If you follow the DSLR news you likely know that the recent BIG NEWS was that the season finale of the FOX network show "House" was shot on the Canon 5D. This really is incredible when you think about it.... I mean, a network show can shoot on pretty much ANYTHING they want, including 35mm film - although that is becoming a rarity.

Anyway, as usual, DP Philip Bloom has done a great job of following this and actually scored an interview with the Executive Producer/Director of the show.

Here's a link to his blog with info on the shoot, and also a link to the audio from the interview. Well worth checking out...

http://philipbloom.co.uk/2010/04/19/in-depth-interview-with-executive-producer-and-director-of-house-season-finale-shot-on-canon-5dmkii/

-Blake

I personally own a Canon XH-A1 HDV camera and have been very happy with it over the last 3 years. We actually shot two of my web series, PINK and EXPOSED on it with a Letus DOF adapter. So when I heard about the release of the next generation of this camera I was intrigued.

The new version is called the XF300 (and XF305). They are tapeless cameras, which was expected, but what I was surprised about was they will shoot in the 4:2:2 color space at 50Mbps and onto standard (cost-effective) CF cards. Unlike the Panasonic HVX and the Sony EX series, Canon has chosen to go with the ubiquitous recording media, which I am very happy to hear. The Sony SxS cards and Panasonic's P2 cards are great, but they're also very expensive (yeah, still) costing upwards of $1000 or more depending on size (some smaller capacity cards are cheaper).

The Canon actually uses the same kind of cards my Canon 7D DSLR camera uses, which is pretty cool (and pretty interesting...). I wonder if Canon will "blend" this line of cameras with it's DSLR cameras in the future? This new XF300 uses 1/3" CMOS chips now (three of them instead of the one used in the DSLR), so why not give it one big one like the 7D or the 5D? Talk about a great camera! But I digress...

The new Canon XF cameras will be on display at NAB next week and available to buy in June. I'm not quite ready to get a new camera this summer, but come this fall I'll likely be an owner of one of these (btw, not to use instead of the 7D - which I love - but to use on corporate and commercial jobs that require more of an ENG or "run and gun" style of shooting).

Read more about the camera here...
http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=2998

-Blake