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MillimeterVanguard Awards 2008
Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Trevor Boyer
Fourteen new products represent technology’s leaps and bounds.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Digital SLR cameras have captured motion video for years, but until very recently, even the biggest SD cards had trouble storing a usable amount of footage that was heavily stepped on to boot. Now Canon's EOS 5D Mark II offers 1920×1080 24p image capture at ISO 3200, using MPEG-4 compression and capturing to MOV format. Need your still photographer to pull double-duty by capturing B-roll, especially from a tripod? The 5D could fit the bill. Consumer demand for high-res video capture and improved, lower-noise CMOS imagers have made this feature possible, according to judge Barry Braverman. Our judges picked the Canon 5D over the Nikon D90 because it has an 1/8in. jack for an external mic and it exhibits less in the way of rolling-shutter artifacts (but there's still room for improvement).
Sony PMW-EX3
With the PMW-EX3, Sony introduced several innovative features in a camcorder that closely followed the related EX1. Both are XDCAM EX models that record 25Mbps and 35Mbps HD video to SxS cards. So what's highest on reviewer and Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner's list of advances for the EX3? “Interchangeable lenses, a radical new lens mount design, huge LCD viewfinder, remote CCU operability, even a dial to adjust frame rate in one-frame increments,” he says. Modularity is key for the 1/2in. 3-CMOS camcorder: The EX3 has an extensible shoulder brace, and it can fit 2/3in. lenses using the optional Fujinon ACM-21 adapter.
Sorenson Media Squeeze 5
Video encoders don't get much better than Sorenson Media Squeeze 5 — accessible, complete, and output quality that's best-in-class. Squeeze is easy to use, and it's available on both Mac and Windows platforms. The program uses category-leader MainConcept's H.264 codec and produces high-quality VP6 and VC-1 output to boot. It's not perfect — de-interlacing remains a weakness — but no encoding tool is. “Overall, it's the most reliable performer in the sub-$1,000 class,” judge Jan Ozer says. (Read how it performs on p. 42.)
HP DreamColor LP2480zx
The new 24in. DreamColor LP2480zx 1920×1200 monitor from HP is no ordinary LCD screen. While it has the latest in LED backlighting, check out the imprimatur of DreamWorks Animation, which collaborated with HP over the course of two years to develop the DreamColor technology engine. The newly developed 30-bit technology delivers more than 1 billion color shadings as well as top-notch black-level detail, all with an accuracy that positions the $3,499 screen to deliver the proverbial shot across the bow against dramatically more expensive LCD reference monitors. Such audacity from a nontraditional supplier earns a Vanguard for disruptiveness, but the real winners will be folks using apps such as Apple Final Cut Pro, who will now finally benefit from Final Cut's top-notch color-correction ability. The LP2480zx includes the HP DreamColor engine software, which manages the display's color accuracy, and the DreamColor calibration kit.
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