With widescreen fast becoming the default format, what’s the best way to convert your traditional 4:3 images for widescreen viewing? The aspect ratio is the width of a picture in relationship to its height. “Normal” television images were in the 4:3 ratio (also sometimes expressed

Some photographers and videographers have a Natural Eye that composes shots and scenes all around them, even when they aren't holding a camera. You know you have The Eye when you start composing scenes everywhere you go. Eventually you'll compose using the Rule of Thirds…  

Attention Videomaker readers! The Canon Vixia HF S10 has arrived in our offices and here is a brief review based upon our first look at this new exciting model from Canon. Upon it’s arrival we decided to test some of it’s features to see if they are indeed as remarkable as Canon claims.

I recently came across a story of that is gaining a significant amount of support behind it. And I wanted to know where it might lead us as cinematographers if it were to happen. There are a couple of similarities amongst two people that I found to be quite interesting. Both are artists, both are cr

3-for-1 Support “The size of camcorders has been shrinking since their inception,” writes Videomaker Publisher/Editor, Matthew York,in this month’s editor’s column, and along with that smaller size come big support issues. Aside from missing many features the bigger camco

Tiny Camcorders The size of camcorders has been shrinking since their inception. The first camcorders were typically shoulder-mounted and much heavier and larger than today’s units. People tend to hold heavy things with their arms to their sides, using both hands under the load as if carrying

Sony announced today its consumer camcorder line-up for 2009, here is a listing of what to look for. SONY HDR-XR520V 240GB HIGH-DEFINITION HARD DISK DRIVE HANDYCAM CAMCORDER Available in March for about $1500 Full 1920×1080 high-definition video recording and 12-megapixel still image capture La

Just wanted to point out a very important award show coming up: The Annual Society of Camera Operators Awards. Which is an award show that honors the unique contributions of camera operators in the cinematic experience. Here’s a little more from their press release. Will Arnot, SOC (Milk), St

Unlike color balance or underexposure, which you can fiddle in post, you get only one shot at getting your focus right. Focus isn’t everything, but it’s close. Of all the things that impact the effectiveness of your shot, focus is at the very top of the list. Focus isn’t everythin

If you’re the type that gets excited about tools and devices that beep, buzz, hum and generally need a battery to operate, then you may already know that the biggest international trade show is fast approaching and devotees are planning their visit like Trekkies at a Star Trek convention. I

If you were one of those who were able to tune in today, you got the chance to see our hour-long live report on Sony FX1000 . John Burkhart and Tom Skowronski had the chance to play around with Sony’s newest HDV camera and put it through some tests and gave their thoughts on the camcorderR

A cold breeze blows across the relic hunter’s face as she approaches the stone tomb. She inches closer as her torchlight dances across the darkened church walls. She reaches out to the stone door – and the torch flame suddenly goes out. Total blackness. The director yells “Cut!

Simplicity Itself This little black box has a cable going in and a cable going out. Oh, and there are two buttons too. Thats pretty much it. But what happens in the middle makes it a useful tool. Lets say you dont have a computer handy . . . or you just dont want to mess with it. You take your camco

One of the most anticipated camcorders announced at NAB 2008, was RED’s Scarlet. A 3K camera with a 2/3″ CMOS sensor, coming in at under $3,000. Rumors and discussions about Scarlet have been rampant since its debut was scheduled for “early 2009”. Yesterday Jim Janard, releas

From the standards body that brought you such hits as NTSC, ATSC, and drop frame time code… The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has announced that they’re starting work on a series of video standards for viewing 3D content in the home. There will be a few high

Panasonic has released the pricing information and release date for it’s much anticipated AG-HMC-150 AVCHD camcorder. The AG-HMC-150 will be sold for a MSRP of $3,995, and be available for purchase on October 2nd. The HMC-150 is the HD successor to Panasonic’s hugely successful DVX-100.

Footage vs. Bittage Mr. York, regarding your Viewfinder column in the July 2008 issue over the use of the word footage. I have been reading Videomaker for 10 years or so and have been in the video business for 9 years. Sometimes meanings may not fit the word according to the dictionary (foot vs. bit

Reprinted from a Panasonic press release: Here at NAB 2008, Panasonic added a powerful, new camcorder to its AVCCAM professional line the handheld AG-HMC150. Building on the phenomenal success of the highly popular DV tape based, standard definition AG-DVX100 camcorder, the affordable HMC150 blends

We stopped by the VariZoom booth at NAB while they were demoing their DV Media Rig shoulder support system for camcorders. Designed to support the weight of the larger prosumer sized DV and HDV camcorders, along with a clever rotating arch design that allows you to position the camcorder at any angl

As CPUs get faster, machines are able to utilize more RAM and editing software gets more efficient, the need for intermediate codecs for editing HDV may fall away. Not all of us are editing on the fastest computers, and a large percentage of us are shooting HDV. So what is an HDV shooter/editor to