Sony has added a ton of new features to the F5 and F55 with the release of their version 2.0 firmware (which you can download directly from Sony's Community site).

Zeiss has just starting shipping their new CZ.2 28-80 Compact Zoom lens. This lens joins their family of Compact Zooms, which also contains the 70-200 CZ.2 and their newly announced 15-30 CZ.2. The Compact Zoom lens family is similar to the Compact Primes in that these zooms cover the large full frame sensors that are found on cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III, 1D C, and also the large sensor area of the Red Epic Dragon at 6K. They also have interchangeable lens mount systems (PL, EF, F, MFT, E). These features make the lenses unique in the zoom world, as well as future-proof.

It seems like just yesterday we announced our 2013 AbelCine Documentary Grant and put out a call for submission videos to be uploaded to Vimeo. After a round of public voting, ten finalists were chosen and now, after much deliberation, our judging committee has decided on the three winners. Congratulations to Steven Liang, Danilo Lima, and Ecar Oden for being named the 2013 AbelCine Documentary Grant winners!

Last month, we posted some first impressions of Vision Research's new Flex4K camera from our friends Greg Wilson and Steve Romano. Recently Brain Farm, the Wyoming-based production house specializing in action sports cinematography, turned to award-winning skateboard film veteran Ty Evans to test the Flex4K in skateboard country - Southern California.

Mark Benjamin has spent the last thirty years building his reputation as a director and cinematographer through his work in film and television. As one of our AbelCine Documentary Grant judges, we asked him to talk a little bit more about his career, including some of the inspiration behind projects such as the Peabody Award-winning series Brick City that he created with filmmaker Marc Levin.

The Arri ALEXA XT, featuring a new XR recording module and in-camera ARRIRAW recording up to 120fps, has started shipping across the US. In this three part video series, Andy Shipsides goes hands-on with the camera and takes us through the technical details and workflow processes.

Many cameras today have a Rec.709 color mode or LUT mode included, which is great for making a pleasing image on a monitor. Since Rec.709 is a standard defined by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), we might assume that the Rec.709 mode in every camera would look about the same - but this never seems quite true.

There is no denying that anamorphic has come back in a big way this year, and it is more accessible than ever. With the increase of anamorphic glass in the market and the 4:3 sensor of the ALEXA Plus 4:3, more filmmakers are able to find an affordable way to get the anamorphic look.

Peter Schnall is a seven-time Emmy Award and Peabody Award winner who has been making distinctive films and documentaries for more than twenty-five years. We're excited to have Peter as one of our AbelCine Documentary Grant judges and he was nice enough to answer a few questions about his experiences working in the industry.