Problems installing AE or Premiere on OSX Lion?

I tried to install demo versions of Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, first on my iMac and eventually on my Macbook Pro. They both run OSX Lion and installation failed on both.

I found over one hundred pages of people complaining about the same errors, also with official installations. I was somewhat shocked to find out that Adobe is not helping at all. I tried the little advise they provided, and that was installing the latest version of Java for the mac. That did not change anything at all…

Problems include freeze of the installer, long lists of error-codes, complaints about user-rights, et cetera…

 

The solution is SO SIMPLE, and i don’t understand that Adobe has not come up with this solution. I tried the following myself and also made a whole bunch of frustrated people a lot happier!

- update the Java version on your OSX Lion mac: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1421   (ok, i’m not even sure that this is needed, but it is what i did)

- shut down your mac

- hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and power on the mac

- release the key if you see an unfamiliar progress bar at the bottom of the screen

- log in to your mac with a user that has administrator rights

- install the Adobe software of your choice

Tadaa!!

Your mac is now in “protected mode”. The screen may behave strange (flicker, slow), but after installations are done and a restart is issued, everything will be back to normal.

 

Cheers!

Martin.

Installing Canon EOS utilities and style editor on OSX Lion

I received many complaints about the Canon EOS utility not working under OSX Lion. That was a bit of a mystery to me, because i do have Lion and my Canon software is running fine! Eventually i found out that the reason was, that i was still using version 2.8.1.
And there lies the solution for the time being; until Canon gives us a Lion compatible version.

Officially you’ll have to acquire an official Canon v.2.8.1. installation CD. The downloadable installers you find on the internet are all updaters that don’t allow downgrading, and need a pre-installed version.

Here is an updater that does NOT require a preinstalled version and does do downgrading to EOS utility 2.8.1 and Picture Style Editor 1.7:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31127109/dontdelete/EOSUtility%202-8-1%20OS%20X%20Lion%20Compatible.zip

 

Cheers!

Martin

Marvels Cine shooters, please help keeping my IMDb page!

Dear Marvels Cine Profile users. A little cry for help
Your assistance is much appreciated..!

My IMDb page is in danger of being deleted because it has only been updated with one short (festival) credit ever since 2004. The fact that i’m working on two feature films to be released in 2013 and 2015 are not taken in consideration. I really feel miserable about this, because i’ve put a lot of energy in setting it up years ago, and because it’s an important extension to my bio. Having an IMDb page means being taken serious by colleagues – and most important – clients!

You can help me keeping my IMDb page by adding my name MARTIN BEEK to the credits of your IMDb-listed movie (short, doc, feature), if you’ve used our free Marvels Cine profile/Canon DSLR in any way on that production. Preferably under the crew role of “camera and electrical department->Color Consultant or Digital Image Technician or some other IMDb preset that has to do with camera, color or digital processing. Credited or uncredited does not matter, neither does the year of release.

Many many thanks and kind regards,

Martin Beek – Marvels Film
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3727391/

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

London Olympic Stadium holds 80,000 people. This blog was viewed about 360,000 times in 2011. If it were competing at London Olympic Stadium, it would take about 5 sold-out events for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Marvels Picture Styles, Plugins and donations

Marvels film, Jorgen Escher (colorbyjorg.wordpress.com) and i have published a number of free Picture styles (a.k.a. recipies, picture profiles, looks) and a free plugin for Final Cut Pro.

I don’t want to link to the files directly here, but list the URLs where you can download the latest version of each.

All these products are free and free to use (also professionally) and to share, with the sole exception that you may not charge money for it.

If you like the free Marvels profiles and/or plugins, you can make a small donation via PayPal by clicking the button below. This is voluntary and much appreciated  Donations will be spent annually (usually around Christmas) as a donation to a good cause. On december 23th 2011, the amount of 414 Euros was donated to Save The Children, via eBay MissionFish. Thanks for your donations!

• Marvels Cine Picture Style for Canon DSLR cameras v.3.4
  This special picture style for Canon DSLR (video) D-series cameras such as the 1D, 5D, 7D, 50D and others, has become very popular by both DSLR enthousiasts and professionals equally. Several feature films and many short films shot by the Canon 5Dmk2 have been shot using the Marvels Cine picture style.
  Also referred to, in many publications on the web, as: Marvels Advance, Marvels Flat, Marvels Cinestyle, Marvels Cine, Marvels Advanced flat, Marvels Panalog, and other…
  These are all names for one and the same product and it’s official page is here: http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/marvels-cine-canon/

• DSLR Moire Filter for Final Cut Pro v.1.01
  This FCP plugin battles the disturbing problem of micro-moire. Micro-moire manifests itself as red/blue color streaks and pixels that appear in natural and irregular patterns, such as hair, water and grass. Micro-moire is seldom visible on the camera’s LCD display and sometimes not even on a 7? external monitor. Many a good shot has been spoiled. Get them back off the shelf and run them through this new filter!
  Cameras that are prone to deliver this artifact are the Canon D series DSLR cameras, such as the 5D, 7D, 50D and others.
  The official page is here: http://colorbyjorg.wordpress.com/plugins/

• Panasonic AF100/101 flat picture style for cinematic look
  This is a set of manual settings for the Panny AF100/101 camera that was used for shooting several short movies and a feature film production.
  The official article is here: http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/panny-af100-af101-flat-picture-style-for-cinematic-look/

• Sony EX-1 flat picture profile for cinematic look 
  Before we had HDSLR cameras, i had to use either 16/35mm film cameras or HD videocameras with a “Depth of Field” adapters. I’m glad to say that this all belongs to the past now, but i still have fond memories of my first Sony HD camera, which was the EX-1 and later the EX-3. We used both the RedrockMico and Shoot35 DOF convertors and Nikon & Zeiss lenses. To program the camera in such a way that the imagery was matching 35mm film, we developed this picture profile.
  The official article is here: http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/all-new-sony-ex1-picture-profile-for-cinematic-look/

• Red Epic & Red Scarlet looks files: coming soon…

Panasonic releases terrific new 25p GH2 firmware!

UPDATE: on dvxuser.net, user PDR has reported that HDMI recording is still not possible from the GH2 without following the AviSynth workflow.

Panasonic (so not a “hacker”) has released new firmware for the Panasonic Lumix GH2, on december 7th 2011.

This firmware has some very interesting new features that render the “hacks” available less interesting for the majority of users.

The most important new features for video shooters include:

• better noise reduction algorithm
• 25P, 25P and 30P frame-rates
• HDMI output rumoured to be  un-crippled and fit for external recording (not tested yet!)
• new HIGH BITRATE film mode that records at 24Mbps
• improved video AF performance

If it’s really true that we can record a un-crippled HDMI signal with this firmware update, that can be played back and edited without going through that time-consuming Avisynth workflow, then i’d be absolutely flabbergasted and as happy as a monkey with the key to the banana plantation…

I’ve gone through the easy firmware update and that went like a breeze. Indeed, some new settings to play with.

My Ninja recorder is hired out ’til january 2012, so i can not test this at the moment. I hope that other Ninja or Blackmagic users out there can try things out and post their results here!

Here is the Panasonic download page: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/download/index.html

Cheers!

Martin Beek

Scarlet users of the world unite!

Yet another Red Camera targeted community site? Yes!
If you use, own, love or envy the Red Scarlet digital cinema camera, and want to share your experiences, footage, looks and/or frustrations; you’ve come to the right place at http://www.scarleteer.com ! Get answers on your questions from other Scarlet users and share your knowledge of digital filmmaking.

We need your help; your input, stories, footage, pictures, experiences, LUTs, looks, adventures and frustrations…
Start posting, start adding content and make this site a success! 

Scarleteer.com is a non-profit, no banners community and is not connected or affiliated in any way with the Red Camera corporation. All opinions, views and discussions ventilated on this site are not necessarily those of the Red Camera Co.

See you at scarleteer.com!

THX color science 101 webinar

The video link has been blocked for inclusion by Vimeo.

Visit the THX Color Science 101 webinar directly from: http://www.thx.com/professional/training-events/color-science-101-webinar/

Film finally something of the past at Marvels: ordered the Red Scarlet

After 30+ years of shooting on 16 and 35mm film, and tinkering with DSLR and HD cameras, we made the decision to trade a major part of our film equipment in for Redcode RAW based equipment and the workflow that comes with it.

We ordered the Scarlet X on november 7, so i hope ours is among the first batch – but Red can not give an estimate delivery date yet.

Exciting times!

Martin

What file sharing site do you use?

After having dealt with all of them in one way or the other, two file sharing systems remain my favorites.

I feel that Dropbox is the most convenient (and free) way of sharing footage with my friends and colleagues. Works via a simple webpage or as an extra drive on your computer; just drag and drop and generate public download links to your files! You can install Dropbox as an app on all your computers, phones and pads and access your files; they’ll be kept in sync. Visit the link below to open a free account and get 2 gb of storage free.
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTMxMTI3MTA5OQ?src=referrals_fb_post9

Another new player is www.wetransfer.com a no-nonsense no-subscription upload-and-share site with a 2gb file limit (not bad!).

The major drawback of almost all web-based file sharing services, is that they have their servers in either the USA or Asia. I live in Europe and i’m fed up with sluggish transfers (that also counts for Rapidshare and for Vimeo, but the latter is a whole different subject).

DropBox on the other hand has multiple servers in Europe, the US, South America, Near East, Africa and Asia – and has a unique load balancing mechanism. So, it’s fast.

Other suggestions?

Martin.

http://www.facebook.com/marvelsfilm