Photography Gadgets

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Letus-Hawk-T3i (3 of 10)
Canon T3i / 600D shown with Letus Hawk VF LCD View Finder

Letus created a Hawk VF (View Finder) for the 3:2 aspect DSLR LCD's like the T2i. It so happened to fit on the Canon 60D and fits pretty nicely on the Canon T3i as well. There's a base plate that is mounted to the bottom of the camera (still supports a tripod mount), and the Hawk VF View Finder is attached through a quick release system. It's a great semi-permanent way to attach a View Finder to the T3i without the use of sticky frames. For a closer look at how that all comes together, check out the video below.

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What's the purpose of a Matte Box? The big flags help shade the lens from flares or any little bit of light adding better color and contrast, and also allows placement of certain filters such as ND, Gradients, and Polarizers. With filters you would be able to control shutter drag, aperture, color, and other details. Nothing beats the real thing, but if you can't afford it, there's some clever DIY tutorials out there. YouTube member EquippedforMedia puts together a DIY Matte Box starting with a tray for a weighing scale. Filter holder is the popular Cokin P series, which i've used myself in Hawaii.

The Cokin Filter system is a light weight cheap filter kit (mostly plastic), but great for traveling and keeping things light. With a good Gradient ND Filter you can bring down the bright sky while still maintaining proper exposure on the landscape. Keep in mind these filters are not just for video, but enhance your Photography too. One thing to keep in mind that as you stack filters in front of the lens, it's harder to manage with Wide Angle Lenses.

So instead of going the DIY route to control Lens flare, Cokin already has a square hood with filter holder to get you started with a Matte Box type look, and filter holder functionality. They are also stackable so that you can make the hood longer or shorter. What you'll need to make this happen is the Filter Ring (choose correct size), Filter Holder, Square Hood (or several), and P Series Filters. You could probably score all of this for under $30 bucks.

Screen shot 2011-03-07 at 8.47.30 AM
find-price-button Cokin P Series Filters, Filter Holders, Square Lens Hoods

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If you're looking to do Timelapse with the GH2, there's a few options for remotes (none as cheap as the ones available for Canon). Vimeo member Olivia writes in showing the Pixel Intervalometer (a.k.a Timer Remote) in action. Seems to do the job pretty well firing off the camera at whatever chosen interval setting. Not sure what's going on with all those extra menu options such as Delay and Long. The Pixel one she's using is cheapest via Amazon than through eBay, and you can find it below. [Thanks Olivia]

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find-price-button Pixel Timer Remote Control Shutter for Panasonic

Of course i'm always looking for a deal, but unfortunately eBay isn't the place to find a cheap Intervalometer for the GH2 at the moment. There's actually a different model that runs even cheaper than Olivia's, but says only 5 left. Does it work? No reviews on this one just yet, but i'm guessing it works just fine. I might have to grab me one of these.

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find-price-button LCD Timer Remote Controller for PANASONIC

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The 352 LED Ring light has a certain effect on how it throws light around a subject, so my buddy Dave decided to test it with a Photo Shoot. I removed the ugly bracket and just used a Friction Power Arm. With the Power arm, it can be mounted onto a light stand or to a camera hot shoe and also allows it to be positioned in many ways.

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find-price-button Adjustable Accessory Power Friction Arm

The Ring light really needed to be dimmed, it's just too bright at full power, so there's still plenty of power not shown in the video. The 14.4V DIY battery pack I made lasted for hours, and I could have used the Ryobi batteries too. The rim light to separate the subject was the cheap 500 LED (dimmable knob type) Light panel hung from a beam. To add the halo, there's a Nikon speedlite snooted off to the side. To do this, you can also use these HoneyComb Grids.
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find-price-button Harbor Honeycomb Spot Grid with Colored Gels

All images of the model were shot with Continuous light, even the Canon 7D video used only the light from the 352 Ring light (and 500 LED from the back). The 352 LED Ring light is definitely a great tool and with the battery pack makes it much more usable, pretty cool stuff.


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find-price-button 500 LED Video Light Panel Dimmable

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find-price-button 352 12V Capable Dimmable LED Ring Light

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900-LED-Video-Light

I setup (3) of my new 900 LED Video light panels against the 500 LED panels. These things really put out some power. Obviously there's more light output than the older 500 LED panel, but the color and throw is a world of difference. The 900 LED panel has an AC power cord that outputs 15V, and terminates to an 'N' size (Radio Shack) pin. This is the same size pin the Z96 and 352 LED Ring light uses. So I quickly threw on a variety of my DIY batteries to test total light output.

With the 900 LED panel powered from a 12V battery, the light turned on but was pretty dim. Using my (2) RC batteries joined together to 14.4V, the light was at full power. The third light I connected to AC power (15V) and was exactly at the same output as the one running on RC batteries 14.4V. I left the LED on full power using the RC batteries (fully charged) and after about an hour the light began to dim.

So it's possible to power these LED lights from a portable battery pack, but you'd need something that was at least 14V and fairly large to get some decent run time out of them. Even though they come with the V-Lock Battery mount, that might not be enough time to be worth the high cost of those batteries. Time to find a solution...

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find-price-button 900 LED Dimmable Photography Video Camera DSLR 5400K/3200K Lighting Light Panel Sony V Mount battery Adapter INCLUDED 14V OUTPUT 110V-230V

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GoPro-UFO UFO-Ring-Light-GoPro
GoPro-UFO-Ring-Light

Dave writes in and shares his DIY ring light mount for a GoPro HD Camera. Using the inexpensive UFO Camping light and an added handle it looks like it could be pretty effective. Pretty slick Dave, pretty slick. Gives me some ideas on taking something like this into the Las Vegas night clubs..LOL. [Thanks Dave]

UFO-48-Light
find-price-button 48 LED UFO Camping Lights

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These 'other style' LED lights are popping up everywhere you look, especially on eBay were most of the LED Video lights start out. At first glance the style is similar to the Comer light, but it's not the same, and it's not even half the price of even the 'generic Comer'. The above video review from Vimeo member Olivia shows some sample use with the LED-5001 (or sometimes called VL5001). Positioned over the GH2 you can see it's relative size, and it doesn't look very tiny. From the review, it looks like it has decent overall light output, but a little spotty without the diffuser.

The LED-5001 video light kit has (3) LED's, comes with a folding Diffuser, Tungsten Filter, and two barn doors. Nice to have all those filters and gels in one place rather than thrown in your bag. The LED kit also comes with a battery charger and Sony compatible 7.2V rechargeable Lithium Battery - and yes it's also Dimmable. Run time? Not sure, but looks like you can still mount Sony's double sized 7.2V battery as opposed to the smaller one provided with the kit. [Thanks Olivia]

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find-price-button Dimmable Video LED Light Lithium battery with Charger 4 Leaf Barndoor For on Camera DSLR Video

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canon-t3i-available
find-price-button Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital Camera w/ 18-55mm IS II Lens

Just got wind that the Canon EOS T3i is definitely in stock and ready to ship. I know many guys aren't ready to 'convert' but this is a nice camera for first time DSLR shooters. Enough improvements to 'not' consider buying a T2i for your first camera. In stock Found here: Canon EOS T3i Rebel Digital Camera Kit

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find-price-button Canon EOS 60D DSLR Camera (Body Only)

Of course Canon is here to confuse us, so for the same price you can grab the Canon 60D. Everything is very close between the two, but the Canon 60D also has Manual Kelvin (White Balance), while the Canon T3i does not. Like the Canon 60D, the Canon T3i does provide you with Manual Audio levels, Vari Angle LCD, Wireless Flash Trigger, and all those silly Custom Filters. Of course this is a Body Only price for the 60D, and you'll be missing out on that new 3x - 10x Zoom Feature.

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battery-grip (1 of 3)

battery-grip (1 of 1)

They said it would work, but you never know until you try. Just confirmed that the Canon T3i is compatible with the same BG-E8 Battery grip for the Canon T2i / 550D. Works seamlessly.

The camera bodies are very close in design, but still a bit different. It doesn't seem like you can swap the camera's battery doors (when removed for installing battery grip). For those wondering about the GGS glass protectors working on the Canon T3i / 600D, it doesn't look like a fit. The buttons are close to the same position, but everything is just slightly off. Other accessories such as Batteries, Cards, and Chargers are all the same, so the T3i / 600D should be seamless to drop into any existing Canon T2i workflow...

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find-price-button Canon T2i & T3i Battery Grips