The Tao Colorist

• The DIT Dilemma - "If you are interested in knowing what a DIT does, ask a DIT. But I was interested in knowing what a DIT should do: so I asked the people who hire them." An insightful blog post by Michael Cioni of Light Iron. He covers not only the job of the DIT - but also the post house and wonders if either will survive through the end of this decade. (michaelcioni.tumblr.com)

• A Short Letter in Perspective - Dying of cancer an ad exec offers his perspective of 'Was It Worth It?" He covers everything from shrinking budgets to shorter deadlines to insanely long work hours. It's almost poetic. Everyone in film or tv should take the time to read this; which is why I put it up here at the top of the newsletter. (lindsredding.com)

• Hitting the Exposure Sweet Spot - An informative post by Art Adams to help you understand the purpose of recording in Log, what happens when we apply a LUT or S-Curve to expand out the contrast and why you should test how your camera records. (provideocoalition.com via @JimWicks)

• Beautified Naturalism - DP Jendra Jarnagin talks about her decisions in selecting lenses, lighting and framing (and how her choices have evolved over time) in the context of her latest indie feature. Jendra is a Friend of the Tao and it's terrific to hear her share her craft. (digitalcinemareport.com)

• [Video] Sony F5 and F55 Test Footage - Alright, so this week's The Craft is filled with DPs. That's fine with me if it helps me understand  the images I'm working with and the challenges of my most closely allied peers. This post does exactly that - with a great series of exposure tests showing the remarkable ability of the newest Sony cameras to retrieve over-exposed image detail. Watch the embedded video for an eye-opening series of tests. (thefilmbakery.com)     

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

• How to Prepare yourself for RAW - Assuming the BMCC starts shipping in quantity, a lot of our clients are going to be talking about shooting RAW. This post tries to help you wrap your mind around the concept... and the realities. The bit about SSDs is a particularly good warning. (ryanewalters.com)

• [Videos] DaVinci Resolve Colour Grading Tutorials - Jonny Elwyn collects a bunch of recent color grading tutorials in this 'round-up post'. Rather than re-post them here, jump over to his site for videos on Syncing Dailies, LUTs, a color pipeline White Paper from the Visual Effects Society and a website recommendation (or two).  (jonnyelwyn.co.uk via @JimWicks)

• [Review] Film Convert - Oliver Peters takes a look at a new film emulation application and plug-in. Film Convert follows the path of a few other plug-ins and LUT providers by using test charts to tonally map digital cameras to specific film stocks. (digitalfilms.wordpress.com)

• Understanding Magic Bullet(s) - fxPhd founder Mike Seymour tries to make sense of the huge array of Red Giant products that contain the name 'Magic Bullet' in front of them. I disagree with Mike on one point... Colorista II has a place in your NLE toolbox that Looks doesn't cover. (fxguide.com)

• Adobe Speedgrade CS6 Tutorial - If you're struggling with Speedgrade then seeing how someone else grades in that app can be very useful. (vimeo.com)

• 5 Reasons for Editors to Learn DaVinci Resolve - Like the title says. (splicevine.com via @LarryJordanFCP)

• Using Look Presets in SpeedGrade - Where to find and how to apply the Looks presets that ship with SpeedGrade. (blogs.adobe.com)

• Dailies workflow with LiveGrade and Resolve - Most interesting is using LiveGrade to move Alexa Look files into Resolve. (kb.pomfort.com @post_vfx)

• BMCC CinemaDNG Workflow for Premiere Pro and After Effects - It's a workaround. (freshdv.com via David E. Bell)

• AMPAS IIF ACES - A solid explanation of ACES, the problem it's trying to solve and why colorists need to keep an eye on its progress. (thedigitalparade.blogspot.com)

• [Review] Divergent Media's ScopeBox - "If you need a high-end scope, you probably already own one. ScopeBox offers a refreshing alternative 'for the rest of us.'" Agreed. (postmagazine.com)

• The Hobbit: HFR 3D - "I'm all for progress and pushing the art and craft of motion picture filmmaking into the next stage of its evolution but I must say that for me, HFR 3D cheapens the cinematic experience." My feeling, exactly. I'm just pleased that we all got to see this experiment for ourselves, rather than hearing about camera tests screened at the DGA theater. (negativespaces.com)

• 5 Year-End Video Stories you may have missed - Intel TV, Netflix holiday outages, Disney's 'TV Everywhere', internet ad buying, and a music video topping 1 billion views. (videonuze.com)

• Looking ahead to 2013 in post-production - "a silent minority . . . will either build or buy a screamingly fast PC and get their work done with Avid's tools or the Adobe suite, faster than most of us using a Mac. That is until something in their system goes down and they are forced to troubleshoot." And there's lots more where that came from. It's a fun stream-of-consciousness look forward. (provideocoalition.com via @Jorge_Soto_Vigo)

• Hollywood makes 2013 the year of the sequel - "By one count, a record 31 sequels and 17 reboots are expected to hit screens next year as executives steer clear of original and potentially costly ideas." Click through to see the biggest flops of 2012. (telegraph.co.uk)

• Headline for One Day: Intel set on to destroy cable TV Industry - For a good laugh, click through to Philip's link to the Macalope's take on this story. (philiphodgetts.com)

• [Video]  David Wood on High Frame Rates - I enjoyed this video. (tech.ebu.ch via @marcin zwolski)

• Three TV improvements more worthwhile than Ultra HD 4K - Contrast, compression and color. (reviews.cnet.com)

Outside 'The Box'

• [Video] Ten Rules for Film and TV Directors - I think FilmmakerIQ mis-understood Rule #2. With so many distractions on-set, focusing on what's going on inside the frame during the shoot is one tough job. (filmmakeriq.com)

• [Video] LED lights and colour differences - From the EBU about the poor color rendering of LED lights. It looks like they're trying to come up with a CRI for LEDs. (youtube.com)

• Light that isn't there - "Often when you light you are just trying to close the gap between what your eye can see and what you camera can record. In other words you are trying to compress a contrast range, but in a believable way." If you create or manipulate images you might find something useful in here to take away. (strobist.blogspot.com)

Edumacate Yer'self

• Baselight and Color Science - Los Angeles, Jan 16th. Baselight user group meeting will preview Baselight 4.4 and demo 4K & ACES workflows. (filmlight.ltd.uk via icolorist.com)

• Digital Process Workflow Sessions - Los Angeles, Jan 23. Get demos of Filmlight's FLIP system, Baselight and Baselight non-linear editor plug-ins. (filmlight.ltd.uk)

• Red Production to Post Workshop - New York, Jan 23. A two-day workshop covering the Epic and Scarlet, working with R3D files, finishing and final outputs. (training.abelcine.com)

• Cine-tal and Dolby Color Science Class - New York, Jan  26. This full day class will cover color science and theory, calibration, ACES and probes. (training.abelcine.com)

• Charles Poynton: Webinar Colour Pipeline for HD Display - Jan 28 - 30 this webinar is for very high level developers and manufacturers. (poynton.com)

• San Francisco 2013 SuperMeet Workshops - Jan 30 - Includes workshops on Adobe CS 6, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and DaVinci Resolve. (sf2013workshops.eventbrite.com)

• Avid's 'Secrets from Inside Bad Robot' Webinar  - Available for free and on-demand. (app.info.avid.com)     

• Jiro Dreams of Sushi - After watching the documentary, the Tao Treasurer now dreams of Jiro's Sushi. And ANYONE interested in learning from great craftsman needs to watch this film. The first 10 minutes says everything there is to say. Not sure why it's here in the Funnies, other than I couldn't figure out where else to put it. (kottke.org)

• All I want for Next Christmas is a compact, desk-top, 3D Replicator - Yes, please! And now you know where you'll find me the next time I'm in Manhattan. (underpaintings.blogspot.com)

• [Video] Watch a GoPro Hero 2 Dunked into Liquid Nitrogen - That's one heck of a housing! (filmmakeriq.com)

• [Video] Pebble Watch is the smartest timepiece ever (hands-on) - From CES 2013. Gotta say, if this is a good looking watch then I need a Level 4 recalibration of my definition of 'good looking'. (reviews.cnet.com)

• [Video] CES 2013: Audi Piloted Parking  - Two comments: This car drives like its a 12-year-old on a joy ride plus this video could be cut down by 50%... it's cool tech but painful to watch. (youtube.com)

• CES 2013: Samsung Youm Flexible OLED Display - Cool tech. Poor presentation. (youtube.com)

• Hot Chocolate tastes better in an Orange Cup (popsci.com via @JimWicks)

• A quick look at some of the Rigs and Camera used on The Hobbit - Just fun to look at. (cinescopophilia.com)

Weekend Warriors

• Panasonic unleashes first prototype 4K OLED - 56-inches. (ces.cnet.com)

• LG's $12K OLED TV ships in March - 22 pounds. 55-inches. Could this be the next rage in client monitors for grading suites? I wonder how well it'll match to the Sony BVM OLEDs? (reviews.cnet.com)

Gear Heads

• Six Benchmarks: 'Late 2012' 27-inch iMac (barefeats.com)

• Pro App Shootout, Part 1 'Late 2012' 27-inch iMac - Benchmarks for FCPx, Motion and Aperture. (barefeats.com)

• Pro App Shootout, Part 2 'Late 2012' 27-inch iMac - Benchmarks for Premiere Pro, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve. (barefeats.com)

• Do You Need Mac Anti-Virus Software in 2013? The answer is unsurprising. (tidbits.com)