Tutorial for Cineform’s first light plus FREE Look Files

I have made some tutorials to help people get their heads around editing with first light from Cineform and have also provided a few Free Luts ( Look files ) as well.

I have provided 12 free looks ………..FREE LUTS

For 300 Looks to add to your arsenal of tools you can get them using PAYPAL as an immediate download right here Looks for Cineform first light Price £ 10 [wp_eStore_fancy:product_id:15:end]

View the Marcie gallery soon to see what they look like – HERE

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Horray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Cineform supports nanoflash!!!

Cineform now support the convergent designs nanoflash. thia is a game changer for sure.

Download the latest beta here

Cineform VS AVCHD first generation files

cineform

I did a few Cineform vs AVCHD comparisons a while back ( here and here ).I have also done an HDMI capture tutorial to help build a rig and highlight the benefits of bypassing in-camera compression to get a clean image from cheap camcorders.Now I have been asked again to do some kind of torture test.I have no time for that so I will just place some first generation files for all to see what the big fuss is all about.HDMI capture surpasses AVCHD in the areas of colour,sharpness and freedom from codec artifacts bla bla bla.Don’t believe – download my sample files below and try them – you will need the Cineform Codec which you can get here.

The proof is in the pudding so I have made available some first generation files for your perusal.Three of them are a comparison of the same scene shot simultaneously.One long AVCHD file and the two Cineform files – sorry – it was snowing here.The rest are well – hopefully a nice selection of different subjects that I hope will put this argument to bed.If you think AVCHD can look this good then sample these.As for me – I think the quality speaks for itself.These are large files so be patient when downloading.

Hope this helps some of you to ascertain the quality.I suggest that for the ones with cinemode (The flat/low contrast Canon in-camera setting) you take them into Cineform’s first light and play with them.Especially the horses in the field.Not the snow field….he he.You will be amazed at the leeway you have with a 10 bit file.It colour grades beautifully.Oh and yes – I know the HFS10 has aliasing and yes the start of each file has some wierd interlacing lines (because Cineform has to guess the cadence and it takes a second or two).A better camera would give better results………but come on – this is turning a relatively cheap consumer camera into an expensive one without forking out the thousands right………………………it’s still a consumer cam…..remember it’s only just on a grand now for an HFS10.

Horses in snow

Horses in a field

AVCHD comparison file

Cineform comparison file 1

Cineform comparison file 2

Vivid car wide

Vivid car tight

Peacock

Sheep in snow

Trees and snow

Film making

Soon and very soon Tara and I will be heading up to Scotland to do some shooting of that wonderful landscape.I will aslo be doing some shorts with our good friend Sarah Wrigglesworth in the coming days.The big news however is that I will be going to be hopefully making my first feature length film next year.Lets say it may involve a well known cricket club I am associated with.tsk tsk Still in two minds what to shoot on.

SR11,HFS100,GH1,5D orwith or without SGBlade and whether to do it to Cineform.Oh well – I would love the best but portability becomes an issue.Perhaps the cinedeck is the way forward.

Well at least audio is sorted out

Borough meeting video

I was asked by one of the organisers (Wolfy)of a borough wide church meeting to make a short video of ‘the Lord’s prayer’ in various areas of the borough.This will be shown at the Hammersmith town hall in about a couple of weeks.
I went out with a nice cast and we filmed in a few local locations.I will update this post with the finished video when it is done.This time I left the SGblade and the HFS10 behind but instead opted for the Sony SR11 and the portable Cineform recorder.Attached to a Gorillapod the setup was nice and portable and no tripod was used.Made for a nice change.This setup also did not attract too much attention either so the smaller the package is the more discreet the shooting and I loved that today.I have updated my cineform recorder as well so it is more robust now.Man tyhe number of times I wished it was a light portable GH1 – recording to cineform.

New Canon HFS10 video

I have added another video to the HFS10 Cineform captures in my vimeo account.This really highlights how good the camera is.

Check it out


Second HFS10 Composite HD capture to Cineform from Henry Olonga on Vimeo.

Canon HSF10 – it is a beast!!!!!

Well this baby arrived on time and I have had it for a wee while now.In a word – it is a beast.This was a shoot I did the other day when I went for a stroll in my local borough.Man the image is sharp.Love it,love it, love it!!!


HFS10 Composite HD capture to Cineform. from Henry Olonga on Vimeo.

HDMI/Composite HD/HD-SDI DIY portable capture station tutorial

I have been capturing HDMI from my consumer camcorders now for a while and as I get asked quite a bit about how I do it I thought I would make a short tutorial as to how I go about it.
Hope this helps.


HDMI/Composite HD/HD-SDI DIY portable capture station tutorial from Henry Olonga on Vimeo.

More video shoot edits

Here is another series of videos that I have done recently –  these two showcase my work with HDMI capture before I embark on my music videos and also my filmaking.I have a new camcorder coming next week.The new Canon HFS10 so I am really excited.It will offer 24p and has  huge resolution for a camcorder.I bought the Panasonic TM300 but sent it back within minutes becasue I found it’s performance disappointing.My SR11 beat it in most of my own subjective tests.As a semi professional I am looking for that extra inch of performance and this didn’t give me any advance on my year old SR11.To any consumer – I am sure that this will be no problem as the image is very good.My main gripe was low light performance.

I hope you enjoy them – go to Vimeo to see them in HD – Better still – download the original file.


HDMI capture Showcase – North Wales from Henry Olonga on Vimeo.

And another


HDMI Capture showcase at Richmond Park from Henry Olonga on Vimeo.

Video

As I mentioned we will be adding video as well so this is a minor test to see how easy it is to embed a video in the blog.

HDMI captures 3 – Odd shots from a recent trip from Henry Olonga on Vimeo.