CVA Blog

If you want to give your old 2d footage a new lease of life, why not think about adding a third dimension? Well, thanks to In Three’s Dimensionalization software, you can.

Their process takes a flat image and turns it into a 3d stereoscopic one, without the need to go away and reshoot. Thus, you can add that extra depth to old shots and reinvigorate your film.

George Lucas and James Cameron were both blown away by the results, each claiming it was some of the best stereoscopic work they have ever seen; even better than 3d footage shot on a dual camera system. This is because the Dimensionalization process doesn’t encounter the same problems as a live shoot, including lens distortion, depth disceprancies and lighting problems.

Read more here.

There’s a long held contention that you shouldn’t mix your tape brands, because their chemical make-up can intermingle in an adverse way, causinggunk to build up on your heads. This seems particularly true in the case of DVCam.

While the manufacturers tweaked their formulas way back in 1997 to resolve this issue, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest it’s still a problem. It’s said that the two mixtures that cause the most build-up are Panasonic and Sony, and the problem is at its most prevalent when you go from sustained use of one to the other.

Thus, it is good practice to do one of two things:

1. Always stick to the same brand.

2. Constantly switch between brands.

There is one problem with this however, and that’s the complicated OEM arrangements whereby one manufacturer allows another to use their tapes and simply re-brand them. While Sony make all their own tape, you can never be quite sure which tape is inside the cassettes of other brands.

We’re quite pleased that our recycling process can eliminate this problem entirely, but we won’t bore you with that now. We talk about it a lot throughout the site.

High-definition acquisition requires extremely precise focusing, allowing the operator to accurately see contrast and colour levels when framing a shot. With the new Sony viewfinder (HDVF-C30WR) you can be sure that what you’re seeing is what you’re recording.

It gives high level colour accuracy and will fit the entire range of Sony HDCam cameras. It has a 2.7-inch LCD screen, a pixel resolution of 960 by 540, and a new image processor – the same one used in Sony’s BVM-L230 LCD Master Monitor. It provides comfortable and accurate framing and focusing operations by enabling more faithful colour reproduction, with newly added and enhanced focus-assist functions.

These focus assist features include 2x (dot by dot) magnification to smooth out diagonal edges and a colour peaking function. Luminance levels are easily indicated by colour. Improved luminance transition (panel gamma compensation) and 3D LUT color space compensation help to provide more natural-looking luminance and color accuracy.

In April, Sony unveiled the first of its camcorders to be based on the HDCam SR format. It’s designed for television commerical and motion picture production, and it combines the format’s image quality with the versatility of a one piece camcorder.

The SRW-9000 is a full resolution HD recorder, with 2/3 inch CCDs. Rob Willox, director of marketing at Sony Electronics says:

The HDCAM SR format is proven in the most demanding digital cinematography applications. Applying that legacy into a compact one-piece body design adds more flexibility to location work and is more ‘Steadicam®-friendly’ as a B-camera complement to the F23. This mobile and cost-effective acquisition tool can further expand the use of HDCAM SR technology to a much broader audience.

The camera should be available in a few weeks. More details here.