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So it was very last minute for me to get a 14v battery pack thrown together for my 352 Ring Light Steadicam project here: http://cheesycam.com/last-minute-glidecam-mods/. Now that I have a bit of time, i'm going to get off these non-pro looking RC batteries and rig up my 2 year old LP-E6 generic non-decoded batteries.

Gutting out some dirt cheap battery chargers and using them as dummy plates, i'll be able to wire two of them together and get a 14.4V power source that looks pretty snazzy. Other people have done this with just one battery to power up LCD monitors that only require 7volts. As you can see my 183 LED light normally powered from a 12V source was easily lit up with just 7V. Now setting them up together for 14.4V should suffice for many of my small items.

Since the guts are ripped out, you can use OEM Canon batteries, no need for Generic stuff, but the Generics run super super cheap too. I think i'll purchase more generic battery chargers + non-decoded batteries and have like 20 of them on hand to power up all kinds of stuff including my Ring Light and Z96 LED's.

Battery Chargers found here:
batteries-charger
find-price-button Uber Cheap LP-E6 Generic Battery Chargers

This link has a decent deal for both a battery + charger: Both LP-E6 Generic Batteries + Charger

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proaim-shoulder-support (4 of 4)
find-price-button DSLR Video Camera Rig Metal Shoulder Support with Foam Pad

I'm going to be listing a few items that I don't think i'll get around to using. Maybe these things will go to a good home, so there will be quite a bit of auctions that i'll be starting out at just .99 Cents. Here's the first one i'm posting today, the Proaim metal Shoulder Support with Foam Padding and Chest support. This is designed around industry standards, so it will fit your Gini, Express35, Cinevate, Redrock Micro, Genus, Zacuto, or other Rail type rigs. It's a pricey item if you check the stores, but bidding starts at just .99 cents. Good luck for anyone who needs something like this. What's next on the .99 cent auction? You'll just have to keep checking back..

Oh, and sorry guys. Only US residents in the lower 48 can buy. Paypal only w/ confirmed Paypal address. Thanks.

[Update] Here's another .99 Cent auction. I ended up with two of these, so i'm cleaning house. This one is unused and brand spankin' new. I'm also throwing in a Free 48 LED Video light with it too.

opteka-LED (1 of 3)opteka-LED (3 of 3)
find-price-button Opteka Shoulder Support + Free 48 LED Video Light

[Update][Update] Ok, I think i'm getting lazy and just starting to bundle stuff. My loss, your gain. Next up is a Gini DSLR Rig Silicone Shoulder Pad + Free Dog Bone Rod Clamp. I'm also throwing in a small shooter for smaller cameras. Yup, all starting at just .99 cents.


shooter (2 of 2)shooter (1 of 2)
find-price-button Gini DSLR Rig Silicone Shoulder Pad + Free Bone Clamp + Free Small Cam shooter

[Update][Update][Update] Brand new LCW LCD View Finder for 3" DSLR LCD's. The LCW is a silicone magnified view finder loupe with real glass optics and metal diopter. You can research more about LCW's BigEye viewfinder on the internet. Starting bid .99 cents.

lcw-bigeye (2 of 3)
find-price-button New LCW LightCraftWorkshop LCD View Finder

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what-is-it

Minimal, Functional, Versatile, Practical, completely original. I might be a bit distracted lately, not sure if anyone can tell. I've been busy testing out a new prototype I've been working on for several months (6 months ago). I just picked it up yesterday and only a handful of people know what i'm talking about. It's interesting to see their expressions when I show it off, and they all agree that it's going to change the way people think about.......umm...ok said too much. Sorry guys, just a few more tweaks to go and you'll see what it's all about.

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SF_meetup

Very last minute planning or lack of for a scheduled mini-DSLR Meetup in San Francisco this Friday. Rod Guajardo of www.foursandyfeet.com is in town working on a Music Video shoot and decided to connect with a few people in the Bay Area while he's in town. Along with Michelle of MoshBrown.com, they've mapped out the meeting spot to be the Irish Bank located at 10 Mark Lane #415.788.7152

Using the word mini-DSLR meetup, it should just be a casual meet and greet, food and drink, with no real techincal road map on actual shooting. But hey, If everyone is up for some shooting afterwards, San Francisco is one of the hottest photo spots in the world - Should be interesting. If you want to know more they are also available via Twitter, and I suggest you follow them both.
Michelle can be followed @moshbrown
Rod can be followed @Rod_Guajardo

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filmmakers-intensive

After a successful first year, The FilmMaker's Intensive is on year two. It would be interesting to see how DSLR's will be considered into the workflow. Program directors are Jem Schofield & Larry Silverberg Jem is the man behind the popular TheC47.com, and Larry is the guy behind TrueActingInstitute.com.

From the Website:
The Filmmaker's Intensive is a two week intense (and we mean intense), program that takes you out of your day to day environment and focuses you directly on the art & science of narrative filmmaking. The program was designed specifically to allow each person that attends to learn true fictional filmmaking from pre-production to post. If you're looking for a serious intensive program, more information can be found here: https://www.thefilmmakersintensive.com/

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Here's one of my favorite DIY videos that was actually shot over 2 years ago by Vimeo member Edwin Bont. I've been wanting to tackle this project myself, but am always getting sidetracked. It might be on my list of things this weekend if i'm not too backlogged from CES. It's a video that hasn't had much attention, but a very original DIY in what is called the 'Sphere Arm'. This rig uses a set of L brackets cleverly assembled to keep the lens at a fixed distance while allowing it to be rotated in several axises. This not only gives you the illusion of rotating horizontally, but also vertically.

The build quality on the one shown in the video isn't very heavy duty and video doesn't seem to be of high quality, but i'm sure with a bit more DIY out there this thing can really bring in the 'next camera movement'. Might even be an interesting movement with small cameras such as the GoPro and light weight GH2. Wedding videographers, I can totally see this as a macro video movement around some wedding rings. Yeah, I think this idea has been asleep too long and needs to be hashed out with something more refined. Besides myself, (if I can get to it) who else is up for the challenge?

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Sorry things have been quiet here, but i'm working on packing up for CES (Las Vegas) this week. I want to travel light, so I minimized the amount of parts on a lightweight shoulder rig setup. It's mostly Express35 rails and clamps on the Cheap Shoulder Support by going straight inline, but I still really wanted an 'offset' for the LCD ViewFinder. I just happened to look through random parts in the studio and this Macro Rail works awesome! It's an all metal bracket that adjusts through gears and can be locked into position. These rails are designed to mount your camera to slide forward, back, or mount the camera for side to side adjustments. Now I have mine mounted under the camera, but if you choose to mount your entire set of rails over the adapter, that will also work. Why didn't anyone think of this before? It's perfect!!

macro-rail-adapter
find-price-button Sliding Camera Rail 2 Way Adjustable with Lock

shoulder-support
find-price-button Shoulder Support Pad for Video Camcorder Camera DV / DC

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dslr-camera-speaker-mp3-player
dslr-mp3-player
dslr-mp3-camera-speaker

It's designed to be a 1:1 scale of a Canon-Like DSLR with 24-105mm F/4L lens, but it's actually an MP3 player. This replica can play files from USB thumb drives or from SDHC memory cards. When you're not playing music from flash media, you can attach it via USB or through a 3.5mm plug and use it as a speaker. The name says 'Caoon' not 'Canon' over the top, but wouldn't be too hard to modify that yourself. Found over at Gadget4All.com.

canon-7d-notepad
Don't forget about the Canon 7D notepad too...