NoHo West Project

With geological earthquakes, community care facilities, and rainless days now North Hollywood 91605 faces its largest and most unsustainable planned retail behemoth called NoHo West Project. In a time of unprecedented drought, we again welcome new and interesting developments, but they cannot be built to 2015 standards, but at least 2050 standards akin the the Living Building Challenge. Our representative will be at Victory Elementary School from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM 6315 Radford Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91606 for the obligatory Open House Scoping Session on 16 April 2015.

CicLAvia North Hollywood Style

Working on an advocacy project, to be announced soon. Interesting developments in the California Community Care Facilities laws. Some developer in the area wants to do an end-run around the rules. Our community will make sure he does the job correctly and with local labor. Before I can officially release this information, enjoy some select images from  CicLAvia North Hollywood using my Panasonic ILC with Novoflex lens adapter (Nikon Sigma 15mm rectilinear fisheye f/2.8 glass too).
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ILC Sony Alpha NEX-5T

I’m typically late to the party or not invited at all. Over the last decade I’ve been waiting for video equipment to meet my budget and technical needs. In the 1980’s I used some great Panasonic S-VHS camcorders at University. Then came the 1990’s and DV, where I used a imported Sony DCR-VX700 which was so cutting edge at the time, did not include a IEEE-1394 port. In the late 2000’s I purchased the HDSLR Nikon D7000, which offered a glimpse of the possibilies with H.264 recording. For 2015, I’ve moved on to a Sony NEX-5T, just on the verge it’s discontinuation.

When the NEX-5T dropped in price by half to around $239 after incentives, I was ready to order. This ILC uses an E-Mount lens on a full APS-C which integrates into a whole family of E-Mount and A-Mount lens from Sony and Minolta. Sigma Corporation makes a compatible family of prime Art Lenses at a $200 each price range too (19mm f/2.8, 30mm f/2.8, and a 60mm f/2.8). A Zacuto Z-Finder and directional Sony ECM-SST1 stereo microphone complete the ILC rig. For somewhere shy of $600, you have a AVCHD 1080/24p or 1080p 60p camcorder, rivaling the broadcast worthy $2,850 NEXFS100. Video posts soon.

How to Use My Images and Videos

The world has changed, and because information is ubiquitous, some think they can acquire hard work for their own purposes for both personal or commercial use. The music and movie industry looses billions to pirates, thiefs, and ignorant folk that think when they buy a blu-ray or CD that allows them to do whatever they want with the media. False! You get a license to view the product or listen to the music for non-commercial purposes only. If you can figure out a way to share the image, give an attribute to the creator too.

Any photograph or video I put online belong to me, or we can license the images for your own use and manipulation for a fee to be determined. The fines for infringement range from $750 to $30,000 per image or video by USA law.

I will use a simple Creative Commons license for images:

Creative Commons License
This work by Ismael Rosales is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
This work by Ismael Rosales is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

I will use a simple creative commons license for video:

Creative Commons License
This work by Ismael Rosales is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License
This work by Ismael Rosales is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

4K for $10K and $20K DSLR Developments

Rarely have multiple announcements of important image capture technology occur in a single day, outside of the standard timeframes of NAB or IBC (sometimes Inter BEE). On 3 November 2011 Red Digital Cinema and Canon announced significant advances in sensor and image recording technology with Red Scarlet-X and Canon EOS C300 camcorders. Both can deliver pretty pictures, but at a very high prices. The Red technology starts at the rock bottom $9,750 where the Canon beauty is just $20,000! These type of systems have been previewed over the last ten years, moving from tape acquisition, magnetic or optical drive, to finally flash drive technology. Their focus is image quality spare none.

Maybe it’s impossible to deliver an affordable compact camera under $2,000 but with the previous Canon EOS 5D and 7D and Nikon D7000, it sure looked like the future was bright: affordable ubiquitous image capture on large sensor formats with interchangeable lenses. This was the holy grail and the definition of a disruptive technology. Instead of building on that legacy, two companies shatter the hearts of it’s users and deliver the impossible dream of $30K systems (you still need lenses, grip gear, archive, and sound equipment).

I find it interesting the Red continues to use it’s REDCODE RAW R3D format, which is still mostly impossible to view on even the most robust desktop system without dedicated PCIe hardware or a transcode to an editing codec like ProRes or DNxHD. Canon took a step backward to MPEG-2 50 Mbps, a codec almost forgotten about in the wake of modern H.264/AVC codecs. Sometimes the best recording mechanism is bypass the decisions in the camcorder and record outboard to an alternative implementation like a AJA Ki Pro Mini or equivalent.

History is setting aside DV, DVCPRO HD, SxS, XDCAM, and P2 for a more available and affordable SDHC or SDXC systems. Canon and Red are stuck with CF cards. The future is coming, but if Canon and Red continue to delivery “affordable” camcorders at $10,000 and above, their decision might be good for a few thousand people, but the millions of folks who want high quality moving images must look elsewhere.