VizWorld.com

Just to wrap up this little piece, the previously reporting Canon T2i 4K firmware that was to be released this weekend was, in fact, a hoax.  Resulting in nothing more than a RickRoll (I really thought that meme would die by now), things got more and more ridiculous closer to the release (I was busy all weekend, didn’t pay any attention til today) making it somewhat obvious by the time it was finally “released”.

Well as was suspected just a hoax but with the weakest of punchlines, a rickroll. Not a lot of originality there! A shame that he couldn’t have done something as cool, fun and original as the above video, that would have been a worthy punchline. Just someone after their 15 minutes of fame, well he has had them so time to move on. These things are done on the 1st April for a reason! I did my Canon Raw blog on April 1st last year, got a lot of hate mail but mine was nonsensical from the start even for the non technically minded, with pictures of a Video 8 player as a high end capture device, introduction of interlaced for coveted video look, the loss of the stills function and a lot more utter silliness littering the post. Only speed readers would have been taken in by it and it was not dragged out over 3 days! But as I said then I will repeat now, if we cannot laugh at ourselves who can we laugh at?

Perhaps the best part of the hoax is this parody video which shows why we may not really want 4K on the T2i.

via HOAX: T2i 4k | Philip Bloom.

Hardware camera, canon, hoax

I originally decided not to post this, but if a 4k Canon firmware is on the horizon then maybe it’s a bit more important.  There’s a reason why companies like ARRI keep making incredibly expensive cameras like the Alexa, and this video by Nick Paton shows one of the important differences.

This is a short test comparing a Canon 7d with an ARRI Alexa. The purpose of the test being to test the ability of each camera’s images to be manipulated after exposure. I have graded each output to try to get it back to neutral using Gamma and density’s chart. As you can see the Alexa responds very well where as the 7d footage fails in highlight exposure detail and it’s codec compromises it’s ability to be pulled up in the darker regions. It’s interesting and telling and goes part way to explaining the more than substantial price difference.

Granted, you are probably asking yourself why you’ld ever want to shoot at a 7 stop, but if you did then here’s kinda what you’ld wind up dealing with.

Alexa vs 7d latitude tests from Nick Paton ACS on Vimeo.

via Alexa vs 7d latitude tests on Vimeo.

Hardware alexa, arri, camera, canon

All of you Canon T2i 550D owners have something new to think about this weekend.  If this video is to be believed, then this weekend there will be a new firmware out for you Canon hackers to try that enables 4k video.  Granted, you can only record 6 seconds of video on a 32G card, but still.. it’s 4k video. Sounds like it’s a bit complex, but could be huge for folks doing video on DSLRs.

Update: Here’s some more details.

Update 1/3/2011: It’s a Hoax.

QA: You Can run your Magic lantern at the same time. Although Qscale cannot be used. AGC on Lantern can be used with this firmware.

You must, and I mean MUST..get all of your iso, fstop settings and what not…ready. Then you have to input the same settings into our firmware before you do anything.

There’s a feature in our fimware called memory card control. The firmware will adjust the bitrate(constant) to whatever class memory card you are using. There are 3 brands of memory card that work with this firmware and that’s after testing over 50 other memory cards. Sandisk Extreme III class 10 8gb and above. Transcend class 10 16gb and above and Lexar Pro class 10 32gb. Class 6 cards will work, but only up to 3k filming. 4k just won”t happen. Just stick with the same brands.

Using a Sandisk Extreme III class 10 32gb card gave these results.

2k: 175mb/s = 91 seconds of footage

3k: 175mb/s = 32 seconds of footage

4k: 175mb/s = 6 seconds of footage.

Note: Lowering the bitrate for 4k does not give you extra recording time. This is something that we have to work out. Also, you will not be able to shoot 4k in 45mb/s. It must be 65mb/s and above.

For those of you worry about heat…trust me, at first that was an issue but now… It’s not. We’ve actually put our own limiter in the firmware so that way everyone doesn’t brick their cameras.

I’ll be answering more questions through out the day.

Here’s their “demo video”, which is unfortunately more hype than substance.

via YouTube – 4k Firmware for the Canon T2i 550d on 1/1/11.

Hardware 4k, canon, dslr

In an attempt to stem the many photoshopped images that wind up on the front pages of major newspapers, Canon has integrated a special crytographic security measure that allows someone to determine if the image is an original or has been altered.

In brief, modern DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) cameras produced by Canon feature Original Data Security system which is meant to securely validate the authenticity of image data and prove image genuineness. Accordingly, one can use OSK-E3 (Canon Original Data Security Kit) which comprises smart card and special software to verify a digitally signed image.

Unfortunately, ElcomSoft today revealed a vulnerability in their algorithm that allows anyone to cryptographically sign any image so that it appears authentic.

ElcomSoft discovered the vulnerability which allows producing images that will be positively validated by Canon’s own Original Data Security Kit (OSK-E3) regardless of whether or not the images are, in fact, genuine.

See some humorous images on their site, as well as the PDF detailing the vulnerability.

via Password recovery, forensic, forensics, system and security software from ElcomSoft : recover or reset lost or forgotten password, remove protection, unlock system.

Science canon, photography, sdk

Today Canon showed off an ‘engineering prototype’ of a possible 4K Camera under development, and while they are careful to state that this will probably never see the light of day without extensive rework, the various opinions around the device are heavily polarized.  This was just too interesting to pass up.

First, Gizmodo loves it, which is no surprise since they love just about any gadget.

I really hope Canon makes this concept compact 4k camera one day, even if it says it’ll never come out just like this. It’s like the looming future of cameras sculpted in black plastic, a photon blaster-cum-camera.

A mere 5.5 pounds, this working concept model shoots 4K video at 60 frames a second using a single 2/3-inch CMOS sensor.

Then, ProLost takes one look at it and struggles to hold back the vomit.

There’s so much wrong with this “concept camera” that I hardly know where to begin. It’s an atrocity of aesthetics and ergonomics. It has a fixed, not-very-special 20x zoom lens. The sensor is only 2/3”. It shoots 60fps. Nothing about this camera reflects any awareness of what digital cinematographers want. It’s as if Canon brass lifted the internet ban on the engineer’s dungeon just long enough for them to visit to RED’s web site, and then shut it down again after they’d read as far as “4K.”

Finally, Philip Bloom takes a look and gives us a more balanced response.

It was actually working and was crisp as hell…This concept camera had  a fixed 2/3″ 20x Zoom lens as the chip itself is 2/3″. I am not sure what the idea of it is, they mentioned something about medical something or other. It’s obviously not a cinema concept camera due to the fixed lens. The image out of it was actually really really nice. As I have said and I and am sure you all want to,  is to see an APS-C chip in camera like this and use all the current Canon glass or PL lenses…but Canon have a different marketing strategy to someone like RED. RED announce their road map and make it very public. Canon keep things close to their chest. If there is a cinema camera coming out or a new improved DSLR for video there is no way they would show a concept camera of it and show the competition what they have up their sleeve.

So all three of them are speaking of the same camera, but so many different views.  Those who love technology, those who use cameras on a daily basis, and those who cover the companies.  So, what do you think?

Hardware 4k, camera, canon

Next time you start to work with Canon 5D video footage you have a new tool in your arsenal in ’5DtoRGB’.

5DtoRGB is an awesome tool that extracts every last drop of video quality from cameras that record to the AVC/H.264 video format. Cameras like the Canon EOS series of HDSLRs record video in this format with subsampled YCbCr color. Because of this compression, the video is at risk of massive quality loss during the post production pipeline. By using a very high quality conversion process, 5DtoRGB gets you as close as possible to the original data off the camera’s sensor while putting the brakes on any additional quality loss. In short, it’ll make your footage look just plain amazing!

It seems to work via transcoding to ‘camera master’ format in Quicktime ProRes  or DPX, retaining maximum image quality and working in RGB colorspace like most compositing programs.

via 5DtoRGB by Rarevision.

Graphics canon, codec

A Snapshot of Canon.

infographics canon

Canon has partnered with a museum in Japan to create an augmented reality exhibit of dinosaurs as part of the “Dinosaurs-Miracle of the Desert”.

Visitors will be allowed to don a pair of virtual reality glasses that will display nearly life-sized three-dimensional images of various dinosaurs right there on the museum floor. Displaying over 260 dinosaur specimens, some of the virtual creatures in the exhibit will also move, adding to their realistic effect.

via Canon launches virtual reality dinosaur exhibit in Japan | DVICE.

Hardware, Science augmented reality, canon, exhibit, museum

A recent video from DigInfo shows an Augmented Reality system from Canon which superimposes swimming fish over the reality (a Museum) and allows the user to see them swimming around.  It’s done with motion tracking and VR Goggles.  It was shown at the Digital Content Expo 2008 at the Tokyo National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.

Video after the break.

Read more…

Hardware, Science augmented reality, canon