Canon Announces Its C80 Cinema Camera

On the heels of announcing its flagship camera and update to its popular portrait camera, Canon has announced another update to its cinema camera product line with the C80.

image credit Canon USA

This is an update to its C70 cinema camera that I really enjoyed. The update includes a few big changes and a pretty solid price. The C70 has a Super-35 sensor. The C80 has a full frame sensor. The C70 topped out at 4K resolution. The C80 tops out at 6K.

image credit Canon USA

A couple of years ago I talked about the C70 and its prowess. It definitely gets the job done for cinematographers, but it did have limitations when it came the Super-35 sensor. One being the crop factor as well as the difference in depth of field. I guess Canon took the hint from creators about this.

Other tech specs include two recording codecs, XF-AVC S and XF-HEVC S. Oh and yes, you can still shoot Canon RAW. I’m curious to know how the battery performs. Canon has had a bit of an up-and-down-and-up reputation when it comes to battery life on some of its cameras. I also wonder if the media slots are still SD card slots or now CF Express Type B. No mention of this in the press release.

UPDATE - The camera does have dual SD card slots. With that said, I recommend using V90 cards* for high resolutions and framerates.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get my hands on one of these Cameras, but I’m curious. I love the form-factor and the fact that it’s now full frame. More information on the announcement can be found on Canon’s site here.

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Building Your First DaVinci Resolve Node Tree For Color Grading

On my recent Creator Office Hours, I shared my understanding and workflow when it comes to coloring video footage in Davinci Resolve. Yes, I’m a proud Adobe Creative Cloud user and still use Premiere Pro* for video editing, but I also use DaVinci Resolve. Not to mention, I wanted to share this because not everyone can get Adobe Premiere Pro, but DaVinci Resolve is free with plenty of useable tools in its free version. So here’s a Creator Office Hours session with an overview of building out your node tree for color correction and color grading. Hope it helps you. Thank you for watching and thank you for being in my Patreon community.




*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Ya Better Get Some Lights - My Appearance on Office Hours with Alex Lindsay

I had the pleasure of being on Office Hours with Mr. Alex Lindsay today. I enjoy being on this panel, but I struggle with waking up on time to be on the mic with them on a regular basis. Some days I can’t be mic ready at 6am. Lol!

Check out the discussion below as we answer questions from the community regarding various items in photo and video such as slomo footage, inexpensive cameras, LUT packs and video editing information.

Good Boy

Kylo you’re such a great, dadgum dog. We’re truly going to miss you. I’m sad yet happy that you’re now with your older brother Jax in Heaven running around and playing together again. A few months back we had to have a mass surgically removed from your back. It was an absolute mess, yet you were so chill about it. The vet asked if I wanted to have it tested and I declined. I declined because I could see the reality of age when I looked at you. I hated to admit that I only had a few years left with you. Testing the mass that was removed was just going to state the obvious to me and cost me a ton of money which I don’t have.

You and me went through a lot from the very beginning. I still remember the day of holding you in my arms when I adopted you. Your personality was so much like mine. You were happy, but “even.” I remember laughing to myself thinking, “this rascal is gonna be 100lbs.”

Shortly after meeting, you gave us a scare. You had to have surgery to remove a blockage in your stomach. Apparently, you thought football gloves and socks tasted great. 🤦🏾‍♂️

Then I spent several days with you in a Penske moving truck driving across the country. It was so cool to see your enthusiasm to get in the truck and ride for hours and hours and days and days across the USA. And boy, did you STINK after a few days in there. I remember your heavy ass sleeping on my legs in the truck when we’d stop driving for a night to get some rest.

You adjusted nicely to California. And when it was time to make this latest move to a different neighborhood, you were a trooper. And you helped us make sure our youngest boy was able to get through high school graduation and off to college. Thank you for seeing that through.

Your work here is done, Kylo. You provided 8 years of great love and service to the family. Well done, sir. I am selfish and want more years with you, but that’s not fair. This is the circle of life when it comes to pets. You were patient with me as a parent when I probably could have done some things better. You were helpful when I needed those minutes of chill time to “let go” and “reset” myself. When I just wanted to sit on the porch, you understood and just did the same with me. Peacefully and quietly. Thank you. Cancer SUCKS, but as I said previously, I’m grateful that you’re not suffering or feeling any pain. Granted, if you felt pain, we never knew. You are a tough and resilient dog. Only recently we saw discomfort in you and we hated that for you. Be well, Kylo. Many, many THANKS to you for not only what you did for the family, but what you did for ME.

Office Hours With Alex Lindsay

I was on a episode of Office Hours hosted by Mr. Alex Lindsay and his colleagues. This is the first time I’ve been on the panel in a couple of years. Mr. Lindsay has asked me SEVERAL times to get my ass onto his panel, but I couldn’t because of my schedule and/or sleep. He’s been very supportive in my head and ears over the last few months. I’ve always enjoyed what he and the panel offers to the creative community far as information and tips. I really appreciate him. In this creative space, he’s been there done that. Be it from live streaming huge keynote events for some of the tech world’s largest companies, to working on the set of Star Wars. He has experience. I’ll try to be on Office Hours a little more in the future. It’s definitely an effort as it means for he and I it’s a 6AM hot mic and camera. Check out the show below.

Creator Office Hours: Stupid Hype of AI

On this week’s Creator Office Hours I had a fun time answering questions from the live viewers regarding a few things. Some things which are fascinating. Some things which are absolutely craptastic. . .in my opinion. Check it out below.

Notes of discussion:

DJI Avata 2*

Humane AI

Importance of degrees and education




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Judging for the International Mobile Film Festival

Each spring down in San Diego, the International Mobile Film Festival is held. It’s hosted by Susy Botello in an effort to shine a light on creators out there going against the grain in filmmaking by using their mobile devices instead of a “traditional” digital camera. I’m judging the event again this year, albeit remotely since I can’t make the trip down to San Diego. Other stuff going on that I have to handle and I can’t afford to make that many trips in one month (yet).

Image via Adobe Firefly*

I had roughly eight films to judge in my queue and it was an interesting experience. There were some creations I found to be quite impressive, and some not so much. But each of them shared one trait. Each filmmaker did the best they could with the mobile device camera’s capabilities. Lighting was key as the image sensors on these devices are so small. And for the films that went with low-light, the post-processing was done well enough to remove noise and artifacts. It’s pretty cool seeing what creators come up with these days - regardless of the tool.

If you’re interested in attending the International Mobile Film Festival, check out the website for more info.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

I'm Back On ZDNET

I’m back on ZDNET as of a few days ago. Some of you are probably saying, “back?” Yes, I’m back. Maybe I should clarify. Picture it. Charlotte, North Carolina. 2012. It was about 6AM local time. I was at my humble desk in my humble abode known as “Chateau Ghetto” taking a look at what was going on for the start of Mobile World Congress which was happening in Barcelona, Spain.

I hope I don’t upset ZDNet and Red Ventures by modifying this logo for story’s sake. . . .

At the time, I’d been invited to join a startup tech blog called aNewDomain which was lead by Gina Smith. My intent was to get up early and write about anything I found interesting regarding the conference. To my surprise, I found a PDF file from Microsoft detailing the consumer preview of its Windows 8 operating system. I thought it was pretty cool to see the documentation about the “new look” of Windows and put a blog post together detailing what I had found. An hour or so passes and my Google chat window started blowing up with messages of excitement from Gina Smith. This caught me by surprise. Apparently, my blog post about the “leaked” document was a big hit. This lead to other sites picking up the story and linking back to me. In particularly, Mr. Jason Hiner of ZDNet mentioned my post.

This blew my mind because I was a big fan of the work Mr. Hiner had done over the years as tech news and tech journalism was all the buzz. To see he mentioned lil’ ol’ me in his piece was something I’ll never forget. But anyway, I’m technically “back on” ZDNet now. This time I’m on the team as a freelance contributor.


What does this mean?

As a freelance contributor, I’ll be creating content around the wonky world of consumer technology in the form of blog posts and videos. I’ll also lend a hand in shooting photography for the team as a hired camera, if you will. I look forward to working with Mr. Hiner and the ZDNet team. He and I go back quite a ways as he also gave me a freelance gig many years ago on TechRepublic. When I joined TWiT in 2019, I had to drop my contributions to TechRepublic because of some dumb ass proposition here in California. But yes, this is going to be a fun exerience. I look forward to it.


Why freelance and not full-time?

I’m freelance for a couple of reasons. First off, full-time employment isn’t offered at this time. Which is fine. Secondly, I can’t say that I’m interested in full-time work at this time. Real talk.

For pretty much most of my professional career, I’ve been a bit of a self-starter and on my own. Even though the majority of my career was in IT at a big company of some sort, I had a lot of autonomy and freedom. I “worked from home” for many years before that phrase was normalized during the 2020 pandemic. I didn’t have to deal with micro-management leadership. I’m grateful for that. So I always felt like a contractor, or freelancer in that regard.

Now in 2023 and 2024, we continue to read and hear about companies struggling financially around the country. I was laid off from TWiT in December 2023. It wasn’t personal, it was business and it made sense. I would have laid me off, too. Not to mention other huge companies such as Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, Sony and many more laying off staff in the coming months.

Are you sure?

I personally don’t believe finding full-time work in my field is going to happen. It’s a tough business. I want to be in control of my own destiny for that reason. I previously worked at a company of almost half of my life. I was given an opportunity to take another job elsewhere for better wages even though I wasn’t looking for a new job. You know what the company said to me which I worked at for 16 years?

“Are you sure?”

Not, “what can we do to keep you here” or anything of that nature. NO FREAKIN’ LOYALTY TOWARDS ME or anything I’d done for the previous 16 years as an employee. I was naive and that changed my outlook going forward. I needed to be able to control my destiny.

What I went through at TWiT was great. The Laportes were great to me. I had autonomy and was also able to learn other things during my time there. But again, it was more of a mental note to me that I need to keep pushing to have control. So I’m doing everything I can to get Ant Pruitt Media back on track and rollin’ forward.

Anyway, that’s the news. Be sure to check out ZDNet for other great consumer tech content. They do a good job of keeping it real when it comes to all the fuss about the new hotness of tech. I’ll see you soon. Thanks for all the support.

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New G-Series Lens Announced From Sony

Sony continues its push of offering great image quality to hybrid shooters be it photography or video. Today Sony announces a new G-series 24-50mm f/2.8 lens for all of its E-mount, Sony shooters.

Image credit - Sony

Why does this matter?

So a new lens is announced. “What’s the big deal,” you ask? Well first, what’s big about this is the focal range and aperture. This focal range is ideal for both photography and video. Being an f/2.8 lens also offers great performance in low-light scenarios.

Speaking of the f/2.8 aperture, the aperture blades are important. In this new lens, Sony is offering 11 aperture blades. In entry-to-mid-level lenses, you’ll get seven aperture blades in most instances. Sometimes nine blades. These additional blades offer a much nicer looking bokeh effect while shooting wide open as well as helps reduce diffraction.

Lastly, the main reason this is big news is the weight of the lens. Sony states that the new G-series lens will come in at 440g, or 15.5oz for us uncivilized folks. One of the primary selling points of a mirrorless camera is the reduced body size and weight. I always thought this selling point was a bunch of bunk because most pro-grade lenses were freakin’ HEAVY compared to camera bodies, so the total camera package would still be considered heavy. But, I’m no marketing genius, so what do I know?

You can request your new lens from Sony for $1099 with delivery set for sometime in May 2024. Let me know if you decide to order one.