News

Panasonic’s new LEICA DG SUMMILUX 12mm/F1.4 ASPH lens is a high-speed, single focus lens that meets professional needs and provides high image quality. It not only offers outdoor photographers a tool for capturing landscapes across a wide angle but also allows indoor shooting in low-lit environments. Furthermore it can produce impressive, natural defocusing effects with its F1.4 large aperture and boasts a rugged, splash/dustproof design to cater for photographers carrying it on their outdoor adventures. The lens is also well suited for 4K video operation, thanks to its silent, high-speed AF performance.

Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, has entered into a contract with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to provide one of the largest single system technology upgrades ever undertaken in Australia. The long-term project represents a major technology refresh and replacement in its studios across all Australian states.

The cornerstone of the system will be Grass Valley's GV STRATUS Video Production and Content Management System solutions that include EDIUS Nonlinear Editing Software, K2 Summit 3G Media Servers and other Grass Valley core technologies. NETIA will provide NETIA Radio-Assist 8, while the Associated Press will provide its AP ENPS 7 scripting system. Both will be deeply integrated into the GV STRATUS system.

The process involved a multi-year tender process and negotiation covering nine separate aspects based on a detailed and exhaustive evaluation of available technology and vendors. After careful consideration as well as both a testing phase and a proof of concept phase, Grass Valley was selected as the exclusive solution provider.

The installation will be implemented over two and a half years in each of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's major news and current affairs facilities throughout the country. Grass Valley will be responsible for all facets of the design, planning, implementation, commissioning, training and ongoing support of all systems.

With a number of critical aspects to the implementation, the project is a partnership between Grass Valley as the systems integrator, NETIA and the Associated Press. This is the first time these two technology providers have been involved in such a major partnership with Grass Valley, which will include a total refresh/replacement of systems for TV news, radio news and scripting creation. Grass Valley, along with its two partners, will be rolling out the new technology across Australia beginning in August of this year after a detailed design phase has been completed.

This software update adds improved white balance and sensor response to lens shading for URSA Mini 4.6K, as well as improved saturation when recording in Video dynamic range and improved Film to Video monitoring for all Blackmagic URSA Mini models and Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder.

What's new in Blackmagic Camera Setup 3.3

Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K
Improved default White Balance
Improved sensor response to lens shading
Improved saturation when recording in VIDEO dynamic range

Blackmagic URSA Mini 4K
Improved saturation when recording in VIDEO dynamic range
Improved saturation of SDI and LCD output when monitoring VIDEO while recording in FILM dynamic range

Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder
Improved saturation of FILM to VIDEO monitoring for URSA Mini 4K
Improved saturation of FILM to VIDEO monitoring for URSA Mini 4.6K

New firmware 6.0 for Panasonic's VariCam digital cinema camera adds:

• Menu to match the file name of clips recorded in MAIN and SUB recorder is added.
• New expressP2 card "B series" support
• New wireless module "AJ-WM50" support
• ProRes HQ codec support 1080/60i, 50i
• LUT/CDL recorded with each clip can applied in playback mode
• LUT/CDL can be saved in SD card
• "2.201:1" frame marker is added
• "BEEP" sounds can be played at REC START/STOP
• Each of VF and VF-SDI can separately have different color
• Resolution is improved when MAIN recording is selected "V-709"
• AUDIO VOLUME can be adjusted by menu dial
• New USER SW function which open AUDIO VOLUME display directly is added
• WFM can show in "YGBR"
• Area marker which shows expanded area in EXPAND mode is added
• MENU structure of "Audio Setting" and "Output Setting" is improved
• Surround View function has menu to extend whether upper or lower
• Changed the name of menu item from "FLIP FLOP" to "IMAGE INVERT"
• New function to display the lists of functions which is assigned to USER SW

Certified SSDs for Blackmagic Cinema Camera

SSDs which are qualified for 2.5K RAW CinemaDNG video capture will also work well for compressed video capture. There are some SSDs which Blackmgic Design tested and found to be dropping frames when capturing 2.5K RAW CinemaDNG video. However, they still work well when capturing compressed video.

The following SSDs are recommended for 2.5K RAW CinemaDNG capture or compressed video capture:

• ADATA XPG SX900 256 GB (ASX900S3-256GM-C)
• Angelbird 240 GB AV Pro mkll
• Angelbird 500 GB AV Pro mkll
• Digistor 240 GB SSD Professional Video Series (DIG-PVD240S, pre-formatted ExFat)
• Digistor 480 GB SSD Professional Video Series (DIG-PVD480S, pre-formatted ExFat)
• Digistor 1 TB SSD 4K Professional Video Series (DIG-PVD1000, pre-formatted ExFat)
• Kingston HyperX Savage 120 GB (SHSS37A/120G)
• Kingston HyperX Savage 240 GB (SHSS37A/240G)
• Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB (SHSS37A/480G)
• Kingston HyperX Savage 960 GB (SHSS37A/960G)
• OWC 120 GB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G (OWCSSD7P6G120)
• OWC 240 GB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G (OWCSSD7P6G240)
• OWC 480 GB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G (OWCSSD7P6G480)
• OWC 960 GB Mercury Extreme Pro 6G (OWCSSD7P6G960)
• Samsung 256 GB 850 Pro (MZ-7KE256BW, spacer required)
• Samsung 512 GB 850 Pro (MZ-7KE512BW, spacer required)
• Samsung 1 TB 850 Pro (MZ-1T0BW, spacer required)
• Samsung 2 TB 850 Pro (MZ-7K32T0BW, spacer required)
• Sandisk Extreme Pro 240 GB (SDSSDXPS-240G-G25)
• Sandisk Extreme Pro 480 GB (SDSSDXPS-480G-G25)
• Sandisk Extreme Pro 960 GB (SDSSDXPS-960G-G25)
• Transcend 256 GB SSD370 (TS256GSSD370)
• Transcend 512 GB SSD370 (TS512GSSD370)
• Transcend 1 TB SSD370 (TS1TSSD370)

In addition to the above, these SSDs work ONLY for compressed video capture:

• Crucial 256 GB M4 (firmware 000F) (CT256M4SSD2)
• OCZ Agility 3 240 GB (AGT3-25SAT3-240G)
• Sandisk Extreme 120 GB (SDSSDX-120G-G25)

Important Notes About SSD Speed

Some models of SSD can’t save video data at the speed the manufacturer claims. This is due to the disk using hidden data compression to attain higher write speeds. This data compression can only save data at the manufacturer’s claimed speed when storing data such as blank data or simple files. Video data includes video noise and pixels which are more random so compression will not help, therefore revealing the true speed of the disk. Some SSDs can have up to 50% lower write speed than the manufacturer’s claimed speed. So even though the disk specifications claim an SSD has speeds fast enough to handle video, in reality the disk isn’t fast enough when used to store video data for real time capture. However, this mostly affects HD capture and often these disks can still be used for playback. Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your SSD will be able to handle uncompressed video capture and playback. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you get results similar to what you’ll see when capturing video to a disk. During Blackmagic testing, we have found newer, larger models of SSD and larger capacity SSDs are generally faster.