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Caldwell Photographic Inc. and Metabones announced the Speed Booster Q666, a.k.a. “The Devil’s Speed Booster”, exclusively for Pentax Q series cameras. With its 0.5x magnification and world-record f/0.666 maximum speed it is crazy wicked fast. So make a deal with the devil today and turn your Pentax Q with its back-illuminated sensor into a monster low-light machine unlike anything ever seen in photography. Attach an f/1.2 lens and stop down a little to see how Stanley Kubrick made do with f/0.7 for filming those famous candle-lit scenes in “Barry Lyndon”. Or open up all the way to f/0.666 and probe the darkness in a way that no photographer has ever been able to do until now.

With an advanced 6-element optical design, the Q666 packs lots of optical horsepower in a small package. Sharpness is excellent even at f/0.666, and is downright superb if you stop down to f/1.0. Distortion is very low, with a maximum value of, naturally, 0.666%. And thanks to the back-illuminated sensor used in Pentax Q cameras, the full f/0.666 maximum aperture can be utilized with minimal pixel vignetting effects commonly seen in other cameras used with high-speed lenses.

Like all Metabones Speed Boosters, the Speed Booster Q666 is optimized to fully account for the camera's filter stack located near the sensor surface. This is especially critical at the record-setting f/0.666 aperture now possible with the Q666. As a result, an enormous range of optics, from vintage film lenses to the latest digital designs, will function flawlessly when adapted to any Pentax Q camera. Planned lens mounts for the Speed Booster Q666 include a Pentax-K version and a Nikon F/G version with the most advanced Nikon G aperture adjustment mechanism in the industry.

The Speed Booster Q666 is available now for 489 USD ex. VAT/shipping.

RED published a Release Candidate version of the new DSMC 2 firmware for the new line of their cameras, incl. RED WEAPON 6K / 8K VV / 8K S35, EPIC-W, SCARLET-W, and RED RAVEN. The new build offers significant changes since previous build v6.4.24:

• Added WEAPON HELIUM 8K S35 Monochrome support
• Added Release Candidate splash screen
• Fixed battery percentage using Belt Clip with OMOD XLR module
• Fixed black frames in playback with Apple ProRes
• Fixed error applying various RED presets
• Fixed log file timestamp with UDF formatted media
• Fixed record hang with beep speaker enabled
• Fixed timelapse with Reduced Judder Preview enabled
• Changed calibration file naming convention
• Updated in-camera documentation

Firmware downloads:

• WEAPON FIRMWARE (6K CF, 8K S35, 8K VV, 8K VV ANA)
• WEAPON FIRMWARE (MAGNESIUM ONLY)
• RED EPIC-W FIRMWARE
• SCARLET-W FIRMWARE
• RED RAVEN FIRMWARE
  

This beta update adds support for single frame and half speed JKL control, along with improved video playback on the Fairlight page. In addition, tracks on the Fairlight page can now be moved up or down, there's a new audio codec column in the Media Pool, and new preferences for configuring the Fairlight Audio Accelerator, support for up to 8 faders on 3rd party audio control surfaces using HUI protocol on Mac and Windows. This update also features improved playback for Sony RAW and CinemaDNG clips, as well as general performance and stability improvements.

Tutorials in the new EDIUS Basics series describe basic functionality of the Grass Valley EDIUS Pro 8 and Workgroup NLE applications.

New York City and Los Angeles-area cinematographers and filmmakers are invited to attend an exclusive first look of Panasonic's new AU-EVA1 cinema camera. The events will include the screening of short films shot with the new cinema camera and a question-and-answer session with the films' cinematographers who will discuss shooting with the EVA1. The New York City event will be held on Monday, September 11th at the Angelika Film Center, while the Los Angeles event will be held on Thursday, September 14th at The Linwood Dunn Theater.

These events represent the first time shooters will be able to get hands-on with the EVA1; Panasonic cinema specialists will be on hand to answer questions. The EVA1 is a 5.7K handheld cinema camera that contains Dual Native ISOs of 800/2500, records footage to low cost SD cards, and captures 14-stops of dynamic range. It is tailor-made for a number of shooting applications, including narrative, documentary, music videos, live events and more. Panasonic recently announced that the EVA1 will ship this Fall with a suggested list price of 7,290 EUR.