Self Portrait GoPro HD, Palo Alto, Shureline Painters Pole
If you're familiar with the Palo Alto adapter for Painters Poles, it's back online with a very very limited amount. This is just a fun little adapter that will add a standard 1/4x20 thread to the top of any painters pole for added height to small cameras. Would be a fun thing for the HX9V and built in image stabilization. I gotta take this thing back out. My favorite painters pole is the Shur-Line Easy Reach Extension Pole.
A project I worked on a while back when I was requested to spin a person around with a green screen background. I needed a Lazy Susan that could carry a large amount of weight and still flow like butter, or actually flow better than butter. Maybe flow more like 'I can't believe it's not butter'. Sample video of what rotating a model on a green screen looks like (not my video) http://cheesycam.com/rotating-video-shot-with-model/
Having some experience with cars, front wheel hub bearings are the stuff of dreams for spinning heavy loads. Small, cheap, and can spin hundreds of pounds with ease. Sorry I don't have the full breakdown of how I assembled it piece by piece, but I never intended to show this DIY. It was a rush job I needed to put together a few days before the shoot. But since there's a trend lately around motorized Lazy Susan tables, I thought I'd share my front wheel hub bearing concept.
You can find a way to mount a table directly to the top, and a platform below and you're all set to spin a large amount of weight slowly and smoothly. If you want to motorize it, I stacked round tables to create a type of 'spool'. The center table is smaller in diameter and created a grooved area for a belt to be wrapped around. By using the outer circumference of the large table a small motor has much more leverage, so it doesn't require anything heavy duty. In fact the DIY belt i'm using is just an old bike tire inner tube. Without having to do direct chain drive to the motor or belt tensioners, you can see how very little force is required to spin the table. You gotta love these wheel hubs. I used one under my heart shaped vibrating spinning bed.
I kept it battery powered in case I need to move it around. For this I just cannibalized a very cheap 12V drill. I kept the speed controller (trigger) to operate the motor at slow speeds. I used L brackets to prop the motor up, and 2" pipe clamps to attach to the L Brackets. You could replace this with many other speed controllers if you wish to go hands free - just set it and forget it. I might do that soon. The motor is not attached to the table, so it's easier to transport. If you guys want to look into building heavy duty spinning tables, Buick has some cheap wheel hub bearings following the link (click here).
Just days ago the most popular design in power friction arms recently receives a significant price drop of up to 25% on eBay. This includes free shipping. Two common sizes available from 11" and 7". We have about 6 or more of the 11" and use it for just the most random things. If you've purchased these before, or have previously done your price matching, then you'll know it's a deal right now (click here).
Pricing aside, what does it have to offer? The larger stabilizer should hold 10lbs on the top fairly easy. That's a bit more than the weight a Glidecam HD4000 is rated at. The unit is all metal, lightweight, and gimbal is very smooth. The top stage adjusts forward/back/left/right to center your camera. To balance the entire stabilizer, the Gimbal can be positioned further up or down the post.
The arm is huge and very well made. It can be positioned either left or right side by flipping the mounting bracket. It can definitely carry some heavy weight, but isn't designed to be fine tuned for light weight setups. (The Merlin vest can be tuned for light camera setups). The Padded Vest is very lightweight, easy to slip on/off and adjust various ways for comfort. From an operator's point of view, the Konova arm is much easier to place into the vest system than a Steadicam Merlin Vest (I just leave the Merlin Arm on all the time) and also easier to remove when breaking down. The stabilizer comes with a stand adapter (attaches to a light stand) to dock the stabilizer when not in use.
Let's talk cons. Well price is one. There are already so many other options on the market with either the same price or cheaper. Unless they can bring the price down, it's going to be a tough market to crack. It offers nothing different than what is already available. This unit is wired, but is missing HDMI. HDMI seems to be a growing trend not just for DSLRs, but for other popular cameras under 10lbs. (i'm going to mod this one with my own HDMI). The monitor that it comes with is outdated too, so I'll be switching that out with the SmallHD DP6. So that's it so far, and i'll be taking it out for a test as soon as I can build it up to my liking. Stay tuned.
As pointed out in the comments, the original 500 LED video light panels prices have been reduced since it's first inception. Of course, it's because the new style 600, 900, and 1200 LED panels are out. For the new lower prices you could almost get two 500's as opposed to one 600 LED light panel. The older 500 LED panels are still great lights to use, but they do weigh a bit more than the newer 600 LED panel and also don't offer a battery mount. Two different versions of these 500's are available with a true Dimmer knob, and one dimmable through 4 power switches.
If anyone cares, the Atomos Ninja HDMI recorders are in stock. The little box will capture the uncompressed video out of the HDMI port of your professional camera and save it directly to FCP friendly format ready for editing. For some cameras, this means capturing a higher bitrate than the compressed file saved to the media card. It could be a great time saver for those who could use the format. (Canon and most other DSLRs need not apply). I was curious on it's initial release (which failed), and then finally gave up on waiting...
I've lined my bag up with the Transcend 32GB SDHC Class 10 media cards because it was both cheap and reliable. I've had no issues and placed a few re-orders since. For many others it's important to go with a brand name like Sandisk or Lexar. Now with Lexar's Class 10 SDHC card (you need minimum Class 6 for video on DSLRs) coming in at just $1.00-$2.00 dollars above the Transcend version, it's almost a no brainer on which way to to.
I personally consider Lexar a better brand than Sandisk, and Sandisk is still pricing theirs almost twice the Lexar brand. Why couldn't they have done this sooner? Compact flash cards of similar speeds, not such a good deal (yet). Though the 5D Mark II or 7D users can't take advantage, this is great news for many high end video cameras, and all the latest small cameras coming out. You can check out the pricing on Lexar Class 10 SDHC cards following the link (click here).
Fotga has released an impressive budget follow focus, and if you're the type who's against 'cross branding', now they are starting to leak out a Standard set of rails to match. The basic rail set is needed to mount the FF, and should normally come with a camera mounting plate and a tripod plate (under the rail set). It's industry standard 15mm with 60mm apart, with metal knobs (not plastic) and also come with a lens support clamp (adds Long lens support when using an FF).
For a bit more Fotga has another set that includes a (proprietary) Quick release system. Looks like they are working towards a full shoulder rig, which doesn't seem to be available just yet. Not extremely competitive with pricing, but compared to what we were seeing just a year ago it's a welcome option.
It looks similar to the Konova and Varavon, but hardly up to the same standards. The bearings are adjustable. I've seen these Smallism sliders before, but they were always expecting way too much. Seems like they know where they stand and have finally brought prices down below Konova. Although the feet/legs aren't anything to brag about, it is an actual roller bearing slider if you want to stray from the IGUS rails.
You can find Konova's roller bearing track slider (click here).
You can find the Smallism slider at auction (click here).
Palo Alto Painters Pole Adapter
are still great lights to use, but they do weigh a bit more than the newer 600 LED panel and also don't offer a battery mount. Two different versions of these 500's are available with a true Dimmer knob, and one dimmable through 4 power switches.
