So, let's skip the preamble and get to the most apparent issue: colour cast.

Above: Fader-ND removed (T2i, Sigma 50mm f1.4, handheld, liveview histogram to set exposure)

Above: Fader-ND attached, set to "Min" (T2i, Sigma 50mm f1.4, handheld, liveview histogram to set exposure)

Above: Fader-ND attached, set to "Max" (T2i, Sigma 50mm f1.4, handheld, liveview histogram to set exposure)

Above: Side-by-side comparison makes the colour shift apparent.

Process: All the above photos are pulled from a .JPG captured at "Fine" resolution, dropped onto my drive, opened in Photoshop CS4 (PsCS4), resized to 10% of original, and saved to web as 100% quality JPG. A lot of variables and points of failure, but since all images went through the exact same process any differences should be the result of either my shooting or the filter.

Right away we can see the green cast to it. Others have pointed it out, so it's not a flaw in my particular fader. Other reviews have mentioned the same effect on the Singh Ray vari-filter, so I'm willing to bet it's a problem with these types of filters.

Is the green cast a deal breaker for me? No.
When the choice is this for $125 US vs. $400 US (at least ) for a matte box with ND filters, I'll take this and deal with the extra steps in post until I can call myself enough of a professional to make that leap to the proper filtering system.

For still shots I can figure out the amount of deflection required in the green curve and then just batch process all my shots in PsCS4 to remove the green tint. As a neophyte to HDSLR video shooting, I don't yet know how to colour (YES, colour with a "U" – ya' got a problem with that <g>) correct video footage, but I sure Premier Pro / After Effects CS4 has that ability. One way or another, I can compensate after the shoot to correct the colour issue.

Some of the other product/purchase details: it seems well constructed – metal and glass, tight tolerances, smooth rotating action. The purchase was pain-free and the shipping from Hong Kong was quicker than I expected.

One of these days (i.e. if someone actually asks me to) I'll get around to planting the camera on my tripod and doing some resolution chart shots to see if the Fader-ND impacts sharpness. Until then, I'll be happy with what I have and dream of bigger and better gear as my skill level increases.

If you want more info/shots, throw down a comment below and I'll see what I can do.
 

The inaugural ProFusion Video Expo was held Friday June 18 and Saturday June 19, 2010 at the Toronto Congress Centre. I dropped by the floor show on Friday, attended a few seminars on Saturday morning, and returned to the floor show on Saturday afternoon in search of answers and deals.

The event seemed to skew heavily towards HDSLR shooters. I was perfectly OK with that, as that's what I am (T2i all the way baby!) but I can see that the absence of RED and other logical "next step" digital video solutions will need to be addressed in the future. I can easily see combining the show with some REDucation classes to have an event that provides insight and training opportunities for anyone from novice to Pro.

Since this was its first year, I'd have to say there was a good showing from most of the major vendors – it was the absence of the minor vendors that left the most to be desired. I hang out online at places like Cinema5d.com and DVInfo.net and read up on gear from the likes of CPM (HDSLR rig), LightCraftWorkshop (Fader-ND variable ND filter) CineCity (Matte box, stabilizers) DFocus (Follow Focus) and their ilk. These are the vendors whose gear interest me, these are the products I want to pick up, turn on, and test fit to my camera. And, (unfortunately) these are the vendors that can't make it to all/any trade shows except the biggest/closest.

So, my ideas?

1. grow ProFusion until it is large enough to be irresistible to most vendors – even the small ones. That's just a matter of time.
2. institute a second room for "low cost" manufacturers – smaller booths, no frills, etc. with a correspondingly lower booth cost. Drop some of the barriers to entry for those smaller manufacturers. That's a decision Vistek will have to make, even in the face of opposition from the established large-scale vendors.
3. open the show to other multi-line dealers. That's a decision Vistek will have to make, even in the face of opposition from their own sales reps.

All in all, for a first-year effort, things went pretty well. I'm sure the show organizer will have ironed out the small kinks next year (speaker scheduling, enforcing seminar length, signage and way-finding, ensuring product availability, etc.) and hopefully critical mass will engender improvements in vendor representation and knowledge-building opportunities.

Will I be at ProFusion 2011? You bet!

Hey – looky looky here! The feature film "Dark Rising 2: Summer Strikes Back" that was filmed in North Bay in the fall of 2009 is starting to shape up. In fact, it's reached the point that Andrew Cymek (Writer & Director) and Brigitte Kingsley (Producer & Actor) have put together a teaser trailer. Looky below for the trailer:

Why am I so jazzed?  Because I acted as AC2 for the shoot, which means I didn't op. the camera – in general I clapped, slated, watched, timed, reported, etc. – but one fine day, for one miniscule moment, I did operate the RED cam and ended up capturing around 5 seconds of action. Of those 5 seconds, at least half-a-second of that footage ended up in the teaser.

Yippee! I'm now a professional cinematographer! [grin - commence your eye-rolling and snorting in exasperation!]

The teaser looks great [Ed Grimly voice on] I must say [Ed Grimly voice off].
Landy Cannon's hair and chin are awesome, Brigitte Kingsley's … um… eyes are a sight to behold, Cory Lee & Kyle Buchanan are too innocent looking to actually be innocent, Nug Nahrgang steals each scene with his comedic talents, and of course North Bay native Matti Mclean geeks it up so he can throw it down with the best of 'em.

As for the crew, the efforts of Doug Lentz (Editor, Motion Graphics, CGI artist, native son of North Bay), Josh Fraiman (AC1), Seth Rossman (Makeup , SFX) and Jim Peacock (Set Design, SFX) are amply visible on screen.
As for the off-screen crew (i.e. the little people), all I can say is the slating was magnificent!

*** SPOILER BEGINS ***

I know, I know – the movie ain't even out yet and I'm going to blow a crucial plot point.
For those sensitive purist types, DON'T highlight the next line, and you'll be saved from this evil evil knowledge:

The butler does it.
What, you think I'd actually blow a plot point on DR2 prior to release? No way – Brigitte would come back up just to kick my ass!

*** SPOILER ENDS ***

So we're getting ourselves organized as a "Business" instead as of having Carol be a "Freelancer", and in the process we've decided to start issuing paperwork (estimates, invoices, receipts) under the moniker "Szabicot Creative".

Unfortunately (fortunately?) that means we're going to be recognizing revenue under that same name, as all cheques and payments are now being made to "Szabicot Creative".

Me thinks we need a bank account under the "Szabicot Creative" name so we can cash them there huge cheques!
This thinkin' type thought has lead me to spend far too much time trying to figure out which big bank (TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, Scotia) we should be abused and demeaned by (not that I'm eager for abuse, and I could do without the demeaning, but I don't have high hopes that any of the Canadian banks will treat me as anything but pocket lint).

They all charge me a fee to borrow money from me (in the form of a deposit), which irks me no end - I can understand if I'm engaging with a Real Human^tm in a Real Bank^tm that a fee might be a fair charge, but we pretty much only use online tools and ATM machines, so my paying around $1 every time I make a deposit makes me feel ripped off even before I've been ripped off.
And yes, the local credit union seems to have these fees as well – a cow-paddy by any other name…

Surprisingly, it's the non-local big banks (ING, HSBC) that seem to be the best choice for low/no fee banking.
Maybe it's time for a shake up in our household finances.

Anyone with anything good to say about Canadian big banks is welcome to post a comment below or just send us your thoughts – I'll notify my hosting provider that I may need 0.0000000001 GB extra bandwidth this month to handle the deluge of positive comments!

I'm looking for a DSLR that will do HD video, and these two beauties fit the bill nicely without breaking the bank. But for all the reviews (DPReview.com K-x review, DigitalCameraInfo.com K-x review, DPReview.com 550D / T2i review) spec. comparisons, and blatant sales pitches that I've found, I have yet to run into a "K-x vs. T2i" head-to-head review that told me what I wanted to know – how do they feel "in-hand"? So, I took a little trip to my local electronics retailer for my own fact-finding mission. Here's what I came away with:

• One of the biggest deciding factors for me has to be how easy is it to hold the camera still while I'm filming – and for me the weight of the unit is the biggest factor in helping keep it still (i.e. the heavier the camera, the less prone to hand shakes). After attaching the basic kit lens (18 – 55 mm) to each body, I picked 'em up and winged 'em about. And (surprise surprise) the K-x is noticebly heavier than the T2i. Now, maybe it's just a balance issue – the K-x has its image stabilization in the body of the camera, and the T2i has that system in the lenses, so the K-x has the bulk of its weight in your hand and the T2i has the bulk of its weight forward of your hand. Whatever the reason, when it comes time to keeping the camera still I think I'd get better results from the K-x than the T2i.
   
• The image stabilization is very noticable in the K-x. Every move / shake of the hand results in a vibration eminating from the camera. I'd say it felt a lot like an early motion-feedback controller for a gaming console, just not as powerful. One the one hand (HA! a joke!) it's disconcerting to feel that tingle in my hand, but on the other hand it's reassuring to know the Image Stabilization is workin' just fine without having to visually confirm it on-screen. I'm sure it's one of those things that are noticable because they're new and become unnoticable as you get comfortable with the gear.

So, my in-hand experience tells me that I'd favour the K-x. Combine that with a $300 CDN lower basic kit cost, the ability to pick up an old Pentax 50mm f1.4 prime from eBay for ~$40, the fact that we've had great success with our current Pentax K110D, and the K-x it seems like a good idea. Throwing a wrench in the K-x decision however is the knowledge that the T2i has some on-paper advantages: full HD recording, mic input, HDMI out, 50fps at 720p, and there's an almost certain guarantee that it will fit on RedRock Micro or Cinevate rigs. The K-x has none of these advantages. So, more humming and hawing as I whittle away at the factors that are truely important to our projects and one day I'll know which to buy, and which to put forever out of my mind. If anyone has practical experience using either the Pentax K-x or the Canon T2i (a.k.a. 550D outside of North America) then give me your impressions via our Contact Us page, or just throw down a comment below.

So, having discovered that positioning mics at varying distances from the focal point of the sound is problematic in large spaces, I thought to myself “Alright – not a problem, I’ll just split this single 2-channel track into two separate tracks and then offset the second track just a shade to the left so the waveforms line up”.
Since I’m using Audacity it’s not a difficult thing to do – or so I thought.
This is the point where I discovered that I set the soundboard so that it recorded both the closer mic and the farther mic equally to the left channel and right channel.
Crap.
I’m assuming I should have used the soundboard’s pan function to make sure the closer mic was only recording to the left channel, and the farther mic was only recording to the right channel.

I’m not a sound engineer – and it shows! I’m willing to bet this is a rank amateur mistake, but at least I now know what to do for a 2-mic setup – the problem of course becomes (and I’m fairly trembling with anticipation here) what do I do when I have more than 2 mics? Even though the soundboard can accommodate 8 mics, the recorder (a Zoom H2) can only accommodate 2 tracks – and I have no intention of dropping cash yet another recording device.
I’ve seen the hack that converts the H2 into a 4 track recorder, but I’m leery of the resulting sound quality (one wrong solder and suddenly you’ve got noise on the line).

If you’re into sound recording and know of a practical way to turn a 2-track Zoom H2 into a 4-track recorder that won’t degrade the sound, I’d love to know. Also, if I’ve got my facts wrong on soundboard operation kindly deliver the news via our Contact Us page, or just throw down a comment below.

This knowledge comes to me from my solitary experience recording Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light as performed by Near North Voices in a church hall, and as such will need to be revised as I learn more about sound recording either through practical experience or knowledge passed onto me from others.  I can’t guarantee that it wasn’t something I screwed up on the board, but my sound board ineptitude doesn’t seem to account solely for the poor recording.

So, now that that disclaimer is in place, I can say that I think the technique for recording using more than one mic is to remember to position the mics an equal distance from the sound locus (usually the conductor). This is to ensure the sound reaches the mics at the same time. I’m sure this is different for close-in settings, but for this sort of huge space it seems to be important.

Why is this important? Well, if one mic is noticeably (aurally) farther away, there will be a delay in the sound reaching it. This results in the downmix having a very odd swelling-and-fading (fluttering?) sound pattern as a result of the waveforms combining at times and cancelling out at other times. If you position the mics poorly and there is a noticeable delay, then (assuming you recorded one mic per channel) maybe it can be fixed in post by off-setting a channel a fraction of a frame one way or another, but if you record multiple mics to the same channel there will be no way to shift one mic’s sound relative to the other mic.

Any experienced sound engineers with insight and advice on mic’ing live choral performances in a large space like a church, and any tips or tricks on sound board best practices, please send your advice via our Contact Us page, or drop me a comment below.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthhhhdaaaayyyyy dear Girl Guides of Canada [takes deep breath] Happy birthday to you!

In recognition of Girl Guides of Canada 100th Birthday in 2010, Szabicot | Creative put together a very short (but very cute) video that hardly has any lens flairs or explosions! Carol handled the photography and music, and I handled the VFX and editing.
Unfortunately, until it is made publicly available by the GGC (either on a website, in a mass email, etc.) we won’t be posting it on our YouTube account – so just imagine it being along the lines of an early Sesame Street stop-motion clip with added “boing” noises, and you’ve pretty much got it.

We love doing creative film and video work, and would encourage anyone thinking about it to contact us and we can help you figure out if film or video is the right marketing approach for your needs.

Jeepers what a project! It didn’t help that it landed on our plate at exactly the same moment Carol was working on the CIBC Annual cleanup AND trying to get all Voices of Light materials delivered AND practicing for the actual concert!.
Nonetheless, Carol has just finished designing and building the Powerpoint templates, “slicksheets” (i.e. high-gloss sales sheets), the Corporate Fact sheet and a batch of booth signage for Avvasi Inc. (a mobile video tech. startup out of Kitchener / Waterloo). On top of the print-based collateral, they get themselves a fancy new website as well! Who woulda thunk it! Another tough job with impossible timelines handled with aplomb by Carol – great work.

Carol is not only singing in the concert, she’s designing the poster, the program, the tickets, and a whole slew of flyers.
I (meanwhile) have gotten myself volunteered to act as Sound Recording Technician and videographer – that should only take a few extra years to finish off!

This is a “goodness of our heart” type endeavor, but it’s a great showcase for Szabicot | Creative nonetheless, and it’s an opportunity for Carol to flex her creative muscle (just exactly what does one do when the only assets available are stills taken from a 90 year old movie?)

Great work by Carol – oh, and the concert was spectacular as well.