Hey guys =)

If you've seen last Jarmush's film, I've got a couple questions?
In the scenes where vamps are in the car, i.e. in Tanger, when framing lampposts, the light seems to make a halo-flare:

• What lens you reckon produced this?
• Secondly, do you find this "effect" pleasing?

Thank you

PS
Okay, seems camera used was an Arri Alexa Plus with Cooke S4 Lenses.
Still very interested in knowing your take on the flare rendition .-)

At 0'42'' is perfect example of what I was referring

Source: Claudio Miranda

Need to start somewhere and for breaking the ice I did pick one which I battle with for years.
It's the only film I started to watch 3 times (so obviously not in cinema) and for first two times I voluntarily stopped before 5 minutes.
I'm glad after almost a decade of fighting I managed to watch it

Avalon 2001 • Japan | Poland

 
Why this Mamoru Oshii's (Ghost in the Shell, among others) crossbreed hasn't had more exposure it's a bit of a mystery to me. If the Wachowski, Goddard, Ohtomo, Cronemberg, Tarkowsky, Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet were smoking opium together, this could be the mix of their dreams.

Sure the film has some inconsistencies:

• like very slow camera movements amid action scenes
• a tendency for slowing down the pace - this vinyl deceleration I actually like
• some characters underdevelopment and bad acting (i.e. murphy)
• atrocious location, the concert hall is just an ugly tumor, which pervades almost all shots and spoils final momemtum
• and other minor raccord and lighting stuff.

BUT the overall trip it's fantastic. And, after overcome the initial shock (for me at least) of aggressive sepia duotone grade, those cons wouldn't bother you much... sometimes they may even help if we manage to understand the choice in context and establish further connections between Oshii's previous work and also the incredible vast anime world.

It's something much more subtle than say The Matrix or Sin City and far more richer (not about details, about space left for our brain and senses to integrate and complete the loop), as we're placed in a time between times... or in no time at all. Set design it's simple and beautifully dirty, Kafka went working for Cronemberg in a Zen monastery... and something I highly value, it's very sober in details, if something is there it has it's reasons and breathing room... which roots a prop into something fundamental

The retro future look is pursued but never steals our attention from story, sound design and pace help. I love those lengthy shots where Ash gazes people in reality and nobody moves, that and how it's implemented it's just such a simple genius concept. From my POV, also very important for the whole experience (Bresson knew this very well) is that the characters have not this overwhelming charisma, presence, they are mundane (i.e. craving for food), yet at the same time (seem to be tuning) a bit like ghosts. So we are not intimidated, we feel them closer to us and thus the story unfolds involving us in the flesh. I humbly think there is here a very important lesson for anyone doing sci-fi... or anything fictional :-)

Lastly want to mention a very very nice OST, quite a bit different from "techno by the meter", don't get me wrong, sometimes works wonders; my surf friend would say epic dude, epic!!!
It doesn't seem important to go into dissecting VFX, editing style, etc. mostly because it's very coherent with this flick's soul.

Now 2 advices, get ahold of blue ray version... then sepia would be your friend. Don't get drown in Malgorzata (Ash) eyes. Enjoy

Do you have something to share?
1 at the time, please and some quality content, not just making a synopsis, would be very nice =)

While I'm waiting for "next-gen", I think a pair of these and a baseball cap might be interesting . If you look in the "goggle" thread. my last post is from a no film school article about first-person cameras revolutionizing documentary films. I think they definitely would have some interesting uses, besides videoing the psycho next door ! Anyone have these ?

http://pivothead.com/

http://replay-technologies.com/

Aplication page

Recipients will document their ideation and creation process on VSCO Grid, with the end result sold via the VSCO Store and physical gallery exhibitions. Profits are divided between the artist and a reinvestment in the Initiative, enabling future projects for other artists. In this manner, the creative community can build a growing and sustainable movement built upon principles of integrity and artistry.

The filtering stage is to ensure that there is a reduction in entropy.

http://collider.com/narco-cultura-interview-shaul-schwarz/

http://www.shaulschwarz.com/

Source: NASA

Would you believe, bigger than an entire galaxy? At the January 2014 meeting of the American Astronomical Society, researchers revealed a patch of sky seen through a lens more than 500,000 light years wide.

The “lens” is actually a massive cluster of galaxies known as Abell 2744. As predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, the mass of the cluster warps the fabric of space around it. Starlight passing by is bent and magnified, much like an ordinary lens except on a vastly larger scale.

Lately, the Hubble Space Telescope, along with the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, has been looking through this gravitational lens as part of a program called “Frontier Fields.” Auroras Underfoot (signup)

“Frontier Fields is an experiment to explore the first billion years of the Universe’s history,” says Matt Mountain from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. The question is, “Can we use Hubble’s exquisite image quality and Einstein’s theory of general relativity to search for the first galaxies?”

The answer seems to be “yes.” At the AAS meeting, an international team led by astronomers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and La Laguna University discussed Hubble and Spitzer observations of the Abell 2744 cluster. Among the results was the discovery of one of the most distant galaxies ever seen—a star system 30 times smaller yet 10 times more active than our own Milky Way. Bursting with newborn stars, the firebrand is giving astronomers a rare glimpse of a galaxy born not long after the Big Bang itself.

Overall, the Hubble exposure of Abell2744 revealed almost 3,000 distant galaxies magnified as much as 10 to 20 times larger than they would normally appear. Without the boost of gravitational lensing, almost all of those background galaxies would be invisible.

Abell 2744 is just the beginning. Frontier Fields is targeting six galaxy clusters as gravitational lenses. Together, they form an array of mighty telescopes capable of probing the heavens as never before.

 
@Vitaliy any chance of having one of this in deals section? :P

This is it - this is the real deal*

Now, I want to map this to 10-bit, so I have 2^1,2^2...2^10 I can divide the shadows to keep details. 2^1, 2^2,...2^7,2^8 = 0-255

Now I have 2^8 to 2^10 = 1024 - 256 = 768 mappings And I have to map 2^8 to 2^12 = 4096 - 256 = 3840

768 mappings can be divided into 4 regions - of values 192 (896/4) each

Now I can take 2^8 - 2^9 and map it to 256 to 256+192 = 448 2^9 - 2^10 goes to 448 to 640

And so on... This is how a log mapping would work.

A LUT tells the RAW processor how this was done. However, here I am stumped. Knowing this formula, how would I implement a LUT ?

 
3 June 1922 – 1 March 2014 // wiki

                                    gashô         gashô         gashô

One thing to mention: Iam searching for Rock / Pop Bands / Rock Songs :)

Here some examples:

Thanks for your help!

MediaTek is the first adopter of a true, authentic octa-core SoC in a mobiles device, while leveraging its benefits and optimizing the system approach to the absolute maximum.

Unlike existing octa-core solutions in the market, which can only activate half of their CPU cores at onceMediaTek True Octa-Core allows for all eight of its cores to run simultaneously, offering the ultimate combination of performance and power-efficiency.

• Advanced web browsing: With the unique ability to allocate individual browser tabs to CPU cores, MediaTek True Octa-Core allows for a faster, more stable web browsing experiences.
• Smoother user interfaces: With the ability to delegate user inputs to individual cores and render 3D effects more smoothly, the functionality and appearance of user interfaces in both applications and operating systems are significantly enhanced.
• Superior gaming experiences: The advanced multi-threaded programming deployed in the MediaTek True Octa-Core, enables different sequences to be allocated to different cores, delivering enhanced video frame-rate processing and exceptionally low-latency gaming experiences.
• Efficient video playback: When on decoding mode, the battery used for decoding HEVC (H.265) FHD video can be reduced by up to 18 percent compared to current quad-core solutions. While on display mode, MediaTek True Octa-Core provides users 20 percent more frames.

Via: http://www.mediatek.com/en/Event/201307_TrueOctaCore/tureOcta.php

Check also http://www.mediatek.com/_en/Event/201307_TrueOctaCore/MediaTekTrueOcta-CorePositionPaper.pdf

Allwinner Technology, a worldwide leader in mobile application processor design, today unveiled its next-generation UltraOcta A80 processor, the world's first ARM® big.LITTLE™ octa-core heterogeneous SoC design to include a PowerVR Series6 GPU.

Packed with four ARM Cortex®-A7 and four Cortex-A15 CPU cores, Allwinner’s UltraOcta processor is slated to bring premium performance devices to consumers at lower price points, opening new market spaces and driving value innovation opportunities across tablets, OTT media players, notebook PCs, all-in-ones, and even smart TVs.

Mike Zhang, CEO, Allwinner Technology, said: "For the past year, our worldwide customer base has grown significantly, enabling us to deliver high quality products at extremely affordable prices. OEMs from all tiers – top, middle, and low – recognize our leading market position and continue to choose our processors to deliver outstanding value to their customers.”

“Fundamentally, the UltraOcta A80 and its platforms give OEMs the highest performance, most power-efficient and cost-effective solution for a range of devices, including tablets, portable game consoles, STBs, media players and many others. We’re excited to see the first UltraOcta devices hit the market soon.”

“We are pleased to see Allwinner delivering a leading solution for 2014 mobile devices that demand premium performance and energy efficiency enabled by an ARM big.LITTLE system pairing the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processors,” said Nandan Nayampally, vice president of marketing, CPU group, ARM. “We look forward to seeing real devices based on the UltraOcta A80 processor coming to market in the next few months to provide users with an outstanding user experience enabled by big.LITTLE technology.”

As you may or may not know, Panasonic makes some nice lenses for the Micro Four Thirds system. If you are using a M43 camera like the GH3 and you have use for fancy features like small form factors, good optical image stabilization, and excellent clarity there's a good chance you would want to make use of one or more of the these Panasonic branded Leica infused pieces of glass. One issue with them though: are you a videographer or AC doing precise focus? You are S-O-L. No follow focus for you. No repeatable focus. These lenses use the velocity of your barrel movements in it's algorithm for changing the focus in camera so no two moves are the same. The one and only workaround I have found on the net involves using the distance meter from the camera video output as the basis for tape/stickers: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/3344/repeatable-focus-moves-with-focus-by-wire-lenses/p1

With the GH2/GH3 being such useful video cameras, and the GH4 looking like it will be a video freaking monster wouldn't it be GREAT if you could get repeatable focus from the focus-by-wire lenses which make up so much of the M43 system?

I understand that the lens focus is controlled electronically but why couldn't there be a 'repeatable focus' mode where the hardware, to a reasonable range of precision, supported the use of a follow focus and focus marks with consistent moves.

If I were a wealthy individual I'd love to put a software engineer or two on the case and see what could be done. What I have seen done that seems interesting is kickstarter projects crowdsourcing a particular software feature or program. Is it possible there are enough people who want what I want and are willing to throw a few dollars at it? I'd gladly throw some cash into making the lenses I already own more versatile.

Is anyone out there a software engineer with some experience with these systems who would, if the budget was there, be willing to look into solving this issue with focus-by-wire lenses? Are there any other Panasonic camera/lens folk out there who would be willing to throw some money at the promise of repeatable focus for that sweet 12-35mm or even the upcoming Nocticron 42.5mm?

Although this forum is focused mostly in the video, my question is for still photography, but equally valid for the video. I love make street photo and usually I do night street photos with my NEX-5N accompanied by Sigma 30mm f2.8 and Zuiko 50mm f1.4 with ambient light and I doubt as the new sensor of Panasonic with the PanaLeica lens.

And I would think in this exercise, both cameras at ISO 1,600, 3,200 and 6,400 at the street in the night, both lens at full aperture, the PanaLeica is faster, but the Sony sensor is larger and has theoretically advantage. but the new sensor of Panasonic seems has cut the distance respect to the NEX.

Some of my shots.

Thanks!

Here his blog in Russian and English

http://raskalov-vit.livejournal.com/134512.html

Wish i knew more about electrical engineering to hack something like that panasonic

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=879_1392291332

Mirror:

MediaTek today announced the MT6595, a premium mobile solution with the world's first 4G LTE octa-core smartphone SOC powered by the latest Cortex-A17™ CPUs from ARM®.

The MT6595 employs ARM's big.LITTLE™ architecture with MediaTek's CorePilot™ technology to deliver a Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) platform that unlocks the full power of all eight cores. An advanced scheduler algorithm with adaptive thermal and interactive power management delivers superior multi-tasking performance and excellent sustained performance-per-watt for a premium mobile experience.

Excellent Performance-Per-Watt

• Four ARM Cortex-A17™, each with significant performance improvement over previous-generation processors, plus four Cortex-A7™ CPUs
• ARM big.LITTLE™ architecture with full-system coherency performs sophisticated tasks efficiently
• Integrated Imagination Technologies PowerVR™ Series6 GPU for high-performance graphics Integrated 4G LTE Multi-Mode Modem
• Rel. 9, Category 4 FDD and TDD LTE with data rates up to 150Mbits/s downlink and 50Mbits/s uplink
• DC-HSPA+ (42Mbits/s), TD-SCDMA and EDGE for legacy 2G/3G networks
• 30+ 3GPP RF bands support to meet operator needs worldwide

World-Class Multimedia Subsystems

• World’s first mobile SOC with integrated, low-power hardware support for the new H.265 Ultra HD (4K2K) video record & playback, in addition to Ultra HD video playback support for H.264 & VP9
• Supports 24-bit 192 kHz Hi-Fi quality audio codec with high performance digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) to head phone >110dB SNR
• 20MP camera capability and a high-definition WQXGA (2560 x 1600) display controller
• MediaTek ClearMotion™ technology eliminates motion jitter and ensures smooth video playback at 60fps on mobile devices
• MediaTek MiraVision™ technology for DTV-grade picture quality

First MediaTek Mobile Platform Supporting 802.11ac

• Comprehensive complementary connectivity solution that supports 802.11ac
• Multi-GNSS positioning systems including GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo and QZSS
• Bluetooth LE and ANT+ for ultra-low power connectivity with fitness tracking devices

http://www.mediatek.com/_en/03_news/01-2_newsDetail.php?sn=1137

article spanish version • • • • article english version

Andrew's Young&Shaky blog

feel free to ad others "examples"

gash^o

The question: is out there a list of sensors readout speed rated in ms?
How fast is the Alexa readout in ms? How about Red, Sony and Canon cameras?

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tango-super-pc-worlds-most-powerful-pocketable-gameable-officeable-pc

The cuts could be made over the next two fiscal years, ending in March 2014, though the timing hasn't been settled, the people said. The potential cuts were the first details to emerge of Mr. Hirai's restructuring plan since he succeeded Howard Stringer as CEO this month. The plan is expected to be announced at a corporate strategy meeting on Thursday.

Mr. Hirai is focusing on turning around an electronics business that has had four straight years of losses.

Via: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577333162194832288.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I have right now the opportunity to work in a company for half a year abroad. Originaly I planed to work in the USA, but as visa is expensive and it takes time, my focus is now Australia. The last month I have sent emails to most of the production companies and received as expectet no response. Right now am considering to just fly over and apply for a job personally. I hope I am not starting to become to motivated and by result to naive, but I am convinced I will find something.

As I have read in another thread (I think it was a meetup thread), there are some Aussies in this forum. Any tips on getting a job? Also how much costs living there in general? Or anyone at all experiences with Australia?

I know the chances are low, but if by coincidence there is now one of you right now looking for me, here a quick summary of my skills.

I am 22 years old, fluent in english, spanish, german and french. Worked now for 2 years as a freelance cameraassistent/sound mixer, and Graphic animateur. Worked also on student films as DOP and First AD. I edit on Premiere and Aftereffects since 6 years.

Even thought you might not be from Australia, I am sure there are people that have might gone through a similair situation. I would appreciate any tricks and I would love to hear your experiences.

If there are people interested in my outcomes, I will keep this thread alive and share with you my trip down under!