Videography Gadgets

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rode-videomic-pro

Just FYI about the shortage with the Rode VideoMic Pro Compact Shotgun Microphone. Ever since it's release, it's held up to the hype in both form and function. Definitely a winner even though the price is a bit on the high side for most. If you're waiting around for websites to say 'in stock', you might again be missing the boat (Hate to say I told ya so). I believe they should become available in the next few weeks, but most likely in limited quantities. You might just be able to get it in time for NAB.

If you think this is going to fit into your work flow, you might want to fall in line by placing a pre-order. If you're too far down on the pre-order line you can always cancel, and as one of the hottest microphones available for run-n-gun shooters, I don't think you'll have a problem selling it off if you end up with two. Heck, if they run out of stock (again), you might even be able to make a few bucks on auction (like those pesky iPad 2's). Call me crazy, but i'm already working with one and have signed up for another. I'll have my non-Pro Rode VideoMic one on auction as soon as this new one arrives.

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find-price-button Pre-Order Rode VideoMic Pro Compact Shotgun

On that note, check out the recent Press Release about Rode's new iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad application. I just downloaded it on my iPad and am watching a video that talks about microphones with DSLRs too! Awesome stuff, and it's all FREE to add to your Apple Portables.

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Apple iTunes Download Rode University App

Tuesday 22nd March 2011, Sydney Australia – RØDE Microphones is extremely excited to announce the release of its RØDE University audio education course for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. This free app includes all the video content from both the musical and broadcast syllabus from RØDE’s award winning website, rodeuniversity.com.

Rode University
visit-button Rode University - RodeUniversity.com

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Manfrotto-5-section-monopod
find-price-button Manfrotto 5 Section Compact Travel Monopods

The more sections in a monopod, the more collapsed the monopod can be. A 5 section Monopod has more sections to collapse and drop down it's minimum folded length. Manfrotto has a few new 5 section travel monopods that can collapse down to just over 15", making them some of the shortest on the market. It's fully expanded length up to 57". Unfortunately these new lightweight travel monopods are only rated to support cameras at 3.3 lbs, but for light weight Photography or Videography shooters, it should be released at only $25 dollars.

If you're looking for something that holds more beef for cheap, the Cullman 550 - 5 section Monopod with quick release locks, will support up to 18 lbs., collapses to 18" inches and extends to 59.8". Currently on back order on many websites, but for about $50 dollars, it's expected.

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find-price-button Cullman Magnesit 550 - 5 section Monopod

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rolling camera dollyrolling camera dolly

New double rail camera slider design (or dolly) on the market. This one doesn't look like it comes off the rails for some smooth table action, so it's pretty useless except to roll on it's rails. Very little specs, but it looks like standard 15mm rods with tripod mount ends. Even if it doesn't come off for the tables, the very simple design looks like it would be very efficient as a straight slider and with wide rails looks pretty stable. Very cool to see a bowl mount for quick leveling too. Pricing is just way too high to make a move on this market...


rolling camera dolly
find-price-button Straight Double Rail Dolly with bowl mount

If you're looking to get a real double rail slider, the best one on the market would be Cinevate's Pegasus. Not only does it run on inexpensive rails, but it comes off the track for all that smooth table action, as well as a rotating dolly shot. Nice little example put together by Cinevate below. Found here: https://Cinevate.com/Pegasus

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Unlike camera dollies that use an entire square platform, here's a build from AgeOfRockets.com that uses a configuration of simple planks in a very sturdy frame design. If built correctly, the unit should be able to break down fairly small and portable (less the rails). Full DIY and parts list following the link: https://www.ageofrockets.com/blog/?p=131

Swift Camera Dolly

Of course there's already a design on the market that shows how it's all put together, and how it's all taken apart. The Swift Dolly (coming out of India), comes with a portable 12' Rail system, rails ends, and portable camera dolly that can be broken down into several parts for traveling. The kit even comes with bags. For the price (and the ugly colored wheels), you might want to look into the DIY version first.

swift portable dolly

Swift camera dolly kit
find-price-button Swift Video Camera Portable Dolly with 12' Track

The hardest part about DIY track dollies are getting the wheels drilled in properly. If your angle of drilling does not have the wheels sitting in proper alignment, you'll get wobbly footage as you push down the track. For those who don't want to tackle the hardest part of cutting and drilling angle iron, there are some ready made dolly wheels that just need to be bolted in place. Just grab a single board, and you're ready to roll...

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find-price-button Ready Made Video Camera Track Dolly Wheel Assemblies

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sakar-150-watt-video-light
find-price-button Sakar 150 watt & 300 watt Video Lights

Some people just want to stick with AC powered Hot Lights. No worries about flickering, multi-shadows, green casts, or batteries dimming down. In a smaller package Quartz-Halogen lights can throw further and output several times the amount of LED light and can be used with Gels and Diffusers without as much loss in light output. We're talking about enough light to use outdoors during the day for that extra fill. Here's one that's been popping up just about everywhere, going by the name Sakar. There's two flavors to these Sakar Quartz-Halogen lights found in 150 watt and 300 watt versions. Very similar bulbs to the popular PAG lights from back in the day (loved those lights). I'm not sure, but I have a feeling the 300 watt version might be too much for it's little housing and may suffer from premature bulb life. For a traveling light, 300 watts will probably blow a fuse in your location. The 150 watt version might fair better, and i'm interested in seeing how they work out.

This is not a battery powered light, as it can only be powered through a 120V-120V AC outlet but comes with a 9 foot power cord. It is also not setup to be dimmable (although you can probably run an inline dimmer using a simple Router Speed Controller). The front portion of the housing is all metal with a glass cover. The rear of the housing is mostly plastic. I left the unit on for about 10 minutes and didn't notice the rear housing being overheated, but the front metal and glass elements were pretty hot. There was a bit of smoke coming off the barndoors (cheap paint?) but stopped after a short while. I've seen this on other cheap lights before, and always has to do with the high heat and cheap paint combination. Luckily they cool down pretty fast when not in use.

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(Above: Lighting Completely Dark Room)

It can be mounted via Hot-Shoe or through a 1/4 x 20 threaded light stand. There's an umbrella holder spot in the middle of the light to use as a diffuser or bounce. The two front barn doors are pretty much useless and don't serve any purpose in controlling the light output. Although the Barn Doors work well to pack the light up and protect the front glass lens. One thing this Sakar 'can do' is put out lots of light. Since it's using a quartz-halogen bulb the light output is not as yellow as tungsten. The unit is small, and it would be great to put together a traveling kit that has a crap load of light output in such small form factors for dirt dirt cheap.

Arri has a nice 150 watt Fresnel 3 piece kit (also not dimmable), but a bit out of my budget.
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find-price-button Arri Three-Light 150 watt Fresnel Kit with Stands and Hard Case

Will it hold up though? One common mistake people make about these types of bulbs is that they might only be rated for 50 hours of use. You'll see many reviews talking about consistent bulb failures, but what they don't realize is this is not the type of light to use for feature length films. These lights aren't as efficient as LED bulbs, but they'll work hard in giving you tons of light in a small form factor and then die young. If you're not using them everyday, they could last you several months. It's a great idea to buy spare bulbs, which should only run you about $5-10 dollars each. I'm planning on putting it through it's paces in the next few days.

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find-price-button Sakar 150 watt & 300 watt Video Lights

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There were very few available on eBay for a premium price, and now after about 6 months of being out of stock, they're back on Amazon. I guess they worked out the shortage. If you haven't seen how these operate, you can find a video here: http://cheesycam.com/color-changing-variable-color-led-video-lights/

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find-price-button 1000 LED Photography Video Light Panel 0% - 100% DIMMABLE COLOR CHANGING 3500K- 6000K TEMP

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Lexar SDXC 64GB CardSandisk SDHCTranscend SDXC

If you aren't familiar with SDXC, it's going to quickly replace SDHC in higher end cameras (maybe even small consumer cams). It will definitely be a competing media with big ENG cameras that hopefully even Sony will adopt (Give up the Memory stick already...) It's all based on the SD format, but with a new exFAT file system that doesn't suffer from the same 4GB limitation as FAT32 (in SDHC cards). The "XC" is also being coined as "Extended Capacity" or otherwise known as (FAT64). Companies like Panasonic, Kingston, Transcend, and Lexar have released new SDXC cards in the last few months. Lexar wasn't the first one out the gate with SDXC cards, but they will be one of the first to release a whopping 128GB SDXC card this month (or next).

Lexar 128GB SDXC

I'll be honest. When I hear the name Lexar, the words 'pricey' and 'expensive' come to mind, but also 'robust' and 'professional'. Doesn't seem like 'pricey' and 'expensive' will be associated with Lexar's new SDXC media cards. In fact sorting by price over at B&H, they stand as one of the lowest prices against the current competitors. Maybe I can finally own something 'Lexar'?

So what does this mean for DSLR shooters? Well the Canon T2i, 60D, T3i, and other recent cameras that use SDHC will be compatible with SDXC cards. Some might work right off the bat, and some might just require a slight firmware upgrade. This doesn't mean that you'd be able to take advantage of the full potential with SDXC write speeds (not yet available). Will you still have a time limit per video clip? Most likely, YES. You will still have a time limit. The limit is placed in these cameras to prevent them from overheating. So what's the benefit? Current camera designs are always held back by Video Codecs and Storage Media. Affordable SDXC cards should speed up camera designs that could now be designed around the speeds and limitations of the media. With the new SDXC media hopefully we'll start seeing cameras that can shoot higher bitrates (RAW), longer video clips, and of course a new media with more capable storage for cheaper prices. [Thanks Julio]

Lexar SDXC 64GB CardLexar 128GB SDXC
find-price-button Lexar and other SDXC Media Cards via BHPhotoVideo.com

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Ready for a sweet little DIY DSLR Cage? Submitted by Andy Clancy, this cage was put together from an off the shelf light tent kit and a cheese style plate. The main part of the cage originally was a light tent for small product photography. A few bike styled handles on the rails, and the rest should be pretty easy to figure out.

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The rails look to be aluminum and can probably be cut down to just about any size camera you own (including small GH2 shooters). Just by looking at how this guy is put together, it looks super light weight, adds tons of ways to stabilize a handheld shot, ability to get some really low shots, and tons of piping to drill mounts or add some cold shoe adapters for accessories (like a monitor). [Thanks Andy]

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find-price-button Product Photography Light Tent

The second part for the 'baseplate' was from a Glidecam Camera Weight (Cheese) Plate.

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find-price-button Glidecam Weight Plate

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One of the first videos on YouTube regarding the new Tascam DR-05.

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Tascam DR-05 Portable Recorder

zoom h1 recorder
Zoom H1 Portable Recorder

It's not quite the tiny package the Zoom H1 might be, in fact it looks about as big as the Zoom H4n. The build quality (at least from the videos) looks awesome, and looks to have more a few more features over the Zoom H1. Hopefully i'll have one in my hands soon to do a side by side comparison on build quality and size with the Zoom H1, and then put them through a few audio tests.

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find-price-button Tascam DR-05 Portable Audio Recorder