The Zoom H6 audio recorder was unveiled earlier in 2013, and along with it came some much-needed upgrades to the brand that has become extremely popular among lower-budget productions. Now the company has unveiled a smaller version called the H5, which removes some of the fancy features of the H6. Click through to check out more about the recorder.

ZOMM H6

Here’s what’s different in the new recorder:

Appealing to those who are looking for the functionality of the H6, but don’t need all of its inputs or bells and whistles, the H5 has a black-and-white screen (as opposed to the H6’s color screen) and features 2  inputs for external sources, in addition to its swappable stereo mic capabilities. The H5 will record to external SD cards.

The H5 will ship with its own, brand-new XY stereo microphone module that features a built-in shockmount system and an impressive 140dB maximum SPL. The recorder is also equipped with four input channels, allowing you to record simultaneously from the included stereo XY mic and two additional sources. Each input is controllable by its own analog gain knob.

A big addition to the H6 was the ability to add modules on the top of the recorder. This includes all sorts of different mic attachments, and the H5 is compatible with all of them. While the H5 will be limited to two XLR inputs, you can add two more with the EXH-6 module (XLR inputs are on the left and right):

So what’s it going to cost you? It doesn’t seem like there has been a price released just yet, but based on the $400 cost of the H6, and the $270 H4n, the H5 will likely slot in somewhere in-between there (we’ll update when we find out). I would venture a guess that it will be offered for $300, so you’ll have to make a decision whether you really care about the extra inputs and channels on the H6 (though again you can add a few with the EXH-6 module for $70).

Those part of Magic Lantern are always hard at work tinkering away to give us mere mortals better cameras at zero cost. They were able to pull a rabbit out of a hat and give us RAW video on Canon DSLRs, which is a huge step up on video quality from the standard H.264 files the cameras normally record to. Now they’ve got another trick up their sleeve that can actually improve dynamic range about half a stop — but there are some caveats at this early stage.

I had been following this story for a little while since Magic Lantern originally tweeted that a “sensor upgrade” was coming, and even though I was reading the exact thread related to the “sensor upgrade,” the situation still wasn’t all that clear, especially since the tech talk is pretty dense (not unlike how some NFS posts must feel to people just starting out — including this one). This new hack has been tested the most on the Canon 5D Mark III and has a greater effect on RAW photos than RAW video, but a1ex has posted a detailed Q&A explaining exactly what’s going on:

So, what’s all this stuff about “sensor update”?

Just a small improvement in dynamic range in photo mode (around 0.35-0.5 stops). We were able to fine-tune the amplifier gains in order to squeeze a little more highlight detail.

Wait a minute, that means less noise, right?

Well, it means you get a little more detail in highlights. This doesn’t mean less noise per se (the new ISOs will be just as noisy in shadows as the old ones), but it will let you shift the exposure to the right by 1/3 or 1/2 EV and collect more photons. This will result in lower noise.

For example, on 5D Mark III I could lower the ISO by 0.37 stops from 100, resulting a new ISO 77.

And how the magic is actually happening:

How exactly are you getting more highlight detail compared to Canon firmware?

The signal from the sensor seems to be amplified in 2 stages: a CMOS amplifier (which operates in full stops – powers of 2 – and we have tweaked it when implementing Dual ISO) and an ADTG amplifier which can be configured in finer increments. After these two stages, the signal is digitized (with an ADC), probably tweaked digitally, and saved to CR2. We have noticed the ADTG amplifier tends to run a little “hot” (that means, it gets saturated a little too early – nothing to do with temperature).

To get the extra highlight detail, one has to reduce the gain for the ADTG amplifier until the ADC will no longer be saturated. At this point, the white level (maximum recorded level in the raw file) will begin to decrease and no more detail will be recovered (since now the CMOS itself or the CMOS amplifiers will get saturated instead).

Does this mean Canon did not fully optimize their sensor for low noise?

I’d say they simply left a safety margin in their code to make sure the ADC is always saturated (that is, to make sure white is always recorded as white).

The big gains are currently happening with the 5D Mark III, but it may also work with some other cameras:

- If you have a 550D or newer camera, it will most likely work.
- If you have a 7D, no idea yet.
- If you have a 5D Mark II, 50D or 500D, don’t get too excited. I’ve barely got 0.15 stops of improvement on 5D2. 

Essentially what’s going on is that Canon left themselves some headroom to make sure that the absolute white point is correctly recorded, so Magic Lantern has dug in and changed these registers to allow the user to shoot into that headroom.

It should be noted that this has nothing to do with the Dual ISO that we talked about last year. That is a different process entirely, but Dual ISO will work with this new dynamic range tweak,giving you well over 14 stops of total dynamic range. Dual ISO, as it turns out, is a bit easier to control in Photo mode, but it has quite a bit of aliasing in Video mode, which makes it less useful for those shooting video. This dynamic range tweak, on the other hand, shouldn’t affect your shooting in any way except to give you more latitude to expose with.

So this is great news, but right now it’s really only effective in photo mode — in video mode it’s not doing much of anything (0.1 stops according to a1ex). For a free dynamic range improvement, it’s hard to complain, even if it’s only 1/3 to 1/2 a stop improvement. Development is very early on this, so it’s possible that RAW video might benefit more at some point in the future, but for now there is a definite improvement on the photo side. I’m always optimistic about what might be capable out of these cameras, so I wouldn’t rule anything out yet for any of the Canon DSLRs.

If you want to experiment with this, the post over on the Magic Lantern forum has some links to the research tools. This means that these modules are experimental and really more for people who understand how to code and what they’re looking for (but the links are there regardless). For more information, check out that thread.

Link: CMOS/ADTG/Digic register investigation on ISO — Magic Lantern Forum

New gyro stabilized camera gimbals are redefining the possibilities for camera movement

Two new gyro stabilized camera gimbals redefining the possibilities for camera movement in cinema – the FreeFly MōVI M10 and Novo Stabilized . Both handheld devices incorporate breakthrough camera stabilization technology to easily and quickly solve one of the biggest challenges faced by filmmakers – moving a camera in a steady path. 

Radiant Images, an LA-based rental house and digital cinema innovator, is one of the few to have the  MōVI M10 available for clients and is the lone rental house in the U.S. renting both advanced gimbals.“The MōVI and the Novo Stabilized represent the future of digital cinema,” said Michael Mansouri, VP at Radiant Images. “Cinematographers now have the freedom to almost effortlessly create camera moves and execute shots that in the past would have been either impossible to obtain or too time consuming. It truly is a new frontier.”

MōVI M10

Freefly Systems introduced the gyro-stabilized MōVI M10 camera rig earlier this year at NAB, where it received an award for outstanding achievement. Production has not been able to keep up with demand, resulting in months of waiting for delivery on purchases, according to Freefly.

The MōVI has been used in more than a dozen film, television and commercial productions, receiving glowing praise from high-end filmmakers such as JJ Abrams, Alfonso Cuaron and any number of ASC cinematographers.

Cinematographer Alex Buono, known for his Film Unit work for Saturday Night Live (SNL), told Freefly, “I’m completely sold on the MōVI…It’s ability to smoothly pan, tilt or roll remotely while it’s being operated allows me the ability to create camera moves that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen and yet are incredibly easy to execute.” Watch the MōVI in action in this demo reel -https://vimeo.com/79506918 - from Brain Farm, a Wyoming-based production house specializing in action sports cinematography. Filmmaker Ty Evans, an award-winning skateboard film veteran, used Radiant’s MōVI M10 and RED Epic to shoot a group of skateboarders in Los Angeles. An ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime 8R lens was used to capture the action.The heart of the handheld 3-axis digital stabilized camera gimbal is Freefly’s proprietary high performance IMU and brushless direct drive system, designed in-house by its engineering team.The MōVI M10 weighs less than 3.5 pounds bare and supports cameras setups of up to 12 pounds, making it ideal for the Canon C300 and C500, RED Epic, Canon EOS 1DC, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and others. Read about other key features of the MōVI M10.Full tutorials are available in the MōVI product section on the Radiant Images website

The MōVI has been used in more than a dozen film, television and commercial productions, receiving glowing praise from high-end filmmakers such as JJ Abrams, Alfonso Cuaron and any number of ASC cinematographers.

Cinematographer Alex Buono, known for his Film Unit work for Saturday Night Live (SNL), told Freefly, “I’m completely sold on the MōVI…It’s ability to smoothly pan, tilt or roll remotely while it’s being operated allows me the ability to create camera moves that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen and yet are incredibly easy to execute.” Watch the MōVI in action in this demo reel -https://vimeo.com/79506918 - from Brain Farm, a Wyoming-based production house specializing in action sports cinematography. Filmmaker Ty Evans, an award-winning skateboard film veteran, used Radiant’s MōVI M10 and RED Epic to shoot a group of skateboarders in Los Angeles. An ARRI/Zeiss Ultra Prime 8R lens was used to capture the action.The heart of the handheld 3-axis digital stabilized camera gimbal is Freefly’s proprietary high performance IMU and brushless direct drive system, designed in-house by its engineering team.The MōVI M10 weighs less than 3.5 pounds bare and supports cameras setups of up to 12 pounds, making it ideal for the Canon C300 and C500, RED Epic, Canon EOS 1DC, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and others. Read about other key features of the MōVI M10.Full tutorials are available in the MōVI product section on the Radiant Images website

Novo Stabilized

The design team at Radiant Images has created an easy-to-use lightweight stabilized handheld specifically for its 3.2-ounce Novo digital cinema camera, giving professional filmmakers a powerful and easy-to-use new tool with the tiny action camera.The high-performance, 3 axis stabilizer offers 360 degrees of continuous rotation using magnetic fields and no mechanical parts. The high-torque servo drive, designed with reduction of vibration in mind, is capable of the highest precision possible.Radiant’s design team, led by on-site engineer Sinclair Fleming, created the Novo Stabilized to help filmmakers more fully utilized the versatile action camera. (Fleming and his team will soon release a handheld stabilizer for larger production cameras, specifically the ARRI Alexa and RED Epic.)“Our Novo Stabilized is revolutionary because it’s so small and so precise and made specifically for the camera,” Mansouri said. A fully-outfitted Novo gimbal weighs in at a mere four pounds, complete with the camera, lens, wireless video and batteries.The Novo Stabilized is available for rental ($995 daily, $2,985 weekly) only at Radiant Images in the U.S. and European rental partners P+S Technik, Ovide, Sparks and Movietech. Watch the Novo Stabilized in action at http://vimeo.com/78843061.

 In addition, Cinematographer Matthew Libatique, ASC (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, Iron Man) worked with Radiant to shoot action footage at a soccer practice using the Novo Stabilized. His footage is included in a Novo gimbaldemonstration reel, which also includes aerial shots that follow a motorcycle rider, at http://vimeo.com/72911516.Demo Novo camera + gimbal from Radiant Images on Vimeo.The groundbreaking Novo (www.novocamera.com) camera, developed by Radiant Images and View Factor Studios, offers key cinematic features missing from other action cameras in its class, including interchangeable lens, back focus adjustment and exposure control capabilities. The camera won a MARIO Award for innovation at NAB 2013.The Novo has been well received in the film industry since its February release, used in such upcoming feature films asTransformers 4, Ten, Fast & Furious 7 and In the Heart of the Sea as well as NBC’s Revolution, and is on the sets of multiple other features, TV programs and commercials.