DPReview on 5 Big Improvements probably coming to Apple’s next MacBook Pro

DL Cade has a great article on possible new features of the next Apple Silicon MacBook Pro. It is very good read, but a couple of things on graphics really stood out for me.

According to several different leaks, the M1X SOC will be available in 16- and 32-core variants that could offer performance on par NVIDIA’s GTX 1650 and RTX 3070, respectively, while sipping less than half of the wattage. If these rumors turn out to be true, the M1X will offer the most powerful iGPU experience on the market, offering more than enough power for most GPU-accelerated photo and video editing tasks.

However, even if the M1X meets these expectations, we would also love for Apple to bring back support for eGPUs. For now, only Intel-based MacBooks support eGPUs, but according to French publication Mac4ever, M1 Macs can detect eGPUs when they’re connected, just don’t have the necessary drivers to put them to use. This could simply be a holdover for Intel-based Mac users on Big Sur, or it could be an indication that eGPU support is coming for more “professional-grade” users of Apple Silicon Macs. We sincerely hope it’s the latter.

Both of these are exciting. The current M1 scared me without it’s external GPU support and while that might or might not be coming, the possible performance of the GPU cores is fairly impressive, especially if they really make one with a lot more graphics cores. I still hate the ram being shared, and soldered since it will be so expensive, but if you can get at least 128 GB you will likely be pretty damn powerful. All speculation now though.

ProVideoCoalition on LumaFusion 3 for iPad added Stabilization and external hard drive support

Jose Antunes has an article at ProVideoCoalition on the recently released upgrade to LumaFusion for iPad, version 3.0. The update includes stabilization software from CoreMelt, and the ability to use external drives, especially for the new iPad Pro with USB 4.0. It also has a new graphic equalizer.

I have actually used LumaFusion as it is the most standard type editing program on iPad, if you can use Premiere or AVID you can easily use LumaFusion. It is well worth it’s $29.95 price.

Shotdeck a subscription based web site with high definition images from movies

So I have not subscribed to this (though I would love to), but this is a very cool idea. Shotdeck is a web site with a library of HD images from movies, that you can use for reference and share with other users. It is $99 a year of $12.95 a month. And you can get a 2 week free trial.

Honestly I am always looking for movie stills and they can be a huge pain in the ass to get, because of Copy Protection. I often find myself ripping a blu-ray just to make a screen shot to get reference images, so this is pretty incredible. I can really see a director subscribing to this to show a look that they want. Now this is mainly going to be for very cinematic shots because that is what they are going for here, but certainly I can see it’s uses.

ProVideo Coalition Evaluating Houshold Bulbs for Cinema Use

Kenny McMillan at the ProVideoCoalition has a great article on him evaluating household LED bulbs for Cinema Use, using a modern light meter.

I find this super interesting especially since I have had bad problem with this when trying to shoot with household lights.

Of course I wish I could afford a real Sekonic color meter but starting around $1699 that is not going to happen anytime soon! Ha!