Monday, January 24, 2011

Technology Marches On

Such as being able to shoot HD movies with a $2,500 digital SLR. This isn't just home cinema quality HD, this is full-blown "coming to a theater near you" grade.

Of course, in the idea of "rip them off for the accessories," Canon wants $90 for a 1GB CF card. And that $2,500 camera comes without lenses, so by the time you get everything you need to shoot movies, you're probably into the 4-grand range. Still, compared to film, that's dirt cheap.
on or about

3 comments:

  1. Mark Rossmore1/24/2011 3:23 PM

    DSLR's can't be matched in the price vs. capability war. I just picked up a Canon T2i/550D last summer and used it to film a music video for my band. For $1050 I got the camera + 2 lenses, and it shoots 1080P.

    Here's the vid itself:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn1RYpdTT5o

    I shot it in a spare bedroom, using a little lighting kit and a couple $5 Home Depot work lights, plus $25 worth of fabric for a green screen. I then animated and composited the effects myself. I was going for a 300 / Sky Captain-style result (i.e. real foreground, virtual backgrounds).

    One of the nice things about these cameras is that they can be hacked and rooted to unlock disabled features. For instance, my Canon's default firmware cripples the camera's audio recording capabilities (essential for controlling audio levels when shooting interviews, concerts, and other settings). A group called Magic Lantern created their own firmware shell that adds a ton of features.

    Check out the list:
    http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/550D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1/24/2011 3:32 PM

    I have been confused most of my adult life over the concept that advanced technology is considered to make material things more available and cheaper for us slaves. In my experience the largest percentage of the things I need/want for an "upwardly mobile" life have steadily gone up in price - books, guns, good booze, desirable foodstuffs, housing, energy, entertainments of all kinds . . .
    Hooray for capitalism.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Comrade Misfit1/24/2011 6:34 PM

    Jeg, I have a number of movies on DVD that I bought out of a $5 bin.

    You had to be both rich and connected to be able to watch a theatrical movie when I was a child, because you needed a large room, a 16mm projector and, the hardest to get, the movies.

    Then, in the `80s, you could rent VCR cassettes of movies, but good luck buying one, unless you wanted to spend over $100 for one lousy cassette.

    But now? Hell, they're cheap.

    ReplyDelete

House Rules #1, #2 and #6 apply to all comments. Rule #3 also applies to political comments.

In short, don't be a jackass. THIS MEANS YOU!
If you never see your comments posted, see Rule #7.

All comments must be on point and address either the points raised in the blog post or points raised by commenters in response.
Any comments that drift off onto other topics are subject to deletion.

(Please don't feed the trolls.)

中國詞不評論，冒抹除的風險。僅英語。

COMMENT MODERATION IS IN EFFECT UFN. This means that if you are an insulting dick, nobody will ever see it.