Another proof as to how great this little consumer camera is. This short film, shot for SciFi Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica” competition, was actually shot with an HV20. Great work by Philip Hudson.

Look at the vast majority of today’s major labels music videos. They all feature cellphones in many of their scenes, scenes that are not really needed. Their logos are always clear too. Obviously, cellphone companies are the No1 sponsors of music videos today. It’s getting extremely irritating to view such blatant ads every 10 minutes on music TV channels.

To the artists: Fucking sell outs.

Casual shooting
* A steady tripod, specifically with a fluid head ($80)
* A few rubber bands (info, $0.01)
* A spacious camera bag ($10)
* Enough tapes ($20)
* An ND4 (0.6) filter ($20, outdoors only)
* A petal hood ($15, fotodiox.com, outdoors only)
* A gray card (for indoors shooting, $5)
* Optional: A bigger, extra, battery ($40)

Special Interest (macro)
All of the above, plus:
* Tiffen 2x, 3x, 4x close-up kit lenses ($30)

Documentaries
All of the above, plus:
* A Canon or Raynox telephoto lens (make sure it’s specific to HD, $200)
* A polarizer filter ($35)
* A UV filter ($20)
* An HD wide angle lens (e.g. Canon WD-H43, the Raynox 7000Pro, $200)
* A white balance gray card (usage, $5)
* A shotgun microphone with windscreen support (e.g. Canon DM-50, $150)
* A lavalier microphone (e.g. the Audio-Technica ATR-35S, $40)
* Extension cord for the lavalier mic ($15)
* Tiffen Universal Dolly (to be used only on thick carpet, $50)
* A shoulder bracket (e.g. B&H sells one for $45)
* A reflector (e.g. the Westcott 5-in-1 Reflector Kit, $100)
* A focus wheel (DIY, or from Irvb, $40)
* A lens cleanser, blower, and brush ($20)
* A rectangle hood ($20, fotodiox.com)
* A lens hood ($20)
* [Optional] The Tiffen HDTV-FX3 filter (low-contrast movie look, $200)

Music videos
All of the above, plus:
* A steadycam (e.g. $170 Hauge MMC, or a DIY $15 one)
* 1000W Smith Victor KT1000 continuous lights (e.g. from Adorama, $130)
* A portable CD player for lip-syncing ($70)
* A clap, to synchronize the audio with the sped-up lipsyncing in post processing ($10)
* A 35mm adapter (e.g. TwoNeilHD, or JAG35Pro, with a 5m GG, achromat & condenser)
* Bogen / Manfrotto 293 Lens Support with Quick Release ($70)
* Actual 35mm lenses (price varies)
* Lens hoods for the various 35mm lenses (price varies)
* An external monitor: the Sony DVP-FX820 (NTSC) or DVP-FX870 (PAL) ($180)
* A female-to-female RCA adapter to connect the external monitor ($8)
* A DIY monitor holder (instructions, $7)
* A second, cheaper, tripod to hold the monitor and the monitor holder ($20)
* External monitor Hoodman H900, for when shooting in sunlight ($100)

[Alternatively, you can mount the monitor and monitor holder on the main tripod itself like this, above the camera (instead of on a separate tripod), but you will need the Shrig Rig ($125) for that, instead of the suggested ‘Manfrotto lens support’.]

Short films
All of the above, plus:
* Rode Stereo Videomic ($250)
* Rode Boompole ($120)
* Rode Dead Kitten windscreen ($30)
* A second person holding the boom mic (beg someone)
* Good 3.5mm headphones, to evaluate audio during shooting ($60)
* Tiffen Steady Stick, or this trick, to be used as a small crane ($100)
* A smooth dolly (e.g. a DIY one, or the Glidetrack, $170)
* Car charging kit for external camera, mic, monitor ($70)
* A power strip for battery charging on location ($10)
* A folding director’s chair for the shots not requiring camera movement ($10)

Full featured films
You don’t use an HV20/30 in that case, silly. 😉

In any case, you always need a good plan. Plan ahead your shots by sketching, and leaving notes on a notepad about camera movement and composition.

When all my data are moved to our new Vista PC (which will only be used for video/graphics and not for daily casual usage), I will be in the process of re-formatting my current P4 3Ghz PC and use it again as my daily computer. However, I am not sure if I want to go with Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. Windows XP behaves and performs better than Linux (at least, I like it better), but the vast malware list for Windows is a problem. I use two anti-spyware, one anti-virus, and NoScript on my browser, but I still don’t feel safe. While Windows is full of malware, it also has a lot of anti-malware apps available for it — updating their DB daily. Linux only has one anti-malware solution, and it doesn’t update very often. Saying that no one tries to exploit the kernel or the browser on Linux is naive. So what do I do? Come face to face and fight the malware, or go to a platform with fewer malware but no tools in case you need them?

Tough call. Especially because even if Linux sounds like a slightly better choice, Windows XP wins in desktop performance and application support (I need a speedy Flash, and Flash under Linux sucks donkey balls).

The only serious contenders in the consumer camcorder world are Canon, Panasonic, Sony, and JVC. Because JVC has atrocious picture quality and Sony has no manual controls, they are both out of the competition for me. The game is between Canon and Panasonic.

Panasonic doesn’t have a cinemode and all its color settings are unnaturally saturated. However, where it really fails me is when some of its models are as dumb as this one (read “the back” section). Canon has better overall controls and features, and a more natural image.

I can’t wait for a good replacement of the HV series from Canon. Apparently the expensive HF series don’t even have zebra support.

After a few months since we got this 35mm vibrating adapter (with achromat) from Worley, JBQ and I tested it tonight. I am concerned about the extreme vignetting that I am getting. I can’t zoom in any more towards the ground glass because the HV20 wouldn’t focus that close, so I am not happy about that part. If you have any tips, I am all ears. I am wondering if I need a different ground glass.

I don’t disagree with the judge ruling that Apple might have violated the anti-monopoly provisions of the antitrust laws for its agreements with AT&T. However, when the judge says that Apple has violated federal and California criminal computer fraud and abuse statutes by releasing version 1.1.1 of its iPhone operating software when Apple knew that doing so would damage or destroy some iPhones that had been ‘unlocked’ to enable use of a carrier other than AT&T, this is not fair.

I own an unlocked iPhone. And while I would be pissed if my phone was to get bricked if I was to upgrade the firmware, the truth is, I have an unsupported phone. I would deserve the pain associated with that upgrade. The risk should be mine, not Apple’s.

And the bigger problem is, it’s difficult to be 100% backwards compatible in a 1.x release of any product. After the original release, it will take 1-2 more years to stabilize a big project in a way that nothing else is going to get broken again. The judge must understand this. That’s how software works. Apple should only get fined if they broke the compatibility on purpose, in order to take revenge on the unlockers. But how do you even prove that in a court of law without the engineers coming forward?

Lots of fanfare for iTunes’ Genius thingie. Unfortunately, it does not satisfy me (what does, right?). I just don’t think it works for me. It is actually consistent, it almost gives me the same songs for two different (but similar) songs of the same artist. So I know that their algorithm works for the way it was designed for. My problem is that the algorithm itself doesn’t do what I need.

I like listening to songs like “Ranting of Eva”‘s “Bright Side“. Now, the interesting thing is that the “Red Letter Agent” band actually does have the exact same style of music. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was the same person who wrote songs for the two bands (note: the members of the two bands actually are good friends and they usually gig together). “The Coral Sea” also have songs (e.g. “In This Moment’s Time”) that the guitar sounds exactly the same. So if in my ears these bands are actually sounding the same, why isn’t Genius putting these together in my local Genius results?

I am sure that part of the algorithm makes sense, it’s just that it’s not as intelligent or as broad as I need it to be. I am looking for a very specific sound, and Genius doesn’t give it to me. At least not when it comes to guitar sound and arrangement identification patterns.

I also asked Brian, guitarist of the “Drist“, what he thinks about these songs and he agreed that all these songs have a similar style with a “slightly dirty” guitar sound (as he put it).

So I know I am not crazy.

Update: IM chat with my husband:

JBQ: teaches you right for listening to alternative rock music.
JBQ: If you listened to pop music, it’d work much better (since all pop music sounds the same): it’d just return a random pop song.
eugenia: 😀
JBQ: Seriously, all the rants I’ve heard about the genius playlist is that it doesn’t work as soon as you go in the alternative/indie genre (which is *exactly* where you want it to work).
eugenia: ic
JBQ: It doesn’t matter that it can solve the easy cases, I want it to solve the hard ones.
eugenia:: yup
JBQ: I want it to give me whatever band you made me listen to* the other day when I say “I want something that sounds like Evanescence”.

* That was The Luminous Sky‘s new album. While these guys play electronic rock, the singing patterns and style of the lead vocalist are the same as with the singer of Evanescence. Listen to their songs “Devoted” and “Falling for you”.

I put together 10 color grading presets tonight, 9 of them somewhat emulating the Magic Bullet looks, and 1 emulating the Kodak 3383 film look. The presets work with Vegas Platinum and Pro, but not with the plain version of Movie Studio. Here’s how:

1. Download this zip file. Unzip the “presets” folder in it on your C:\ folder. It must be unzipped on the root folder of your C:\ drive, or the included .vf sample projects won’t load.

2. Download the Preset Manager directly from Sony. Install it. This is a nice official utility that unfortunately doesn’t come with Vegas by default.

3. Browse C:\presets\ and double click the eugenia-part1.sfpreset file to open with the Preset Manager. Click the little + sign on the left of the “eugenia-part1.sfpreset” word, and then select the “FX Chain” word that appears directly underneath it. Then, click the “edit” menu, and “Copy to system”.

4. Now, open a Vegas project (either my sample .vf projects, or any of your own projects), and try to apply a plugin to an event in the timeline (by clicking the blue + symbol on the right side of any timeline event). From the long list appearing, click “Filter Packages” on the tree list on the left, and the new presets will be now visible. You can choose any of them to load, and start playing around.