Indy FCPUG News

NAB 2012

2012-04-20T12:05:05Z

I'm writing this on my iPad who knows how many feet in the air somewhere over the Midwest on my way home from NAB 2012. At our meeting this coming Tuesday, April 24th we'll be talking about some of the announcements, surprises, parties, and events that made up this years NAB conference. I wanted to do a couple quick shout-outs though here on the blog.

I was extremely privileged to attend this year as a guest and ambassador for Imagine Products. I worked in their booth all week, talking to attendees about the excellent range of products they offer. I met some very nice people that stopped in from all over the world - China, Sweden, Germany, Korea, the Congo, Australia and the UK to name of a few of the more international locations. I had a blast hanging out with Dan, Mark, and Michael from Imagine, and a fellow Imagine Products user who was there with us, Mike from Washington D.C.

I was one of the very first people outside of Imagine to get to see and use their brand new software - PreRollPost. Most of my time in the booth was spent demoing it. Some of the comments I received were, "the best thing I saw at NAB", "highlight of the show - can't wait until it's shipping", "Are you kidding!? That price is for everything?!", "Can I give you my money today?" So what was everyone so excited about? PreRollPost is the software component of Imagine Products new affordable LTO archive solution. If you are archiving to hard drives and sticking them on a shelf, you definitely need to check this out. The price of $2999 includes a Quantum LTO-5 tape drive, SAS card, and the software that is very easy to use. Other complete LTO solutions start around $6000, go up quickly from there, and the software that goes with them is, shall we say, not exactly user friendly.

You'll get a chance to see it in action at our May meeting, as Dan Montgomery will be our guest presenter and showing it off. I hope you can join us to see it for yourself.

I want to give a shout-out to G-Technology. I was at their booth every day at 11 and 3 trying to win a raffle for one of their drives. No, I never won, but I did collect some pretty cool schwag. We featured their drives in the Imagine Products booth. Everyone I talked with at G-Tech were extremely friendly. Look forward to hearing more about them at future meetings. They were also generous as they let me have one of the drives from the booth to give away at our meeting next week. Thank you Pete, Mark, and everyone at G-Tech!

I also want to thank our sponsors, and hopefully some future sponsors, that I got to talk to in the short time I had to cruise around the show floor - AJA, GenArts, Blackmagic Design, Artbeats, CrumplePop, Pond 5, Zacuto, Kessler, Red Giant, Re:Vision Effects, Nikon, Mark Spencer & Steve Martin at Ripple Training, and GoPro.

Thank you all!

The New iPad

2012-03-07T19:33:02Z

Apple announced the new iPad today, featuring a 2048 x 1536 retina display that should make your 1080p and 2k videos look amazing! Pricing remains the same, while the iPad 2 stays around in a 16GB and wifi only configuration for $399. Apple's iPad page has all the details.

The Verge has early hands-on report of the new iPad.

If you want to update or purchase any of the new software, it all requires iOS 5.1, so head to iTunes or the Settings app and update that first. Then come back here to buy the apps (support our group and use the links here... thanks!)

Rather than rehashing what has already been said, you can read Macworld's articles on iPhoto and the updates to the other apps. You can read their article on the new Apple TV as well.

iLife iOS Apps:

iPhoto
iMovie
Garageband

iWork iOS Apps:

Pages
Numbers
Keynote

Canon Announces 5D Mark III

2012-03-02T12:16:23Z

Canon announced the long awaited successor to the revolutionary 5D Mark II today - the 5D Mark III. The 22.3 megapixel camera is more evoltionary than revolutionary, which is really not a surprise. It was going to be hard for Canon to make a huge splash with this camera after it's predecessor and the recent unveiling of the C300. They did address a number of issues with the Mark II: they've added a headphone jack, exposure and audio levels can be adjusted while recording, the video signal out the HDMI is not downsampled to 480p (doesn't sound like it is a clean signal however), recording time has been extended to a 29 minute 59 second duration, and there is a promise of decreased moire. For still shooters the autofocus mechanism has been totally overhauled with the same one used by the 1D X and has in-camera HDR with a full view viewfinder and faster continuous shot taking (up to 6 frames per second). They've changed lots of other smaller features as well. For a full run down and a spec comparison between the Mark III, the Mark II, and the Nikon D800, as usual, DPReview is the best place to go.

Amazon, Adorama, and B&H are taking pre-orders now, with body only costing $3,499 (a $1,000 price increase over the Mark II). Interestingly, Canon is going to keep the Mark II in the camera lineup for at least 6 months and will be dropping it's price soon by $200-$300.

New Website Feature

2012-02-25T06:00:40Z

I wanted to point out a new feature of the website to you in case you hadn't noticed it already. Right over there to the your left, in the Navigation area, is a new link titled "Apps You Need". This goes to a new page here on the site full of links to Mac OS apps, iOS apps, iBooks, and printed books that you as a video professional may find useful. Each item links to it's respective store (Mac Apps Store, iTunes Store, iBookstore, Amazon, or the company's website in a few cases). By using these links to purchase the items, you help keep our group going. We get a very small percentage back on each purchase, but it it doesn't cost you anything extra.

So when you're ready to purchase FCP X (and you know you want to!), just click on the link here on our website. We've even made it easy for you with the pro apps - we have big icons with the links just a little below the Navigation area.

Thanks for helping support our group!

February Meeting Follow-up

2012-02-24T07:05:36Z

Is Final Cut Pro X finally ready for everyone with the 10.0.3 release? That's what we were trying to access at our meeting tonight. Apple filled this small incremental point release with huge new features - in at least 2 cases, with Multicam and Keying - best in class features at that. More people are considering Final Cut Pro X now thanks to these updates. This month we dove in to explore them so people could see for themselves if it was time to give Final Cut Pro X a try.

A special thank you to Mikey Bouchereau (and his wife and business partner Leslie), long time member, first time attendee, for handling the Multicam and broadcast monitor support features. He was awesome! He also did an impromptu "Getting Started With X" after fielding some questions about the best way to get started in FCP X for those that feel a little lost or intimidated by the new nomenclature and UI. I've got several emails and tweets already from people impressed with his presentation. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of him in the future! In the meantime, you can follow him on Twitter using @mikeybouchereau.

I covered the other 10.0.3 updates, such as the advanced controls in the Keyer effect, new keyframing behavior, relinking media, color board updates, and scope improvements. The updated XML format allowed the release of a new tool from Intelligent Assistance, 7toX, that allows you to bring Final Cut Pro 7 projects in to FCP X. We were going to demo that tonight, but the conversation, questions, and curiosity around FCP X was so good, we just rolled with that and ran out of time. We'll revisit it at next month's meeting.

We had a really good crowd on hand for tonight's meeting, and I think the new improvements, and Mikey's demoing of FCP X, had several people excited to give FCP X a shot.

Motion 5.0.2 and Compressor 4.0.2

2012-01-31T14:54:49Z

Besides today's FCP X 10.0.3 update, Motion and Compressor have also been updated.

Motion 5.0.2 contains improved speed and responsiveness in text editing, ability to automatically record keyframes when recording is disabled, a keyboard shortcut for re-positioning animation curves or paths, ability to adjust pan and scale of an image in a drop zone, and an enhanced look to Keyframe editor for easier keyframing and editing.

Compressor 4.0.2 now makes markers Chapter Markers by default, added uncompressed 8-bit and 10-bit 4:2:2 to export settings list, and have improved speed of transcoding from uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 to ProRes.

Both of these updates are free to Motion 5 and Compressor 4 owners.

Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3

2012-01-31T14:25:29Z

Apple has released a significant update to Final Cut Pro X this morning, bringing it to 10.0.3. This new version brings with it features that would normally be added at a full number release - multicam editing, broadcast monitor support (considered beta for the time being to give hardware makers time to polish drivers), Chroma Key improvements, layered Photoshop file support, media relinking, and more.

10.0.3 is a free update available via the Mac App Store. You can read more about the features and watch some demo videos on Apple's Final Cut Pro website.

We'll take a look at the new features at our February 23rd meeting.

Our friends at AJA have been hard at work on drivers supporting the new broadcast monitoring features. You now get broadcast monitor support via the new IoXT via Thunderbolt.

Our friends at Sapphire have announced that Sapphire Edge is now available for FCP X as well!

Philip Hodgetts (yes, he's a friend too) from Intelligence Assistance has released 7toX, a $10 app in the Mac App Store to move your old projects in FCP 7 to FCP X.

FCP X Troubleshooting

2012-01-10T05:45:19Z

The LA FCPUG has a great article for anyone running FCP X. Just like all the little tricks you needed to make sure FCP 7 ran smooth, FCP X has it's own batch troubleshooting tips that just might make your life a little easier someday. Might want to bookmark this one!

Nikon Announces D4 HDSLR

2012-01-06T04:36:11Z

A lot of you know I'm a huge Nikon fan, and I've been waiting for them to step up and supply their users with a body that you could properly shoot video with. They delivered that camera tonight (well, they actually just announced, they'll start delivering the end of February). That camera is the Nikon D4.

I'll skip a lot of the details, if you're interested you can read through DP Review's overview article, but I want to point out a couple things that should make it interesting to video professionals. What makes the D4 special in a crowded DSLR video market? It has a feature that no other DSLR camera does - it outputs a full 1080p uncompressed signal out HDMI. That's right, you can use AJA's Ki Pro or mini (or any other HDMI recording device) to record a 8-bit 422 uncompressed image with no display info ruining it.

Other exciting features include backlit buttons, the ability to change ISO, shutter speed, and aperture while recording, 1/8th stop aperture increments for smoother changes, and an optional wireless transmitter that lets you control the camera from any web-based device (like an iPad or iPhone) including a live video feed on the device.

The camera should begin shipping in mid-to-late February for $6000. Visit Nikon's D4 website for full specs, details, sample images, and brochure.

Welcome 2012!!

2012-01-03T18:59:41Z

As everyone begins anew for 2012, I'm really excited for what's coming down the pike this year. While a lot will be changing during the course of the year, some things with our group won't be, but that's a good thing! We are welcoming back AJA as our Platinum Sponsor for 2012! I couldn't be more excited, as we'll be hearing about a lot of great things from them this year.

We're also welcoming back GenArts as a meeting sponsor as they promote their Sapphire Edge software. You may have noticed their new logo there to the right - check out Edge and the brand new GenArts website.

Not to be left out, Noise Industries has agreed to another full year of sponsoring the group as well. FX Factory is a go to tool for anyone using Final Cut Pro, 7 or X.

Just confirmed - motionvfx.com has also extended their sponsorship through 2012. A great source for anyone working in video, whether you need motion graphics to work right out of the box or if you want to do a lot of customization. They have a huge collection that seems to grow everyday.

Keep an eye here this coming year, as we plan to publish a lot more industry news and links to cool projects (send us your links or ones that you think are cool) in addition to information about our meetings.

Here's to a great 2012!