dslr video

Traveling with a GoPro camera can get pretty frustrating with it's short battery life. Every time I take the camera out, i'm constantly powering off. Sometimes I feel like I really missed opportunities when I decide I didn't want to waste battery life on something I should have shot.

At PhotoPlus 2014, the Polar Pro company shows off an excellent solution to short run times with the PowerPole. An all metal top to bottom telescoping pole with an integrated rechargeable battery. They've also come up with a few more unique accessories that add value when shooting with your GoPro cameras.


via RunPlayBack.com PhotoPlus Expo 2014

I guess if you want to power your GoPro camera via USB, you'll most likely need the skeleton housing which is not completely waterproof. Not all bad since I see thousands of vacationers using the GoPro on telescoping poles mainly for vacation selfies. You can find the PowerPole available at B&H (click here).

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find-price-button Polar Pro PowerPole Telescoping Pole with Intergrated Battery

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For the record, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason for the video you are about to see. It's purely random tests with the new Panasonic Lumix LX100 4K compact camera. Here's some very important notes about the video.

It was incredibly bright outdoors and the LX100 'NEEDS' an ND Filter. Unfortunately i'm traveling and the only one I could pick up was a very (very very) cheap 43mm Variable ND Filter. So if you see dark corners, or loss of sharpness, that's not the LX100. Yes i'm sure this really skews the results, but I seriously would not be able to have shot anything without one. I consider today to be just a big learning curve with the camera.

I tried shooting a variety of things, brick and roof tiles (testing aliasing), I shot people, I shot wide, I zoomed in, and I tested closeup macro. White balance was set to auto but you can tell it shifted quite a bit through the scenes. The extreme night shots were done at ISO 2000. This got pretty grainy, so you may want to keep things down under ISO 1600.

I was testing both manual and auto focus in video mode so you may see the camera hunt for focus at times. That could be me doing it manually, or sometimes it was the camera doing it. Focus peaking is available, but it's actually pretty subtle and sometimes didn't show up at all. Everything in this video was shot handheld - no tripods. I did at times use a PNC Pistol Grip, but that was it. The image stabilization on the lens worked pretty well despite my shaky hands.

4K Video Resolution
Here's another set of video clips [Uploaded in 4K resolution] I shot with the same cheap ND Filter the next day. I'm still using the Natural color profile with the settings turned down and adjusted the curves to bring up the shadows and push down the highlights. Make sure to watch it in full 4K resolution if you can.

Anyways, don't take the quality of these videos as a standard for the Panasonic LX100. The camera performs far better than what I was able to do in these random tests. It certainly takes some getting used to as there is no dedicated video mode. I also periodically ran into issues where I could not see how my aperture and shutter speed settings affected the image until 'after' I hit the record button. Basically you change your settings and think it's properly exposed until you hit record and then all of a sudden it goes dark. I believe there's some type of 'real-time preview' setting in the menu, which i'll have to dig for. Hopefully tomorrow i'll be a little more prepared and get better and more consistent video samples.

I was also amazed at the speed of wireless live view monitoring and controls with the Panasonic Image App. Maybe I haven't used it in a while, but it seems to be faster than with the GH4 when I first used it. Examining the video shot in 30p, I concluded that it was just 2 frames behind the camera's feed. The camera has 0 frame lag from what's actually happening 'live'.

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find-price-button Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 - via B&HPhoto

find-price-button Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 - via Amazon

find-price-button Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 - via Adorama

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So Canon's latest 7D Mark II has arrived (in stock now here) and they're pushing hard mainly marketing towards still photographers. It's actually quite an amazing camera for sports and action photos, but some may say it falls a bit short in the video market compared to the new offerings by Sony and Panasonic.

Yet mainly because of the image quality and color that can be achieved from Canon DSLRs, there are still many videographers who just can't let go of their Canon 5D Mark IIIs. The main gripe has been to at least upgrade to a camera that can add 1080p @60fps to their existing workflow. So much of a need that the latest Canon C100 Mark II at $5K+ was being heavily considered.

But now that the new Canon 7D Mark II offers 1080/60p at just $2149, offers excellent AF in video mode, and also allows you to attach an external HDMI Recorder to capture a higher quality ProRes, this might be a camera to fill that void for another year or two until Canon can finally release a proper 4K DSLR camera.

Canon's pretty smart about releasing just enough features to make it interesting enough for production teams running around with several Canon DSLRs, but not enough features to step into their high end Cinema market. I know a few people who already have eyes on this camera. For more information about the new 7D Mark II (click here).

Canon 7D Mark II
find-price-button Canon EOS 7D Mark II - via B&HPhoto

find-price-button Canon EOS 7D Mark II - via Adorama

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syrp magic carpet camera video slider motion control

According to the website, the new Magic Carpet Camera Slider from Syrp (starts at just $299) sold out on it's first release and pre-orders and will be ready to begin shipping by approximately the end of November. What is the Magic Carpet Slider? Here's a short intro video and product description below.

Product Description:
The Magic Carpet is a simple, portable solution for obtaining buttery smooth tracking slider shots. Designed with a full roller-bearing carriage and quick-release levers the Magic Carpet ensures your time on-location is well spent creating amazing footage rather than dealing with the technical setup of your shoot.

The Magic Carpet also comes motion control ready by simply adding the Genie (vimeo.com/46075511) to the track you are setup to film smooth motion control time-lapse or real-time video.

Either choose from a Short Track (2.6 Feet / 800mm) or a Long Track (5.2 Feet / 1600mm). It's universal design means you can easily add another length track to your kit and use the same carriage + end caps giving you the flexibility of longer camera movements and portability in one package.

Additional information about the Syrp Magic Carpet - Camera Slider and Motion Control options can be found via the product page (found here).

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find-price-button Syrp Magic Carpet - Camera Slider

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B&H has dedicated an entire full page of products currently on promotion in honor of the PhotoPlus Expo going on right now. Anything from Instant Savings to Mail in Rebate deals on popular photo / video products such as the Panasonic GH4, EVFs, LCD Monitors, Portable Audio Recorders, LED Lighting and more!

Below you'll find just a small snippet of what to expect on this deal page, and I encourage you guys to check out ALL of the products currently on promotion while the specials last over at the Show Specials Page (click here).

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Read More Button B&H Photo Video Show Specials Page

If you're stuck on the Lexar brand of flash media, and you just happen to need more, there's good news for you. Here's a long list of current Lexar Flash Media Deals including bundles on the high speed professional models. Anything from Compact Flash, SDHC, SDXC, microSDXC, to that insane Four-Bay USB 3.0 Reader Hub that will help speed up the process of transferring data.

Lexar 4 port USB hubLexar USB Hub
find-price-button Lexar Professional Workflow HR1 - Four-Bay USB 3.0 Reader Hub

Here's a list of some of the current deals happening now on Lexar brand Professional Flash Media and Readers via Adorama, and discounts end Nov 7, 2014.

*Lexar Professional 800x CompactFlash Cards, 2 Packs
*Lexar Class 10, 200x Platinum II Series Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Cards, 2 Packs
*Lexar 32GB Class 10, Professional 400x SDHC UHS-I Memory Card for Cameras, 2 Pack
*Lexar CLASS 10, Professional 600x SDHC UHS-I Memory Cards for Cameras, 2 Packs
*Lexar 32GB Professional 1066x CompactFlash Memory Card - Pack Of Two $149.95
*Lexar 64GB Professional 1066x CompactFlash Memory Card - Pack Of Two $269.95
*Lexar 128GB Professional 1066x Compact Flash Memory Card, Up to 160Mbps Read / Up to 155 Mbps Write Speed, UDMA 7, 2 Pack $489.95
*Lexar 32GB Class 10, Professional 400x SDHC UHS-I Memory Card for Cameras, 2 Pack $39.95
*Lexar 32Gb HP microSDHC UHS-I Class 10 Memeory Cards (300x) - Two (2) Pack $34.95
*Lexar 32GB High-Performance microSDHC 633x Class 10 UHS-I Memory Cards with USB 3.0 Reader - Two (2) Pack $59.95
*Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual Slot Memory Card Reader, 5GHz 500MB/s, Supports: UDMA 7 CompactFlash, CF 5.0, SDXC, and SD UHS-1 (SD 2.0 and SD 3.0) $29.95
*Lexar Professional Workflow USB 3.0 Card Reader (SD Only) $20.95
*Lexar Professional Workflow USB 3.0 Card Reader (CF Only) $20.95
*Lexar Professional Workflow HR1 - Four-Bay USB 3.0 Reader Hub - No Reader included, must be purchased seperately $53.95
*Lexar Multi-Card 25-in-1 USB 3.0 Memory Card Reader $22.95
*Lexar 16GB High-Performance microSDHC 633x Class 10 UHS-I Memory Card with USB 3.0 Reader $19.95
*Lexar 32GB High-Performance microSDHC 633x Class 10 UHS-I Memory Card with USB 3.0 Reader $29.95
*Lexar 64GB Class 10, Professional 600x SDXC UHS-I Memory Card for Cameras $43.95
*Lexar 128GB Class 10, Professional 600x SDXC UHS-I Memory Card for Cameras $76.95
*Lexar 32GB Professional 800x CompactFlash Card $48.95
*Lexar 64GB Professional 800x CompactFlash Card $77.95
*Lexar 32GB Professional SDHC UHS-I 600x Class 10 Memory Card for Cameras, 45MB/s Max. Write Speed $28.95

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The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 Digital Camera with built in 24-75mm Leica f/1.7-2.8 Lens & 4K Ultra HD Video is available now and in stock! I really want this camera and I think it would be a good replacement over my Sony RX100 which sits in my backpack pretty much everywhere I go. It's a bit pricey though coming in at $899, but I hear much of the guts are shared with the popular GH4 so the quality is definitely there.

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find-price-button Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 Digital Camera with built in 24-75mm Leica f/1.7-2.8 Lens & 4K Ultra HD Video

FotoDiox wanted to share their most recent discount on the FlapJack LED Light panels, and the discount code is shared in this little video below.

If you're not too familiar with these lights, check out the two main FlapJack product videos found HERE and HERE. Remember the discount code for these products is FJOL18, and the FlapJack LED Video Light catalog page is listed (here)


FotoDiox FlapJack UltraThin Lightweight LED Video Panels

Tascam DR-22WL 2-Channels Portable Handheld Audio Recorder with Wi-Fi, 3.5mm Mini Jack, Connector, 10kOhms Impedance, USB2.0 $149.99
Read More Button In-Stock Free Overnight Shipping

Tascam DR-44WL 4-Channels Portable Handheld Audio Recorder with Wi-Fi, 3.5mm Mini Jack, Connector, 2.2kOhms Impedance, USB2.0 $299.99
Read More Button In-Stock Free Overnight Shipping.

Tascam DR-60D MKII Portable Recorder for DSLR $199.99
Read More Button In-Stock Free Overnight Shipping.

Tascam DR-60D MKII Portable Recorder for DSLR - BUNDLE - with BeachTek SC35 3.5mm Stereo Output Cable, 4 Pack AA Batteries, and 16GB Class 10 Memory Card $209.99
Read More Button In-Stock Free Overnight Shipping.