Articles tagged #VIDEO
Articles tagged
#VIDEO

Garage Sale 2022

Bring your car, bring your van, bring your trailer 'cause the Videocraft Garage Sale is back baby!


We're having a garage sale in Melbourne and selling off everything from ex-demo to ex-rental and overstocked items!

Come and get yourself a bargain.


Be quick - once it's gone, it's gone!


Date: Saturday 19th of March

Time: 10am - 2pm

Where: 148 Highbury Rd, Burwood VIC 3125

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Why Videocraft chooses the FX3 over the A7S

Arden from Videocraft delivers the low down on the 5 reasons why we choose the FX3 over the A7S for video.

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Videocraft and Digistor join forces

Videocraft is pleased to announce it has acquired Digistor and Adimex. While continuing to operate as separate entities, the businesses will cooperate to bring the full capability of both organisations to our customers including providing access to a greater range of equipment and services underpinned by an even larger team to support them. We look forward to working with the team to deliver even better customer outcomes together.

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New Updates to FX6 Cinema Line Camera

Sony announces new updates to FX6 cinematography cameras

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Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 17 with 300 new and improved features

DaVinci Resolve 17 is a major new release with over 100 new features and 200 improvements. The colour page features new HDR grading tools, redesigned primary controls, AI-based magic mask and more. Fairlight updates mouse and keyboard edit selection tools so customers can work faster, along with Fairlight Audio Core and FlexBus, an ext-generation audio engine and busing architecture with support for 2,000 tracks. Editors get a metadata slate view with bin dividers, zoomed waveforms for audio trimming, smart reframing, a unified inspector and dozens of other time-saving tools. In addition, compositions created in Fusion can now be used as an effect, title or transition on the edit and cut pages. “This is a massive update and it has amazing new technology and features for colourists, audio engineers, editors and visual effects artists,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “While the new colour science, HDR grading and improvements and Fairlight usability are the most noticeable features, what I am most proud of are the thousands of small improvements that customers will notice every day!”

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New Blackmagic Video Assist 12G

Blackmagic Design announced the new Blackmagic Video Assist 12G with two new models of the company's popular combined monitoring and recording solutions. These new models feature brighter HDR screens, built in scopes, upgraded batteries, 12G-SDI and much more. The new Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR adds professional monitoring and recording to any SDI or HDMI camera in all HD, Ultra HD, 2K and 4K DCI formats. The new improved design includes innovations such as brighter screens for HDR work, tally indicator, 4 built in scopes, enhanced focus assist features, 3D LUTs and native Blackmagic RAW recording from supported cameras. With 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 on both 5" and 7" models, customers get support for recording from virtually any device in all formats up to 2160p60. A brighter touch screen ensures a better view of their recording when shooting HDR digital film, or when shooting outdoors in sunlight. The new design also features upgraded batteries and supports two standard Sony L-Series batteries. This means Blackmagic Video Assist 12G is incredibly versatile and is the perfect solution for the next generation of digital cinema shoots, live production mastering, broadcast testing and measurement. There are two models of Blackmagic Video Assist 12G, with each model including an innovative touch screen user interface with deck controls, as well as a large screen to view recordings. The Blackmagic Video Assist 7" 12G model also includes 2 media slots, while both the 5" and 7" models include 12G-SDI for high frame rate Ultra HD, analog inputs for audio, USB-C external disk recording, plus a front panel speaker and side mounted headphone jack. Customers also get 2 rear battery slots for mounting Sony L-Series batteries, so customers have enough power for the brighter HDR screens and higher speed Ultra HD electronics. A 12v universal power supply is included for studio or on location use. Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR is an ideal upgrade for cameras, as it’s super bright 2500nit display is bigger than the tiny displays found on consumer cameras, plus users are also adding professional focus assist features and better quality file formats. Video Assist is also a great solution for professional cameras because customers can use it to upgrade older broadcast cameras to modern file formats used on the latest editing software. No matter what editing software customers use, Video Assist lets customers support them all, as customers can record in Apple ProRes, Avid DNx and Blackmagic RAW. With both HDMI and 12G-SDI inputs customers can connect it to any consumer camera, broadcast camera or even DSLR cameras. Then, on supported cameras, customers can even upgrade to RAW style workflows with Blackmagic RAW. The innovative touchscreen LCD user interface provides incredible control. On screen, there are dedicated buttons for play, stop and record, plus a mini timeline for scrolling through their recordings. Customers can even image swipe to jog. The LCD includes a heads up display of timecode, video standard, media status as well as audio meters. Scopes can be enabled via the touch screen as well as focus and exposure assist. Plus customers can load and save 3D LUTs. Video Assist uses commonly available SD card media, so customers can record to flash memory cards that are easy to obtain. The files are small enough to allow long recordings on standard SD cards or the faster UHS-II cards. The larger Video Assist 12G 7" model even includes 2 SD card slots so customers can swap out any full cards even during recording, allowing infinite length recording. Standard SD cards or the faster UHS-II cards are perfect for broadcast because they are small, high speed and affordable. If recording to other media types is required, then the USB-C Expansion port lets customers plug in an external flash disk for recording. Imagine adding a Blackmagic MultiDock 10G for easy SSD compatibility with other recorders such as Blackmagic HyperDeck models. Customers even get on screen menus for managing external disks using the touch screen. Video Assist features a wide range of video and audio connections such as multi-rate 12G-SDI for SD, HD, and Ultra HD SDI devices. HDMI is included for HDMI cameras and monitoring to consumer televisions and video projectors. The 7 inch model features Mini XLR inputs which are provided for audio input from microphones and external audio mixers. Video Assist even includes a 12V DC power connection with locking power connector. Customers will be ready for the latest HDR workflows with support for the latest HDR standards and an extremely bright screen with a wide color gamut. Plus the high brightness screen makes outdoor shooting in bright sunlight possible. The built in scopes even change to HDR scopes when working in HDR formats. Files are tagged with the correct HDR information then SDI and HDMI inputs will also automatically detect HDR video standards. Static metadata PQ and HLG formats are handled according to the ST2084 standard. The bright LCD has a wider color gamut so it can handle both Rec. 2020 and Rec. 709 colorspaces. The built in Video Assist LCD color gamut can even handle 100% of the DCI-P3 format. Video Assist features full internal waveform monitoring so customers can ensure compliance to broadcast standards and it also works great as a portable waveform monitoring solution. The waveform display provides a traditional luminance (brightness) levels view of the video inputs or the playback signal. The vectorscope display allows customers to see the intensity of color at 100% SDI reference levels. Customers also get an RGB parade display which is ideal for color correction and checking for illegal levels. Histogram shows the distribution of white to black detail in their images and highlights or shadows clipping. The built in scopes can even be overlaid on live video, or as a small picture in picture view at the top right of the scope. The SDI and HDMI connections are multi-rate, so handle SD, HD, and Ultra HD. SD formats include NTSC and PAL. 720p HD standards include 720p50 and 59.94p. 1080i HD interlaced formats include 1080i50 and 59.94. 1080p HD formats include 1080p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60p. Customers can even do 1080 PsF formats. Ultra HD is supported up to 2160p59.94. Customers can even record 2K and 4K DCI rates up to 25p for digital film work. Video Assist works with industry standard 17 and 33 point 3D LUT files, or customers can work with the built in LUTs such as Extended Video, Film to Video, Film to Rec.2020 and more. Video Assist records using standard open file formats so customers don’t have to waste time transcoding media. Recording works in industry standard 10-bit ProRes or DNx files in all formats and from all HDMI or SDI cameras, as well as 12-bit Blackmagic RAW when connected to supported cameras. Best of all media files work on all operating systems. Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary new format designed to capture and preserve the quality of the sensor data from cameras. Video Assist supports Blackmagic RAW recording from popular cameras such as Panasonic EVA1 and Canon C300 MK II. This eliminates the problems with popular camera formats such as H.264, which are highly compressed resulting in noise and processing artifacts. It also saves camera settings as metadata so customers can set ISO, white balance and exposure, then override them later while editing, all without any loss of quality. Blackmagic RAW files are also small and fast to use making them easy to work with. Blackmagic Video Assist 12G includes a built in professional audio recorder thats much better quality than the audio quality found in most cameras, eliminating the need to carry around extra audio equipment. When working in SDI formats, customers can record 2, 4, 8 or 16 channels of audio in real time. For connecting microphones the Video Assist 7" model has two XLR analog audio inputs with phantom power that support the high definition audio sample rate of 192 kHz at uncompressed 16 and 24 bit per sample. Customers can monitor using on screen audio meters with user selectable VU or PPM ballistics. Multiple languages are fully supported so customers don't need to learn another language to use it. Support is included for English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish. The files from Blackmagic Video Assist 12G are common and are compatible with all operating systems or in most video software. Media can be formatted using ExFAT or HFS+ so customers can easily access the media on computers and access the files like regular disks. DaVinci Resolve is perfect for use with Video Assist because it features editing, color correction, audio post production and visual effects all in one software application. "The original Blackmagic Video Assist monitors and recorders were very popular and a fantastic way to upgrade older cameras, as well as for use in general broadcast areas of the television industry," said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. "These new models are an incredible improvement and incorporate all the lessons we have learnt from our customers in Hollywood. They have brighter LCD screens, 12G-SDI, Blackmagic RAW, better focus assist tools, presets, 3D LUTS and much more! They are so nice and it’s very exciting!" Blackmagic Video Assist 12G Features • Supports live production, digital signage and archive use. • Modern design with fast to use touch screen controls. • Upgrades cameras to better monitoring and better record codecs. • Large LCD screen for with digital film style focus assist tools. • SD/USH-II card support for commonly available media. • Records direct to external USB-C media disks. • 12G-SDI and HDMI for recording in SD, HD and Ultra HD. • Advanced HDR support with bright 2500nits wide gamut LCD. • Built in scopes include waveform, vector, parade and histogram. • Latest Multi Rate 12G-SDI technology for SD, HD and Ultra HD. • 3D LUTs can be applied for both monitoring and recording. • Standard open file formats compatible with popular software. • Records Blackmagic RAW from supported third party cameras. • Professional multi channel digital and analog audio. • Localized for 11 popular international languages. • Works with popular NLE software such as DaVinci Resolve. Availability and Price Blackmagic Video Assist 12G will be available in September 2019 from AU$1,315

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Product Review: LitraTorch 2.0

News & DocumentaryPerfect for this!

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New generation of Ross Video Xpression plus a new portable version Xpression Go!

There is a new generation of Ross Video® XPression, the company’s real-time graphics engine.

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Another beautiful Videocraft baby!

We welcome Charlotte Amelia to the Videocraft family. Charlotte was born late yesterday to Marissa - (Melbourne Reception) - and her husband Steve. We congratulate both of them on the safe arrival of their beautiful little girl.

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Videocraft supports Driving Oz with the Black Dog

Videocraft is proud to announce its platinum sponsorship of Driving Oz with the Black Dog — an incredibly important year-long campaign to raise money and awareness for Lifeline Australia and mindDog. We have been incredibly lucky to be able to collaborate with our industry partners Sony Australia and Avid Technology to be able to put together a video and photography production package to help Paul and Kirstine and their family document their travels to the remote areas of Australia, raising awareness of these two important organisations.

In deciding to support Driving Oz with the Black Dog, Videocraft's Managing Director, Jeanette Taylor says it was a straightforward decision. "For the team at Videocraft, we can all relate to the Roadley's mission of awareness and the importance of supporting services such as Lifeline Australia and mindDog. Within the production and broadcast industry, we have all seen how the stress of the job can take over, and some of us have had experiences with anxiety or depression. It is important for our industry to have the conversation and be open to help our colleagues through these times." So we have geared up Driving Oz with some key products that will assist them in spreading their message further while travelling around the remote parts of our country. As you can imagine space is limited, so we have put together a specific documentary and photography kit that will allow Paul to not only capture the action of travelling around our beautiful country, but also to gather interviews from the field, record events on the tour and capture the key moments to help build the campaign for their very relevant and important messages.      

So what's in the Driving Oz's case of production gear?

With the assistance of David Green, from Sony Australia's Professional Solutions Division, we were able to come up with a kit specifically chosen to work well in the varied climates and locations the Driving OZ team will travel throughout the year. As well as provide tools that can capture the footage and audio at professional broadcast quality. David and the team at Sony went above and beyond to support the Driving Oz with the Black Dog and to support both Lifeline Australia and mindDog. The Driving Oz production kit includes a Sony PXW-X70 Camcorder, Sony A7II Digital Mirrorless Camera, some 4K Sony Action Cams plus a Sony Digital UWP Wireless Microphone package, Sony Monitoring Headphones, Manfrotto Rolling Travel Case and a copy of the industry's best editing software Avid's Media Composer for post production. The package offers them the best in image and sound acquisition in an unbelievably lightweight and compact size — perfect for the Tetris-style packing required for a family to fit their lives into camper/trailer and car for the next year.   We will be staying up to date with the Roadley family on their adventures and encouraging our network of industry friends to helps us to help them in raising awareness and funds for this important cause. So please share their story, donate to their MyCause page and keep the conversation open around your workplace, community, friends and family.

Why do we need to help Lifeline Australia and MindDog?

Suicide remains the leading cause of death for Australians aged between 15 and 44. The overall suicide rate in 2014 was 12.0 per 100,000 in Australia. This is the highest rate in 10 years. The most recent Australian data (ABS, Causes of Death, 2014) reports deaths due to suicide in 2014 at 2,864. This equates to almost eight deaths by suicide in Australia each day. Most deaths by suicide in Australia are males, accounting for about three-quarters. However, during the past decade, there has been an increase in suicide deaths by females. The suicide rate amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is more than double the national rate. In 2014, suicide accounted for 5.2% of all Indigenous deaths compared to 1.8% for non-Indigenous people. For every death by suicide, it is estimated that as many as 30 people attempt to end their lives. That is approximately 65,300 suicide attempts each year. Lifeline is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. Somewhere in Australia there is a new call to Lifeline every minute.   mindDog Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that exists to help people procure, train and accredit psychiatric assistance dogs. A mindDog comes in many shapes and sizes, and may look different to other assistance dogs experienced by the public previously. Clients of mindDog are supported to find a suitable dog, train and eventually pass a public access test. Just like other assistance dogs, mindDogs are required access to public spaces in order to fulfill their duties. MEET LUNA Luna is Paul’s Mental Health Assistance Dog, MHAD (also known as a Service Dog). Luna is trained through mindDog Australia. Luna has saved Paul’s life by being there when he is really struggling. Luna senses Paul’s emotional/stress levels and responds when required, without being given a single verbal command. To read more about Luna - read her page on the Driving Oz with the Black Dog website   We also celebrated Kirstine's birthday with the Videocraft Melbourne team, so there was chocolate cake all around!

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NAB 2017: A Waiting Game

So, after lots of speculation and excitement, the NAB 2017 exhibition opened its doors with the usual crowds flooding in to be first to see all of the new advances in technology in the flesh. Talk of the impending ratification of the ST 2110 standard for IP video, and its variants had dominated discussion, and everyone in the broadcast industry seems all in agreement that these new standards will be the unified way forward.

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Firmware Update: Blackmagic Design Video Assist 2.3.2

Blackmagic Design Video Assist 2.3.2 Update! This update improves 1080i ProRes playback for both Video Assist and Video Assist 4K models.

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NAB Show 2016 - Day 2 Highlights

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NAB Show 2016 - Day 1 Highlights

The first day of the NAB Show has wrapped up in Vegas. The Videocraft team on the ground have been posting snippets of what is on the show floor and we have been wading through the press release announcements here at the office. Here are a few things that caught our eye and there will be more, make sure you are following us on social media (see the links in the footer of this page) for the most up-to-date information.


  We highlighted the Sony Press conference on our social media yesterday but in case you missed it, you can view it here . Sony's key announcements were across a wide range of products including a NEW 4K HDR Monitor the PVMX550 which supports High Dynamic Range display and a wide colour gamut supporting DCI-P3 and most of the ITU-R BT.2020 standard. It also has inbuilt a quad view display, with Individual settings of EOTF(SDR/HDR), colour space, Transfer Matrix, Color Temperature, contrast, brightness, SDI/HDMI, RGB/YCBCR, etc. for each display There was a new recorder for F5 and F55 Cameras announced - the AXS-R7. Compared to previous Sony 4K recorders, the AXS-R7 Portable Memory Recorder doubles 4K RAW recording from 60 fps up to 120 fps from the F55 camera*. For shooting at higher frame rates, the recorder captures 2K RAW at up to 240 fps from the F55 and F5, for playback with 10x super slow motion.** Note that the 4K RAW 120 fps recording only available for F55. And also the AXS-R7 Portable Memory Recorder is not compatible with the HXR-IFR5 interface unit. Another interesting camera development was the NEW PXW-Z450 an XDCAM Camcorder with a wide range of recording options including 4K QFHD (3840x2160) at 50p/59.94p, as well as a variety of HD formats including XAVC Intra, XAVC Long GOP, MPEG HD 422 and MPEG HD 420. Thanks to a specially-developed 4K 2/3-type Exmor R CMOS sensor, the PXW-Z450 is ideal for a wide variety of 4K operations, allowing you to use a wide range of commercially available B4 mount lenses without having to use an adapter. It also has great networking features such as built-in wireless module, embedded RJ-45 Ethernet 100B-T connector and Near Field Communication (NFC) function for easy Wireless LAN setup and operation via a mobile or tablet with Sony’s Content Browser Mobile™ application. There was also some great discussion on the 2nd generation of their Optical Disc Archive solution and a release of generation 2 products including a stand alone disk archive drive unit and new 3.3TB write once optical discs. Sony has a long white paper on their generation 2 ODA solution which is a lengthy read, but if your're interested, you can find it on their website here
  A surprise is not that Ross Video just keep innovating, but how great to see them hit the ground at NAB with a camera offering. If you missed our social media posts about it yesterday, Ross Video have released the Acid Cam purpose built for Studio production. It integrates perfectly with their robotics systems such as the Furio Remote Control system in Videocraft's rental fleet (you would have seen it on the Arias Red carpet). There are two models in the range - the ACID H200 is a full HD 1080P, 3 imager camera that utilizes the very latest 2/3” UAIT CMOS sensors that provide unrivaled performance of the very highest quality. Sensitivity, Signal to Noise and overall picture resolution are unmatched by any competitor with its three 2.6 Mega Pixel image sensors and standard 2/3” B4 lens mount. For moderate budgets and less critical applications, there is the ACID Z50. This is an excellent three CCD sensor 1080i/720P HD camera. This camera is also equipped with the UltraChromeHR output to provide a cost effective solution for awesome keying when combined with the Ross UltrachromeHR chroma keyer. Its lightweight, yet rugged construction also makes it the perfect companion for the Ross Robotic Furio Pan/Tilt heads for legislative bodies, House of Worship, educational, and corporate communication systems. For more information check out the Ross Video webpage
  An interesting one for Post-Production was the announcement of Avid NEXIS. Avid NEXIS is the world’s first and only software-defined storage platform, enabling fully virtualized storage for all media environments. What does that translate to for you? The NEXIS intelligent software system does some incredibly powerful things like offer a real-time scalable set of definable/resizable workspaces and a solid protection scheme that can cover you for up to 5 drive failures. Intelligent also means it is a media aware next-generation file system with pre-integrated hardware, which means it’s purpose built and tested to work as a cohesive system (unlike generic storage and third party software). The bottom line is that NEXIS delivers unrivaled flexibility, scalability, control, and extensibility not only to the Avid MediaCentral™ Platform, but also key workflow enabling third-party media applications like Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro X, so you can meet any production challenge. From the smallest production teams to the largest media enterprises, NEXIS is the only storage platform with the flexibility to easily scale and grow with you at every stage of your business. For more information check out the Avid Blog page about NEXIS.
  Miller Tripods announced a new Arrow X Series of fluid heads - key feature is the 16 Counterbalance PLUS settings so you can add in half settings and are able to rig or re-rig your setup as required. Watch the launch video which covers most of the main points or read their press release for more details. There are three new models in the Arrow X Series - X3, X5 and X7
  As always, there was lots to say from our friends at Blackmagic Design in press releases. They also released a 50 minute video overview of all their announcements on their site and you can view it here - yes, there are more than a dozen and we found these ones were certainly interesting. First up was the new Blackmagic URSA Studio Viewfinder, a high resolution 7” studio viewfinder with variable tension mounting points, tally, external controls. For those of you who have already purchased an URSA Mini, then you will be excited by the announcement of the FREE OS providing URSA Mini with a new user interface and heads up display, which dramatically reduces the number of menus and sub-menus needed to find specific settings and commands. You can now quickly change settings such as ISO, white balance, shutter angle, iris, frame rate, frame guides and more without ever having to navigate through any menus. There are now custom white balance and white balance presets, along with tint control settings. Customers also get more accurate shutter angle selection, including a large easy to use on screen keyboard for easy entry of settings. When entering the shutter angle, the new URSA Mini camera OS will even offer smart flicker free shutter angle suggestions to assist the camera operator. For recording and monitoring you could also take a look at the Blackmagic Video Assist 4K features two built in high speed UHS-II recorders that work with the latest high performance SD cards, making them fast enough to record Ultra HD video up to 2160p30 on widely available, inexpensive SD cards. Files are saved as broadcast quality 10-bit 4:2:2 video in either ProRes or DNxHD formats, making them compatible with all popular editing software, so you can start editing immediately without having to transcode or convert files. Recording can be triggered to start and stop using LANC or over HDMI or SDI from the camera. With two built in recorders, customers get non-stop recording because when one card is full it automatically continues onto the next. Not sure if Blackmagic are going for best pocket-sized product awards - they introduced the Blackmagic Micro Converter SDI to HDMI and Blackmagic Micro Converter HDMI to SDI, two new super small, pocket size broadcast quality video converters. This converts signals from professional broadcast equipment such as cameras, decks, switchers and routers into HDMI so customers can monitor video using big screen televisions and projectors. The Micro Convertors are powered via the same micro USB connection that’s used on smartphones so customers can use the included DC plug pack, any USB device, or even a smartphone charger to power the converters. If multiple inputs and monitoring are your thing, then check out the Blackmagic MultiView 4, a new multi viewer that lets customers monitor 4 completely independent SDI video sources on a single display. Customers can monitor any combination of SD, HD and Ultra HD formats and frame rates all at the same time. Blackmagic MultiView 4 can output to regular HD monitors, however, when customers plug in an Ultra HD display, they will get four times the resolution of a simple HD only multi viewer.   Connecting and controlling formats is hard work, so why not try the latest product announcement from Blackmagic Design featuring the latest 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 technology. UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 has a wide range of digital and analogue connections and is designed to work with virtually all formats ranging from SD and HD all the way up to Ultra HD and digital cinema. Thunderbolt 3 performance allows customers to work with the highest quality 12-bit RGB and highest frame rate video, including stereoscopic 3D and DCI 4K, making it perfect for high end feature film, television and commercial work. UltraStudio 4K Extreme features a hardware codec that can encode in real time into the new H.265 format. Well, with the Shogun and Ninja Flame products hitting our inboxes and showrooms only weeks ago, here we are again with a new fire burning in our pockets for latest release from Atomos - the Shogun Inferno is the combination of the most advanced monitor technologies – 1500nit/10bit/HDR, the latest recording capability – 4Kp60 over Quad-SDI, along with playback and editing functionality that encourages on set collaboration. Shogun Inferno makes mastering a high resolution, high frame rate, high dynamic range workflow available to all filmmakers. Read more on the Atomos Website.

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Sony introduces PXW-Z150 compact professional camcorder

Sony has announced the PXW-Z150, the latest addition to its XDCAM range of lightweight, easy to use professional camcorders with new functionality to enable wireless operation and 4K*1 high quality shooting. The flexible, effortless set-up capabilities of the portable PXW-Z150 enables content creators of all experience levels to deliver impressive imagery for content and events shooting scenarios, no matter how tight their brief. The PXW-Z150 features a 1.0 type stacked Exmor RS CMOS image sensor, providing users with spectacular 4K recording and impressive 5x slow motion in Full HD - essential functionality for content creators looking to deliver corporate or personal productions to the highest quality. Go beyond what’s been traditionally possible with a camcorder. Catch every moment in up to 120 frames per second (fps) High Frame Rate continuous recording, in full HD quality. The Clear Image Zoom technology operates at 24x zoom and 18x zoom in HD and 4K modes respectively, in addition to the standard optical 12x zoom. The single 20 megapixel*2 1.0 type large sensor size offers clear pictures even in low light, giving filmmakers superb clarity and sharpness, opening up opportunities for flexible shooting in a variety of environments. In response to rising expectations in the fast paced corporate industry, users can now enjoy live streaming capabilities and FTP wireless connectivity with built-in Wi-Fi. Ensuring creative expression isn’t subject to an extensive set up; the PXW-Z150 is ergonomically designed to facilitate shooting with ease. The compact, lightweight body includes integration with advanced features, removing the need for multiple external accessories. The built-in 4-step ND filter is included to offer the flexibility of exposure and depth-of-field control, and the Multi-Interface (MI) Shoe avoids cabling with easy integration between the PXW-Z150 and Sony’s peripherals, such as the UWP-D series wireless microphones. The PXW-Z150 can be easily controlled by a smartphone or tablet using a Wi-Fi connection, and has a battery life which delivers a remarkable 400*3 minutes continuous recording time – allowing you to always be on hand to capture what’s needed. High visibility is delivered with the wide view-angle and high contrast 0.39-type 1440K OLED viewfinder, alongside the 3.5-type 1550K LCD panel. The PXW-Z150 lends itself to a variety of environments and editing requirements, supporting the conventional broadcasting format MPEG2HD (50Mbps/35Mbps) in addition to Sony’s advanced XAVC (Long GOP) format. The PXW-Z150 provides a wide variety of built-in connectivity options including professional standard 3G-SDI, dual XLR inputs, HDMI, USB, REMOTE and composite (phono), eliminating the need for adapters. To extend recording times and workflow flexibility, the camcorder is equipped with two memory card slots and is compatible with SDXC and SDHC cards. The dual media slots enable various recording options such as backup, simultaneous and relay recording. “We wanted to introduce a portable camcorder which supports our customers in demanding situations, where there is the need for a solution that provides a quick set-up and high quality creative options,” said Anthony Kable, Senior Product Manager, Sony Australia. “The compact, lightweight camera body coupled with high quality creative features and 4K capability gives filmmakers the tools needed to take their work to the next level, whether it’s corporate, event or online videography. Clients’ expectations within the creative landscape are constantly evolving and content creators need solutions that can not only provide high quality images, but also deliver this in a timely and professional manner. The effortless set-up ensures flexible shooting, while the Wi-Fi integration means you can take advantage of live streaming, ensuring the PXW-Z150 is ready when you are.”   Key features of the PXW-Z150

  • 4K high quality shooting with a 1.0-type Exmor RS image sensor and premium G lens
The PXW-Z150 supports 4K*1 XAVC Long maximum 100Mbps high quality shooting. The 1.0-type Exmor RS image sensor provides high sensitivity and high performance in low light environments. The high-speed read-out ensures high-speed motion shooting with minimum distortion. Videographers can deliver high resolution and contrast from the centre to the edge of the lens, with the high performance 4K-compatible 29-348mm wide-angle lens with 12x optical zoom.
  • Use on a wide range of applications with 120fps slow motion, rich recording formats and network functions
The camcorder supports full HD 120fps continuous high-speed shooting, which enables 5x slow motion expression. High quality FHD XAVC Long 4:2:2 10bit 50Mbps and the broadcasting format MPEG2HD (50Mbps/35Mbps) are also supported. Users can take advantage of the advanced network functions – such as the camcorder’s built-in Wi-Fi for live streaming capabilities (QoS will be supported by a firmware update) and FTP wireless connections - to integrate wireless workflows, enabling users to keep pace with ever changing client deadlines.
  • High operability and rich interface, within a compact and lightweight body
The PXW-Z150 provides extended functionality with 3 independent lens rings, in addition to high visibility with wide view-angle and high contrast 0.39-type 1440K OLED viewfinder and 3.5-type 1550K LCD panel. Sony’s MI Shoe wireless microphone receivers are supported, increasing the mobility and limiting the need for external cables and multiple accessories. The camcorders rich interface includes: 3G-SDI, HDMI, XLR, Cold Shoe and REMOTE. In addition to this, dual media slots facilitate various recording options such as backup, simultaneous and relay recording.   Notes: *1 4K (3840x2160) up to 30P is supported *2 14.2 million effective pixels *3 Using optional NP-F970 battery while recording XAVC 1080/50i or 60i, 50 Mbps with LCD on.

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Sony's PXW-X500 XDCAM HD Camcorder - Rental Product of the Week

Over many years, we have been using the Sony PDWF800 as our ‘go-to’ camera for almost all things that needed a 2/3” ENG camera. The F800 has been a real workhorse for our clients, but over time we have been wanting a camera that can do everything that the F800 can, but with less weight, lower power consumption, and faster ingest for fast turnaround TV workflow.

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Videocraft Provides Multi-Camera, Editing and Production OB Solution for Top Australian Cycling Events

Recently Videocraft provided a four camera OB solution with edit suite and EVS recording for some of Australia’s most prestigious cycling events. The events were produced and coordinated by one of Australia’s leading television services companies, Editrix.

Editrix Executive Producer Ian Gates explained, “Editrix has a long history of hiring facilities from Videocraft. The unique side to the relationship is that their MD James Taylor has a keen interest in cycling and understands exactly what I need to do the job properly. This year our brief to Videocraft was that we needed to provide fast turnaround daily highlights packages for all the events and to achieve this we would utilise their newly refurbished OB truck. As all the events I hire Videocraft’s production truck for are same day turnaround programmes for on-air, this requires a facility that can have a team of editors and producers efficiently working and sharing media.” The volume of work Editrix hired the Videocraft production facility for over the summer of 2015 included the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic (4 x 1 hour programmes), the Road National Championships (3 x 1 hour programmes + 1 x 1 hour combined highlights programme), the Subaru Track Championships (3 x 1 hour programmes + 3 x live stream telecasts) and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (5 x 1 hour programmes + one international highlights programme). Gates continued, “Videocraft met all our technical, editing and production requirements but the star factor of the production is James Taylor’s knowledge as that enables us to get all the extras done. James and I have spoken about what is required to make the production less stressful and it basically means we need an extra editor and a clone of James who can split the, up to 18 hour, shifts!” Gates sees Videocraft’s newly equipped OB truck as essential to meet his tight deadlines and deliverables. The fully internally and externally refurbished, ten seat IP-based OB truck now has new air conditioning, racks, ergonomic production furniture and electrics throughout. The truck also has the ability to be configured as either a mobile edit facility complete with Avid edit suites, Isis storage and Avid Interplay, an EVS facility or as a traditional OB truck. As a facility for Videocraft’s clients the OB truck is a proper extension of what the company does best, post production integration featuring the latest in smart, IT-centric connectivity. Ian Gates concluded, “I honestly don’t think there is another mobile production facility to match Videocraft’s which would meet our needs in the market. The production values we were able to achieve by using the truck on this summer’s races were the best yet. Videocraft’s expertise, service and support were excellent. It’s a real labour of love for them and with James Taylor there to personally oversee each production we couldn’t ask for a better solution. We are very much looking forward to working with Videocraft on the next series of cycling events.”   Videocraft’s mobile editing, production and OB truck will be at this year’s SMPTE exhibition held at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, NSW from 14-17 July.   For more information on Editrix go to: www.editrix.com.au

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C3 Church Presence Conference captures quality vision with Videocraft’s new Sony HDC2400 studio cameras

The system was designed by Videocraft’s engineering team and built onsite across 3 key areas: Videocraft’s Mobile Production Centre was configured as the Camera Control Unit production space for four CCU positions. Alongside was a site shed containing the system backbone including the extensive EVS and Avid ISIS 7000 systems. The external master control room was built in the back dock of the QCU Arena, utilising the latest in IP technology to minimise connectivity between these locations.

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12G SDI is the big news from Blackmagic at NAB 2015

12G SDI is the big news from Blackmagic, and the new Smart Videohub 40x40 is now able to run 4K at 50/60P over a single cable.Smart Videohub 12G has been developed to meet the needs of these broadcasters as it operates identically to other Smart Videohub models however because it includes a native 12G-SDI based design with full SDI re-clocking at 12G-SDI rates, it can handle any SD, HD or Ultra HD video format, all on the same router, all at the same time.   Also, the new ATEM 2ME 4K switcher is also 12G SDI compatible, so now we have cost effective switching in UHD at 50P! I am not sure how much often we will actually use it, but I suppose it is another part of the puzzle filled for cost effective 4K live production. Another cool product is the Smartview 12x12 Cleanswitch. A 12x12 6G SDI capable router, with perfect switching between sources, ideal for backup switcher applications, or anyone who wants to switch sources out to air perfectly. Smart Videohub CleanSwitch 12x12 is a compact 1 rack unit router that features 6G-SDI for SD, HD and Ultra HD routing. Unlike other routers its size, the Smart Videohub CleanSwitch 12x12 has full re-synchronization on every input so it can be used with non-referenced equipment. Customers can plug in everything from the highest end broadcast decks all the way down to consumer grade video equipment and the CleanSwitch 12x12 will automatically synchronize them all. That means video can be routed and the signal can be switched without any glitches, picture rolls or other unwanted artifacts. There are lots and lots of new toys, including Davinci Resolve 12, with lots of major new features. This new update includes a new modern interface, multi-cam editing, powerful new media management tools, an entirely new professional audio engine with support for VST/AU plug-ins, shot matching, 3D keyer, new 3D perspective tracker, enhanced curve editing and much more. Fusion now on Mac, Fusion 8 will be released on Mac OS X and Linux. Until now, Fusion has been a Windows only product, and with this new Fusion 8 release, it will now be available on all popular operating systems.Fusion used to cost thousands of dollars, restricting it to Hollywood’s elite visual effects artists.Now, by bringing Fusion to Mac and Linux, Fusion will be available to even more users than ever, opening the door to millions of motion graphic artists, broadcast designers, video editors, visual effects compositors, and 3D animators. Plus a new range of 12G SDI Mini Converters with a great feature set, needless to say we will have them all available when they are released.

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Ross Video Announces Inception News Version 9 at NAB 2015

At NAB2015 Ross Video unveils version 9.0 of Inception News, Ross’ newsroom computer system which will be featured at NAB on booth #N3906 and available in June 2015. Inception v9 further expands upon the Ross browser-based newsroom, offering an all-new instant messaging platform, and further improving customization with the addition of columns and validators that can be tailored to various environments for the specific needs and desires of your news environment.
"We're breaking new ground and have designed a product that meets the needs of news in the 21st century. The features in Inception v9 have been driven by requests from our rapidly growing customer base,” said Shawn Snider, Marketing Product Manager for Inception. "We are delighted to be able to respond quickly to customer feature requests, and the new platform that Inception is built on permits us to do just that. With flexible workflows and social media built right into the core, Inception is an entirely browser-based, platform agnostic environment that users can access from both the newsroom and in the field." Inception News is one of the fastest growing news products available, due in part to its modern news workflows, tightly integrated social media capabilities, and easy-to-learn browser-based interface. Within Inception, reporters can quickly create multi-platform content destined for broadcast, social media, and the Web, and plan their day with a rich assignment management interface. In addition to managing news wires, reporters can also leverage social media for news gathering, create geo-targeted searches for relevant keywords within the news environment, or bring social media content right into the production with a simple drag and drop interface. New to v9, Inception is introducing an integrated notification and instant messaging system, permitting users to quickly communicate directly within the newsroom. Users can quickly send one-on-one messages, engage in group chats and virtual meetings, or even share documents and photos right within the conversation. Furthermore, Inception brings context to content creation, with the ability for users working with running orders, assignments, playlists, or stories to instantly converse with anyone else viewing that content. This conversation is then permanently linked to the content, and will be archived alongside the story or rundown. Inception has also added the ability to completely customize the running order, assignment, and story grids, with users being able to add custom columns with various validation and presentation options such as dropdown lists, checkboxes, and date and time fields, among others. This customization permits newsrooms to truly tailor the environment to their needs and existing workflows.

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