News

Major Updates to Adobe Premiere Pro

by davidhague178181403, posted in News: Software Companies (NLE), Today

There have been some major updates made to Adobe Premiere Pro, the first since August, and announced a week or so ago, but somehow, missing any Australian notification.

These changes come variously under the following headings:

  • Upgrade Captions to Graphics
  • Collaborative Editing
  • Sequence Locking
  • Share Changes
  • Improved Making
  • Toggle Switches on Multiple Tracks
  • Improved Support for ARRIRAW with GPU deBayering
  • RED V-Raptor Camera Support
  • Expanded XAVC HDR Support

Additionally, in beta is the ability to assemble rough cuts from transcripts

Rather than simply repeat verbatim what Adobe says, you can view all the details on these changes here.

Are You A Photographer and Artist Or Simply a User of a Camera? Has Digital Taken Away the Skill?

by davidhague178181403, posted in Editorial, Today

I read a story on the Australian ABC News website yesterday that had me cheering!

It seems there is a small band (and growing) of professional photographers swapping their state-of-the-art digital cameras for old time film cameras.

And this is the statement made by one of them, that will either have you howling in anger or like me, cheering.

“It felt like I wasn’t a photographer. I was just using a camera and it was doing all the work for me.” (Calin Jones – Gold Coast Pro Surfing Photographer).

I imagine this is going to stir a LOT of people. And for those scratching their heads and wondering what the hell he is talking about – let’s face it, at least one generation has never heard of “film camera” let alone used one – here is a quick primer. It’s rough but you’ll get the idea.

In the “old days”, instead of an image being “seen” by a digital sensor and then recorded onto an SD card as a string of 0s and 1s, cameras used to use “film”. A single “roll” of film would usually be able to store up to 36 images.

A film is a sort of plastic medium that has certain chemicals embedded in it that react to light. When the light passes through the lens of the camera and hits the film, a negative image is created, and later, a bunch of chemical processes turns those images stored on the film into proper pictures that have been printed on paper by using yet another chemical process.

As you can imagine, this means the time from taking the image to when you actually see the finished product, unlike now which is almost instantaneous, used to take from hours to weeks depending on different factors.

There were actually shops that specialised in this process called D&P (develop and process), and you’d drop your roll of film there in the morning and collect the printed images that afternoon or the next day. Chemist shops used to act as agencies too, and a runner from the main D&P centre would drop by twice a day to pick up and deliver finished packets of prints. And in most cases, it cost.

Some people even did this at home as a hobby, and while monochrome (black and white photography) was relatively cheap and easy, colour was quite a complex process and expensive to set up.

Professionally, it could be a nightmare of logistics.

I started out my journalism life as a photojournalist specialising in motor sport and had to get my photos to Sydney ready for the weekly editing of a publication called Motoring Reporter (I also worked freelance for Auto Action). Thankfully this was all black and white stuff, and after a race meeting at Wanneroo Park Raceway here in WA, or a major event like Rally Australia we’d race home, process the rolls ourselves, print off the best shots, write captions and write a 1000 word story of the race meeting of the day, put it in an airbag, take it to cargo at Perth Airport (this was the days of TAA and Ansett) and get it on the midnight flight to Sydney.

Later things became a bit easier as we became friends with the Sport Editor at WA Newspapers who let us use their D&P machine in house where you’d put the roll of film in one end, and it would come out the other an hour or so later as a roll of photos.

Today of course, the process is much simpler and professional motorsport photographers can check their photos as they take them and at the end of the day, typically email the best to their editor and job done.

But there is another difference too.

With a film camera, as we were stuck with film made up of 36 shots, you had to be very selective in the way you got your shot, unlike today, where a modern camera can literally take hundreds of shots in seconds. This means you can say, “bracket” an incident and pull out the best one later.

There is no such luxury with film shooting. There is much more reliance on the experience of the photographer knowing exactly when to take the shot, and the best settings to get that shot perfect. Other factors also come into play. Today you can dial in the ISO setting, or let the camera choose it, depending on the light conditions. With film, there are different types of film with different ISOs (called ASA in the old days). Film also has different grains and colour characteristics you can choose from, and it takes experience to get all the right combinations in place in order to again, get exactly the shot you want.

Hence the quote from Calin Jones at the start of this story.

Even the average person these days can get a half decent shot by setting the camera on all Automatic and just holding down the shutter release.

So, this is the big question; are they then a photographer, or just a camera operator?

Has all the need for skill been removed and we are just churning out millions on million of cookie cutter shots with little or no “art of the photographer” involved? And does that matter?

It reminds me strangely of the guitar shop that has signs up saying “NO playing Smoke on the Water” (or a cartoon I saw yesterday that made laugh, of a piano shop with a sign that said, “NO Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”.

Lots of people can do these things, but very, very few of course are musicians. They are guitar or piano players.

What are your thoughts? Comments are most welcome below, but please, keep it civil! And don;t shoot the messenger 🙂

Another New Budget Drone From DJI

by davidhague178181403, posted in Action, Reviews: Action (Drones, "Action Cams", Accessories etc, Today

DJI has released yet another drone, this time a cut down version of the Mini 3 Pro.

So, what do you get for your AUD$829?

Well, you get the base Mini 3 drone and the standard controller. The Mini 3 weighs in under the magical (and somewhat mythical in Australia *) 249 grams and impressive is DJI rating the Mini 3 at being operable in winds up to 38kph, which is right up there with the bigger and heavier (595g) Air2S I own.

If you run the standard battery, you’ll get around 38 minutes of flying time, but the “Intelligent Flight Battery Plus” is said to boost that to 51 minutes.

The Mini 3’s camera has a 1 1/3” CMOS sensor with dual native ISO and chip level HDR technology – which basically means better and more accurate imaging no matter the light levels. There is also a 4X zoom built in.

If you are heavily into social media imagery, you’ll also be pleased to know the Mini 3 can shoot horizontally and vertically by the way. This has been achieved by clever gimbal technology apparently.

The usual Quickshots – Dronie, Circle, Helix, Rocket and Boomerang are all there and the Quick Transfer system allows you to send the results of your shoot to your smartphone or tablet for saving and sharing.

The digital video range is 10km – a bit of a moot point in Australia if you stay within CASA regs and restrain from flying out of visual range.

What don’t you get?

Importantly, especially for the beginner, the only sensor on the Mini 3 is the downward facing one, used for landing. So, trees and the like, if they get in the way, will win every time. Because of this I very much suggest if you decide to get a Mini 3, get the prop guard system with it. At least you’ll have a modicum of protection, although in a full speed wallop, I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

For that, also recommend the DJI Care system in the early stages at least too. This way if something does go awry, at least you get a replacement for a minimal cost.

In short, the improvements over the Mini 2 are primarily imaging based and a better flying time due to improved battery technology.

If you spend a further $190, you can also get the upgraded remote controller, the DJI RC-N1 which gives you an-controller screen which I also recommend, instead of using a smartphone or tablet.

Or if you upgrade to the Mini 3 Fly More combo (AUD1378), you get the drone, standard controller, 3 Intelligent Flight batteries, charging hub, shoulder bag, spare props and other goodies.

For more info, see https://www.dji.com/au/mini-3

 

Does Colour Correction Seem Like Sorcery to You? Never Fear. Here’s The Solution. And It’s FREE!

by davidhague178181403, posted in Today, Tutorials: Software

This official Blackmagic Design hands on training guide takes you through a series of practical exercises that teach you how to use DaVinci Resolve’s colour correction tools in detail. 

You’ll learn a wide variety of workflows, effects, and the tools necessary to perform Hollywood calibre grades.

Download the PDF book from: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/au/products/davinciresolve/training#books

Review: Zhiyun Smooth5 S Smartphone Gimbal

by davidhague178181403, posted in Reviews Hardware: Mounts - Tripods, Gimbals, Mounts, Cranes, Jibs etc), Today

If the speed with which DJI and Zhiyun release gimbals, there must be money to be made!

The latest to enter the Auscam Castle is the Zhiyun Smooth5 S, a gimbal designed specifically for smartphones.

As is the norm these days from companies such as Zhiyun, DJI, Hollyland and others, the packaging is almost a work of art in itself. In the box you get a black carry bag with an external pocket and a series of inside netted pockets for bits and bobs you might want to carry.

You get the main body of the gimbal, a screw in tripod, a magnetic light and coloured filters, USB cable that is branded Zhiyun so you can easily identify it as “special” USB-C for charging and connectivity purposes (I wish more vendors did this) a multi-language manual and a quick reference card.

I recommend a read of the manual and the quick reference manual as there are a couple of potential gotchas, especially if you are used to earlier Zhiyun gimbals or indeed, DJI ones.

As is the norm, you need to charge the Smooth5 S before it can be used and herein lies the first catch if you haven’t studied the manual and especially the schematic of the gimbal.

To charge, the first thing you need to do of course is plug the USB-C cable into the USB-C port and the other end into a suitable charger (none is supplied) right?

Well yes, but after an hour, nothing had happened, no lights came on and I was starting to think maybe I had a dud unit or cable, or for some inexplicable reason, my charger had suddenly failed. By a process of elimination, I discovered the culprit was the gimbal, so decided looking up any sort of trouble-shooter might be wise.

And .. lo and behold there are TWO USB-C ports, the second being on the main trunk of the gimbal and tucked away under a rubber flap, whereas the one I was using was on the main arm and open. Reading the schematic, this is supplied as a mobile phone charging port. In other words, you can keep the phone in the gimbal charged from the gimbal’s battery which is a very neat idea indeed..

Now that I had that sorted, another minor annoyance was the LCD panel which doubles as a mode indicator and a battery indicator. It is tiny, very tiny and set on the left side of the gimbal on the main control panel (each side of the squarish body has controls / ports of some description).

According to the manual, a single press of the power button will show the battery level with a series of dots. It doesn’t, it shows the abbreviations for each of the 5 modes, each abbreviation being a 20% battery level.

The specs state charging time is a maximum of 3 hours and 20 minutes is needed, so after that, I placed my Samsung A71 into the clamp on the arm and started to have a play.

This clamp has a two-way position – vertical or horizontal and a single balancing slide. Once the mount / smartphone is in the desired position, you undo a tightening knob and slide the arm up or down until the phone is perfectly balanced.

By the way, it is recommended not to power on the gimbal without a phone in place, something I have not seen before.

To get the best out of the Smooth5 S / phone combo, of course there is an app, called ZY Cami. When this is installed and activated, you are prompted to connect the Smooth5 S to your phone via Bluetooth; mine simply refused to find the A71 – or more correctly, vice versa. Which was odd as in the phone setting it COULD see the gimbal, so I bit the bullet and manually paired the two.

Back in the app, I was informed there was a firmware upgrade which is pretty normal. It downloaded OK but refused to install despite many attempts.

This was getting frustrating I have to say.

At this point you might think it is time to start slinging off at Zhiyun for releasing a product and app not yet ready for market.

And you’d be wrong.

You see, if I had thought to have a look at the compatibility table, I’d have seen the Samsung A71 is not compatible, and this would have saved me a number of hours of cursing and swearing.

So, rule of thumb, before buying anything electronic / gadgetry these days that requites a host and OS of any description, always check the compatibility list!

To rescue this review, odd as it may seem, an olde Huawei P30 I have IS compatible, so I dug that up out of its hibernation hole and charged it up.

Take 2

The Zhiyun Smooth5 S is a gunmetal grey in colour with a rubberised handgrip that gives a feeling of security. As mentioned, there are controls and ports on every side. What would be called the rear when holding it, and the smartphone facing forward  is the main panel I mentioned earlier. This contains a Menu button, light switch inside a rotary dial, a mode button, shutter release / record button and a joystick. Above all these are the teeny, tiny LED screen.

The joystick is graduated; that is, the harder you push it, the faster the camera will fact to the direction it is being sent.

The shutter button’s responsibility is pretty obvious. In photo mode it takes a photo and in video mode it starts and stops a recording. However, if you press and hold it, the camera will switch between the front and back cameras. This can only work though if you have yet to start recording.

The mode button is used to switch between the different gimbal modes, and effectively changes which axes are locked thus making the gimbal perform in a specific way. Rather than rehash old ground, I did a story on the various gimbal modes and their uses some time back and you can read that here.

The light button in the centre of the ring is used to turn on or off the external fill light. Simply press and hold for 2 seconds to activate the light.

Unlike the DJI Osmo 6 fill light which is an optional AUD$79 extra, the Zhiyun Smooth5 S comes with an add-on light that connects magnetically to the top of the gimbal. Four different coloured lenses are supplied – Red, Blue, Yellow and Orange, and these too snap magnetically on to the light.

To change the brightness, you can turn the dial clockwise and to decrease it, anticlockwise.

When the light is on, the rotary dial has a secondary purpose too. Depending on where you double press it (top, sides, bottom), it will let you change the frame rate, ISO, display the playback menu or finally, display all the technical settings information on screen.

If the light is off, these operations change. Now you use this same double press system on the left and right to change camera modes or open the main menu to change camera mode and / or gimbal mode.

You can also perform all of these actions on screen in the ZY Cami app on the smartphone. Additionally, there is a gesture control system to tell the camera to start or stop recording by holding up your hand or giving the two finger “V” salute.

Going around the base clockwise, the large rotary wheel has two functions; the default is that of a zoom control, and the faster you turn it, the faster it will zoom in (or out of course). The button in the centre changes the operation to become a focus wheel and again, the speed of the rotation will change the speed of the focussing.

On the front of the gimbal are the aforementioned USB-C slot for charging, a switch to lock the rotation of the gimbal for transportation and a small trigger. If you press the trigger once, it enables smart tracking with the app attempting to identify what’s in the centre of the frame to track.

This is where having the grid turned on assists. Similar to the DJI system, you can also draw a rectangle around the subject, and this will also enable smart tracking. Doing it this way means the object you wish to track does not need to be centred in the screen. Pressing the trigger once again will cancel tracking as will clicking the ‘X’ on the screen around any tracked object.

A double press of the trigger will re-centre the camera and a triple press will “flip” the camera to selfie mode or back again if already in that mode.

Finally, pressing and holding the trigger will enter Sport mode enabling the gimbal to react faster to your movements.

Finally, we have the last side, which has the on / off switch and a programmable function button which is currently disabled in the ZY Cami app.

In Operation

A major test of any gimbal to me is it’s measure of comfort to use. Being right-handed and having a banged up wrist due to a carpal tunnel op that didn’t quite work a few years back, this is somewhat important to me, especially in extended use.

The Zhiyun Smooth5 S comes through that test with flying colours. As I mentioned at the start, the handpiece is easy to grip, well sculpted and the ergonomics of reaching the controls on the main panel are straightforward.  Even the operation of zoom and focus can still be done with one hand as this wheel falls tight under the thumb.

There are a lot of modes / commands to remember, but this applies equally to any gimbal – or any camera for that matter – and like anything, practice makes perfect.

It is a worthy competitor to the DJI OSMO 6 it seems, but I will be putting the two side by side in a forthcoming shootout. I am especially curious as to how the tracking systems compare.

At $299 it is more expensive, but if you add the fill light factor in, becomes slightly cheaper than the Osmo 6. It is certainly as fully featured – and you get a better carry case to boot.

The caveat here of course is to make sure your smartphone is on the supported list; the Osmo 6 does support a lot more makes and models. Hopefully for Zhiyun fans, the company will add to the list sooner rather than later, especially widening the Samsung options.

You can get more information on the Zhiyun Smooth5 S from their website.

Tutorial: The Difference Between A Ring Light and Key Light

by davidhague178181403, posted in Today, Tutorials, Tutorials and Training

I’ve had several people ask me when to use a key light and when to use a ring light.

Let’s start answering that by first defining what each is.

A ring light as the name suggests, is a circular light that either fits around a camera’s lens or is large enough for the camera to shoot through it.

A key light on the other hand is the main source of light in a scene (as distinct from a fill light that is designed to “fill in” any shadows created by the key light).

So, by the perfect definition, a ring light COULD be a key light just to confuse things. However, ring lights are designed for a very specific purpose, and that is to cast an even light onto your subject thus reducing shadows in the face and illuminating the eyes. As a side benefit it will also minimise any blemishes.

This is why ring lights are often used in portrait photography and glamour shots.

But they are also useful in imaging a single subject and why they are often used in shots of food for example, and as you may have seen if you are fan of forensic type shows on TV, the police love to use them at crime scenes too.

From a vlogger point of view, a ring light is perfect if used in a dark room. The one I reviewed a while back, the Elgato Ring Light has a mount inside the ring for a camera and so by placing it behind your monitor, if you are streaming gaming, or creating tutorials, everything looks very natural.

Under the same circumstances, a key light would most likely need a fill light and a back light to add a three dimension look to the image otherwise it runs the risk of being “shadowy”, unless of course you want that sort of look to emphasize the drama of a situation.

This is also often used a crime and spy shows, for example, when the subject is “hiding in the shadows” so to speak. This by the way is commonly called “split lighting”.

Lighting in photography and video is a science to itself, which is why in bigger productions there is a separate Lighting Director. If this interests you, there are a million on-line tutorials available and they best way to start is with basic 3-point lighting – key, fill and backlight – and experiment from there.

By the way, we have an Elgato Ring Light to give away valued at AUD$329. You’ll notice I have a pop up letting you subscribe for FREE to the Australian Videocamera e-magazine (all I need is an email address). For the next month, if you subscribe, you’ll go into the draw to win this Elgato Ring Light.

And if you are already a subscriber, don;t worry as you’ll be entered automatically.

Review: Elgato Key Light

by davidhague178181403, posted in Reviews Hardware: Mounts - Tripods, Gimbals, Mounts, Cranes, Jibs etc), Reviews: Other (not under any other category), Streaming, Today, Tutorials

One thing all cameras need, whether they be video, still, smartphone, dashcam, action camera or pinhole even, is light. That’s what allows the image to be created.

And how that light can be setup, manipulated, coloured and so on has been the content of probably millions of articles and thousands of books and even probably more than that in lectures.

But if the source of the natural light available is not playing the game – too dark, too shadowy, or even too bright – we need ways to tamper it, tame it, and even substitute it.

In the science of lighting, the most basic is what is known as 3-point lighting and those three points are called key, fill and back. By placing these three light sources at strategic points around the subject, each illuminates a separate dimension of the subject to create a greater representation of height, width, and depth in the resultant imagery.

This diagram shows the most basic lighting setup.

Elgato has released a specific light designed to act as a key light and whilst it is aimed it seems, specifically at vloggers, it can be used in many other locations as well, and has some rather nice features.

In concert with its sibling, the Elgato Ring Light which I reviewed back in September last year the Elgato Key light supports Wi-fi letting you control its settings right from the desktop of your PC or Mac.

Using the Elgato Control Centre app, you can turn the light on or off, change the brightness, the colour temperature or even have it synched with other lights. Featuring a 2800 lumen output from 160 LEDs, you can change the brightness from a very bright right down to a very subtle glow, through color temperatures ranging from 2900 to 7000K.

In my testing the diffusion was utterly glare free and I could see no hot spots or other deviation.

A major advantage of using LEDs of course is the heat generated factor is minimal and power usage is much less than standard lighting systems.

To set the Elgato Key Light up is simplicity itself. The power source is a 240v adaptor that thankfully has a long lead (about 3 meters) that plugs into the LED panel. This in turn is screwed onto a vertical extendable arm. The connection point is a ball joint allowing large freedom in choosing angles to point the light. The actual screw fitting is a standard ¼” thread so the Elgato Key Light can actually be mounted on any tripod or bracket supporting this size (or with an adaptor of course if that is needed).

The base is a familiar Elgato clamp style for attaching to a desk or benchtop.

To connect the Elgato Key Light to your Wi-fi network you press the rocker switch to the right and hold for around 10 seconds until the light flashes, then switch it the left and use the Elgato Control Panel to detect and connect.

The only issue I found is a common Wi-fi based peripheral problem; as the IP address is used, if you are using non-fixed IP addresses in your network which is common, if you reset the modem / router, it may allocate another IP address so you’ll have to reconnect.

The Elgato Key Light is available for around $329.There is a Key Light Air available as well which I have not seen, and that retails for around $219.

You can get more information on the Elgato Key Light at the Elgato website.

 

 

 

Review: Elgato Low Profile Mic Arm… and magnets. I talk about magnets.

by davidhague178181403, posted in Audio, Reviews Hardware: Mounts - Tripods, Gimbals, Mounts, Cranes, Jibs etc), Reviews: Other (not under any other category), Today

Cast your mind back to primary school. Remember the first time you saw a strange horseshoe shaped piece of red metal that was grey at the ends? And then your teacher – Mr Phillips or Miss Smith or Mrs Ellicot – threw some metal filings on to a piece of card paper, placed the horseshoe object underneath and lo! Wonderous patterns suddenly appeared.

Of course, you and your classmates all gasped!  It was magic! How could this be?

We now know this is called “magnetism”, and even if we don’t know WHY it does what it does, we at least understand what is happening.

A few companies in the film and video making biz have successfully incorporated the properties of magnetism into their products, with to me, the most notable being DJI which is using it very successfully as an “attachment” medium; that is using magnetism to connect two or more devices together. The Action 2 used it extensively.

SmallRig also uses it to cleverly attach Allen keys to its rigs, so you don’t need to go hunting for one to assemble or dismantle or even remove a camera from the rig Zhiyun has done the same thing with a screwdriver on some of its gimbals.

Which leads me neatly onto the Elgato Low Profile Mic Arm.

I reviewed the Elgato Multi-Mount system back in July last year. This is a series of articulated arms attached to an upright with a clamp at the end to attach it to a desk or benchtop. The cleverness is the adaptability at the end to being to connect a mic holder of various types, tablet holders or even cameras as well as the option to add further different length reticulated arms.

Conversely, the Elgato Low Profile Mic Arm, whilst having standard ¼” thread at the end – and is supplied with a pair of adaptors for different sizes (¼ ” – 5/8” and ¼” to 3/8”) – it is primarily designed for microphones as the name suggests.

Again, there is a standard bench clamp – more on that in a second – and the Low Profile Mic Arm slides onto a vertical spigot allowing full 360° rotation. It has to be said this was a very tight fit and needed a bit of bash file persuasion to nub down correctly, but thankfully, was easily again removable for transportation to somewhere else.

A clever feature of the clamp is a button on the windy handle thing (called a ratchet apparently) that allows you reposition it after tightening so that it isn’t jammed up hard against something or otherwise difficult to get to.

The horizontal arm that extends from this has a joint halfway along allowing 180° rotation in the horizontal plane in the vertical axis will go from full vertical (90°) to 60° below the horizontal giving lots of flexibility.

As mentioned, on the end of this is a standard ¼” thread on a ball joint that has a range of 90° (vertical) to -90° (straight down).

It is thus relatively easy to set this up so that the mic is at head height no matter you are sitting or standing. I used the Elgato Wave:3 that uses a USB-C connector without issue.

So where does the “magnetism” thing come in you ask?

One of the banes of anyone involved in audio and video is cable management. We are all familiar with the site of extra cable being wound around the boom and mic stand, I am sure! What Elgato has cleverly done is create compartments in the two arms of the Elgato Low Profile Mic Arm in which the cable can be fed and thus kept out of sight.

Access to these compartments is via a pair of magnetically attached “lids” covering the top of the arm. Simply lift this off, run the cable through and pop it back on again.

Very nice and well thought out.

The Elgato Low Profile Mic Arm can be bought for around $150 – a bit less if you shop around. You can get more information from the Elgato website.

 

 

 

 

 

Vloggers, videographers and content creators… lend me your ears (and voice)..

by davidhague178181403, posted in Audio, Today

I’ve never been one much to do Christmas gift idea lists for my readers, and so it is again this year.

But Sennheiser sent me a list of equipment ostensibly as a “gift buying guide” thing, and it actually does stand up as a guide to “what mic for what task” as well. Thrown into the mix are some suggested headphones too.

This inofmration might be particularly useful if you are considering starting up vlogging for example.

Now I freely admit I use Sennheiser mics and headphones, and due to this, I am happy to say that I have at some point used most of the ones suggested, and can vouch for their build and sound quality.

So here it is: I hope it proves useful (and the Chrissy decorations on the images are their idea, not mine) 🙂

MKE 200 Upgrading your video blogging audio is just one microphone away – Sennheiser’s MKE 200 brings presence to your voice, while features like a built-in windscreen and shock mount keep your recordings sounding cleaner than ever before. AUD$199

MKE400MKE 400 If you’re searching for that perfect on-camera microphone, look no further! The MKE 400 is a compact, highly directional, on-camera shotgun microphone designed to isolate and enhance the audio for your video, and comes with built-in windscreen and shock mount. AUD$299

MKE600MKE 600 Even the most demanding filming challenges can be handled with an MKE 600 shotgun mic. Thanks to its high directivity, it picks up sounds from the direction in which the camera is pointing and effectively attenuates noise from the sides. AUD$499

MKE 440

MKE440Prefer stereo sound? The MKE 440 on-camera stereo mic has two aligned and matched mini shotgun mics, so it captures the natural audio you want and rejects off-axis noise. AUD$599

 

MKH416MKH 416  A classic – Sennheiser’s MKH 416 moisture-resistant interference tube microphone lets you capture superb broadcast-level audio in demanding conditions. Ideal for your next professional film, TV, or location recording. AUD$1069

 

LAV USB-CXS Lav USB-C Whether connected to a computer or a mobile device with a USB-C port, with XS Lav USB-C you can record yourself simply and effectively, helping you instantly produce better content. AUD$129

 

SS Wireless PortableXS Wireless Portable Lav Mobile Kit

Designed for vloggers, content creators and streamers on the go, the Sennheiser XSW-D Portable Lav Mobile Kit includes everything you need to get high-quality audio into your smartphone videos. AUD$349

MK4MK 4 With the typical warm sound of a studio condenser mic, the MK 4 is a great all-rounder for podcasting and voice-overs, as well as for recording vocals and instruments. It delivers fantastic sound quality, while still being an affordable choice for home recording. AUD$419

MD421MD 421-IIOne of the best-known microphones in the world, the cardioid MD 421’s full-bodied sound and five-position bass control make it an excellent choice for most instruments, as well as group vocals and radio or television broadcasting AUD$635

 

HD25HD 25

Great sound, super-rugged and lightweight! The iconic HD 25 is one of the most widely used headphones among professionals. It’s ideal for any professional monitoring environment. AUD$349

HD280 ProHD 280 PRO

The HD 280 PRO monitoring headphones boast extremely robust construction combined with the sound quality, modular design, and excellent noise isolation you need in the field AUD$179.95

 

HD300 ProHD 300 PRO

Modelled on the precise sound reproduction of the legendary HD 250 Linear headphones, the HD 300 PRO delivers a neutral, high-resolution working sound, at the same level of precision you apply to your production. Its sound pattern remains delicate and accurate in every application AUD$369

 

Case Study: Chello chooses storage solutions from Digistor and EditShare

by davidhague178181403, posted in Case Studies, Press Releases General, Today

Chello is an agency that believes the role of brand has never been more important. They also bridge the gap between brand and content and promote the ethos that when you know who you are as a brand and what you represent, what you say and what you create all becomes a lot more meaningful. Chello also adopt a similar forward-thinking approach to their technology and data storage solutions, which recently they upgraded with Digistor and EditShare.

Chello co-founder and creative director, Tristan Velasco

Chello co-founder and creative director, Tristan Velasco, explained, “We had just moved to new offices and figured it was the right time to upgrade our storage solutions. Previously, we were using Synology NAS’ but we knew we needed something that was more reliable at much higher speeds – particularly to be able to edit 4K+ footage. We had been speaking to a number of agencies that we knew in video production and EditShare had been mentioned a few times. When we got in touch with Digistor, it was the one they recommended as well, so we felt confident enough that it would be the right system for us.”

EditShare shared storage solutions in use at Chello


Due to the calibre of their work Chello’s requirements were significant. They had installed 10GB Ethernet cables across their office, so each of the workstations could support that connection speed. Thus, the storage solution also had to be up to the job, especially when their creatives had to work on video projects directly from the server.

They also required automated backup and archive solutions, via archiware, in order to be able to easily back up and archive projects. Then the storage solution had to be easily scalable and everyone in the agency needed to have remote access to the server through the company’s network.


Velasco added, “Put simply, the EditShare solution easily met all of our requirements and we are yet to even maximise how we use EditShare FLOW.”

In total Chello purchased EditShare’s EFS software defined ecosystem and EditShare FLOW media management for their data storage solution and daily workflow. 

Typically, they use EFS to store all recent and live projects across video, animation and design and manage all project files via a templated folder structure. This contains all raw footage and source files including photography, 3D assets, illustrations, all project files and their various versions, delivery files across video, animation and design and production related files.

Velasco continued, “When we were researching the benefits of EditShare I remember other solutions being in the mix but, based on the recommendations from Digistor and our own subsequent research, we felt EditShare was by far the best solution that met our needs at the time and into the future. The main thing for us was how smart EditShare products are and how the entire EditShare solution was put together for us by Digistor. We had a really clear idea on what it needed to do based on our requirements above and it met all of those requirements.” 

According to Velasco their EditShare solution and relationship with Digistor give Chello a clear edge as he concluded, “From a technology and workflow perspective, the edge EditShare gives us is primarily around the speed at which we are able to work on projects requiring really large file sizes, the security of our backup systems and archive systems. It’s second to none. We’ve been working with Digistor for many years now and without having an IT department, the team that we work with there really feel like they’re an extension of our team. They are incredibly responsive to any request – especially emergencies, are patient with managing our requests and are just really nice people. Especially for me, who had managed all IT issues prior to the engagement, it has saved me a lot of time being able to rely on Digistor to support myself and the team. In other words, Digistor are an absolute 10 out of 10 for me.”