).
I’ve become quite interested in procedural animation of late, and have been wondering what we can do with Massive (and a bit of time) to create some visualisations. We’ve done a bit of stuff on films using Massive to create things other than crowds (like traffic, pedestrians, etc); so another logical step would be to use it with some input data to drive different aspects of it… hmmm… music clip anyone? With the right input data, I am sure you could make something quite special.
Read More
RED announced the following new cameras, which I am sure will be dissected and analysed (and changed) over the next year or so. Release in 2009:
SCARLET – 3k resolution, supposedly under $3000; 2/3 sensor; fixed lens 8x T2.8 zoom. http://www.red.com/nab/scarlet. More information here. And a off the floor video via Videomaker:
EPIC – 5k resolution, ~$30,000; RED One owners get a 100% trade in; Full S35 sensor. http://www.red.com/nab/epic
Red Ray – a (blue ray?) based playback system up to 4k. http://www.red.com/nab/red_ray
Oh yeah, and some lenses.
The full S35 sensor in EPIC makes sense, especially with all the features that seem to have embraced the RED camera. The SCARLET will give Sony/Canon/Panasonic something to think about in that market (and a few other markets). As long as RED don’t crash and burn (my mother always warned me about things that seem too good to be true), I wouldn’t want to have an extensive future investment in telecines or film scanners. I wonder when the digital competitors will get themselves into gear?
May we all see like insects: light fields and plenoptic lenses. There could well be an interesting shift in specialised photography where extracting 3D data from digital images shot with either special lenses or sensors (and with a lot of post-processing/number crunching) become useful tools for VFX practitioners.
(Full disclosure: like most people, I’ve had a lenticular fascination since I was a kid. I just didn’t know what to call it…)
Now, of the technology, the immediate, demonstrated applications are variable focus (in post); or the ability to move the camera and change perspective within about a 10° arc. While this is something readily achievable in a layered composite, the implications of it being readily available and nicely packaged with a bow are quite interesting (see: focus stacking, helicon focus). And, if (if!) it can be applied to moving images, then there would depth information that you could use to extract layers. That is, you wouldn’t have to pull a key; you could go without green-screen; rotoscoping would be easy… oh, the possibilities… Okay, I’m getting way ahead of the technology.
But then, beyond the “3D” hype, there have been a lot of recent, significant developments in sensor technology, such as the Panasonic high dynamic range sensor… and even the CIA is hocking its image technology. Yes, the Central Intelligence Agency. Insert your conspiracy theories here. How about the Gigapan $300 (?) photo-robot…
While we may wait for a new digital camera in the coming months, we should probably bear in mind that Moore’s Law can be applied to digital photography and cinematography…
More reading: Refocus Imaging; Max Hodges comments; Stephen Shankland article; Photography 2.0/R&D…
Read MoreIt is interesting when you are scouring on the web for the newest thing™—be it the RED camera, or anything else—that so many reviews are now done by new owners writing on their own blogs. Some of them write excellent appraisals, some of them don’t. “Traditional media” reviews can be much the same; but usually more space limited in publication, so they are not as in-depth or obsessional as the non-traditional media. The key difference between mainstream reviewers and bloggers is that they don’t actually own the thing they are reviewing. Bloggers usually have used their own money.
So when you read blogs about the latest big thing, in my case recently, the Sigma DP1, you are usually getting the opinion of someone who really, really wants this thing to be good. Even if it is not.
The DP1 looks like a marvel on paper. The (Foveon) sensor is giant-sized amongst its rivals, which means it should be less noisy, and have better dynamic range than most. By all accounts, it seems to. The optics seem reasonable. It is quite a capable camera. People are comparing them to SLRs, and suggesting the DP1 is more like an “affordable” digital rangefinder. The wheels start to wobble when you find out that the focal distance (minimum 16cm) is quite limited and the lens is only f/4.0—especially when compared to rival cameras. Image-wise, it should be better than its rivals, but it doesn’t seem to be significantly better, and new images would suggest that it is amazingly better. But some things are pretty disappointing, like the very slow write times. Up to 12 seconds a shot… perhaps less with a faster card.
But everyone wants it to be good.
Enter Carl Rytterfalk, blogger. You can’t say that he isn’t enthusiastic about the DP1. His posts cover a range of excitement, disappointment, workarounds, and excitement again. Luckily, he is posting informative stuff on the camera… and some entertaining videos (he also blogs about the Sigma SD14, similar sensor but in an SLR body). The nice thing about his reviews are that he is unapologetic in his enthusiasm, but he doesn’t ignore the problems:
Btw, as someone said at the forum already – turning off quick preview makes the DP1 faster between shots. And I also tested a normal SD card that came with another camera – it’s SOOOO SLOW! It really takes ages. So please. Use fastest card you can find, it’s a huge difference!Timed save times RAW (light blinking):
SanDisk Extreme III 4GB: 2.5s
Canon SD SDC 32MB: 10s
Time before you can take another shot (single mode): 3.8s and quick preview off.
If you look at his site, you’ll see he’s thorough. He even compares it (somewhat tenuously) to the RED Mysterium sensor.
It is also worth considering that so-called “bloggers” could be paid shills for whatever company they are promoting. Ever wondered how some of these guys get their hands on stuff way before everyone else? On the other hand, now that bloggers “get there first” with reviews, you have to wonder at the number of posts that are less to do with reviewing and more about soothing buyers regret. People like Carl Rytterfalk, excepted.
And the camera? Its quirks guarantee it will be a cult hit.
Read More