Reviews, tutorials and news on photo & video technology
The Illuminati light meter (links to review) is a Bluetooth light meter – in fact, it's the only Bluetooth one on the market so far – that you control through an app on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. The app is also available on Android, but as I only have an iOS device I'm going to …
Magix Audio has a plug-in to Sound Forge Pro for the Mac and iZotope’s RX 6 and 7 Advanced audio editors include a module called “Leveler”. Both allow you to correct audio levels, and now Accusonus has such a module too.
RX Advanced is iZotope’s flagship audio editor that started out as a sound correction/fixing application. A couple of versions ago, the app became a true editor with the ability to record and edit audio, and to fix, correct and adjust using a sophisticated machine learning algorithm. As with all technology, the app continuously evolves and improves, and the latest version, RX 7 Advanced, is now capable of intelligently identifying vocals, bass, percussion and other instruments in a mix. In addition, RX 7 Advanced now also supports surround sound in addition to mono and stereo.
Word Pop is one of FxFactory’s latest addition. It’s a set of Final Cut Pro X titles. They allow you to create anything from lower thirds to a full explanation in the centre of the frame. I first thought it was pretty much limited in what you can do with it, but it turned out to be more than meets the eye.
Manfrotto has expanded its video tripod range with two new twin-leg video tripods made of carbon fibre.
FxFactory has done it again: they’ve released a plug-in that everyone will want. It’s a plug-in that enables you to create tilt-shift, variable blur, and selective focus effects. That sounds a lot less exciting than it is.
Apple fills up their iMacs with far too little memory to be useful, so the first thing you want to do when you buy a new machine is think about installing additional memory. Apple’s memory isn’t cheap and iMacs – apart from the iMac Pro – can easily be upgraded after having purchased one with the standard 8GB installed. The question is how much you need to buy, given that even third-party RAM like that of Crucial isn’t for free. It all depends on what you plan out to do with your new iMac.
CalDigit’s Thunderbolt docks offer good value for money, but they’re all mains powered. The new MiniDock is powered by the Thunderbolt 3 bus of your computer, offers dual 4K monitor support, at least one USB 3.0 (5Gbps) port and a Gigabit Ethernet interface. It comes in two versions: with two DisplayPort 1.2 (4096x2160px) or two HDMI 2.0 ports (3840x2160px).
ScreenFlow 8 is a paid upgrade and it’s a big upgrade. Telestream has made ScreenFlow a more professional video editing tool with a detachable timeline and track thumbnails. It’s faster and has time-saving templates and styles that resemble Photoshop more than it does a NLE. And it comes with a subscription-based royalty-free stock media library that has video clips, backgrounds and audio tracks.
Roxio once again has upgraded their optical media burning app for the Mac, Toast, and added some nifty and useful features in version 17. Obsolete, I hear you say? Not in a million years, at least not when you’re using M-Discs to record your valuable data. Toast 17 is a 64-bit app and it heavily focuses on what still is a booming market: video.
