The Small-Format HD Quality Puzzle
By almost every measure, small-format HD cameras should be worse than their larger counterparts. So why do their pictures seem so good? They are HDTV and do use technologies available […] More
Moving Slowly to the Next Miracle
Originally published in Videography October 2007 Who makes small professional HDTV camcorders? That’s easy: Canon, JVC, Panasonic, and Sony. Who else makes larger HDTV cameras? Grass Valley, Hitachi, and Ikegami. […] More
Format Factor Fundamentals
Originally published in Videography magazine, May 2007 At last month’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, a number of cameras drew interest. There were, for example, Grass Valley’s new version […] More
New Year's Resolution
originally published in Videography January 2006 Numbers are peculiar. Most people would consider the question “Which is faster, a house or a statue?” unanswerable. “Which is heavier, an apple or […] More
There's No Such Thing As HDTV
Originally published in Videography July 2005 Which is perceptually bigger: a tabletop-sized home video screen or the screen of a movie theater? Which offers a greater range of shades of […] More
The Digital Shot Calculator
Originally published in Videography April 2005 A man stretches out both arms, hands with fingers together, thumbs stretched out and touching, as though framing a shot. He wears a cap […] More
Preparing for Act III
Originally published in Videography November 2004 If videography is a grand drama, shooting may be considered Act I (with pre-production the Prologue). Post-production editing would then be Act II. If […] More
The Cerulean Crux
Originally published in Videography October 2004 There are a number of problems associated with the display of video imagery. For one thing, physical objects have shapes. For another, shadows may […] More
Focusing on Size
Originally published in Videography September 2004 Here are two questions currently facing videographers: What is the size of a Super 35 mm film frame? And, more important, who cares? Throughout […] More
People Who Need People
this is a Originally published in Videography April 2004 The technology of videography advances inexorably, but those advances don’t eliminate the need for people. Question: How many videographers does it […] More