When you turn up the gain on virtually any microphone preamplifier, it sounds noisy. Why is this? Before you blame the amplifier, let’s look more closely at this common phenomenon.
The core of any camera is the sensor, and along with the lens, they define and constrain the performance of the camera more so than the downstream processing. There have been many advances in sensors, with the move from vacuum tube devices to semiconductors being one of the great leaps. Although early solid-state cameras used charge-coupled devices (CCD), the favored technology today is complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). New developments from Panasonic and Sony show that developments continue apace as we head for 8K, HDR and 120P. Panasonic has developed further their organic photoconductive film which separates the function of photon capture from exposure charge accumulation, plus introduces an in-sensor ND filter and global shutter. Sony has developed a sensor with new global shutter design.
Since the beginning of broadcasting, announcers and narrators have spoken closely to microphones to boost the gravitas in their voices. They use proximity effect to sound richer, fuller and more intimate than they might naturally sound. But when they get too close, the result can be plosives. Here’s how to avoid them.
No memory card manufacturer has ever gotten a complaint about a card being too fast. Today, video cameras continually feature higher resolution and less compression, resulting in the need for cards of greater speed and capacity. It is a game that is constantly changing.
As cameras have gotten smaller, so have the support accessories that allow them to be used creatively in production shoots. One interesting area is tabletop tripods, which are very light in weight but can often support fairly robust cameras.
JEDEC, the standards group for the microelectronics industry, has announced the UFS 3.0 flash storage standard, which allows speeds of 2.9 GB/s and lower power consumption. It paves the way for 8K video on smartphones.
As any photographer or camera assistant will confess, a dead or dying battery during production quickly becomes a crisis. To avoid the predicament and maintain top performance from your kit of batteries here are some tips.
Elon Musk’s 2018 Tesla roadster was recently launched on an interplanetary space trip, complete with a multi-camera, ride-along, streaming-live-from-space view on YouTube. Some say it’s the longest and most expensive automobile commercial ever made. Others see it as a bizarre marketing gimmick. Either way, it put the Tesla name and brand back in the public spotlight.
