Kodak has updated their free iOS app Cinema Tools to add a simple Aspect Ratio feature. Using a default picture, or one loaded from your photo library, you can choose from 2-perf, 3-perf, 4-perf and 16mm motion picture film formats and then choose between 2.35:1, 1.85:1, 1.18:1 (16×9) or 1.33:1 (4×3) aspect ratios. The image is then cropped to display the results. Unfortunately, you can’t choose a focal length for the imaginary lens, so the tool is very limited. (For a better web-based example that covers digital cameras, check out AbelCine’s Field of View Comparator.) While several of the tools …

The day Sundance began, Daily Variety’s lead article kicked off with: “In this brave new indie world of VOD, shifting release windows, RED cameras [italics mine] and social media marketing…” I was struck by how little any of this has to do with indie filmmaking alone. As a token of digital revolution, RED cameras are so five years ago. It’s hard to storm the ramparts when last year’s #5 and #7 box office hits were shot with RED Epics (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Amazing Spider-Man). In fact, not only were last year’s #1 and #4 hits filmed with …

Zacuto, which rents HD cameras and DSLR camera accessories, gathered professional DPs and colorists for a “DSRL Shootout.” They compared the Canon 7D, 5D Mark 2, ID, the Panasonic GH1 and Nikon D3s and compared them to footage shot on Kodak and Fuji stock. The results were evaluated by a range of DPs, including indie cinematographers and ASC members, at AFI and Skywalker Ranch. The results are pretty astonishing. The first episode, a 35-minute piece in which all of these camera’s latitude are examined, is up but it’s not embeddable. See it at the link above. The trailer, however, is …

“From its beginnings as the home movie medium of the 1960s, Super 8 film is alive and well, and serving a vital segment of today’s filmmaking industry,” according to PRNewswire. “[And] Eastman Kodak Company remains committed to providing Super 8 camera users a range of products and creative choices. As such, Kodak has added a new color reversal film to its Super 8 portfolio — the super-saturated, fine grain KODAK EKTACHROME 64T Color Reversal Film 7280 will be available in August of this year. ” ‘Introduced in 1965, Super 8 film has found new life with each new generation of …