KitPlus | Articles

Sony PXW-FS5 Review

by Alister Chapman Issue 106 - October 2015 I was lucky enough to get some hands on time with a prototype FS5 in Amsterdam at IBC. In case you havent heard about it, the PXW-FS5 is a compact interchangeable lens, super 35mm camcorder from Sony that can record in HD or UHD 4K. It shares many of the features of the already incredibly popular PXW-FS7...

Submitted by Alister Champman

Published 01 November 2015

7 must sees at IBC 2015

by Beth Zarkhosh Issue 105 - September 2015 IBC, the annual broadcasting event that brings professionals in the media industry together has been running since 1967. Each year brings new excitement and innovation to the event held in Amsterdam. Originally aimed at purely the technical broadcasting industry, IBC (International Broadcast Convention) a...

Submitted by Beth Zarkhosh

Published 01 October 2015

Increase your prices... vital for growth

by Den Lennie Issue 105 - September 2015 Increasing prices is such an important part of growing your business. If you want to invest in the latest gear then you have to be charging enough to allow for continual investment The easiest and most efficient way to achieve this is to reposition you and your business away from a cheap commodity product to...

Submitted by Den Lennie

Published 01 October 2015

Talking Steadicam and Exovest

by David Crute Issue 105 - September 2015 Q: When did you first get into using Steadicam?There were only about 10 UK Steadicam operators when I started, and very few that owned a rig. It was a massive investment for me as a young cameraman. The reason I did it was very simply that I found myself in this unusual position of doing both film and video...

Submitted by David Crute

Published 01 October 2015

The Lobster - achieving a textural grain

Issue 104 - August 2015 Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is about to debut his first English language feature with The Lobster, which will be in UK cinemas on the 15th of October. We speak to DaVinci Resolve colorist and long time collaborator Tony Ford about the meticulous approach to color grading this dystopian love story. Featuring an impressiv...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 September 2015

On-camera monitors for today and tomorrow

by Paul Isaacs Issue 102 - June 2015 1) Why is monitoring so important for productions?Image quality is a central concern for users of any video product, so monitoring should be one of the foremost considerations for cinematographers and videographers. Along similar lines, the ability of consumer televisions and a range of personal devices to displ...

Submitted by Paul Issacs

Published 01 July 2015

DIY Camera dollies, flatbed vs T frame and is it worth it...

by Alasdair Brenninkmeijer Issue 102 - June 2015 As filmmakers we are creatives and sometimes we see a simple product as a waste of money, saying "I could make that.\" Sure enough with enough time, maybe we could, but is it really worth it? Lets take a camera dolly for example. The challenge is to create something to smoothly move the camera from o...

Submitted by Alasdair Brenninkmeijer

Published 01 July 2015

Why fast production storage is just not enough

by Martin Bennett Issue 102 - June 2015 UHD, 4k, 6k, 8k¦the proliferation of high-resolution formats and files along with the growing number of skillsets that can collaborate on projects push storage bandwidth and capacities beyond their limits. If we just take a look at the potential storage requirements for a single 8K raw digital cinema format t...

Submitted by Martin Bennett

Published 01 July 2015

NAB 2015 Highlights

by Beth Zarkhosh Issue 101 - May 2015 For those of us lucky enough to visit this year\'s annual NAB Show in Las Vegas, we know how amazing and mesmerising it was, but for those who didn\'t get the chance to make it, then here\'s a lowdown on what we thought was the highlights of the biggest post production and broadcast conventions in town!Las Vega...

Submitted by Beth Zarkhosh

Published 01 June 2015

REDucation - Real world RED camera training

by Ben Sherriff Issue 101 - May 2015 Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th March saw the REDucation training workshop arrive in London at the Met Film School in Ealing Studios West London. I\'ve used a Red One but have yet to work on a shoot where I can get my hands dirty with the newer cameras they manufacture (Epic-X, Scarlet, Dragon and now Weapon). Whe...

Submitted by Ben Sherriff

Published 01 June 2015

Is it my eyes, is it in focus?

by Graham Reed Issue 100 - April 2015 Is it me or as I get older, and my eyes not as good as they were, are viewfinders getting smaller and less sharp?When I started as a cameraman the cameras were large (EMI 2001\'s) as were the viewfinders. They were large format cameras with a 30mm 4x3 sensors and the normal aperture was f 3.5, so a shallow dept...

Submitted by graham reed

Published 01 May 2015

Back in the day

by Larry Jordan Issue 100 - April 2015 Congratulations, TV-Bay, on your tenth anniversary; as well as the 100th issue of TV-Bay/KitPlus magazine. Very cool!Ten years ago seems like forever. Some of us were editing with Final Cut Pro 5. LiveType was still with us. Others were using Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 (CS3 was still two years in the future). Stil...

Submitted by Larry Jordan#

Published 01 May 2015

Extreme equipment for the Film and TV industry

Issue 100 - April 2015 Big films require big shots and to get the action in camera, you need grip equipment and the latest camera support technology to make that vision a real possibility on set. Whether filming underwater or capturing high speed vehicle to vehicle action, Chapman Leonard UK have always looked to supply productions in the UK and Eu...

Submitted by KitPlus

Published 01 May 2015

DOPs discuss minicams, lenses, 4k and all

by Mel Noonan Issue 100 - April 2015 If anyone knows about the practical reality of using minicams and lenses it has to be the DOPs who are out there using them. We are now seeing minicams used in all areas of production, some with 1080p and 4K capability at prices you would not have believed possible a few years back. I spoke to some of the DOPs I...

Submitted by Mel Noonan

Published 01 May 2015

Rise of the drones

by Jeremy Braben Issue 100 - April 2015 Drones are taking TV and film productions where they have never gone before. But how can they be used to best effect, what challenges do they present and will they replace helicopters in aerial filming? Jeremy Braben of Helicopter Film Services (HFS) has some of the answers... The recent explosion of unmanned...

Submitted by Jeremy Braben

Published 01 May 2015