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Motion Control test with DitoGear

Saturday, November 27, 2010

I have recently received the DitoGear DriveCam slider, which can be used in all sorts of ways. Two of its main uses are of course making super-smooth realtime camera movements using the joystick, or doing moving timelapse shots, which have become very popular in the last year mainly after everyone watched in awe how Tom Lowe from Timescapes is cranking out one masterful timelapse film after another.

Motion Control

Motion Control Test with DitoGear DriveCam Slider from Nino Leitner on Vimeo.



Two days ago I met with my friend & director Arne Nostitz (check out his work here) and we had only little time to do a little DriveCam slider test. Our initial plan to do a little timelapse outside didn’t work out, so we came back to his flat and had only about 30 minutes left … we thought, why not do a little motion control shot, utilizing the DriveCam’s unique ability to pre-program movement?

You might have no idea what I’m talking about, so let me explain:

In film terms, motion control is something the visual effects industry relies heavily on nowadays. It’s needed for special effects of all kind when a moving camera is involved

In essence, the camera movement needs to be repeatable 100%, because you record several instances of the same movement that are layered together in post production. For example, if you want to combine a green screen crane shot that was done in a studio with, say, a crane shot of a street scene, the movements of the cameras need to match exactly. This is achieved through a motion controlled crane that is operated automatically following pre-programmed movements.

The fact that you can use the remote controller to pre-program movements into the DriveCam slider is an amazing possibility that allows you to record and repeat the perfect camera movement for a shot over and over again. And that’s why it is also possible to do motion control shots.

So in the 30 minutes we had, we put the DriveCam slider onto Arne’s piano, facing the room from one side. I recorded one very simple movement of the slider from one end to the other, then we played it back three times, always resetting it to the exact same starting point that I marked with a little piece of tape in the beginning.

Arne simply walked through the room in each shot, which makes it look like there are “three Arnes” after post production.

He combined the shots in post production using After Effects CS5, here is his description:

I first put all 4 layers (1 x blank, 3 x Arne) on top of each other and adjusted temporally. Then I played around with a difference key for a while, but didn’t manage to get a good result. Unfortunately, this key is only usable when the footage is really exact – but that is impossible also simply because of the compression. In addition, there are the shadows that I cast and tiny changes in exposition.

So that didn’t work so well, that’s why I moved to masks – at first just very rough ellipses to cut out and look where there is overlapping. At these short moments where there were overlappings I tried the Roto Brush – the first time I used this unbelievable tool. It works similar to the Quick Selection tool in Photoshop: you roughly draw on the areas to be selected and keyed – then you define what the background is. Just like in Photoshop you can correct the mask while holding down the “ALT” key, then you work your way forward frame by frame. After Effects calculates a new mask every time, and it does that very well. In problematic areas, where there is too little contrast between foreground and background, corrections are necessary – but that works very well and it’s easy. That’s it, basically!

The mask can be enhanced through several effects settings (grow, feather etc.), for a fast preview that is perfectly fine.



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posted by DSLR MASTER, 8:29 AM | link | 0 comments |
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How to Edit HD Videos by Canon DSLR

Sunday, November 21, 2010


Working with the video of DSLR cameras such as the Canon EOS 550D, 500D, 60D, 5D mark ll, 7D can produce a serious business. HD video
contains four times the number of pixels that standard definition offers, and it’s much more heavily compressed.

Keep in mind that you need a powerful computer with a lot of memory to deal with the extra data and compression. Pinnacle for example, recommends a minimum 512 MB of RAM and a graphics card with 128 MB of RAM for standard resolution video, lthough that goes up to a GB of RAM and a 256 MB graphics
card when working with 1080i HD video.

You can find plenty of software available that supports editing high definition videos. For example, the latest versions of Pinnacle Studio and Ulead Media Studio 8 can import and edit files in HDV format.

Even though the high definition video with these types of looks great when played back on an HDTV, at the present time is there is no way store HD video on a DVD. The only way you can store HD video for playback is on your PC or the same type
of media you used in your HD camcorder.

There is however, a new generation of high definition optical media format coming soon. Products that are based on the HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc formats are very expensive, and they will remain that way for the near future.

HD-DVD players were announced a while back that they will cost $500 and up, and will be available very soon. You’ll also need one of the new HD-DVD drives to write to the disc, which will cost as much again. You can expect the same story with the Blu-ray disc, as both the recorders and the players are going to be expensive for a while to come.

There is one other option as well. There is a DVD player from KISS, the DP-600, which can play back high definition files that have been compressed to Microsoft’s Windows Media 9 format. This can at least provide a stop gap until the price of the HD-DVD and Blue-ray disc players and writes come down to an affordable price.

You can always play back the recorded video you have through the camcorder itself, although you shouldn’t expect to be able to write it out on a disc with the current available equipment and preserve its quality. If you wait it out, the new generation of available media will be everything you need for your HD video.



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The best T2i accessories for best video shots

Monday, November 15, 2010

Good news for all budget DSLR video makers, check this video and get some valuable information about budgeted accessories for your t2i cameras for video making, the whole video is amazing. t2i video making







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Kessler Crane for DSLR film makers

Friday, November 5, 2010


At Kessler Crane, we understand what it means to shoot on a tight budget without compromising your creative endeavor. We also understand the disappointment in current camera crane / camera jib models on the market. It is this understanding that ignited the motivation to create a quality, affordable, easily functioning camera crane / camera jib that tops others costing 3-4 times as much. After renting/owning more than 9 different makes and models of cranes / jibs ranging in price from $279 to over $2000, we started to notice something…

There was always something missing.

We were never 100% happy. There were positive things about each piece of equipment, but no single product encompassed what we felt were the necessary features of a solidly built crane system.

We decided to change that with our product design background, up to date manufacturing techniques and cutting edge CNC technology, we have achieved our goal. Owning a modestly priced first-rate camera crane / camera jib is no longer a dream.




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