For years we have been hearing about the next great innovation in television displays. 3D, 4K, curved, you name it, there is always a new buzzword that is used to push consumers to buy new TVs. These display trends certainly mirror the trends in camera technology, both the good and the bad. The latest buzzword that you may have heard is HDR or High Dynamic Range displays.

Dust and debris on your sensor can be a real problem when shooting with a closed down iris, particularly in bright environments, like a snowy exterior scene, or when shooting tabletop elements. Dust often shows up as soft dark spots in the image. In the video, I show you one simple way to clear your image of dust, debris and smudges.

Data archiving is not something most of us want to think about, but it's a reality that all filmmakers have to face today. The demand for lower compression and higher resolution material is increasing, meaning that we all eat through hard drives much faster. On the bright side, archiving is getting easier and more affordable all the time. The LTO tape format has become the standard for data archiving in our business, and the new LTFS (Linear Tape File System) makes it easy to use. One downside of an LTO deck setup is that it is usually tied to a full computer workstation. That's where mLogic's mTape comes in.

Back in October Canon announced the C100 Mark II, the successor to the original C100. While keeping the same Super 35 sensor as the C100, the new model offers a number of welcome upgrades to image quality and functionality. We're now starting to see the first few shipments of the Mark II, so in the video above, I spend some time exploring these updates.

Sony is known for their reliable and proven Optical Disc technology. Many of us have countless numbers of their XDCAM discs on our shelves serving as an archive, just like we used to do with tape stock. Sony has recognized the need to archive material in a larger format with the same reliability (up to 50 years based on testing), so they built an Optical Disc Cartridge, which combines 12 discs into one container, sort of like a car CD changer. Cartridges come in sizes up to 1.5 TB, in either write-one or re-writable formats.

The Sony PXW-FS7 is causing a lot of buzz, and with good reason, since it can acquire multiple resolutions and codecs. The XDCA-FS7 is an extension unit that attaches to the back of the FS7, providing inputs and outputs, as well as the ability to export Raw for external recording.

Although 4K compressed recording is still in the works for the Phantom Flex4K, you can now use Convergent Design's Odyssey 7Q and 7Q+ to capture high-speed 4K playback from the Phantom camera.

Now that Panasonic has released their highly-anticipated VariCam 35 and VariCam HS, we wanted to break down some lenses and accessories that complement these new cameras.

With the new Panasonic VariCam 35 and VariCam HS cameras now shipping, I'm excited to give you a full tour of the camera system and its features.