When I was in New York recently and I got the heads up about this little microsite put up by B&H.  I haven’t had a chance to go through the entire thing as there’s a fair amount of content (and many links to purchase B&H stocked products sprinkled on most every page).  However, a cursory inspection shows that the authors of this have done their homework, and the designers of the site have done a good job with layout and navigation.  The content shouldn’t be a surprise, if you look at the contributors page at the end there is some really solid information provided by the likes of Phil Rhodes, among others.  I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Rhodes several years ago and is very, very sharp; and an expert in what he does.

I have to give credit to B&H, it’s refreshing to read something that isn’t entirely a puff piece, this site doesn’t pull every punch in regards to artifacting- unlike many of the well-meaning but poorly written amateur blogs/magazine articles that can be found with a simple search of the net.  It is worth noting that some well known issues with some HDSLRs are absent (i.e. overheating isn’t really mentioned).  Also the B&H Guide isn’t really a “guide” in the strictest sense of the word.  It’s more an elaborate and well organized primer on HDSLR technology, and way to somewhat disguise the marketing of products.

If you don’t mind being marketed to while reading, the B&H HDSLR Guide will give you some really good information.  Although dear friends, if you’re reading this blog there’s a good chance you already know much of what’s inside the “guide”.  That being said, the B&H HDSLR Guide is unquestionably a good tool to forward to someone else who doesn’t know as much as you.  This is an excellent way for someone to spend 15-minutes and after digesting they should be able to at least begin the conversation with what’s important when considering HDSLR cameras for “professional” work.  Now take all the “guide” bits of information with a grain of salt. Sections of the guide like “Direct to Disk” pretty much advise you on all of the very good reasons not to do it, but at the same time the section attempts to sell you “featured products” to help you ignore the advice they are sharing.

I.

Illy Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

I’ve been receiving a lot of emails lately asking about rumors, usually from people who read something on a website like Nikonrumors.com or Macrumors.com.  My thought is that rumors are suddenly flying in the run up to the largest photo related tradeshow in the world, Photokina.

Photokina is just a little over a month away.  Will Sony debut a new HDSLR camera based on their Alpha line of cameras?  Will Samsung update their current DSLR offerings to 1920×1080 24p?  What about Panasonic, Canon and Nikon?

I don’t know.

Even if I did know, I would still say “I don’t know.”

Time proves most future product rumors completely incorrect.  The rumor mill makes money by showing you web advertising- so just keep that in mind next time someone forwards you some tweet about an awesome “rumor” from a source inside a major company building some world altering wonder-cam, that will complete you life.

Regardless of what is announced at a show like Photokina and what ends up being released 6-12 months later, if you are always waiting for the next big thing to buy that means you will always have nothing to shoot with, now.  Better to get off the sidelines and start working today.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

I know I’ve been teasing it for some time, well it’s finally here!  Hot Rod Cameras is now offering the BEST WARRANTY on a 7D-PL.  2-full years of extended warranty service is NOW available on any new 7D-PL Kit purchased from Hot Rod Cameras or any authorized re-seller (i.e. Abel Cine Tech).  This warranty is good on new cameras and every 7D-PL Deluxe Kit purchased in the past 90-days!  This is double the length of the original warranty!  Perhaps best of all, if you have a problem you don’t have to ship the camera overseas for service, manufacturers defects are repaired in the USA.  The cost of the 2-year warranty service is $199.

The extended warranty also covers any fully functional client owned 7D that was purchased in the past 90-days, sent to, and modified by Hot Rod Cameras (within the same 90-days.)

I’ll be putting a way to order the warranty on the 7D-PL product pages in the next 24-hours.  I’ll also find a way for those who have already purchased a Hot Rod 7D-PL to be able to request the extended warranty on-line.  If you purchased a 7D-PL in the past 90-days that qualifies for the 2-year extended warranty, send a quick email and make sure that you type WARRANTY along with your contact information in the message box and someone will get back to you with instructions on how to provide proof of purchase and payment.  Click here to send that email.

All warranty repair work is handled by the expert technicians at Mack Camera.  Mack is one of the oldest, largest and most respected names in extended service warranty repair (they’ve been fixing cameras for 72-years!)  Just like the original warranty, the Hot Rod Extended Warranty is a limited warranty with some exclusions; basically, Mack won’t cover accidents (whoops, I dropped it down a flight of stairs) owner stupidity (Let’s take the camera out for a swim!), the parts Hot Rod Cameras removes, alters or throws away (like the mirror or the EF mount) or a manufacturers recall (These camera aren’t supposed to be black, they should be “midnight-charcoal”.) Questions about the warranty?? Give us a call or email.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

Hot Rod Cameras has added a new section to our website entitled “Education and Events“.  Here you can find links to educational programs we are currently sponsoring, or that are using Hot Rod Cameras products as part of their training curriculum.  We’ll also be maintaining a list of upcoming events that Hot Rod Cameras will be attending.  More website updates are on the way- finally!

I.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

Ladies and gentlemen, the Sony NEX-VG10. A $2000-ish consumer camcorder (yes you read that word correct… consumer) with interchangeable lenses. So what you’re probably wondering now is “Consumer, does that mean there’s a 24p setting?” The answer is no.

While Canon does puts 24p in their fixed lens HV40 camcorder, I believe that Sony think that 24p is an option better reserved for prosumer and higher end; in other words NON-consumer cameras….Still, I know some other things that haven’t been made public just yet, so I’m going to avoid any potential slip ups and just give you a link to a good general overview if you are at all interested (and I think you might be.)

More information to follow…. have patience.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

A mixed bag of an update this evening. Some really great things have been happening since my last blog post- including another national commercial is being shot on a Hot Rod 7D-PL by a very talented cinematographer. I think on Monday or Tuesday I can spill the beans about who, what and where. In even better news, we are currently perfecting a new way to modify Canon cameras. This new method means that the 2-week wait time could be slashed dramatically.

Okay now for the ‘not so good news.’ This has been a really challenging week at HRC. It actually started this past weekend with a bout of stomach flu. Thankfully this rarely happens to me. Let me tell you a Umami burger may be delicious, but not after it’s comes back up. Today was the first 100% normal day back at work, and it’s already Thursday- yikes! My apologies to all those who sent emails and phone calls I am yet to return. I promise I’ll get to them as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately with a small company if one person (especially me) is out for a few days it has a ripple effect. HRC does not don’t have a crew of hundreds or even dozens, when we are short handed it makes a big difference. To further exasperate the situation, we also ran into a problem with one of our outside suppliers taking a long vacation during the 4th of July holiday. It’s a temporary situation, but it’s adding to the delay. Any Canon modification orders placed in the last 10-days will likely experience some kind of delay, hopefully not more than 1-week. I will personally contact everyone by phone, email (or in person) to break the news. We anticipate that by July 17th we’ll be 100% up to date, and back on track, going forward faster than ever before. So after 7-17, it should be smooth sailing. A few 7D-PL orders are shipping out tomorrow (July 2, 2010), to Abel Cine Tech for re-sale. While I’m not certain that these cameras are not all pre-sold, it’s possible. So give Abel a call if you need a Hot Rod Cameras 7D-PL immediately!

The final bit of news tonight is also good. By the end of July we expect to have some new products ready to ship; products we’ve announced some time ago, that weren’t yet ready for primetime. We’ll also share with you some exciting new stuff that is real (not vaporware) that will be shipping this summer. Also by popular demand- the website will soon feature downloadable product information and basic recommended workflow practices in printable .pdf files. And perhaps most exciting (at least for the people who love to sport the logo of the products and companies they love) – a Hot Rod Cameras T-Shirt should touchdown before the summer is over.

Have a fantastic Independence Day Holiday!

I.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

Just a quick update- The Hot Rod PL graces the m4/3 mount of the AG-AF100 on the preliminary brochure for the much anticipated Panasonic camera. You can see the preliminary brochure here along with a mighty fine Zeiss Ultra Prime. Much more information and updates to come!!

I.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

I’ve been receiving a lot of emails lately in regards to a hacked firmware for the Panasonic GH1 from an anonymous person who goes by the name of Tester13. In the last couple days EOSHD.com and Philip Bloom and several other blogs have been talking about the new (stable) features and settings that can be patched into the GH1.

Here’s a quick summary of what you need to know- This procedure is not without it’s risks to your camera, if you muck up a firmware update you could turn your camera into a brick. That being said, I followed the simple directions located here, and voila, the Japanese GH1 used to shoot the first 100% HDSLR feature film Rejouer now has English language menus and a native 23.98 AVCHD mode.

In addition to those two massive changes, I can confirm the following- Final Cut Pro still recognizes the SD card and now does a pain free 1920×1080 23.98 ProRess 422 import of the AVCHD footage. That is, there is no additional step to remove the pulldown through compressor.

Also worth noting- you can not play back AVCHD in-camera that’s been shot in ‘native’ mode. Furthermore, if you accidentally (or purposely) hit the playback button on the Firmware-X GH1, the camera OS can/will crash and you must remove/re-insert the battery to get it to function again. It’s an annoyance.

Also worth noting, if you were in SH (720p) mode and then turned the camera to FHD (1080p) mode, shot a clip and then hit playback, the camera will not remember the SH to FHD setting change (or any other) unless you had already turned the camera off and back on before hitting the playback button, weird eh? You’ll want to be aware of this in case you are bold enough to use the Firmware-X and inadvertently crash the OS. When you reboot your camera any settings changed (without a planned power cycle) will not be remembered.

There is a get out of jail free card so to speak for the playback crash. Should you hit the playback button and you’ve recorded AVCHD 24fps shots on your card, if the very next button you press is the shutter release, the camera will return to it’s standard “live view” mode. Most any other button will cause the camera to freeze, requiring a battery removal power cycle. All the other recorded formats and still photos seem to playback just fine.

Something else worth noting, it wouldn’t surprise me if installing this firmware voids your Panasonic warranty. I don’t think Panasonic will mind- as it’s one more camera that they never have to worry about being sent back for warranty repair.

What I think is most interesting, is that after the Canon 5D Mk2 firmware was hacked, and Canon released a factory firmware upgrade to the Canon 5D Mk2 which enabled most of the hacked firmware options and a 24fps mode. I have it on good authority that the upgraded 5D Mk2 firmware caused a nice spike in 5D Mk2 sales. I think Panasonic may eventually also offer a factory firmware option that properly unlocks some of these same features, as I can’t imagine they want their customers to be using Firmware-X!

Canon was very smart about making a big deal about the factory firmware upgrade with simultaneous “24p” firmware parties on both coasts of the US. I was at the Abel Cine event in New York, and well more than 100 people showed up to get their cameras updated on the spot. Panasonic could capitalize on the massive HDSLR interest and do something similar by simply releasing the in-demand features in a factory firmware download, and I’m certain they’d get a nice boost in sales of a camera that’s already been out more than a year. How often does that happen when a product isn’t being discontinued?

As I’ve been saying since April of 2009, the GH1 is an amazingly capable camera. Despite Canon’s market share dominance in the HDSLR area, you can’t count out companies like Panasonic (and also Sony, but that’s a whole other story). The technology is getting less expensive and more powerful every 12-24 months. There’s never been a better time to invest in this technology, and even though it will only improve, don’t let that prevent you from getting your feet wet with these extremely capable HDSLR cameras. So many commercials are being shot this way now, there’s an excellent chance you’ve seen HDSLR images on TV or before a theatrical motion picture and not been aware.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras

Last week was a really interesting week.  Somehow Hot Rod Cameras happened to get mentioned in a trifecta of on-line blogs.

Shane Hurlbut, ASC

First on May 26, accomplished Cinematographer and perhaps the #1 Canon HDSLR devotee, Shane Hurlbut, ASC wrote up a very flattering and very detailed blog about HRC and his new Hot Rod modded cameras.

Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC

Second, on May 27 Eoshd.com published the first of a massive 2-part interview with Director of Photography and HDSLR early adopter extraordinaire; Robert McLachlan, ASC, CSC- who to my knowledge was the first to employ an HDSLR with cinema lenses (some of my personal favorites- Cooke S4) for a primetime network TV series.  He talks about it in detail in the interview, you can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.  Robert was also extremely kind and sent a new photo testimonial for Hot Rod Cameras which you can see here.

And finally on March 28, DP and active HDSLR blogger Jared Abrams of Cinema5D.com and WideOpenCamera.com, posted a BTS (behind the scenes) teaser for a new documentary on the retro subculture of Los Angeles, shot on the original HRC 5D-PL prototype.  The teaser was shot in one of the best places to grab a pint downtown LA, the famous Redwood Bar and Grill, and showcases a lot of extremely low-light/wide open goodness!  Shot primarily with the fantastic PL mount Zeiss Compact Primes, which (in the spirit of full disclosure) are now available for sale directly from Hot Rod Cameras, call for details.  Here is the behind the scenes teaser for the documentary:

Whistle Bait – Behind the Scenes from MisaGarcia on Vimeo.