Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Panasonic GH3 and G5 firmware update brings low light AF, silent shooting

If you've been spooking subjects or failing to focus on them with your Panasonic Lumix GH3 or G5, you might feel like you got a brand new camera today thanks to a firmware update. Its new features include low-light (-3EV) autofocus and a "silent mode" setting that'll turn off the electronic shutter, all sounds and the flash emission in one go, leaving subjects like deer or golfers undisturbed. You'll also get an exposure compensation shutoff reset option, better AF performance with certain lenses and a WiFi fix for Mac computers. You can grab it at the source, proving it's not only hackers that bring free goodies to pricey cameras.


Version 1.2 for the GH3 adds the 'Low light AF' previously seen on the G6 that works down to -3 EV, a 'silent mode' that turns off operational sounds and flash firing, and an 'Exposure Compensation Reset' function'. Meanwhile version 1.1 for the G5 only corrects wording of the Motion Picture menu on cameras sold in PAL broadcast regions (including Europe and Australasia), and therefore isn't required by US owners. Click below for full details and to download the firmware.

Click here to download the latest firmware for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 (Ver 1.2)

Click here to download the latest firmware for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 (Ver 1.1)


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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF workflow in Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro

Follow this article you will know how to solve Sony  PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF editing problems with Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro on Mac. How to import the MXF files to Avid MC and Premiere Pro for editing has become the top point, here we could find the answers.

Sony has announced the new PDW-F800 XDCAM Camcorder, and you'll be able to get your hands on it at the Abel booth at NAB. This camera is basically a PDW-700 camera with some upgrades that many of our customers have been asking for. The list of new features that come standard with the camera include: 24p recording, variable frame rate recording (over-crank & under-crank), user gamma modes, dual-optical filters (ND and Color Correction), and SD recording modes. They have also added the ability to record proxy video data directly to a USB memory stick, so your editor can start working immediately with these files.



The PDW-F800 offers very high quality HD recording at a data rate of up to 50Mbps using the MPEG-2 4:2:2P@HL compression and the recorded video format is MXF. But for Mac users, using Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD 422 MXF is a big problem. The mxf files will not be handled perfectly in Mac editing software like Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro due to the incompatible format and codec. Especially, some XDCAM HD422 MXF raw footage was shot in 50 fps, it can't be accepted by Avid MC and Premiere Pro.

So if you want to smoothly edit Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF in Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro, you first need to convert Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF video to Avid and Premiere compatible mov format.

Hot Search: MXF to iMovie | Playback MXF on PC | MXF to MOV

First of all, we highly recommend the professional Sony XDCAM MXF Converter for you, which allows you to convert/transcode Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF files to Avid/Premiere friendly format easily and quickly without any video and audio problemBelow, we give you the step-by-step guide. 

Convert Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF to Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro on Mac OS X 
Step 1: Add MXF video files. 

Download and run Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac. Connect Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM camcorder to your Mac computer hard drive via USB cable. 

Click the button "Add Video" to add Sony 
PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF files, or directly drag and drop your Sony XDCAM HD MXF files. 


Step 2: Select an output format for Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro. 

Click on the "Format" and get the dropdown menu, then move you pointer to Adobe Premiere/ Sony Vegas-> MOV(AVC)(*.mov) for output in Premiere Pro for editing.



And if you need to edit in Avid MC, choose Avid Media Composer -> Avid DNxHD (*.mov), this format is best for Avid native editing. 
 



Step 3: Click "Settings" icon to adjust audio and video parameters. 
Click the "Settings" icon and you will go into a new interface named "Profile Settings". You can adjust codec, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel in the interface according to your needs and optimize the output file quality. 

Step 4: Start Converting. 

Click the "Convert" button; it will convert Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF files to MOV for Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro on Mac immediately. 

After the Sony XDCAM to MOV Conversion, you will be able to get the output files for Avid MC and Premiere Pro via clicking on "Open" button effortlessly.

Afterwards, you can import the converted Sony PDW-F800 XDCAM HD422 MXF videos to 
Avid Media Composer and Premiere Pro freely for further editing without any trouble. 

Mac Video Importing Tips

Premiere Importing: How to import video files or projects to Premiere Pro?

Editor's Recommendations

How to Import MP4 footage from Sony XDCAM EX into Final Cut Pro

If you are puzzeled with the problem that you can't edit your MP4 footage from Sony XCAM EX in Final Cut Pro, here recommend you the best Sony XDCAM EX Video Converter for Mac to solve this incompatible problem. So would you like to join us and add the MP4 movies to Sony XDCAM files to FCP for editing?

Sony XDCAM has four different product lines: XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD422 differ in kinds of encoder, contain type and in recording media.


Sony XDCAM EX series (like PMW-EX3, PMW-200, PMW-EX1, PMW 150) are one of the high-end professional Sony camcorders with outstanding video quality. The footages are wrapped in XDCAM codec MP4 format at data rate of up to 50 Mbps. However, due to the codec incompatibility issue, Sony XDCAM EX MP4 footages cannot work smoothly in Final Cut Pro, which makes the editing become harsh to some extend.

Hot Search: MXF to FCP X | P2 Files to FCP | XAVC to FCP

Don't worry, Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac can give you easy but effective solution for importing XDCAM EX MP4 footages into FCP for editing. With the assistance of the Mac MXF Converter, you can effortlessly transcode MXF file to FCP acceptable formats like ProRes .mov. Then, what you need is just to import the converted file into FCP for editing. Just follow the steps below to transcode Sony XDCAM EX MP4 to ProRes for importing to Final Cut Pro editing.

[How-to]: Transocde Sony XDCAM EX MP4 recordings to FCP with highest quality

Preparation:
Connect your Sony XDCAM EX camcorder to Mac and backup the recorded .mp4 file on Mac.

1. Install and launch the Mac XDCAM EX Video Converter. This professional HD Video Converter can help you convert Sony XDCAM EX to ProRes 422 MOV format for Final Cut Pro, more output formats are also supported.


2. Click Format bar to choose the output format. Click and choose Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov).


4.You can click "Settings" to customize the output parameters, adjust the resolution, bitrate as you want.



5.Start convert Sony XDCAM EX to ProRes for FCP editing on Mac.

Click the "Convert" button to start transcoding Sony XDCAN EX MP4 to Prores for Final Cut Pro immediately. 

When you get ready to convert the added MP4 videos on Mac, Click the "Convert" button to start conversion. The conversion processes will transcode MP4 to ProRes MOV videos to be compatible with FCP editing.

After the MP4 to Prores conversion finished, you can easily import video files and projects into Final Cut Pro for further editing without any trouble. Congratulations! You have successfully taken the first step to make your own masterpiece.

With this Sony XDCAM EX to ProRes Converter, you can easily change XDCAM EX files to FCP for editing, this software runs fast, so you can convert your XDCAM EX MP4 footages to FCP in less time, video and audio synchronization are perfectly guaranteed.

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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Mac Solution: Burn/Write/Make Canon EOS 1080p MOV into DVD

Summary: This article will show you how to successfully burn/write Canon EOS 1080p mov clips to DVD for playing with DVD player or backup on Mac OS X (Mountain Lion 10.8 included).


Canon EOS is very popular nowadays, common modes include Canon 5D Mark III, Canon T2i/T3i/T4i/T5i, Canon EOS M , Canon 60D, Canon EOS 6D, Canon EOS 70D etc, which recording H.264 MOV format. It is some meaningful occasions in life and burn the videos to DVD to share with their friends or relatives.

Most of us would choose Canon EOS 1080p as the recording mode, as it provides high quality videos. However, it is not so easy to burn Canon EOS MOV files into DVD for the 1080p H.264 codec. Fortunately Here a useful tool or software- Pavtube DVD Creator for Mac is recommended to you. With it, you don’t need to worry about the quality of the output and the conversion speed. The quality of the output DVD will be as good as the original video and the conversion speed will surprise you. With just a few clicks, you can get what you want.

This article will show you how to successfully burn/write Canon EOS 1080p MOV clips to DVD on Mac OS X (Mountain Lion 10.8 included). 

Cant wait to have a try? Below is how Canon MOV to DVD Burner works

1.
Free download this Mac Canon MOV to DVD burnner (50% off now). You can see the main interface. Connect your DVD Writer and insert a blank DVD.


2. Load your EOS 1080p video files into the DVD creator for Mac. Use the EOS camera as a Firewire device, connect your camera to your computer via a Firewire cable and transfer and copy the footage onto your computer or another external Firewire device using the PC/Dub mode.



a. Drag and drop source files to source area (details in Source Screen)
b. Select “add Files” from the drop-down list of Quick Start menu

Each file is recognized as a chapter after being imported to DVD Creator. Press on “Add title” button to add more titles. And you can do some arrangement for titles or chapters.

3. You can Edit movie clip and Customize your DVD menu
Pavtube DVD Creator for mac will enables you to edit your videos with trim, crop, watermark, effect settings, audio replacing settings features if necessary before burnning.

Tip: Swich to “Audio” Tab from Edit, and add audio to target video file so that you can replace the original audio track with favorite melody. Check the box of “Enable” and click “Browse” button and select the audio or video file you’d like to add. You may check “Loop” to make the audio repeat in order to fit the full length of the video.




This MOV-to-DVD Creator also allows you to design and create your own DVD menu or add background picture as well as music to make your DVD more personalized. To use a preset menu template and simply double-click on the template.

4. Preview Created DVD-Video. It’s great that you can preview the created DVD before burning to make sure everything is going well, and then you can choose to burn a DVD disc, a DVD folder, or a DVD ISO.

5. Start burning.

Click the “Burn” button to start burning Canon EOS 1080p H.264 MOV files to DVD on Mac – video to a writable DVD (or ISO image) that will plays on standard DVD player after burning. Now you have finished the burning process and get the created DVD for watching on your home DVD player or TV.



With this professional 50% off MOV to DVD Maker, you will find it pretty easy to convert Canon EOS MOV files to DVD for you to enjoy a quality time watching movies with your family at home. Never miss!

P.S.

1. This DVD Burner is free for burning various videos like MKV, AVI, MP4, WMV, MOV, TiVo, F4V etc into DVD. To know more, please switch to the online guide about Mac DVD Creator on-line help for beginners at Pavtube website and learn how to make an iso image into DVD and write DVD-Video file structure/VIDEO_TS folder to DVD.

2. Learn how to burn Sony Handycam AVCHD MTS file to DVD, write Sony XAVC footage to DVD and convert Panasonic P2 MXF for DVD burning.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Canon EOS 70D Hands-On, Review, Main features, and More Info

Changing the way users capture still images and video with a DSLR camera, Canon proudly introduces the EOS 70D.


At the core of the 70D's modifications is what Canon's calling Dual Pixel CMOS AF. Essentially, the sensor includes twice the number of pixels in an (very successful) attempt to improve focusing. There are 40.3 million photodiodes on the sensor, and when they're all working together, "it's like 20 million people tracking the focus with both eyes," as Canon explains. The result is camcorder-like focusing for both stills and video, when you're shooting in live view mode. During our test with a pre-production sample, the device performed phenomenally, adjusting focus instantaneously when snapping stills, and quickly but gradually when recording video.

Reviewing- Canon EOS 70D main features:


  • 20.2 Megapixel CMOS (APS-C) sensor, 14-bit A/D conversion, ISO 100-12800 (expandable to H: 25600) for shooting from bright to dim light and high performance DIGIC 5+ Image Processor for exceptional image quality and processing speed. 
  • EOS Full HD Movie mode with Movie Servo AF for improved continuous focus tracking of moving subjects, manual exposure control and multiple frame rates (1080: 30p (29.97) / 24p (23.976) / 25p, 720: 60p (59.94) / 50p, 480: 30p (29.97) / 25p), built-in stereo microphone, manual audio level adjustment with attenuator function to reduce audio clipping, and Video Snapshot with editing for expanded movie shooting options. 
  • Vari-angle Touch Screen 3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor II (approximately 1,040,000 dots) with smudge-resistant coating features multi-touch operation and Touch AF for an easy and intuitive experience, flexible positioning, and clear viewing even when outdoors in sunlight.
  • Built-in wireless technology allows you to wirelessly transfer your images to social networking sites through CANON iMAGE GATEWAY, share your images with wireless-enabled Canon cameras, or upload virtually anywhere on your iOS® or Android(TM) smartphone* with the free download of the EOS Remote app.
  • Canon's innovative Dual Pixel CMOS AF enables you to shoot video like a camcorder with smooth, fast, and accurate autofocus; lets you enjoy instant and precise autofocus even when shooting stills from a variety of angles with the freedom provided by the Vari-angle LCD. 19-point all cross-type AF system (including a high-precision f/2.8 dual cross-type AF center point) with a wide area arrayfor exceptional autofocus performance and greater compositional freedom when shooting with the viewfinder. Intelligent Viewfinder with superimposed LCD display provides approximately 98% field of view, and Multi-Aspect ratio in Live View broadens your choices in composition. 

The 60D will be discontinued, but the 7D will remain on the market -- for a while longer, at least. Still, if you're looking for a DSLR primarily for shooting video, the 70D is where it's at.

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

XDCAM MXF to MOV- Edit Sony PDW-510 XDCAM MXF in iMovie 8/9/11 with High Quality

Summary:In this post, you can learn the best way and tools for importing and editing Sony PDW-510 XDCAM MXF in iMovie 8/9/11.

Sony PDW-510 is one of Sony XDCAM series, the high-end professional camcorders which can capture excellent image quality. It has been designed with special consideration for heavy-duty field acquisition, using DVCAM compression recording to 25Mbps at MXF format.

But when you want to edit the videos they record, you may find the high quality MXF files are not recognized by most editing software like iMovie (including the version 8',9',11'), as iMovie 8/9/11 cannot support the original MXF footages from  PDW-510. It is a common sense that the most compatible format for iMovie 8/9/11 is Apple Intermediate Codec(AIC)(*.mov).

So the first problem you have to solve is to transcode Sony 
PDW-510 MXF to AIC the most compatible codec which is specially designed for editing in iMovie 8/9/11. Here we recommend you to choose a top MXF to AIC Converter for mac to transfer these recordings for iMovie 8/9/11 editing.

Steps for Convert Sony  PDW-510 XDCAM MXF clips to AIC for editing in iMovie 8/9/11.

Step 1: Install the top Sony XDCAM MXF Converter for Mac on your Mac OS X, and run it to import your Sony   PDW-510 XDCAM MXF footages to it.


Tip: If you want to combine the files together, please tick the box "Merge into one" on the main interface.

Step 2: Click the Format box and select best output format on the dropdown list. You are advised to choose Apple Intermediate Codec(AIC)(*.mov) as the export.



Step 3: Click the “Settings” icon on the main interface and you’d better set the video size as 1920*1080, video frame rate as 30fps(or 25fps PAL) for importing Sony PDW-510 MXF to iMovie 8/9/11 with the best quality.



Step 4: Click the Arrow button on main interface to start converting Sony PDW-510 XDCAM MXF clips to AIC video immediately.

After the Sony  MXF to AIC converter finished transcoding, you can run the iMovie 8/9/11 to import the converted files and edit them in it without any rendering or incompatibility problem.

Editor's Recommendations

Sony XDCAM workflow- Getting XDCAM HD 422 MXF files into Final Cut Pro

Follow the article below you will know before Import Sony XDCAM HD 422 MXF to Final Cut Pro 6/7 and FCP X for editing on Mac, you need to convert Sony XDCAM MXF footage to FCP native ProRes MOV format with the best Sony XDCAM MXF Converter.

Q1: "I have recorded many 1080p footages from Sony XDCAM camcorder, which I borrowed from my friends. I haven't shot or edited HD before now, so need some help setting up the project. when I import Sony XDCAM MXF files to final cut pro 7, it says that the files are not supported, I searched the forum and many people say the MXF footage need to be converted to prores codec, can you give me some suggestions and what software I need to use?".
 
Q2: " MXF 1080i50 XDCAM HD 422 Long GOP 50 in Operational Patern 1a.The footage was recorded from a Canon C100 into a Ninja Atomos 2 (ProRes 422). I was not yet able to find the required export setting in FCP X. And my question is the required export possible from FCPX ?" 

Sony XDCAM camcorder is professional camcorder which is great for us to take high quality full HD videos, now popular models include PMWEX3, PMWEX1R, PMW200, PMW100, PDWF800, etc.


However, you may also face the problem as above that FCP 6/7 or FCP X does not recognize the .mxf videos. To make it easier for editing Sony XDCAM HD 422  MXF videos on FCP 6/7/X, you can use Sony XDCAM MXF Converter for Mac. It can not only convert Sony  XDCAM HD 422 .mxf videos to FCP 6/7/X, but also make iteasy for merge videos.

Here is the step-by-step guide for you to convert and transcode Sony XDCAM HD 422  MXF  MXF files to Apple ProRes 422 MOV for editing in Final Cut Pro 6 /Final Cut Pro 7/Final Cut Pro X on Mac with no rendering.

1.Download Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac. This professional MXF Converter can help you convert Sony XDCAM HD 422 MXF files to ProRes 422 MOV format for Final Cut Pro, more output formats are also supported.

2.Install and launch this Sony XDCAM MXF to FCP Converter. Import Sony XDCAM HD 422 MXF footages to the converter.


3.Click "Format" bar to choose the output format. Click and choose Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov).

convert-format-to-prores-422


4.You can click "Settings" to customize the output parameters, adjust the resolution, bitrate as you want.

5.Start convert Sony XDCAM HD 422 MXF footages to FCP (X) editing.

When you get ready to convert the added mxf videos on Mac, Click the "Convert" button to start conversion. The conversion processes will transcode Sony XDCAM HD 422 MXF to ProRes MOV videos to be compatible with FCP editing.

After conversion, you can import video files and projects into Final Cut Pro X without any trouble. Congratulations! You have successfully taken the first step to make your own masterpiece.

With this Sony XDCAM MXF to ProRes Converter, you can easily change XDCAM HD 422 MXF files to FCP X for editing, this software runs fast, so you can convert your XDCAM footages to FCP in less time, video and audio synchronization are perfectly guaranteed. You can also find more tips and tricks on FCP in Pavtube FCP column and MXF column.

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