Both a fisheye and wide angle lens were used.

One built in safety feature is the red line. The suction pump has a red safety marker line meaning that if the vacuum were lost the button would pop out warning you of a lost seal.

I purchased mine from Baltic Media in Germany – Cost around $200 USD

If the Powergrip is not strong enough for you then try the Manfrotto Bogen Megagrip pro vacuum car mount.

Hope you have enjoyed this review

Sean Fleck / VJVault.com was not contacted by any individual / company or compensated in any way for this blog posting.

NAB Convention 2010

I remember when I was young and watched this show called “That’s Incredible”. They showed a demonstration of 3D video that did not require the use of 3D glasses. They promised that 3D television was right around the corner. Well the 3D demo was less then spectacular and 27 years later 3D TV was just a dream. That’s up to now. Well I am happy to announce that 3D TV is finally here in full force at NAB.

The exhibit took up 3 major exhibition halls in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Beside the usual exhibits of just about every major video hardware / software manufacturer, the show also hosts seminars on emerging technologies such as recording audio for your DSLR production, video encoding and journalism classes. Here is a quick review of the coming technologies.

If 3D content delivery was the main attraction, one of the sideshows was the exploding world of using your high end DSLR camera as a production camera, but more on that later.

One of the first pavilions that I visited was Sony. They had the entire lineup of semi professional and pro broadcast cameras. One item that caught my eye was the new NXR-NX5U NXCAM This camera is the little sister to EX1 / EX3 line of cameras. The list price is $4950.00 USD http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-broadcastcameras/cat-nxcam/product-HXRNX5U/

Sony had a full line of 3D cameras and editing suites. For TV’s they had a nice display of the Bravia 3D TV line. They require special glasses from Sony that are expected to run around $75.00 a pair for the glasses.. The picture quality was amazing.

Once Sony gets a hang of the pro line, they are expected to release consumer versions of the 3D camera. This may even extend into the digital photography world as well.

Sony 3D Camera Exhibit

One of the more impressive items I saw was the Panasonic 3DA1 camera. The camera expected for release in September of 2010 with a list price of $21,000 USD. This camera allows users to record high definition video in 3D. The demo cameras focused on a fixed set of people painting arts and crafts models. The video showed four different planes of 3D.

Plane 1 – Background that consisted of paint cans and shelves.
Plane 2 – A stepladder between the subjects and the shelves.

Plane 3 – The subjects – artists painting arts and crafts

Plane 4 – finished painted models in the forefront.

The camera uses a dual camera / lens system to record the effect. Basically it is two video cameras combined to one unit. The data is recorded on dual SD cards. Time code is synced up so editing is time locked. A $400.00 plug will be available for both Avid and FCP. To edit the video all you need to do is edit the right side track and the plug in does the rest.

The feed was displayed on a BT-3DL2550 monitor using special polarized glasses. I must say the picture quality was spectacular. When I looked at the monitors without the glasses, the image almost looked 2D. Hardly any of the distortion you see when you remove the glasses with traditional 3D encoding. Learn more about this camera

Panasonic 3D Video Website

http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/3d/ag-3da1/index.html

Panasonic 3D Camera Exhibit

According to Panasonic, the camera must be at least 10 feet away from the subject. To focus the camera you use the parallel focus wheel that focuses both lenses at the same time. The focal depth for the camera is about 100 feet meaning that all subjects must be within a 100-foot plane to correctly display the 3D effect. The mock studio used for the camera demo was only about 30 feet in depth. The listed price for this camera is $21,000 USD.

I expect that lots of experimenting will be done in the upcoming time on what will produce the best 3d effect, but I think Panasonic was heading in the correct direction. Controlled situations such as studio applications will be utilized at first, but they will quickly move into the outside world for princible photography.

Ok now that I highlighted the highs, the lows about this camera is that it seems to be proprietary technology meaning that you must you must use the Panasonic BT-3DL2550 monitor – cost $10,000 USD. For now this is the only monitor that Panasonic is offering. You must use this monitor for picture acquisition, editing and playback. It you want to project the image then you must use the Panasonic projectors, and then lets not forget the special glasses. After all is said and done this is great but expensive technology.

3D projectors were also being displayed. Vizrt’s display used two Christie DLP HD8K projectors. Each projector handled the left and right prospective. The HD8K projectors have a 1920×1080 picture resolution. The picture quality was top notch.

3D LED Video Wall

It seems that everyone has jumped on the 3D bandwagon, each vender with his or her own formats. Some exhibitors were displaying 3D using the old anaglyph method. Anaglyph uses the traditional red and blue 3D glasses, think 1950′s Others were using polorized glasses, while others used the active shutter types. So the downside is that there is no universal 3D format. I am sure that one will emerge as a dominate format. Either Active shutter or polorized

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Other 3D technologies included the use of two Sony EX3’s set up on a rig at 45-degree angles. A special half mirror is used to split the picture. The cost for the rig is $45,000 alone not including the cameras.

Ok now that we have all this 3D hardware, where is the content? A few major networks such as ESPN and Disney have pledged to start broadcasting in 3D Sony also announced that it will form a 3D channel the Discovery networks and IMAX.

What is coming soon to a VJ venue near you? Besides the 3D projectors, how about 3D led video walls. Sony had a huge 3D led video wall. Of course you had to wear the polarized glasses, but the effect was worth it. The 3D effect was really pronounced and it just a matter of time until some big name artist or innovative act employs this technology just as soon as the prices of the glasses come down to a disposable price.

Ok now that I spouted out the wonders of 3D, back to the sideshow. The DSLR market has exploded over the last year. I looked at some footage from cameras like the Nikon 5D and yes the footage looked nice, All sorts of companies were selling camera stabilizers and mounts for DSLR cameras.

Planer LCD Video Monitor

The show was also filled with all type of venders like Varicam with camera stabilizers, KinoFlo showed off the led lights – no more burning your fingers with a hot bulb. Need some precise camera control? The Kessler camera control system was very cool. It gives you complete camera motion control using a joystick. The movement was very smooth and the joystick fit like a glove. I don’t remember the full price, but it is worth checking out if your production calls for such an item. The most surprising booth that I saw was a supplier selling analog tape. After seeing all that high tech, it just seemed out of place.

In summery I think that NAB show was very successful As far as what 3D technology will prevail, it is hard to say. I guess that it will be a similar format war over 3D technologies as we saw over the betamax and VHS. This is Sean signing out from the desert of Los Angeles. Yes Los Angeles is considered a desert, strange but true.

In case you want more – 3D digital videos I created about 15 years ago. – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkii4TZmFgo

Sean Fleck was not contacted or compensated by any companies to review any products.