Photography Gadgets

• 21 Comments

•

4.3lcd-monitor

Not long ago I toyed around with a 3.5" mini LCD for about $26 dollars. It also worked on the GoPro HD Cameras that (at the time) lacked any LCD viewing. Now that GoPro has released their LCD BacPac there's no need for this. It definitely would have helped the guys out while shooting testing the Korean Dolly out in this video: http://cheesycam.com/test-drive-spidertrax-clone-korean-dolly/

Reader Alex writes in and decides to go about .8 inches larger from the 3.5" to the 4.3" still at the same price. This little LCD also includes settings for adjustment, but would stepping up another inch provide better color, contrast, resolution? We'll just have to wait to hear back, but Alex says it's all working out and more robust than the previous. For cameras that lack a certain angle of viewing, $26 bucks sure would help on those low rotating dollies & sliders shots for framing.

4.3" LCD Monitor DSLR Framing
find-price-button 4.3" Mini LCD Monitor

• 24 Comments

•

I've had the chance to work with Arri's 650 and 1000 watt lighting kits a few times and they are beautiful. The fresnels allow the lights to be adjusted in Flood or Spot which makes them easier to throw the light where you need it. Of course, they are a bit pricey. Just a few months ago I posted an article about certain lighting kits that claimed to be 'As Arri' found here: http://cheesycam.com/arri-blueline-jietu-fresnel-lighting/

As Arri light kit review samples

These 'As Arri' lighting kits sold at less than a third the price and claimed to be an exact 1:1 replica of Arri lighting kits. So close in fact many of the replacement parts can be ordered from Arri such as the bulbs, Fresnel glass lens, ballast, barn doors, scrims, etc. They are available in 150, 300, 500, 650, 1000, and 2000 watts. The most common kit being a 3 pc 650w should cover most situations.

Not much information is available on the web, so these still aren't very popular, but just recently a brave soul (Vimeo Member) Josh Donnelly took a chance and posted a video review. Looks like it's time to bump this one back up on the wish list.... [Thanks Josh]

blue-line-jietu-fresnel
find-price-button 150w - 2000w Fresnel Lighting Kits 'as Arri'

• 6 Comments

•

LED-Flood-Light

Odd color or not, people are finding the cheap UFO camping lights pretty useful. You can't beat $5 dollars shipped I guess. So remember the idea of using Halogen shop lights from here? http://cheesycam.com/diy-halogen-shop-light-mod/

Here's another one that might get the hamster wheels in your heads spinning. Cheesycam reader Pawel writes in and links me to some inexpensive outdoor high power LED flood lights. These LED flood lights are designed to take abuse with a weatherproof housing and come with a positionable mounting bracket. The bracket should make it real easy to mount to a traditional light stand. Available in 10W [might be too little] - all they way up to more than 100W, there's plenty of light power to go around. These are commonly used to light up parking lots, street lamps, and buildings. I'm finding that the higher power lights go to a more bluish temp, while the lower 10-20W LED Flood lights are a warmer tone around 3200-3500K (about Tungsten). Around 65W is said to have a 5600K color temp.

LED flood light

A further search even shows that these lights are available in both AC power and 12V DC and some listings show a 160 degree beam angle. That's pretty wide. 12V DC would be pretty nice to run right off battery power at remote locations. Keep in mind that these high power LEDs will still generate a little bit of heat, but nothing compared to what Halogens would be putting out. I'm in on this idea and maybe i'll check my local hardware stores to see if they have any on hand. Oh and if you're the colorful type, somewhere i've also seen that they make color changing versions.. Another idea for color changing backgrounds..
[Thanks Pawel]

LED-High-Power-FloodLight
find-price-button High Power Outdoor LED Flood Lighting

Some additional search results for High Power LED Lighting below:

LED flood light
High Power LED Outdoor Flood Lighting

• 36 Comments

•

Looks like a Manfrotto 577 Rapid Connect Adapter w/Sliding Mounting Plate right? It sure could be, but guess what - it's not Manfrotto. On sale right now this QR adapter sells for about 40% of the Manfrotto price. The specs over at the Calumet website doesn't state anything about being Manfrotto compatible or as a Manfrotto replacement part. I called the store and they weren't even sure if it was.

I don't know why they don't state it anywhere on the specs of the product, but it does look to be the exact same QR adapter and Plate design. The question I had was 'Is it really compatible?'. So I just put this quick release through the tests and it sure is compatible in every means. If you're looking for a QR adapter for all your Glidecam, Flycam, Sliders, or Jibs, it's a bonus that this inexpensive one is Manfrotto compatible. Right now it's on sale and there's only a limited supply in every store. If you were wondering too, here's the answer..


calumet-quick-release-adapter
find-price-button Quick Release Adapter + Plate (not Manfrotto branded)

If you're just in need of the plate itself, they have that available too (again not stating Manfrotto Compatible)
calumet-sliding-plate
find-price-button Sliding Plate (not Manfrotto branded)

• 10 Comments

•

manfrotto-rapid-adapter
find-price-button Light Stand adapter with 1/4 x 20 Thread

Two tripods to support a long camera slider is a good idea, but if all you need is just a little extra support you can get away with a simple Light Stand. One solid tripod in the center, and a Light Stand at the end should do fine. The Konova Camera Slider offered light stand adapters as an optional piece of equipment, so that you can use inexpensive Light Stands for additional support or to get some different slider configurations. I believe they sold for about $18+ shipping. You can actually find them for less than $10 bucks via B&H Photo. (above)

konova-lightstand-adapters
Two light stands with adapters for sideways sliding

One thing that Konova does throw a deal on is collapsible Light Stands. This is one thing that I really hate about traveling even with light weight stands. They are just a bit too long to fit into your average bag. I carry three small stands with my 3pc. 500 LED kit and am forced to use a really long bag just to pack it all in. The Konova folding stands shave down quite a few inches from it's minimum folded length. There are other versions of these which they will call 'Reverse Stands' and you can find some here: Reverse Light Stands

If you feel my pain, these types of folding light stands do exist for a bit cheaper and they make packing things up (with your slider) a whole lot easier. Found below:

traveling-light-stand
find-price-button Konova Folding Light Stands

• 4 Comments

•

Client-Kata bags

Producing/filming/editing-Johnnie Behiri

Shot with the Nikon D90 (all but the Antarctica and wild life)
No CC, only a bit contrast corrections.
Lenses used: Nikkor 50mm 1.8, Nikkor 16-85mm, and Tamron 70-300.
Tripod: Manfroto 756XB and 700RC2 head
Voice-over recorded with Edirol F1-field recorder (hard disk video/audio recorder for dv/hdv/sound only purposes).
Editing on Adobe Premiere CS2 with Cineform Prospect 4k plug in.

The 717AH is a great fluid head, but what other options are there for inexpensive Micro video fluid heads? Well the Manfrotto 700RC2 Mini Fluid video head drops down a few bucks with B&H surprisingly coming in cheaper than anything over at eBay and slightly under Amazon. Keep in mind it's rated to support only 5.5lbs, something that might be good for the growing Panasonic GH2 audience. Don't expect this to support a camera slider, it's best for camera only.

Over at B&H Photo Video they also have a special kit thrown together combining it with the 190XDB Tripod if you're in need of that too. I've never used one, but there's quite a few videos via Vimeo that show some serious travelers using the fluid head for it's small size and light weight (such as the Kata video above by Vimeo member Johnnie Behiri).

bhphotovideo-manfrotto
find-price-button Manfrotto 190XDB Tripod Legs (Black) with 700RC2 Video Fluid Head

• 17 Comments

•

Since I mentioned I had the 352 LED Ring light, I've had a few questions about it. So before walking out the door I took a few pics of what diffusion would look like with the LED ring light and compared it against the popular Z96 LED. This is not a test of color temperature, this is just a test on diffusion of the ring light. Settings on the camera were at 1/80th F/4 ISO 640. Keeping these settings, you can see how much more or less light there is compared to each other.

As a standard I first started out with the Z96 about 3 feet away from the subject. The subject (Yoda) was about 3ft. away from the white background. You can see the coverage of the light in the full image. In the closeup photo, you can see how much shadow the light casts along with how much diffusion there is around the face.

IMG_5754

IMG_5756_sm

Next is the 352 LED Ring light. I have this light powered up from my 12v battery that came with the 183 LED light. Besides outputting much brighter light, you can see how much more area of coverage this light has over the Z96. The light is also very well diffused around the face with soft shadows that wrap around the subject.

IMG_5757_sm

IMG_5758_sm

So how well does this light work? It works great, but it requires an AC outlet or 12V battery pack. Even though this ring light is dimmable, it's a very bright source of light that might be uncomfortable for your subject to stare at directly. If you're not working with people then it's a great LED ring that provides very soft even lighting. So to be fair, this should be considered more of an option to the 500 LED panel over an on-camera LED light (even though it can be an on-camera light).

The light itself is extremely light-weight made mostly of plastic. There is an OFF/ON switch as well as a dimmer knob. There are no filters provided with this ring light. If it's too bright for your subject, you could put it off to the side with a light stand. Carry a few and it can serve as a portable lighting kit great for traveling interviews. The options already built in to run on AC power or through a 12V power source make it more flexible than a 500 LED without added cost (batteries not included). This would easily run on a portable jumper battery with built in Cigarette lighter adapter (like the one I have). Long lasting 12V rechargeables are easy to come by. You can even use the batteries from 'Power Wheels' kids electric cars found at Toys-R-Us.

Considering the price. The 352 LED Ring light is about the same price as the popular 500 LED panels. The Ring light also cannot produce the same amount of brightness as the 500 LED panel, but if weight and size is a concern, this Ring Light cuts that inconvenience down to half. Besides being smaller and lighter than a 500 LED, it can be mounted with your camera for mobile use (something you can't do with a 500 LED). Price might seem high when comparing LED count, but for some traveling types it might justify the cost. You can pack several of these into Airplane carry on luggage as opposed to one single 500 LED light panel.

352-led-ring-light-dslrkonova-led-ring-light

dimmable-352-ring-light
find-price-button 352 LED Ring Light with 12V input AC Adapter for Video

• 18 Comments

•

Canon-T3i-600D

As if there isn't enough cameras in Canon's lineup, they recently just announced the T3i or 600D. Looks very close to the Canon 60D sticking with the Vari-angle LCD screen and i'm sure taking in a few other similarities. Some new tricks with in camera processing of photos and videos, upgrades to EOS utilities and Zoom Browsers, but technical specs within the core processor don't surpass the 60D. Don't expect this camera to bring any better image quality.

There is a new Zoom feature that can zoom in 3-10x while maintaining HD video output. Hey that's pretty cool, and can take advantage of shorter lenses. I'm sure there will be some added softness to the effect. Another step up from the T2i is manual audio levels and built in flash trigger. Guess what though, this 600D goes back to the LP-E8 battery unlike the 60D which uses the LP-E6. Sorry guys, no headphone out monitoring added to this DSLR (what's up Canon?).

For those who really wanted the swivel LCD, but could not afford the 60D prices, this T3i would be the answer. And to throw in even more confusion, Canon's released a T3 camera (not T3i). This almost seems to be the replacement for a T1i. The T3 is an even lower entry level DSLR, a bit slower in photo fps, lower megapixels, smaller LCD (no swivel), and only 720 capable.

The prices of these new Canon cameras are coming in low so i'm assuming this will discontinue sales of the T2i completely (unless they are willing to do a huge price drop). If it's true then expect remaining T2i inventories to drop prices even lower in the coming weeks. Canon sure has been moving pretty quickly through the lower end of consumer cameras, let's hope they come out with a replacement for some of the top end soon!

Canon-T3i-600D
find-price-button Canon T3i & T3 DSLR Cameras

• 2 Comments

•

YouTube member dalecampbellextras shows that a large mechanical kitchen timer can rotate more than just a small GoPro camera. Here he's showing use with a Canon DSLR and the timer still seems to rotate pretty well. I notice that in the video, there's talk about Center of Balance. If you've already picked up a Macro Rail Slider this could help center the weight. These mechanical timers are great for DIY panning rigs, but with a bit of string i'm guessing it can pull a camera across the Konova slider (no batteries required). [Thanks Dale]

Dale has some links to the products through his YouTube video, for eBay and Amazon the closest thing I could find similar would be the Large Kitchen Timers.
Screen shot 2011-02-05 at 11.23.51 PM
find-price-button Large Mechanical Kitchen Timer

The traditional Egg Timer has always been used as a Panning Rig, but curious if anyone has taken that Rotisserie motor and used it for this same purpose?