This month NAB came and went in a flurry of four days of excitement and it seems that 4 was the appropriate number for this years show – 4th month of the year in 2014, over four days and the buzz word this year was 4k.
Two new 4k cameras were announced from two different manufactures – Black Magic and AJA.
Arri announced the shipment dates of the new Amira and a good overview of the camera can be found at Able Cine.
Canon announced new lenses to follow up on their much applauded 30-300mm zoom which include the Canon 17-120mm Cine-Servo Zoom and there is an interesting video with Peter Yabsley from Canon and Fabien Pisano from Sony about some new products and upgrades coming down the pipe soon for both Canon and Sony.
Speaking of zooms, Angenieux introduced three new zooms two hand-held – Optimo Style 16-40 and 30-76 and one full size Optimo Style 25-250 all of which will cover 4k chips.
Atomos – the once little Australian company that has turned into a household name when it comes to on board record devices – announced their step into the 4k market with the Shogun 4K Recorder.
MoVI and MoVI style systems have become the recent hot item around both the TVC and MVC industry. Freefly Systems (the maker of the original MoVI 10 – which we can source for you at The Visionhouse) announced the MoVI 15 which is built to handle larger camera packages than that of the MoVI 10. Normally the MoVI system is controlled via a remote control system similar to that used with model airplanes and helicopters. But what happens if you are not a fan of the ‘sticks’ and prefer a wheel based system? Well, Veracity has this covered with a pair of control wheels a smaller version of the Worrel type wheels used on our Power Pod system.
One of the big issues when using a MoVI system is the way the system is physically handled. Having their arms outstretched with no should support, the operator is bound to end up rather sore at some point in the day. To counter this Flowcine showed off The Serence which is combined with an EasyRig to transfer the weight of the MoVI system from the arms to the back and the hips while maintaining the floating look that the MoVI is known for.
MoVI are no longer the only ones in the handheld stabilization market with several companies including Letus introducing new rigs during NAB. Letus also had some new Anamorphic adapters that will soon be available.
So there you have it. NAB 2014. 4 days in the 4th month and a lot of new 4k with some stabilization thrown in.
Till next time. It’s all about the pixels and now the floating camera.
Regards,
Barry