Category Archives: Cameras

“Peter Jacksons Hobbit Wont Save 3D Movies”

Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

I think this writer is off his rocker: Peter Jacksons Hobbit Wont Save 3D Movies and Thats a Good Thing – Forbes.

He argues 2D movies are better and will be better still when shot and projected at 48 fps instead of 24 fps. Okay. He then says that 3D adds nothing to the viewing experience. Hmmm.

Except that real life is, you know, in 3D.  And the author’s argument seems to be that life would be better if it were only in 2D.

Actually, his long winded argument boils down to ticket prices for bad 3D movies are too high so 3D will just be a short lived fad. Like talking pictures were once said to be a short lived fad, and then color movies were a short lived fad. Or not. Each time people said the new technology did not add much to the movie experience.

What I think he means to say is that most 3D movies so far – with some exceptions – have been made to exploit 3D as a gimmick and then charge way too much to see them.  The added costs for 3D are apparently about +10%, but they have charged far, far more than that to watch them.

A great tale, with great acting, and a great director, shot in 3D, will be more interesting than a 2D version of the same movie. But it comes down to how much they charge to see it.  The movie distributors and theaters have not yet figured out that the price to value ratio needs to be appropriate – and they are not there yet.

I think The Hobbit will be another amazing film from Peter Jackson and will inspire more interest in high quality 3D.

Heck, I plan to start building my two camera 3D rig this weekend (really).

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Panasonic Lumix GH-2 Firmware 1.1 update just released

Joint update service for Four Thirds lenses | Digital Camera | Digital AV | Consumer Products | Support | Panasonic Global.

Notably, the new firmware adds

  • Improved noise reduction for low light usage
  • Powered zoom lens features to work with the new X-Series lenses
  • 25p mode for PAL cameras
  • 30p mode for NTSC cameras
  • Improvements to auto focus
  • Improvements to burst mode

The better online discussion as to what the new firmware provides is likely to be here.

Noise reduction – I shot a test clip before and after, using 1080/24p video mode at ISO 2500. There is a noticeable improvement but noise is certainly visible – just guessing but it seems it could be as much as 40% to 50% less noise. It is possible that the noise improvement is better at ISO 3200; I believe 2500 is the highest the native image sensor goes to in video mode and 3200 is done through software signal processing. I think. I have not looked at the noise in terms of still images.

HBR – I previously wrote that I wasn’t sure what was happening here. My mistake. On PAL cameras, this is a new 25p mode and on NTSC cameras this is a new 30p mode. My mistake was that I had inadvertently rendered my new 30p video as a 24p mp4 file, which meant some frame blending had occurred. To correct what I wrote previously, the new HBR/1080/30p looks great!

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China to launch 1st 3D TV channel in 2012

 

Sony 3D TV on display at CES 2011. Taken with ...
Image via Wikipedia

Television rules the nation: China goes 3D | 3D Media Revolution Blog | 3D Video Player & 3D Video Converter.

I decided this week that I will start shooting 3D video.

I have had an interest in 3D going back to the 1980s, when I visited an exhibit on holography. I read a couple of books on holography but alas, holography was not something I was in a position to pursue.

I recently came across one of those lenticular-based 3D images on the cover of a product and that got me reading about 3D technology once again. After some tests using a single camera to shoot some 3D video of static objects, I found myself hooked! I now plan to get a 2nd camera so I can shoot true stereographic video.  (But do not expect to see much here for as much as 1 to 2 months as I have too many other things to deal with before I can get to creating great 3D videos worthy of posting!)

3D, other than in video games, seems to still be stuck in the pre-fad stage of a few experimenters. But this will change, and soon. First, Youtube is providing very good support for 3D – once a properly formatted 3D video is uploaded, Youtube offers to present the video in all of the popular 3D formats – have it your way! Second, Peter Jackson’s movie version of The Hobbit will start to come out in about one year. The Hobbit is being filmed in 3D and I suspect will greatly propel interest in 3D forward.

3D TV will take a long time to arrive, though, because so many people have only just acquired an HDTV and are not in a hurry to rush out and purchase a new 3D HDTV. Over time, as more and more 3D TVs are in use, then 3D content will become more popular. May as well start shooting 3D now as the originals shot today and can be converted to any desired format in the future!

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Amazon selling the Lumix GH-2, with lens, for $795

Amazon selling the Lumix GH-2 for $795 – that is not a misprint and that includes the kit lens.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMC-GH2-Interchangeable-Free-Angle-14-42mm/dp/B0043VE27Y/?tag=rumors0a-20

A major firmware upgrade is coming shortly, as well, and will add several new features.

I have this camera and love it.

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