Reprinted from a Panasonic press release

Today, Panasonic announced the new LUMIX DMC-GF1, the latest addition to the award-winning LUMIX G Series, which debuts as the world’s smallest and lightest system digital camera with a built-in flash*.  The LUMIX DMC-GF1 distinguishes itself from previous models with its elegant, compact design reminiscent of classic film cameras, yet builds on Panasonic’s success with the revolutionary LUMIX G Series of digital interchangeable lens system cameras based on the Micro Four Thirds system standard. With its compact size, user-friendly design and ability to record High Definition (HD) video and take professional-quality photos, the LUMIX GF1 continues to redefine digital photography standards.

For more information about Panasonic and its LUMIX G System cameras and accessories, please visit www.panasonic.com/lumix

What’s the best camcorder? What’s the best editing program? What’s the best mic? If you’ve asked these questions in the past week, there is something that I have to let you in on. You, are a beginner. And that’s okay.

As a matter of fact, it’s great to see people out there trying every which way they can to grab as much information as they can. At first it seems like there is no question that can express what you really want to ask. And later, it seems like there is never an answer that seems like you can provide. This is the life of a video enthusiast. We have all gone down this same route.

So as educators it is up to us to field these questions, each and everyday. And yes, sometimes it’s that same question. Sometimes its all three, one after another. The answer is, it’s up to the user in the end and always will be.

The user receives specific moments of glory that they will always attach to a camera, mic or editing software. So I hope I have cleared up these common, and often repeated questions. It’s up to you.

When we hit NAB, there was this feeling in the air that the new & the future will be 3D. Panasonic actually revealed their take on the issue at NAB, and recently I was thinking about how impressive this technology actually is. So I thought that I’d mention the prototype they announced as the Panasonic “3D Full HD” camcorder.

It’s looks crazy and it shoots crazy but will it work?

According to Panasonic, the camera will operate by placing two cameras side by side into a single chassis. Most 3D movies are generally done by mounting two cameras together, so this would be a slight variation with the same idea. The video from both camcorders are then linked together and exported as 3D video.

So I’m not entirely certain if this is a new technology that I’m interested in seeing get developed. Why to be honest? Why should I? What benefit does 3D have? I feel like there is no point, but who am I really… Just a guy that shoots video every single day.

The internet is a-buzz with the latest video of the inside of a tornado captured by Weather Channel storm chasers. In a classic “right place at the right time” moment in a remote region in Wyoming, meteorologist Mike Bettes caught the dramatic footage on tape. For anyone who has ever watched tornado chasing videos, you would know it’s not as easy as it was portrayed in the 1996 movie, “Twister”, starring Helen Hunt. Storm chasers spend years trying to capture the best footage possible, and never get as close as they wish, due to the obvious difficulties of a fast-moving vortex of wind, debris and terror. However, in this “chance of a lifetime” as Bettes called it, in a serendipitous moment of timing, the twister tilted sideways as it was forming and his cameras were in the right place to see inside the center of the top of the tornado and capture the scene. As far as he knows, no one has been able to catch this incredible view of a twister. Just another reason why our small consumers cameras can go anywhere and capture anything nowadays. Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz would have been impressed.

Check it out:  Wyoming Twister

A Canadian filmmaker is on his way to realizing an age-long dream of becoming like The Six Million Dollar Man from his childhood TV shows.

Blinded in one eye from an accident when Rob Spence was a boy; he had the damaged eye removed a few years ago so he could wear a prosthetic eye, which looks like a normal eye. He noticed that the tiny camera in his cellphone could probably fit into the prosthesis, and thought, “why not?” Scientists agree with Spencer, and have been looking into ways to not only implant a tiny camera that can record video, but to someday have the ability to be wired to a blind person’s brain enabling them with sight.

We first told you about Rob Spence and the this new device back in December, and now the final tests on implanting Rob Spence’s empty eye-socket with a tiny camera will proceed within about a month. Being a filmmaker, Rob wants to see how close to “true” reality he can come by just recording ordinary day-to-day conversations and events without his subject’s being turned off by a regular camera.

However, since he’s a real filmmaker, Spence would expect to be on the up-and-up, and not try any weird stuff that could be considered morally, ethically, or legally out of the circle of decency.
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Reprinted from a Panasonic press release:

Panasonic today expanded its 2009 camcorder line with the addition of two Hard Disk Drive (HDD) models, the SDR-H80 and SDR-H90; and one SD Card model, the SDR-S26 – all of which feature the world’s first and most powerful 70x optical ultra-zoom lens*.  All three models also include an advanced Optical Image Stabilization (O.I.S.) system which helps reduce blur caused by a shaky hand and Panasonic’s proprietary Intelligent Auto (iA) technologies, making the camcorders easy to use.   

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