This is a very exciting time for videographers, cinematographers, and filmmakers alike. With the introduction of video DSLR cameras by Canon and Nikon in the past few years, along with RED’s announcement of their high resolution digital still motion picture cameras, traditional camcorder manufacturers have no doubt been feeling some real pressure to rethink their approach to filmmaking. With their announcements, Canon, Nikon, and RED proved that prosumers were looking for more than just a new recording medium, they were looking for the flexibility of super high resolution images and the beauty of interchangeable lenses. Not to be undone however, ARRI, Panasonic, and Sony have come back in full force with their exciting new high resolution camcorders.

At this year’s National Association of Broadcasters show, or NAB, ARRI surprised everyone by announcing the specs on a new camcorder named the Alexa. This camcorder, with its 3072 x 1728 resolution, was the first indication that traditional camcorder companies were finally listening to the prosumer world. It wasn’t hard to figure out that there was a high demand for such a product. All over the blogosphere, there were people literally begging Panasonic, Sony, and JVC to put their DSLR technology inside of a traditional camcorder body. With the superior depth of field and image quality, DSLR camcorders were the natural progression camcorder companies all around the world. Videomaker first realized this when we received both the Canon 7D and 1D Mark IV for review a month back. As soon as we turned these cameras on and saw the images they produced, it was obvious that filmmaking had reached a whole new level. It even took our productions up a notch when we used them for our weekly vidcasts. Read the rest of this entry »

Due to their beautifully captured footage and high quality lenses, DSLRs have seriously captured the hearts of filmmakers the world over. In fact, if you were at NAB this year then you no doubt know that this was the year of 3D and the video DSLR. Everywhere we looked while running to and fro on the show floor there was at least one person holding  a shiny new DSLR camera. Even Videomaker this year decided that in order to get the best quality possible for our readers, that we would use our Canon 1D Mark IV to capture interviews. So when we spotted the kind people from Cinema 5D with a sleek looking DSLR rig, we decided to figure out just exactly what equipment they had and why they went the the DSLR themselves. Ironically, they were using the cousin to our camera, with their Canon 5D camera mounted on a Redrock Micro DSLR cinema bundle shoulder mount, a LitePanel Micro, and a Sennheiser shotgun microphone. It’s seriously enough to make your mouth water. Even though we didn’t have a nice Sennheiser microphone and a shoulder mount, our interview with Cinema 5D’s News Director Jared Abrams still ended up looking beautiful. Check out their rig in it’s full glory in the video after the break!

Moby has a portion of his site dedicated to independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video or short. The music is free as long as it’s being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film. If you would like to use it for profit you can apply for a commercial license, all profits from the license will be given to the humane society. The tracks are composed for film with no lyrics and sound great! In order to get access to the tracks, log onto mobygratis.com and register for a free account. Moby adds tracks every so often with over 80 tracks so far that range from 50 seconds to over 10 minutes in length, it’s a great resource for any filmmaker!