Canon has announced multiple new digital cameras today that combine elements of video and photography together to create some very impressive cameras. The new Canon EOS 7D is the start of a new series of DSLR cameras, perfect for amateurs and professionals alike. We had the pleasure of looking at the model and we feel it is a very impressive addition to Canon’s already successful line of digital cameras. Already leading the forefront when it comes to blurring the lines between still photography and video. The camera’s features include an 18MPX CMOS APS-C size sensor, a 94-shot burst mode, Full HD at 30p/24p/25p and more. It will be available late September and will run $1,699 for the body alone, with the full kit 28-135 at $1,899.

Also hitting the shelves in late September will be the ES100 Macro at $1,049 and the EFS 18-135 at $499. Coming in late October will be the EFS 15-85  at $799 and the WFT-E5 A will drop in early November at $699.99.

It only took them $4B. And now Disney, owns more superheroes than Stan Lee. What does this mean for video enthusiasts? Well you can all probably expect a ton more superhero movies, as if there weren’t enough already. Except this time Wolverine is going to be wearing those cute little Mickey Mouse ears! With access to over 5,000 characters Disney is hoping to make even more profit off television and merchandise sales. Or as Disney President and Chief Executive Robert A. Iger put it, “We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation.” Disney’s big success has came with the young pre-teen demographic due to shows featuring the Jonas Brothers and “Hannah Montana.” They are hoping to bring in Marvel’s stranglehold on teen males as it has struggled to bring them in.  “It helps Disney add exposure to a young male demographic it had sort of lost some balance with,” Disney said. One thing is for sure, Marvel has definitely lost it’s edge for me. Sure, the Fantastic 4 movies didn’t help but this is really the end. Good bye cruel comic book world, hello Disneyland!

All of us have memories that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. Some are more powerful than others. For me, a lot of those memories have come behind the viewfinder of a camera. When I first started shooting videos, I was just a wee lad of about 7 or 8 years of age. I remember playing with the camera and being so confused and amazed with how the technology actually works. The same type of confusion that a dog feels when it looks in a mirror. Yup, I just compared myself to a dog… That is confused.

“Time to turn off the camera because this shoot is over.”

Once I hit high school, I developed a passion for loud aggressive music which would lead me to shooting music videos. This must have been my first true crazy experience shooting video.

I remember that this particular video was set to a post-Nirvana era noise jam and the scene called for shots of junkyards, and someone jumping trains. Read the rest of this entry »

Reprinted from a SmartSound press release

NORTHRIDGE, CA–(Marketwire – August 25, 2009) – SmartSound Software, Inc., the leading innovator of creative music solutions for the video industry, announced today that its popular Sonicfire Pro 5 plug-in supports Apple Final Cut Pro 7, released last month. The groundbreaking plug-in, which was unveiled at this year’s NAB show, allows Final Cut Pro users to seamlessly add complete customized soundtracks to their Final Cut Pro projects in a few simple steps.

At this year’s Final Cut Pro Users Group (FCPUG) NAB Supermeet in Las Vegas, world-renowned Final Cut Pro expert, Larry Jordan, was greeted by an energetic crowd of over a thousand Final Cut Pro users waiting in anticipation to watch a private demonstration of SmartSound’s new plug-in. In an exclusive video of the event, only recently released to the public by MacVideo.tv, Jordan explains how Final Cut Pro users can save valuable time and resources by utilizing SmartSound’s patented software, Sonicfire Pro 5.

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Using SmartSound’s Sonicfire Pro 5 plug-in, users are able to import the markers and in/out points from a Final Cut Pro video sequence. Any track and arrangement selected from the entire SmartSound music library will already be perfectly timed to fit within any markers on the sequence. In addition to fitting the track perfectly to length, users can take advantage of Sonicfire Pro 5′s many innovative features such as Timing Control and Mood Mapping, which allow users to easily adjust the timing of specific beats and control individual instrument volume levels, instantly mapped to their video. After customizing music to match their visuals, users can then simply click “Send To” and their music track will be added directly into their Final Cut project. Later, if users need to make changes to their music, they can simply choose a track on their Final Cut Pro timeline and use the “Open in Editor” command for full roundtrip editing.

SmartSound’s Sonicfire Pro 5 and Final Cut Pro plug-in can be purchased together for $249.85 at www.smartsound.com. Current Sonicfire Pro 5 users may add the plug-in for as low as $49.95. For a limited time, as an extra bonus, each plug-in purchase will include a SmartSound exclusive multi-layer music album, “A New Era” ($99.95 value) free of charge. The Final Cut Pro plug-in works with Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 or later. For more information visit: http://www.smartsound.com/finalcutpro.

My wife has the uncanny ability to be able to take self-portaits effortlessly, but for the rest of us, Samsung has you covered with their new TL220 and TL225 cameras. They have two LCD screens–front and rear. The front screen can either be used for taking self-portraits, getting a child’s attention, or showing how much time will elapse before the self-timer will snap the picture. These are also the first cameras we’ve heard of with both optical and electronic image stabilization.

These two cameras, along with the CL65 (which trades the front LCD screen for the ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks and automatically geo-tag photos) can record 720P video at 30 frames/sec.

In the same vein as these announcements from Samsung, keep your eyes peeled for our next camcorder buyer’s guide. This buyer’s guide will be the first of ours to include devices most of use would ordinarily think of as still cameras; as long as the device in question fits into our quantitative definition of “camcorder” (e.g. ability to record 20 minutes of video of at least 640×480 resolution at 29.97 frames per second; a tripod screw receptacle, a lens with an optical zoom), it’s fair game to be listed in the buyer’s guide. So this takes us to an interesting crossroads. What will become a camcorder in the future? We don’t see cell phones ever being listed; but then again, there are specialized cell phone tripods in the wild, using either a clamp or some kind of sticky pad to keep the phone in place. So one could make a case for listing anything that can capture video into the buyer’s guide. But it just goes to show: it’s easier (and cheaper) than ever to get into video.

“What will they think of next?” is something that I have heard a lot in my time. However, I haven’t been as floored by a new technology like this in a long time. CBS just announced that they are teaming with PepsiCo’s Pepsi Max to launch what they have deemed “the first-ever VIP (video-in-print) promotion.”  Using the same technology as that is used in greeting cards that open and play an audio clip, the VIP player will make its debut in Entertainment Weekly‘s annual fall TV preview issue dated Sept. 18. The player clocks in at 2.7 millimeters thick with a 320×240 resolution. It was designed by Los Angeles-based  Americhip.

If you want to see it, the most likely way you will be able to is to be a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly residing in New York or Los Angeles. However, you might be able to find one of these probably-collector’s-edition copies on eBay or Craigslist.