VideoCameras
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Apple brings RAW video editing to the masses with new FCP X update
Apple has unveiled a new video recording codec called ProRes RAW, a move that instantly makes the high-quality format more mainstream. The feature arrived with the latest version of Final Cut Pro (10.4.1), and Apple said that creators will be able to use it right away via updates to DJI's filmmaking drones and Atomos recorders. "With ProRes RAW, editors can import, edit and grade pristine footage with RAW data from the camera sensor, providing ultimate flexibility when adjusting highlights and shadows -- ideal for HDR workflows," said Apple.
Clever cameras detect drunken railway passengers in Japan
Public transportation is often the safest way to get home after an extended happy hour session -- unless you fall onto the tracks. While that doesn't seem like something that would happen very frequently, it is an issue in Japan where 221 people were hit by trains in 2013. With 60 percent of those injuries being a result of drunkenness, railway company JR West has taken steps to ensure passenger safety by equipping the Kyobashi Station with surveillance cameras.
Red introduces $42K Epic-M Monochrome cinema cam, on sale October 1st
Red Camera promised to stop hyping products that weren't ready to ship, and true to its word, just announced the Epic-M Monochrome, surprising even its rabid user base. Packing an all-new black and white-only Mysterium-X sensor, the new cinema cam follows in the footsteps of the Leica M Monochrom still shooter, right down to a similar moniker. Red claims the dedicated CMOS sensor means no color debayering, yielding a one-to-one pixel count and 15-20 percent bump in effective resolution compared to its chromatic cousin. It also touted a sensitivity gain as another advantage, asserting that the Monochrome will have a native ISO of 2,000 (while using the retro-sounding "ASA" term), more than double that of the Epic-M or X. The camera will have a new low pass filter to account for the higher resolution, and buyers who plop down $42,000 to get one on October 1st will be upgraded, gratis, to a new Dragon Monochrome Sensor next year. Like the Leica, if you have to ask why you'd pay such a sum for a camera that doesn't speak color, it may not be for you -- but it is for David Fincher, says Red, who's already shooting his next feature on one.
Insert Coin: The Aviator Travel Jib lets you crane on the go (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. The Aviator Travel Jib can give you the smooth camera moves to make your spectacle go from meh to marvel, while still being light enough to schlep around. At less than 3.75 pounds and 24-inches compacted, the device will tote anywhere but support up to six pounds, thanks to its sylphlike but rigid carbon fiber construction. It'll take your cinema cam or DSLR rig out to around six feet, and with its built-in fluid pan base, let you crane, track or truck to your heart's content. Pledge $400 and you'll get the jib, ballast, mounting hardware and a bubble level, while students can get the jib alone for $300. If that sounds like it could hit your mark, move fluidly past the break for the video.
Livestream Broadcaster hands-on
According to CEO Max Haot the logical next step for Livestream -- now well established as a reliable service for bringing live video feeds to the internet -- is just to get more people distributing live video by any means necessary. To that end, the company is jumping into the hardware business with this palm-sized Livestream Broadcaster unit that just went up for preorders a few days ago. With a subsidized price of $495, it connects to video cameras directly over HDMI then reencodes and uploads the video on the fly to the company's servers (unlimited streaming costs $45 per month, each encoder comes with three months free) via Ethernet, WiFi or a 3G / 4G USB dongle. Even on the wireless-internet challenged LVCC floor it was sending several streams and enabling user control via buttons on the unit itself, or remotely from a PC or iPhone / iPad. These boxes are still on target to ship at the end of May and and showed off everything those without the backing of a tech / media conglomerate (cough), like small businesses or independent bloggers, would need to make their productions available for viewing as they happen.
Canon Cinema EOS C500 camera hands-on (video)
The familiar EOS-1D C isn't the only Canon camera to make its public debut ahead of NAB. The Cinema EOS series welcomes a third model to the collection this week, with looks that nearly match last year's C300. Unlike that model, which you can already pick up through e-tailers and at specialty shops, the C500 has a long way to go before it gets a shipping nod -- it may not even make it to market in 2012. The $30,000 price tag may pose an even greater barrier to entry than its to-be-announced availability date, however, and may in need of some tweaking before it's ready to compete with already established models, like the much less expensive RED Scarlet. Like the 1D C, the C500 can shoot 4K video -- the most apparent upgrade from the $16,000 C300. To that end, boosting its price tag may be the only way for Canon to avoid cannibalizing that less-abled flavor, since many cinematographers would otherwise pay little attention to the C300, due in part to its 1080p-limited shooting capabilities.It's been a few months since we've last seen Canon's first Cinema EOS model, but the C500 has a look and feel that seems to be only subtly different from the C300. It is noticeably heavier, likely due to the additional cooling gear on board to accommodate 4K shooting. Both flavors include dual CF card slots, which you'll only be able to use for snapping 1080p video -- 4K is fed to an external recorder through the dual 3G-SDI ports, which for obvious reasons you won't find on the C300. There's also a larger grip on board, now a permanent fixture on the C500, which should aid with bare-bones handheld shoots -- but if you're dropping 30 grand on a digital body, some sticks and a dolly shouldn't be far behind. Like its sibling, this year's model ships with either a Canon EOS or industry standard PL mount, so if you have a need for both, you'll need two cameras. Overall, you're looking at the same sleek, albeit slightly unconventional body design, with a price tag that's likely to make amateurs weep and pros run for the rental house. As always, there's a hands-on video waiting just past the break.
Livestream Broadcaster pre-orders available now, shipping at the end of May for $495
A vivid memory of Cisco's would-be FlipLive streaming camera is all we've got, but thankfully there's existing devices out there like the Livestream Broadcaster to help fill that void. Priced at a whopping $495, Livestream's Broadcaster allows it to be paired with an array of shooters via HDMI and used to stream live high-def vids to any Livestream-equipped device over Ethernet, WiFi, or with a 3G / 4G USB dongle. Aside from being capable of sending out 1080i waves, the Broadcaster can also push 720p and 480i resolutions (in case you don't feel like being a bandwidth hog), while all video and audio encoding is done with H.264 and ACC, respectively. It's also worth noting that the near 500 bucks includes a three-month sub to Livestream's service, which usually costs an extra $45 per month. For now, this bright red streamer's only available to Euros and Americans, with shipping set to commence by May 31st.
Ask Engadget: Best HD Camcorder for live shows?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from is from Keith, who needs our help to become the next internet comedy sensation. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "Hey Engadget! I'm a fledgling stand-up, performing at my local open mic, but I'm thinking of branching out. I'd like to record some of my performances on something better than my QuickCam Pro 9000. Anyone know the best HD video camera for live performances? I'm looking for something reasonably priced and audio quality is paramount. Thanks for your help!" The comedy clubs we've been in are rarely well lit, so we'll add that this camera has to have fantastic low light performance, which is going to increase the price by a hefty amount. Still, if you can think of a HD camcorder that can do the job -- and let's be honest, carving things out of stone would be better than a QuickCam Pro 9000 -- and is within the budget of a struggling artist then lob your suggestions into the river of comments below.
New Sony Bloggie Mobile HD Snap camera gets bowed design, FCC inspection
Sony has already delivered its Bloggie cameras with 3D video and even dual screens, and now we've got the first hint at what's next. The MHS-TS55, going through its FCC testing as the Mobile HD Snap camera, carries its own 802.11n connection. We don't know exactly what Sony has in store for this curved mystery cam, but with WiFi on board, wireless sharing or even live video streams wouldn't be out of the question. Sony typically unveils its latest offerings at CES, and this filing chimes well with the chance of us getting the full skinny at January's annual tech binge -- that leaves just eight short weeks for the FCC to spill the beans on the rest of the Bloggie fam.
RED EPIC-X starts shipping to lucky shooters with deep pockets
It's been almost two years since we first got a peek at the specs on RED's EPIC-X, and the 5K-shooting, roughly $30,000 rig is just now shipping out to customers. That's not terribly shocking considering the company's notoriously long development cycles and, if you ordered one, you should be too excited about getting a new toy to worry about how long it took to build. Lets just hope the first batch of folks to start capturing gorgeous footage with this thing have a little more luck than Mark Pederson -- RED can't be handing out $100,000 bounties every time it releases a new product.
Cisco to shutter Flip camera line
Cisco has announced that it's shutting down the Flip video camera line, purchased a few years ago from Pure Digital for a whopping $590 million, for good. That's a shame -- while, of course, the iPod nano and the iPhone (and now the iPad 2) have carried video cameras of varying quality for a little while now, I really liked using my Flip MinoHD, and I often used it to shoot a few quick HD videos to edit in iMovie or elsewhere. As you can see in the various comparison videos, the Flip was a more than worthy competitor to Apple's growing video capabilities, and it was arguably one reason why Apple moved so quickly on handheld HD video in the first place. The reasons for the shutdown likely have more to do with Cisco's position rather than any competition with video hardware itself -- the IT giant picked up the boutique camera manufacturer, some analysts say, because it wanted to get into consumer electronics. But the company just wasn't ready to deal with that market, and the analysis on this shutdown now says Cisco is just declaring a surrender on a deal it thought would work out. That said, the field of consumer video electronics is definitely changing fast. As devices like the iPhone become more powerful and capable of shooting and even editing video, traditional handheld cameras will have to move fast to keep up.
NYU professor unsurprisingly removes camera from the back of his head, citing pain and the malaise of lifecasting
Well, this one is not really a surprise. NYU Professor / artist Wafaa Bilal had a removable camera installed into the back of his head via a surgically implanted titanium plate to assist him with his lifecasting. Turns out that the camera caused a decent amount of pain as his body rejected the foreign object -- again, no big surprise there. Bilal, however, seems pretty unfazed, and vows to continue on with the project which he says is a "comment on the inaccessibility of time, and the inability to capture memory." Whatever, we suspect he just wanted to be known as the guy who had a camera implanted in the back of his head, and that's alright by us. [Photo by Brad Farwell]
Looxcie wearable camcorder will take your lifecasting to the next, boring level
Don't get us wrong, the Looxcie wearable video camera is pretty cool, and totally weird. It's an always on camera that stores up to five hours of video, and is capable of quickly emailing short clips to your various social networks which are anxiously awaiting those shots of you eating your Southwestern eggrolls at Chili's. Once your cam reaches its max storage capacity, it begins purging the oldest video and continues to record. Using Looxcie's app (available for about 10 Android phones) enables you to quickly share your videos with the world. The Looxcie wearable video camera is available now for $199 -- but please keep in mind: watching you watch Some Kind of Monster probably sounds better than it actually would be. [Thanks, Bob]
Japanese company Greenhouse launches camcorder for women
Hmm... we'll pass.
RED DSMC specs detailed, prices start at $28,000 for EPIC-X, lower-end Scarlet still vague
Here we are at last. RED has finally dropped the full specs of at least one its "Digital Stills and Motion Cameras." And what did you expect? RED has naturally blown this thing out. The first camera to be released will be the insanely high-end EPIC-X, which will come out in four stages and retails for $28,000 (ouch). A pre-production "TATTOO" version will hit this year, followed by a production model for pre-existing RED owners next year, a release after that for RED trade-ins and then finally a widespread release. Meanwhile the Scarlet 2/3-inch camera (which is much more akin to current video-shooting DSLRs, though it doesn't have a full frame sensor) hasn't been given a price range or a release window, but promises to please with dual XLR inputs, electronic lens interoperability with RED, Canon and Nikon lenses (adapters required) and 1080p shooting at 60 fps. One great function shared between the cameras is the ability to operate the camera with a touchscreen and perform "touch focus tracking." So, now that we've frightened off all but the die-hards with a hint at pricing and some vaguely defined functionality, let's let the bullet points take it away after the break:
DSS surveillance tech from Japan makes George Orwell upset
We take a break from reporting on the impending doom of the human race to bring you news of the latest innovation designed specifically for making our pre-apocalypse lives miserable. Japanese firm DSS is now offering to snap video cameras and ankle sensors -- yes, the same kind that convicts under home arrest have to wear -- onto your employees for the ultimate in workplace surveillance. Sure, you might find out Bob in accounting takes a really long lunch, but do you really need to spend $20,000 and piss off your entire workforce to prove that? Just stalk his Tweets and Facebook status updates like a good old-fashioned employer would do.
Switched On: Connecting mobile, mantle and metal objects (Part 2)
Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. The last Switched On discussed Always Innovating's Touch Book, one of the new hardware products introduced at this month's DEMO conference and an entrant in the netbook category that trades compatibility for stamina by using an ARM processor instead of an Intel one. Like the Touch Book, the Avaak Vue personal video network will be offered for $299 when it debuts later this year (in a kit that includes two cameras and a base station) and has no apparent service fees -- at least not yet. Also, like the Touch Book, the Vue boasts outstanding battery life – so impressive, in fact, that the company claims its battery-powered video cameras should last a year under "normal usage" – the cameras use power only when they are being accessed remotely. This on-demand power consumption combined with a low-power mesh network enable Vue video cameras to be mounted practically anywhere and, like the Touch Book, Vue cameras take advantage of magnets, which is how they are affixed to and positioned around their small domed mounts. The result is a networked camera system that is almost completely wire-free save for the base station's connection to a home router and a power cable. However, unlike the Touch Book, which supports many open standards including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an array of USB ports (including two internal ports), the proprietary mesh network that links the video cameras is Vue's secret sauce.
Hands-on with Hitachi's DZ-BD70E and DZ-BD7HE Blu-ray camcorders
That's right folks -- you've read about them, you've dreamed about them, you've written lengthy, iambic poems to them, and now you get to see our gigantic hands on them. As you may remember, the Hitachi DZ-BD70E and DZ-BD7HE are the first ever Blu-ray camcorder models; the former recording direct to disc, and the latter rocking a hybrid disc or 30GB hard drive situation. Both cameras are largely the same, though the DZ-BD7HE seemed to be slightly larger, which makes sense. They've got a very comfortable feel when you're shooting with one, and we certainly could imagine ourselves filming HD "videos" with either. Check out the gallery for a plethora of exciting photos.%Gallery-6720%
Sony breaks out five new HDD Handycams
These aren't near as exciting as those AVCHD and HDV camcorders we spotted a couple days ago, but there's still plenty to love in Sony's new HDD lineup. Up top we have the $1,000 DCR-SR300, which features Super Steadiest image stabilization, that dual-record feature for capturing 4 megapixel stills while recording video -- you can do 6 megapixels when you aren't recording. The camcorder records in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, and supports that Bluetooth ECM-HW1 for enhanced center channel recording. Perhaps most interesting is the 240 fps three second burst recording mode for getting those slow-mo action shots -- normal recording is at 60 fps. Next up is the DCR-SR200, which shares most of the SR300's feature set, but only manages 2 megapixel and 4 megapixel shots respectively. Further on down the chain we have the 60GB DCR-SR82, 30GB SR62 and 30GB SR42, which go for $750, $650 and $600 respectively, but don't feature a whole lot in the feature department. All of these cameras are available for pre-order now, and will all be out at some indeterminate date in 2007.
