modifoo

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Over at John Nack’s blog I found an exiting link to a new technology developed by four Swedes, that enables the user to simply draw images into the air. They then become 3d drawings in a computer, which again are fed into a 3D cutter. Instant furniture!
See the video.

I’ve been away to Vienna for the last week, therefore I did not get to write anything.While doing a quick check on what has happened in the Apple world, I was exited to read that Apple has bought SiliconColor, makers of the most advanced colour correction software for the Mac. While Final Cut Pro’s built-in 3 way colour correction filter is very good on primary colour correction, you need a plethora of 3rd party tools to get a decent secondary colour correction done. Apple’s buy points into the direction of an upcoming improvement in the colour correction capabilities in FCP. Now I am very much looking forward to FCP 6.

I´ve been away a couple of days (with no chance to blog), working for a CNBC show. We were filming at a mayor ip telephony company, and I was quite amazed.

First, within just a few years they have managed to get a relatively geeky technology in mainstream use (already over 20% of households now have an internet phone). Then they have totally changed the pricing structure. Before you paid for each minute, now you pay a flat fee. The main incumbent (as in the previous state-run telephone company) has been forced to enter the ip telephone market. Thirdly, now about 50% of all international calls go via internet telephone.

This particular company, Telio, prides itself of good customer service. Well, this is a label that pretty much any company sticks on their hat. But Telio really live this mantra. While in the call centre, I actually witnessed employees laughing, chatting, and generally having a good time.I overheard one conversation, where a customer had not paid a bill and subsequently his outgoing calls had been blocked. Despite the subject matter, the tone of the conversation was surprizingly friendly.

In a recent survec conducted by the state telephony authority, Telio scored best in overall customer satisfaction. A fact the company is very pround of. Good to see for once a company that takes its customers serious.

We also got a view of what the future will bring. While some information was confidential, the two near-future additions will be wireless telephony and video telephony. Wireless telephony means basically, that you can use your WiFi-enabled mobile phone to make your calls over the internet, rather than a mobile network. Not only will the savings be tremedous, the call quality is better (because less compressed). My initial reaction was “so what?”. How often do I make mobile calls while I have access to wireless internet? Well, I learned that about 60% of all mobile calls are made either from home or the office. In other words, more than half the calls made on mobile networks could easilty be done over the internet. I am sure that the network operators hate this idea, but just as the main telephone companies have learned the hard way, it is best to adapt and not fight user-friendly technology.

Seeing the video quality of the next-generation video phones was also an eye-opener. Frame rates of 15-20 fps with 160×400 pixel screens (as you might have seen on “24“), are just around the corner. As a cameraman I wish they would use a bit more energy on getting the lens settings right, but the potential is great. Again, my first reaction was “so what?” - why would I want to use video telephony? But the manager from Telio made a nice example by saying that up until the telephone was developed by Graham Bell, the only way to speak with people was in face-to-face situations. Young children, when on the phone, suppose that the partner on the other end of the line can see all that they can see. It is just natural to be able to see the person you are talking with.

So, it seems that the future will bring more user-friendly, and cheaper, ways of communicating long-distance.

Just got some news that Final Cut will get an update within the next 30 days. Among the improvements is support for a couple of more cameras, plus

• Scope and Monitors. Improved accuracy; scopes can now sample every video line. Scopes will also update in real-time during video playback.
• BWF compatibility
• Improved edit-to-tape accuracy for D5
• Compatibility with insert editing to audio channels 5-12 on decks
• Now compatible with some FxPlug filters
• Gamma control for imported graphics
• Media Manager is now more reliable
• EDL and Cinema Tools lists
• XML for developers
• Metadata preservation in QT files

Love the fact that the scopes will finally be reliable.

About a year ago I first heard about the Red Camera Project. A group of dedicated people were working on making a beyond-high-def, affordable cine-style digital camera. At that time it just sounded too unreal. But since they have had a stand at the NAB, the project has gained a lot of momentum.

Personally, I took the project way more seriously when I found out that Graeme Nattress (maker of the famous filter packages for Final Cut Pro) was involved.

Some more information has been released, and they are planning on shipping the first cameras early next year. If only half of the specs make it to the finished product, it will be one amazing camera. Spotting more than 4k worth of resolution (compare this with standard definition’s tv of about 0.5k and the new hi-def of about 1k, and this by itself becomes a killer cam) at a price of $17.500, plus a f300/t2.8 lens for $5.000, you should get a working camera package for the price of a high-end DVcam system.

But the camera offers more than just resolution power. The camera will offer frame speeds of up to 60 fps (and down to 1 fps), and even higher speeds when lowering the resolution. Speaking of lowering, it will be possible to either downconvert from the full chip size (which has the same size as an 35mm gate), or to use only part of the chip. It will shoot in a variable number of formats from uncompressed RAW down to, yes, DV.

I am sure looking to their release of the first working models towards the end of this year. Might just be the successor to our trusty (if 4:2:0) DSR-570 DVcam.

I have been reading about their development for the past couple of years, but now it seems that the first system for fuel-cell camera batteries has hit the marked. DV magazine gives these a 3 1/2 out of 5 ratings:

Makes great sense for off the grid applications–network remotes and military use–where shipping issues and wrangling refill tanks are incidental to getting the shot. For more typical shoots, the convenience and familiarity of batteries is hard to beat.

When you are shooting in remote locations, this might be the god-send. But give that technology a bit more time, and I guess they will be the new LiIons.