...gets posted on here! So last week I went to NAB in Las Vegas and I had a great time! I asked you guys to let me know if there was anything in particular you wanted to know about, and most of you responded with Blackmagic cameras, so here goes!
Part of the awesomeness of NAB was the chance to meet some really cool people. After being a user/tutorial maker of their products for years, I finally got to meet and hang out with the FXHOME/HitFilm crew, which was a mini-dream come true! (pardon my fanboyism)
Meeting Andrew Kramer.
Also got to meet Sam and Niko of Corridor Digital (pretty great guys) as well as Andrew Kramer of Video Copilot, so that was fun! I also met a guy dressed up as Chucky, but I was too scared to take a picture with him so I walked away! Anyways, here are the things you requested:
Sony Vegas 13
A user wanted to know my thoughts on the new Vegas 13 software, so I had one of Sony's specialists (I'll call him a specialist since I'm not really sure what his actual job title was) walk me through the the new features in 13. I used to be a Vegas user before moving to Premiere, so I was also pretty excited myself.
One of the main new features he went over are the new effects from HitFilm Plugins that are included with Vegas 13. There are 7 new effects total, and overall they are pretty neat—specially the Light Flares effect, which should take Vegas's lens flare capabilities to a whole new level.
He also showed me some minimal improvements done to how you edit in Vegas such as new shortcuts and easier ways to roll, slip, and move clips on the timeline. Neat stuff, but nothing too major. From what I could tell, there's not a whole lot that is different from 12, though it is an improvement.
Blackmagic URSA, Studio Camera, and DaVinci Resolve 11
I feel a bit weird writing about this now because the internet has already been flooded with all kinds of information about the new Blackmagic products. I did get an overview from one of Blackmagic's... uh... specialists, and he mentioned that the URSA camera uses the same sensor as the Production 4K camera, so expect the same image, dynamic range, and low light capabilities in both cameras.
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You can download some footage I shot with the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K if you want to play around with the image. Additionally, the 1080p Studio camera has the same sensor as the Pocket Camera, so the 4K Studio Camera is the only one with a brand new sensor. When I asked about the low light capabilities of these cameras, the response was a mere "It's OK." (Yay for honesty!)
The URSA does look and feel pretty beastly though. Aside from the massive and beautiful 10" display, it also has 2 additional displays on each side for better multitasking. It has more audio controls than previous BM cameras, more professional inputs/outputs, and it's actually shaped like a camera!
This is definitely not a run-and-gun type camera due to it's size, weight, and overall design, but it wasn't intended to be. You will need a crew to properly use this camera, so keep that in mind.
As you might know, DaVinci Resolve, primarily a Color Grading system, received many new editing features. I attended the SuperMeet while in Vegas and Blackmagic had a presentation about these new features.
In my opinion, you could very well edit a whole video using only Resolve with these new tools, but the presenter didn't seem too confident that Resolve was actually ready to fully edit serious projects. He mostly talked about how you could use the tools in Resolve to do minor edits so you don't have to constantly move back and forth from your actual NLE every time you need to make a change.
Based on that presentation, my verdict is that while DaVinci Resolve seems to be on its way to becoming a full-pledged NLE, it's not quite there yet so you might want to hold on to you current NLE for now. Of course, my opinion could change once I actually start using Resolve 11!
Anything else? Let me know!
If there's anything else NAB related you'd like to know, leave a comment below. I covered only the above because that's what was requested, but I'd be glad to answer any other questions. As always, be sure to check out our stock footage and effects for all your motion graphics and visual effects needs!
