New multi-monitors from Leader Instruments

New multi-monitors from Leader Instruments

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm a huge fan of Leader's products. The LV 5750 has been an indispensable tool on many of my engineering gigs and I'm really excited about the next evolution in the product line, the LV 5330 and LV 5380. While I think both these new scopes are very good, for me the price is finally right at around 6000 for the 5330. The 5380 which is a bit bigger and has a few more bells and whistles retails at around 10,000. I have a 5330 on order and should be getting it in the next few weeks. Once I have it, I'm going to do a post on how to correctly read waveforms and vectorscopes and how to identify skin tones on them. There are a few pages out there on this but nothing too meaty:

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/waveform-vectorscope.html

http://www.larryjordan.biz/articles/lj_scopes.html

Helpful but not terribly in depth.

back to the scopes..

When I first saw these new highly portable Multi SDI Monitors at HD Expo here in NY, they seemed a bit like Astro clones but after delving in a bit I found that wasn't the case at all. On the outside, they look similar to the Astro - very sleek and light with well placed controls. The major difference being the Astro is an excellent monitor with SOME engineering features whereas the Leader is an engineering tool that also is an excellent monitor.  With the launch of these new products, it seems Leader is intentionally trying to get their gear out of engineering bays and monitor tents and on top of people's cameras. The 5750 was a pretty good start but at 5.5 lbs, it was a bit too beefy for on-board use.

A very cool new software has been developed by Leader called CineLite / CineZone and it comes bundled with the 5330 and is optionally available for the 5380. "CineLite" basically converts signal luminance to assigned f-stop values so if you like thinking about your images in terms of stops, this is a very helpful tool. Or if you're working with a DP who prefers communicating in stops, again this is a great feature. "CineZone" is very similar to the "Predator Vision" False Color viewing mode on the RED camera. Warm colors represent values approaching over exposure with white representing signal clip. On the other side, cool colors represent values approaching underexposure with black representing clip . Green is right in the middle representing zone 5, 18% reflectance gray. It's similar but a little more intuitive than Predator Vision which is a little confusing with how it uses varying shades of gray to represent middle of the range values.

This is kind of a crappy representation of it. When I get my scope, I'll post some better images.

a little sidenote: If you don't have this, it's a very handy thing to have. It approximately equates RED False Color to IRE values. I don't think it's completely accurate but it's still pretty helpful even if only to remind you where the gray values reside on the scale.

Here's a nice PDF of it for printing >>>

The LV 5330 and 5380 while sharing many of the same feature set are quite a bit different - the emphasis being on the portability of the 2.9 lbs 5330 vs. the versatility of the 5380. At 4.5 lbs, the 5380 isn't much smaller than the 5750 but in terms of what it can do, it's a pretty big advancement. The 5380 looks and feels more like a conventional LCD monitor to me than the 5330 with its relatively small 6.5" screen surrounded by engineering controls. The big 8.4" LCD on the 5380 can be laid out in any number of ways, displaying 1,2, 3, or 4 scopes/meters at a time. Despite it's larger physical size, it's actually the exact same screen in terms of resolution as the the 5330, a XGA TFT LCD 1024x768. Compared to the 800x480 resolution of a Marshall or Panasonic 7", there's a noticeably sharper and richer picture display. Both models also display highly accurate waveform (parade, Y Cb Cr, RGB, and pseudo composite), vectorscope (75% and 100% saturation), 8 channels of audio levels, 5 bar display for color gamut, and can screen capture to a USB drive. In addition they can both select and display a single line from the video signal and have comprehensive error detection, event logs, and data dumps. As I've emphasized before, scopes don't lie and there is no aspect of the video signal that can hide from these mofo's.

The key differences between the products are that the 5380 can be outfitted with a dual link HD-SDI board whereas the 5330 cannot. The 5380 can also display two SDI signals simultaneously. The 5330 comes with CineLite/CineZone installed whereas the 5380 strangely does not. Still scratching my head on that one... Also the picture display controls on the 5330 are somewhat limited with only the brightness, contrast, and saturation adjustable. There isn't even a "blue only" feature which I find really disappointing. I asked the guys at Leader about that and they said that the display doesn't need to be adjusted or calibrated because it displays the precise SDI signal. Well if that's the case, then why does the 5380 have total control over the display? Color Temperature, Brightness, Contrast, Gain, Bias, Selective Color Channels, etc... Obviously displays need to be tweaked all the time to account for varying degrees of ambient light. Color is equally critical and it would be nice if there was a way to quickly make sure they're accurate, ala' BLUE ONLY.

Leader LV 5330

-B&H Price 6,394.95

-6.5" XGA TFT LCD 1024x768 pixels

-8.5" W x 5" H x 2.5" D

-2.9 lbs.

-2 SDI inputs that can be switched live

-1 SDI output

-1 External REF input (tri-level sync or NTSC/PAL black burst)

-Waveform, Vectorscope, 5 Bar Display, Line Selector, Audio Level Meter

-Extensive Analysis Features (error detection, SDI signal event log, Digital data dump)

-Comes bundled with CineLite / CineZone

-1 Screen, 2 Screen, and 4 Screen Dsiplays

-Picture Display controls limited to Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Peaking. Controls for Aspect Ratio, safe action and safe title markers

-Scope can be controlled by a PC over an ethernet network

-Anton Bauer Gold Mount Battery or Sony V Mount Battery option

-Stereo Headphone output

-Screen Capture to USB drive

-Can be used as a viewfinder by displaying camera's composite video output

TECH PAPER >>>

Leader LV 5380

-B&H Price 9.199.95

-8.4" XGA TFT LCD 1024x768 pixels

-8.5" W x 7" H x 3.5" D

-4.5 lbs

-2 SDI inputs that can be switched live or displayed simultaneously

-Dual Link SDI Option

-1 SDI output

-1 External REF input (tri-level sync or NTSC/PAL black burst)

-Waveform, Vectorscope, 5 Bar Display, Line Selector, Audio Level Meter

-Extensive Analysis Features (error detection, SDI signal event log, Digital data dump)

-Versatile multi-screen display: can be arranged any number of ways (see tech paper for details)

-Multi Function Picture Display: Adjustable brightness, contrast, gain, bias, color temperature, monochrome, chroma up, on image gamut error, R, G, and B can be switched on and off, etc.

-CineLite/CineZone Option

-Anton Bauer Gold Mount Battery or Sony V Mount Battery option

-Stereo Headphone output

-Screen Capture to USB drive

-30 Presets for Front Panel Controls

TECH PAPER >>>

JVC back in the game?

JVC back in the game?

Maybe that's not the fairest title for this post.. The HD250U is a sweet camera but it's a bit of a niche ENG thing and isn't really a direct competitor of the Panasonic HVX200A or Sony EX1. When I say "back in the game", I'm referring to the ongoing competition between Sony and Panasonic for the hearts and minds of the digital filmmaking community. The small camera devotees - the dvxuser.com crowd. The users that really brought lens adapters for small cameras into the mainstream. This area of the market really has been a Sony vs. Panasonic game for the longest time but JVC recently made a few announcements that might put an end to that.

These new offerings from JVC are the shoulder-mounted GY-HM700 and the handheld GY-HM100U. These cameras both have an impressive list of features but the point that grabs me first is the lens feature of the HM700 – similar to the upcoming Panasonic HPX300 – it uses a 1/3” B4 mount which can also be adapted for use with 1/2” and 2/3” video lenses.  That’s fine and dandy but JVC also makes the HZ-CA13U Optical PL Adapter, which works beautifully with 16mm film optics. A lightweight, shoulder-mounted camera that you can put just about any lens on without a massive, cumbersome adapter = !!!!!

The HM700 and 100's major departure from to the older JVC ProHD cameras is that they both shoot Full Raster 1080p Final Cut Pro files directly to common SD cards. In the past the argument against JVC is that its version of HDV hasn’t been well supported in the NLE. That said, the decision to eliminate wrapped file formats in favor of something that can be brought into FCP immediately without any conversion seems like a good one. The new 35mbps codec IS proprietary but it’s based on MPEG2 Long GOP, which at this point is the most universally accepted HD compression. According to JVC’s literature, the files are drag and drop directly into FCP6 where they are ready to edit without any unwrapping or transcoding. The exact same files can also be recorded to card in ISO Base Media folder/file architecture ensuring compatibility with PC-based NLE’s. In addition, the HM700 can optionally record to SxS cards with add-on hardware making it even more versatile.

I’ve always liked the functionality and ergonomics of JVC’s cameras but have never really been blown away by image quality. I haven’t seen anything from these two yet but I have high hopes for them. Sony and Panasonic have dominated the small and medium sized camcorder competition for so long that it’s refreshing to see someone else put out a product that can potentially hold their own against the more widely used models. 

Features at a glance:

JVC GY-HM700

-B&H Price 6,995

- Compact Shoulder-mounted ENG style camcorder

- Industry standard bayonet lens mount
(B4)

- 1/3” 3CCD Optical System

- Full HD resolution images

Professional recording with selectable data rates up to 35Mbps

1920 x 1080 (1080p24/p25/p30, 1080i60/i50)

1280 x 720P (p60/p50/p30/p25/p24)

- Native file recording

Native Final Cut Pro format
(Edit immediately without conversion or transcoding)

ISO Base Media Format (ensures compatibility with NLE's)

.MP4 file format
(Available with optional SxS Media Recorder)

- Records to dual hot swappable SDHC memory cards and/or optional SxS adapter

- Variable frame rate recording

- HDSDI output

- Extensive image customization modes (gamma, matrix, knee, detail, etc.)

- XLR inputs with phantom power

JVC GY-HM100U

-B&H Price 3,495

- 1/4” 3CCD chipset employing spatial offset to arrive at HD resolution

- Full HD resolution images

Professional recording with selectable data rates up to 35Mbps

1920 x 1080 (1080p24/p25/p30, 1080i60/i50)

1280 x 720P (p60/p50/p30/p25/p24)

- Native file recording

Native Final Cut Pro format
(Edit immediately without conversion or transcoding)

ISO Base Media Format (ensures compatibility with NLE's)

- Records to dual hot swappable SDHC memory cards

- Extensive image customization modes (gamma, matrix, knee, detail, etc.)

- XLR inputs with phantom power

Now learn more at the JVC site:

JVC GY-HM700 >>>

JVC GY-HM100U >>>

HZ-CA13U Optical PL Adapter >>>

Digital Motion Picture Sweeps The Oscars

Digital Motion Picture Sweeps The Oscars

The lovely Slumdog Millionaire found the same success at The Oscars as it did at The Bafta's and Golden Globes, taking home the top honors - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. This is the first (mostly) digitally acquired feature film in the history of The Oscars to win Best Picture and Best Cinematography. Not bad for a small independent shot with a relatively new and radically different digital cinema camera. I think this is the greatest possible success for next generation digital cinema companies like RED and Silicon Imaging - makers of the SI-2K Mini with which Slumdog was mostly photographed with. It is a massive confirmation that film isn't the end all be all in quality and that digital imaging is not going to get in the way of audiences recognizing a wonderful story. It's very cool to be working in the business during this paradigm shift. There is a lot of great energy and excitement as the tools of the trade are becoming more accessible and affordable to people with big ideas. When a film like Slumdog Millionaire can win the highest American industry accolades it should give independents and people working outside the mainstream a lot of hope that their work can find its audience and earn worldwide recognition.

Regarding the film's cinematography; when I first saw the film I noticed what I thought was sensor noise in the game show scenes. Since then, I've heard from numerous folks that this was an intentional look done in the grading process to match the grain of some other materials (mostly Day Ext's) originating on film. I also read Anthony Dod Mantle saying that the SI-2K images picked up a lot of noise as they traveled through the post pipeline. I'm still looking into this but if it's the case that it was done in the grade, the effect might have been pushed a little too hard. Don't get me wrong, it didn't wreck the scenes but one of the points of this blog is to evaluate the quality of digital images and if there are noticeable issues in a widely seen film such as this, they will be commented on. Other than that, I think what's really strong about the film's cinematography are the great angles and fluid movement that are only possible with a tiny, discrete camera like the SI-2K. The film's camera language has this great "fly on the wall" observational quality that I think is the most successful aspect of its storytelling.

Another aspect of the cinematography that I really like is the slightly rough around the edges, almost handmade quality of the images. In an era where "perfection" is the norm in motion pictures, it's really refreshing to see something so different than what we're used to seeing be so successful. It just goes to show you at the end of the day audiences want a great story more than they want perfect hair and makeup and perfectly consistent exposures and prefect camera moves. I don't want my movies to look like they were made by highly skilled robots. I want the human touch and Slumdog has it!

Go read this on ProLost >>> I failed to mention the film's very effective use of 12fps material. Stu has some great points about cinematic motion and some current industry trends that are a little disheartening.