Adam Wilt is a software developer, engineering consultant, and freelance film & video tech. He's had small jobs on big productions (PA, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", Dir. Robert Wise), big jobs on small productions (DP, "Maelstrom", Dir. Rob Nilsson), and has worked camera, sound, vfx, and editing gigs on shorts, PSAs, docs, music vids, and indie features. He started his website on the DV format, adamwilt.com/DV.html, about the same time Chris Hurd created the XL1 Watchdog, and participated in DVInfo.net's 2006 "Texas Shootout." He has written for DV Magazine and ProVideoCoalition.com, taught courses at DV Expo, and given presentations at NAB, IBC, and Cine Gear Expo. When he's not doing contract engineering or working on apps like www.adamwilt.com/cinemeter, he's probably exploring new cameras, just because cameras are fun.
The VariCam LT is Panasonic’s “affordable” large single sensor VariCam, putting the core of the $55,000 VariCam 35 in a more compact package. The LT lists for $18,000 for the body alone, to $28,950 for a full shooting kit with EVF, shoulder mount, and a couple of 512 GB P2 Express cards (though there’s a $4,500 rebate on many configurations running…
On the first of June, Panavision introduced the new Millenium DXL to the world with a showing at the ASC Clubhouse followed by an evening event at Light Iron. Art Adams and I attended the latter, and all my photos are from that event. Light Iron, a cutting-edge post-and-workflow operation expressly focused on making the most of digital cinema, was acquired…
Shameless commercial message: I’ve developed a new iPhone app, Wi-Fi WFM. It takes the wireless feed from a Teradek Cube, Clip, or VidiU and displays its picture along with a waveform monitor, vectorscope, and/or histogram. Background: Teradek H.264 encoders take camera feeds and send them over Wi-Fi or wired links as H.264 streams. They’re used for live streaming and remote monitoring; in the latter…
Breakfast foods grow odder and odder: It’s a wise child that knows its own fodder. — Ogden Nash, “Snap, Crackle, Pop” As with foods, so with lights: between LEDs, HMIs, plasmas, and fluorescents, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting from your lighting these days. Color temperature meters help, but if you really want the ugly truth, you need…
Despite being a demo-dog for DSC Labs for most of NAB, I did manage to get around and see a few new toys and/or discuss things with those who did. Herewith, a slightly disjointed tour of timely topics, plus some interesting stuff I saw. Lytro Cinema No, I didn’t see it, Hardly anyone did, as Lytro had just one screening…
[Updated 2016-02-08] It’s bright red and carbon-fibery. It shoots everything from 480i to 4K to stills. It has variable frame rates, infrared imaging, programmable focus pulls, and log recording. It’s the $4200 Panasonic AG-DVX200. [2016-02-08 corrections courtesy Barry Green: only usable batteries are the VW-VBD58, the IDX, and “batteries made for the PX270 and X1000” cameras; 2160p output possible while recording…
Veydras are cine primes designed primarily for micro four thirds cameras, though they’re also available with C- and E-mounts. I tested prototypes of the first four lenses—16mm, 25mm, 35mm, and 50mm—in December 2014; customer shipments commenced in February 2015; the 12mm appeared in prototype form in late April and shipped in September. Now I’ve had a chance to look at…
Behold: the Canon XC10. A two-pound, 4K, stills & video camera with a fixed 10x lens and no XLRs. Kinda small. Kinda lumpy. What gives? And lo, it came to pass in those days that the wire services and news bureaus didst return, saying unto Canon, “like, we totally dug what you did with the 5D Mk II, but dude:…
This post is a two-parter: the rationale behind camera cages in general; and a review of one such device, the BirdCage swivel, that I bought for my Panasonic GH4. Camera cages? Camera cages are metal exoskeletons designed to wrap around DSLRs, mirrorless cameras (a.k.a. Compact System Cameras or CSCs), and the like. They have several main purposes: They make the…
Veydras are serious cine primes for micro four thirds cameras like the Panasonic GH4 and the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cine Camera. The Veydra project went public last November; I tested prototypes of the first four lenses—16mm, 25mm, 35mm, and 50mm—in December; and customer shipments commenced in February. Only one piece has been missing from this puzzle: the 12mm. Veydra showed…