Production
Indie-Dolly Systems Slider Dolly System at NAB2012
Another day, another rock solid slider system at NAB 2012. My previous report detailed the MYT 3 in 1 Slider Dolly System from MYT WORKS of Brooklyn, NY. Like minds on the other side of the country have arrived at a similar design that, thankfully, offers the kind of rigid, professional support that is often Read More
GoPro… Going even more Pro
Some of you may recall that I wrote about the GoPro Hero HD camera a couple years ago. Despite the low cost of the basic camera, it produces amazing images with enough quality to be utilized in many professional broadcast and production applications. Fast forward a couple years and it’s clear that GoPro hasn’t been Read More
MYT WORKS 3 in 1 Slider Dolly System at NAB2012
In a world where cameras are smaller and more versatile dollies have often given way to all manner of fluid movement devices. Most have evolved some type of friction-less rail system, ushering in the “age of the slider.” While that’s great for filmmakers, it’s also sometimes a bit frustrating. Many sliders don’t really deliver exactly Read More
Review: Vinten Vision blue5 Video Support System
Another NAB, another Vinten review! Yes, it’s that time again: tinker and test, tweak and note, dust off the keyboard and set about disseminating the information. This is something of a “two for one” deal. This was necessitated by the fact that Peter Harman at Vinten kindly sent me the Vision blue5 for the review, and very nice it is too. However, it’s COG/ Mass graph quickly demonstrated that all of my Video cameras, even piled/ bolted one on top of the other, weren’t going to get the Counter Balance system to play ball in a fit. Cue: a mad scrabble to prise one of the very first prototypes of the new CB100 (more of that anon) out of my business / design partner / machine and powder coat shops in Texas. As I write this (eight days before copy deadline) it’s currently shown as “somewhere between Chicago (?) and New Zealand,” just what I really didn’t need.
Review: “Hot to Set Up and Shoot Awesome Interviews with LED Lights” DVD from Vortex Media
Posted to our forum by DVi member Ian Campbell: I got my DVD copy of “How to Setup, Light, & Shoot Great Looking Interviews” in yesterday’s mail. I’ve now watched the DVD twice, and I made some notes and wrote a review of sorts. Here goes! I bought the first lighting DVD Vortex offered a Read More
Review: Manfrotto 504HD/ 546GBK Video Support System
The three levers, tilt, pan and slide plate lock, all have 6-position spring loaded lever arms allowing easy re–positioning at 60º intervals, although the latter two are not retained, so can easily be wound clean off the head. They all look readily replaceable in the event they take a fatal smack.
I have read somewhere that there is an issue with the slide plate lock lever swinging above the head plate and thus not allowing a “hippy” camera system to lock, or only with difficulty. As that lever only requires a 90º swing from full lock to off, and vice versa, and the lever arm is repositionable in 60º increments, if you can’t configure the lever arm not to swing above the head plate, you simply haven’t grasped how these levers work. This is a non-issue, and it’s simply not true.
Zacuto EVF Test Drive
Note: This article was originally published by J.J. Kim and is reprinted here with his kind permission. I am very happy that I got to beta test the new Zacuto EVF, and had opportunity to use it while I was shooting a wedding past weekend. I always wanted better options for using DSLR’s for shooting Read More
Interview: Convergent Design unveils Gemini 4:4:4
Newsletter editor Amber Cowles, interviews Mike Schell, President of Convergent Design, about the new Gemini 4:4:4 full uncompressed recorder. Can you give us a brief description of your new HD recorder: Gemini 4:4:4? Gemini 4:4:4 is a revolutionary full uncompressed HD recorder which stores video/audio data onto two removable 1.8” SSDs (Solid State Drive) for Read More
Review: Libec RS 250M Video Support System
The pan, tilt and slide plate lock levers have stops preventing them from being accidentally unscrewed from the head. In addition, the slide plate lock lever has a 90-degree throw from horizontal against the “off” stop to vertically downward, which keeps it from swinging above the head plate, which would prevent it locking with some of the more “hippy” camera rigs. Should that change due to wear, it is adjustable using an Allen key. Interestingly, that lever shows no signs of self-locking during transit, which is a big plus, but its position down behind the RH pan bar rosette and lever is the usual pain for access. The head is very easy to level, perhaps the easiest of the bunch, as a result of having exceedingly smooth finishes to both the head ball and the receiver bowl, in combination with a very jitter free levelling bubble and a “bubble centre” dot aiding correct alignment, IF you can get a hand to the clamp knob, which I’ll go into later.
First Look: SmallHD DP6 vs. Marshall V-LCD50-HDMI
Menu-wise, there are many similarities and many differences. As noted I won’t go into them here, the manufacturer’s websites have a fair amount listed and others will cover all of this. Suffice to say that both have many of the desired features such as image flip, focus assist and the like. The 5″ uniquely has framelines; the DP6 has a custom scaling feature. Whether you need either feature depends on how you use these monitors.
