the BROADer issue

'That DAM Show', a new weekly podcast for DAM pros

My friend Dan McGraw and I have just launched a new weekly, magazine-style podcast. 'That DAM Show' is all about the business of managing, preserving, archiving and exploiting digital media assets and publishing content.

We're going for a light touch, with sections such as 'What's Your DAM Problem?' (interviews about business, workflow & technology challenges),

'Where Are All The DAM Jobs' (where companies can tell listeners about current vacancies), and 'Just Give Us Your DAM Elevator Pitch' (where tech vendors and service providers briefly explain what they're selling right now).

We hope you enjoy it. Get in touch - feedback@thatdamshow.com - and tell all your friends!

Handy 35 v5 35mm DV camcorder adaptor due soon

A new 35mm adaptor that fits, it would seem, all consumer DV cameras is due to be launched by Handy 35 in about 2 weeks time.

The v5, according to the blog posts and forum chatter I've just been reading, is both an improvement on the previous model, the v3 (what happened to the v4?), and is superior to other adaptors on the market. Build quality appears to be impressive, as is the features list:

• Tool-free easy setup
• Innovative design (adjustable to all cameras)
• Super sharp spinning ground glass
• Sensitive back-focus adjustment
• Custom condenser lens with AR coating
• HD Achromatic lens
• Fast mount interchangeability
• Adjustable motor RPM
• Completely silent operation
• Minimum power consumption
• Low battery indicating LED
• 100% CNC milled aluminum body
• Weighs only 1.5 kg
• Scratch resistant coating
• Ergonomic top handle
• Works with rechargeable / single-use batteries
• Designed by a filmmaker for the filmmakers

No reviews as such so far, but at under $700 you can expect it to sell well, and for users to wax lyrical about it come the end of June.

Mill Colour photo grading application for the iPhone

Award-winning London post production company The Mill has launched a free iPhone app that allows anybody, Mill customers or keen amateur photographers alike, to "alter any image with the precision and subtlety of the professionals".

The app "emulates the grading techniques used in high-end digital (grading) suites", allowing users to alter and refine the source image to achieve the desired look and feel, instead of employing a filter.

Mill clients can use it on-set and send reference images back to the colourist working in a suite, while the rest of us can upload favourite stills to an iPhone, and manipulate them before posting them on the 'Mill Colour Image Gallery' on Flickr.

A competition to win grading tuition from one of The Mill's colourists will take place every 12 weeks.

This is a smart move by The Mill, as it extends the brand name out to a much wider audience, and allows fresh talent to get exposure within an industry that is notoriously hard to break into.

Follow this link to The Mill Colour app in the iTunes Store.

Is that a projector in your pocket, or ...

There's a story on The Register website this week about a new DV camera, due to be launched at the end of 2009, that also features a pico projector.

The DigiLife DDV-JF1 will have a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor producing 1280 x 720 30 fps images, H.264 compression, and a 2.5-inch LCD display.

It will also boast a built-in pico projector designed to project 640 x 360 images as large as 50 inches (diagonal) at ranges up to 4m.

There are four possible projector technologies to choose from: Texas Instruments' DLP, 3M's LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon), and Displaytech's FLCOS (ferroelectric LCOS) systems, which each require a focusing lens; and the lensless laser-based system designed by Microvision and planned for both OEM customers and the company's own Show WX, which is scheduled for release later this year.

Earlier in the year, Explay showed off its Colibri pico-projector module (pictured) at the Mobile World Congress. It measures 24 x 28.6 x 7mm, and draws only 1.3 watts of power, but still manages to project 70-inch imagesat distances between 20 to 200cm, and from 7 to 70 inches (diagonal image size). The Colibri supports VGA, WVGA and SVGA resolutions.

All this may seem a bit OTT, but, come the end of this year, school classes, seminars, sales presentations and those oh-so-captivating holiday videos may never be the same again.

HDMI cables at sweet shop prices

Anybody who's had to buy an HDMI cable in the past, and particularly a long one, has probably been appalled by the prices some retailers charge.

Rick Broida, who writes the Cheapskate column on CNET News has uncovered a real bargain; this 6-foot HDMI cable, made by Eforcity, and available from Amazon, that only costs 21 cents! Even if you add Amazon's $2.98 shipping charge, that still comes in at a paltry $3.19. Hats off to Rick, and keep an eye on his column for more bargains.

Edinburgh film festival hosts cinematography events

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is this year reinforcing its image as an event for filmmakers and industry professionals with a series of events showing advances in production technology and processes. The initiative is part of a long-term plan to "broaden EIFF’s remit further into digital practices for production, post-production, exhibition and distribution".

Highlights of the technology-focussed event programme, taking place within the festival, from 25 - 27 June, include:

Haris Zambarloukos BSC Masterclass
Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos ('Sleuth' [pictured], 'Mamma Mia!', 'Venus', 'The Other Man') screens excerpts from his films explaining the artistic, technical and practical choices of cameras and formats. Sponsored by Kodak.

Red Digital Cinema
Ted Schilowitz, RED Digital Cinema, will give a visual overview of RED's 4k RED ONE Digital Cinema Camera, its upcoming Scarlet and Epic DSMC cameras, and screen footage from features, TV shows, commercials and music videos shot using RED cameras.

Lowry Digital presentation on restoration
Acclaimed LA specialists Lowry Digital, responsible for restoring films including 'The Robe' and 'From Russia With Love', will outline its offerings for the early adopters of digital capture technology and the imaging issues that burden post-production today, with an impressive array of before-and-after images including 3D and large format.

BSC/Image Forum Debate
A special discussion of the British Society of Cinematographers’ Film and Digital Image Evaluations 2009, which tested 19 different film and digital cameras, followed by a debate about image quality and the choice of cameras and production formats in today’s world.

Digital Cinema Exhibition The Cinema Exhibitors’ Association and UK Film Council, supported by Screen Digest, will set out a shared analysis of the current digital cinema market, plus the opportunities and challenges that digital technology presents.

Painting With Light
A special screening of the documentary about the late great Jack Cardiff BSC, who shot such acclaimed films as: 'The Red Shoes', 'A Matter Of Life & Death' and 'The African Queen'.

Cinematography Surgery with DP Trevor Forrest
This rising star in cinematography will show examples from his recent films 'Someone Else', 'Tormented' and 'Una Noche' to reveal how the collaboration between the director, writer, producer and DP give rise to the cinematic techniques that bring the story to life on screen. Contact: info@trevorforrest.com to book an appointment.

TheCameraZone
A special two-day event for filmmakers to check out cameras and associated post-production systems.

And, as if that isn't enough, another event, Tales From The Digital Frontier, presented by Power To The Pixel over two afternoons on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 June, will investigate innovative cross-media filmmaking model. The sessions will include "candid discussions about new platforms and digital revenues, and examine how brands are becoming involved in the film business". For more information, visit the Industry page on the official EIFF website.

Channel 4 opens up entire archive for free on 4OD

According to this story on Electricpig, posted today, Channel 4 is making its entire archive available for free via its 4OD on-demand catch-up service. Why free? Why not make it an all-you-can-eat subscription or offer really inexpensive pay-per-view snacking?

It raises the suggestion that this could be how the company's keeping hold of its advertisers and sponsors. A commercial broadcaster offering its back catalogue buck-shee doesn't make sense otherwise. If I've guessed right, and this is to work, C4 is going to have to persuade them to part with decent sums of money, and be careful it doesn't cannibalise the ad revenue of its already shaky 'appointment television' service.