Thursday, March 12, 2009

ROLLING SHUTTER?



Take all you think you know about HD, and turn it into the trash. After being a firm stalwart of 3 chip prism blocks, I have to say that the picture on the Phantom HD system that we've had in the Serengeti is nothing short of jawdropping.

The ropey picture of the Photron and such units have always left me unimpressed with high speed digital cameras, but the Phantom is a whole new ballgame. Even shot at 30p, it makes the f900 look, well, pedestrian. The fact that it can ramp up to 1000fps, obviously with a fast lens and enough light just adds to the effect.

You can see things in the picture that you just don't see with the naked eye, no compromise. Granted the unit is very expensive, but at the heart is a relatively simple single cmos chip. So what's wrong with a rolling shutter? Who wants to shoot lightening anyway?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

PREMIUM PROGRAMMING RETURNS



Its so nice to see channels investing in natural history again, after the advent of somewhat stable HD formats. With the march of 1080 comes a huge hunger for fresh new content, and ropey old film stock just doesn't cut it.

This has given many of us the opportunity to be involved in fully original, newly crafted stories and programs for commissioning channels and subsequent distribution deals, which means we get our hands on the best and latest gear to do a proper job for a change.

Long may it last.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

CHEETAH EATS MICROPHONE



One of two "teenage" cheetahs decided that predating on a fluffy wind-proof microphone was easier than chasing gazelle across the plains.

The wannabe killer stole the mic from the low mount of my filming vehicle in the Serengeti, only to be stopped when the xlr cable came to an end. After an intense mauling, and a subsequent tug of war, I retrieved the expensive mic system, much to the dented ego of the cheetah.

Friday, March 06, 2009

"MIGRATIONS"



I've been back in Tanzania for the past month, following the annual return of the White bearded Wildebeest to the short grass plains of Angata Kiti and Ndutu.

This was with National Geographic Television, and with me are Andy Casagrande with a new Phantom HD, and Bob Poole, the DP of numerous sequences in the series.