Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Magic Lantern firmware boosts dynamic range of Canon 5D III and 7D



The folks at Magic Lantern are no stranger to adding new features to Canon DSLRs, courtesy of their EOS Camera Tool software.  

Magic Lantern's brought some miraculous features to Canon EOS DSLRs lately, including RAW video recording on the 5D Mark III, and video recording, period, to the 50D. Its latest feat is no less amazing, even for jaded DSLR shooters.

By exploiting unused dual ISO amplifiers on a sensor chip in the Canon 5D Mark III and 7D, new firmware allows you to record lighter parts of a scene at ISO 100 and darker portions at ISO 1600. It works with RAW video and stills on the 5D III and RAW stills only on the 7D, with both requiring post-processing after capture. That bit of creative coding increases the dynamic range of both cameras to around 14, though not without some drawbacks. Namely, the 7D implementation is buggy for now, you'll lose some resolution while gaining aliasing in shadows and highlights, and won't be able to check critical focus by zooming in. Still, the organization has a track record of quickly improving new features -- so, if you've got the guts to risk voiding your warranty, hit the source.

Their latest creation - called Dual ISO - dramatically increases the dynamic range of the 5D Mark III and EOS 7D by four stops, bringing the total dynamic range to 14EV. This allows you to pull detail out of the shadows with a lot less noise than with the 'stock' firmware. The technical details are complex, but simply put, it works by interlacing two rows of pixels captured at ISO 100 with two rows taken at a higher sensitivity (usually ISO 1600). The low sensitivity rows capture highlight detail, while the high ISO rows capture shadow detail. When they are combined, you get relatively noise-free shadows without blowing highlights.

According to Magic Lantern, there are some downsides to using the Dual ISO firmware, though. Vertical resolution is reduced by half and there's more moiré and aliasing in over and underexposed areas. The author also warns that since this software modifies the sensor's operation, you could end up frying your camera. 

Canon Related guides
Edit Canon EOS T4i MOV in iMovie
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Monday, July 22, 2013

How to Convert QuickTime movie to iMovie on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks

If you don't know how to smoothly import QuickTime movie to iMovie on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, just read this article, you will get the tools and steps, follow it!

QuickTime (.MOV) file format is a file extension used by the QuickTime-wrapped files. The format was created by Apple Computer to work with multimedia files. MOV is a container format and can contain video, animation, graphics, 3D and virtual reality (VR) content or text (for subtitles, for example).



However, many Mac users are still puzzled by one thing that some files from QuickTime with MOV file extension can't be imported into iMovie on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks as iMovie does not support the standard MOV QuickTime file format.

If you want to import a QuickTime movie file into iMovie on your Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you are suggested to transocde QuickTime videos to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec), the favorite editing codec of iMovie at first. The Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) does not use temporal compression, so every frame can be decoded and displayed immediately without first decoding other frames. The drawback of this codec is that it requires much more bandwidth and hard drive storage space. The following are steps for you to QuickTime MOV to AIC MOV for iMovie editing.

Step 1: Run Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac for iMovie and video clips to it. You can click either "Add Video" button to load source files.


If you want to combine the loaded MOV clips into one file, simply tick off the checkbox before "Merge into one file".

Step 2: Select "Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)" as target format.

In order to convert video to AIC for use in iMovie, simply hit "Format" menu and follow "iMovie and Final Cut Express" > "Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)".



Settings:



Step 3: Start QuickTime MOV to AIC Conversion.

Click the big button "Convert" to start converting QuickTime movie to iMovie on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks. As soon as the conversion is completed, you are able to click "Open" button to get the generated AIC MOV files for use in iMovie.

Step 4: Import converted videos to iMovie 8/9/11.

Launch iMovie, from the File menu, choose Import > Movies, navigate to the folder that output MOV videos are saved. Select the files and click "Import".

Now, start to create your masterpiece with QuickTime movie in iMovie (iMovie 11/iMovie 09/iMovie 08/iMovie HD)!

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Transcode Sony NX5U MTS to ProRes for Aperture 3/Premiere Pro on OS X Mavericks 10.9

Summary: In this article, you can get the info of covnerting Sony NX5U AVCHD to Aperture 3/Premiere Pro compatible Prores codec for importing and editing on OS X Mavericks 10.9.


The first in Sony's line of NXCAM solid-state camcorders, the NXCAM HXR-NX5U is also the company's first professional-level AVCHD camcorder. And while it may look similar to its HDV predecessor, the HVR-Z5U, in fact this is a very different animal. And because the NX5U can capture to media cards plus an optional flash memory unit, you can simultaneously record a different signal to each, whether HD + a backup or HD + SD. The footage is then easily downloaded to a computer or backup drive using USB 2.0.

Sony HXR-NX5U can capture HD and SD video in AVCHD and MPEG-2 formats--and save it to solid state media--is only one of its distinctive traits. Full-raster 1920 x 1080 video is another, including the option of recording 720/60p video as well as 60i, 30p and 24p. With the 1080 video recording AVCHD file from NX5U, you may face problem when trying to import/load the 1080 AVCHD MTS to Aperture 3/Premiere Pro on OS X Mavericks 10.9.

Well, as is known to us, Aperture 3 and Premiere Pro accepts Prores MOV best, so, to convert AVCHD to Prores MOV is a good choice for editing Sony NXCAM HXR-NX5U AVCHD MTS inAperture 3/Premiere Pro.

To do the job, AVCHD Converter for Mac is an ideal tool. With it, you can convert Sony NX5U 1080 AVCHD files to Apple ProRes 422 for editing with Apple Aperture 3 and Premiere Pro on OS X Mavericks 10.9 without losing quality or rendering.

Below is the step-by-step guide for you to quickly convert Sony NX5U 1080 AVCHD to Aperture 3 or Premiere Pro compatibel Prores codec on Mac Mountain Lion, Lion, Snow Leopard or Leopard, OS X Mavericks 10.9.

Step 1: Download Pavtube Mavericks AVCHD MTS/M2TS Converter and import your Sony NX5U AVCHD file. This software will solve your AVCHD to Apple Aperture 3/Premiere Pro importing problems.



Step 2: You will need to choose the output format for Aperture/Premiere. You are recommended to choose Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov), it's great for editing in Apple Aperture and Premiere Pro. There are more formats for output, you can pick as you need.



Step 3: Click "Settings" button to adjust the output video's parameters, such as bitrate, resolution, etc. for example, you can choose the resolution as 1920*1080 or 1280*720, that's 1080p or 720p resolution, great for editing.



Step 4: Start converting Sony NXCAM NX5U 1080 AVCHD to Prores for Apple Aperture 3/Premiere Pro.

After converting, you can load Sony NXCAM NX5U 1080 AVCHD MTS to Apple Aperture 3/Premiere Pro for editing as you want, now you can have a try.
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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Import Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle 2 DNxHD files to FCP

Summary: In this tutorial you will know how to transcode Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle 2 recorded DNxHD files to ProRes 422 for importing to Final Cut Pro on Mac.


Blackmagic has announced that the Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 will now have the option of recording in DNxHD, writing files in industry standard MXF format. DNxHD is a codec with similar performance to Apple ProRes, but is developed and championed by Avid (Although you can work with these files in Premiere Pro). This will dramatically improve recording times (5x or more) and have the added benefit of making total project sizes far more manageable…all without reducing visual quality in a perceptible way.



For people who want to edit their DNxHD MXF videos from Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle 2 on mac, FCP should be one of the top choices. Although HyperDeck Shuttle 2 announced to be perfect with Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, Premiere and leading video applications like DaVinci Resolve. But the compressed DNxHD MXF video is not very native and well compatible with FCP as some users still meet problems when trying to import these videos in FCP.

Therefore the best workflow it to convert Blackmagic camera MXF videos to ProRes for FCP on Mac. To accomplish this goal, a powerful, easy-to-use DNxHD to ProRes Converter can help you out within a few clip. It can deal with MXF (DNxHD) videos from HyperDeck Shuttle 2  to FCP without quality loss.

Easy steps:

1. Install this professional MXF Converter for Mac, drag and drop your  Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle 2 recorded DNxHD files into it. The program support batch load and convert video file.



2. Choose format that you need. To convert DNxHD to Apple ProRes, you can click and choose “Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)”.



3. You can adjust the ProRes parameters according to your need. (Optional)



4. Edit video file. (Optional)

You can click Editor button to customize the video before converting videos. Six tabs are available: Trim, Crop, Text Watermark, Watermark, Effect and Audio Replace, etc.

5. Start Conversion.

Click the “Convert” button to start transcode Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle 2 recorder DNxHD files to ProRes for Final Cut Pro.

As soon as the format conversion is completed, you can import the converted video to FCP for editing on Mac OS X, etc.


More step-by-step guides: 

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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Transfer Canon HF R40/R42/R400 60p AVCHD to Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle,Movie Maker and Cyberlink

Tricks for transcoding Canon Vixia HF R40/R42/R400 60p AVCHD to Windows PC prefered codec for editing in Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink.

Canon updates its VIXIA line of digital camcorder, introducing three new HF R-series Full HD models designed to capture and share every day moments easily. The new HF R42, HF R40 and HF R400, built for everyday shooting, delivers improved image quality, sharing capabilities and user experience. Three models share many their features but differ from each other in storage capacity and connectivity options.




Each of these new VIXIA camcorders sport a 3.28 Megapixel Full HD CMOS image sensor, a new DIGIC DV IV image processor and a 53x Advance Zoom Canon HD Video Lens to capture HD movies. They can record Full HD MP4 videos at 35Mbps and Full HD 28Mbps AVCHD Progressive 60p videos. If you shot the 1080/60p movies in AVCHD format with Canon HF R40/R42/R400, some problems would occur during the importing into Windows editing software like Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink.

In fact, AVCHD format is not supported by many editing softwares. It is not an ideal video format for editing softwares to support owing to its special codec. So if you want to edit Canon HF R40/R42/R400 1080 60p files in Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink smoothly, you need to convert Canon Vixia 60p AVCHD to Window PC compatible codec first.

To get the work done,  Canon Vixia MTS Converter is the best third party program to achieve your goal smoothly. The software is a great choice for converting AVCHD videos to Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink editable formats. It works with Sony, Panasonic and Canon AVCHD .mts and .m2ts footage. There are various export format for users to choose from, including AVI, MPEG-2,MOV,WMV. It also lets users to convert AVCHD files into common video formats like MP4, MKV, M4V, etc.

(Tips: If you are mac users, you can try this Canon MTS Converter for Mac)
 
Guide: How to Convert Sony A99 MTS clips to DNxHD/AVI/WMV/MPEG-2 for Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink 

 Step 1. Connect Canon HF R40/R42/R400 camcorder to computer via USB cable, and it is easy to download videos from Canon HF R40/R42/R400 to your computer hard drive. 

Step 2. Download, install and run Pavtube MTS/M2TS Converter as the fast MTS to Windows PC Converter, click the "Add Video" button or the "Add from folder" icon to load your .MTS videos directly from your camera or a camera archive on your computer's HDD. 

 

Step 2. Set output video format for your video conversion.

Click the "Format" bar and choose "Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas -> MPEG-2 HD Video (*.mpg)",or select WMV/MOV, you can also choose "HD Video -> AVI HD Video (*.avi)". Finally, click the file icon beside output bar, and choose a destination folder for saving output files. 

 
 
Tips: You can click “Settings” button in the main interface of the software to customize the output parameters, such as resolution, bitrate, etc. 

Step 3. Click “Convert” button to start converting Canon HF R40/R42/R400 1080/60p AVCHD MTS to Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink  optimized videos. Then you could click “Open” button to find the converted video in destination folder.

In this way Canon HF R40/R42/R400 60p MTS/M2TS footages can be successfully loaded to  Avid, Premiere, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle, Windows Movie Maker and Cyberlink for editing and authoring. 

See also: 

Work with Canon Legria HF20/HF200 MTS Videos on Mac
Transcode Canon C100 AVCHD on Mac

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

MXF to AIC MOV Converter-Edit Canon C300 MXF in iMovie 11 and FCE 4

Summary: By transcoding MXF to AIC MOV format, you can smoothly import/edit Canon C300 MXF files into iMovie 11 and Final Cut Express 4 without problmes. 


Bringing Canon’s expertise and decades of experience designing sensors, lenses, image processing and design to the world of motion picture capture, the EOS C300 camera has been designed to meet the demanding needs of cinema industry professionals, providing a modular, portable and eminently adaptable system of cameras, lenses and accessories built for moviemaking in the 21st century.


A variety of physical and electronic C300 elements are borrowed liberally from Canon’s XF series camcorders, chief among them being the recording codec, known as Canon XF. It is a 50Mbps 4:2:2 MPEG2 codec utilizing the widely supported .MXF wrapper, writing 1080p30 and 720p60 video to Compact Flash at a choice of either 50Mbps or 35Mbps.

You may have used Canon C300 camcorders to record many high-definition footages which are in MXF video format, this video format is good for record videos, but it’s not compatible with many editing software, such as iMovie 11 and FCE 4 on Mac.

You may have the need to import C300 MXF footage to iMovie 11 and FCE 4 for editing. So what to do? The best way is to convert MXF to iMovie/FCE supported video format, like Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) .MOV format. Now you can follow the step-by-step guide to convert C300 recorded mxf files to AIC MOV for iMovie 11/FCE easily.

1. Free Download Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac. The program is an excellent easy-to-use and intuitive Mac tool for camcorder users. It is good at batch converting MXF recordings shot by Panasonic P2 camcorders, Sony XDCAM camcorders, Canon XF series cameras to ProRes/AIC MOV formats compatible with your Mac Video editing software like iMovie, Final Cut Pro (X), Final Cut Express. 



2. Install and launch this Mac MXF to AIC  Converter, import Canon C300 MXF footages to the software.



Step 2. Click the "Format" option, select "iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple InterMediate Codec(AIC)(*mov)" for editing Canon C300 MXF in iMovie/FCE.



Some more helpful features of the batch MXF to MOV Converter for Mac:

1. Adjust video and audio parameters. (Optional)

Click "Settings" button to customize the output video and audio settings by yourself. But if you are not good at it, you'd better use the default parameters, they will ensure you a good balance between file size and image quality basically. You can change the resolution, bitrate, frame rate as you need.

2. Editor (next to "Add" icon)- click to set deinterlace, denoise, mute, volume up, trim, crop, etc.


Step 3. When above steps finished, you can click "Convert" button to start converting Canon C300 MXF to AIC MOV for iMovie 11/FCE 4 with a super fast speed. With the excellent C300 MXF to MOV Converter, you can deal Canon C300 MXF footage on Mac with best video and audio quality as you want.

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Monday, July 15, 2013

Smoothly playing AVCHD MTS files on Mac without slow motion problem

Follow the guide you can easily convert AVCHD mts files to QuickTime MOV for smoothly play AVCHD videos on Mac with A/V syncing. You won't get any issues when adding your AVCHD MTS files to Mac 
for playback.

  

Q: MTS playing in slow motion but sound is normal speed

Hi,
A friend took some mts video for me and gave me the SD card - I'm able to see it in several programs but it's always playing in slow motion though the sound is normal. How can I get it to play normal speed? Or covert it to normal speed? Thanks!

A: If you videos are from cameras or camcorders, it must be syncing well. So the problem may lies in the media player you choose. So at first check your computer specs, and make sure that it runs fast for work with the media player on your mac.

Then for playing mts files on mac, what is the best Mac MTS/M2TS player? You can try mplayer osx extended, or VLC to play it back. Quicktime cannot handle transport streams very well.
VLC media player is said to support AVCHD footage on Mac, and you can choose to play the files. However, there is also slow motion problem when playing .mts .m2ts files with VLC. The audio plays in normal speed, while the video time is double as what it should be. In other words, the sound is OK but the image lags behind. This might happen to computers with low configuration - CPU, video card. 

Many users do not have a powerful enough Apple computer with Intel Core i7, good graphic processors, and they may expect Apple QuickTime Player to natively support AVCHD videos, just like the WMP in Windows 7. So for smoothly playing AVCHD on Mac, they may need to convert AVCHD to QuickTime MOV on Mac.

It’s hard to find an excellent AVCHD Converter. Now, Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac will help you convert AVCHD files to MOV for QuickTime with keeping the best quality of the original video to the output file. It's also a good software which can convert AVCHD videos to any common formats. The windows version is Pavtube HD Video Converetr for Windows.

You can follow the tips below to convert AVCHD video to QuickTime MOV format.

1. Download Pavtube MTS to QuickTime Converter, install and run, and then import the AVCHD files you want to convert.


2. Click Format bar and choose best output format for output. Click and choose common video -> MOV-QuickTime (*.mov). You can also choose other formats for output as you want.



3. You can click “settings” to adjust the output parameters, such as resolution and bitrate.



4. Edit function is very easy to use, you can trim, crop, add watermark or adjust effect before converting AVCHD videos to QuickTime MOV on Mac.

5. Click convert button to start converting AVCHD to QuickTime MOV file on Mac.

After conversion, you can use converted .mov files as you want. Now smoothly playing AVCHD file on Mac is without any problem.

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