Monthly Archives: August 2010

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I was cruising the web and ran into Jared Abrams from Cinema5D.com showcasing the Swintronix PowerBase 70 Power Pack for the Canon 5D Mark II & Canon 7D. This is a pretty cool solution for those who are concerned about battery power and want to make sure you're running all day. Not a bad price for a unit that claims to hold the same power as 5-6 Canon LP-E6 batteries, and also has output options to power other equipment too.

Most people might not remember this, but long ago Digital Cameras used standard AA batteries, not rechargeable Lithiums. Battery technology was poor and run time was terrible, so you really tried not reviewing your images on the LCD. I remember owning an older camera that had the option to plug into an AC outlet. The brick converted AC back into DC for the camera. So I fashioned up a relative Voltage RC Car battery as my mobile power source. Worked great, dirt cheap, fast recharging, and lasted much longer than AA batteries. Ask around, you'll be surprised how many photographers are using RC car batteries for many projects.

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Swintronix Powerbase 70 Battery Pack Kit

Note: Don't follow my Lead. This could be a disastrous project.
My mind is wandering and I'm going to stir up some thought here about a possible DIY power pack for the Canon 5D Mark II. Taking a peek at the Swintronix PowerBase 70, I believe it has a rating for 14 volts but the Canon LP-E6 Battery is only rated at 7.2 volts. This sounds like there are (2) 7 volt batteries in this PowerBase. The 14 volts can be offered if these two 7 volt batteries are run in Series. Extended run times can be offered if these two 7 volt batteries are run in Parallel.

Here's the simple parts needed for a possible DIY Power Pack for the Canon 5D Mark II or 7D. First a way to connect power into the Camera. Available is an aftermarket ACK-E6 AC Power Adapter designed specifically for LP-E6 cameras like the 5D Mark II & 7D. This very specific adapter seperates from the 'Brick' leaving you with a simple adapter, not to be confused with the ones that don't seperate from the power brick. I won't need the brick, just the Battery adapter part with short wire lead.

ack-e6-power-adapter
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Second, just one 7.4v Lithium Rechargeable Battery will do the job powering up the camera, but if I want longer run times, i'll need to run two 7.4v batteries in Parallel. The single Canon LP-E6 Battery is rated at approx 7v 1800mah -aftermarket batteries around 1500mah. To make this worth carrying around, each 7.4v battery should have at least twice the milliamp hour rating if not more. The battery image below shows almost double the milliamp hour rating from the stock battery, so it's possible it may last twice as long.
lithium-rc-battery-7-volt
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Outside of those two parts, i'd need to take a short trip to Radio Shack for some wire adapter to mate the two, a decent looking electronics project box for the enclosure, and 7.4v battery charger for RC cars to recharge. I think it's quite possible to create a DIY Power Pack for the Canon 5D Mark II or 7D for a Total price roughly under $125 dollars. I really don't see why I need to make something like this, i'm just thinking out loud as usual.

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fuji-3d-w3-digital-camera

Talking about new stuff and pre-orders, looks like Fuji is not giving up on their Real 3D line of digital cameras. The (soon to be available) new W3 will be offering 720HD video shot with nicely spaced dual lenses for that Sterescopic setup. Looks like a fun camera, and would be quite interesting to see the 3D effect when playing back on a big screen.

youtube-3d-support

YouTube does support 3D playback in a variety of different ways including the cross-eyed method if you don't have a pair of Blue and Red Captain EO glasses. This new HD video model has been redesigned and still photos will also have an option for fancy 3D Prints. I'm on the look out for any videos that will be posted onto YouTube or Vimeo and i'm curious to see if we'll be able to enjoy it on the Internet with those funky glasses.

If you're wondering if this is already possible with DSLR's, I posted an article a while back about some different 3D options for DSLR's found here.

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zoom-h1-in-stock-bhphotovideo
click image to buy Zoom H1 $99 + Free Shipping

The webpage at bhphotovideo.com earlier this morning did not show the Zoom H1 item available to 'add to cart', but after a message from a reader, tides have turned. Well BHPHOTOVIDEO.com is East Coast of me, so I assume they are just a few hours short of the 'official release' date of the Zoom H1, and decided to just go live with orders. Hopefully this is no joke, and it will go out when promised which I should receive it by next Tuesday. Yes, i've already pre-ordered a few from the other vendor, but you can't have enough Zoom H1's. I'm just excited to start getting these things in. Besides, I'm sure i'll find a few friends I can sell the extras to, who are too lazy to place their own order before they get sold out. So there you go folks, BHPHOTOVIDEO.com is live at this link to order the Zoom H1 for $99 + FREE Shipping. (yes free shipping).

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adorama-l-brackets-fig-rig

Customer image submitted to Amazon.com shows the use of two Adorama 'L' brackets spaced out to create a 'fig rig' style stabilizer. This simple solution would definitely work much like a common fig rig, while still allowing cold shoe attachments on each side for your LED lighting and Shotgun Microphone (as the above image displays).

Doesn't really show how the camera is mounted in between these two brackets, but a short piece of AL flat bar is all that i'm thinking this setup would need. The Aluminum flat bar can also be cut to widen the space between the handles for more stability, but going too wide might throw off the axis of your LED light and shotgun mic. The brackets used in the image above are the Adorama L Brackets, but there's also other notable L flash brackets available from other manufacturers.

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nikon-1080-d3100

Nikon announced availability for pre-orders on the Nikon D3100. Nikon is really trying to step things up even though they are coming in quite late in the game offering 1080HD video and 24 fps. They've got some fancy new full time auto focusing features in video mode and have a new lineup of lenses as well. Prices for the first time aren't too shabby since this looks like it will rival the Canon 550D / T2i. On the BHPHOTOVIDEO website, the Nikon D3100 is starting at $699 - and that includes an 18-55mm VR lens. That's $200 cheaper than the Canon 550D + 18-55mm package. Who knows if they are making any money on this new release, it might be a smart marketing 'loss leader' to keep them in the game and keep their current shooters from switching. Like video game consoles, I guess they realize that they need to get the DSLR bodies into the hands of shooters, because once shooters start investing in lenses, there's little chance they can convince people to switching.

New lenses announced are three new zooms—a 24-120mm f/4G ED VR, a 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, a 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR and an update of Nikon's classic 85mm f/1.4, a killer portrait lens.

Below: Nikon 85mm F/1.4
nikon-85mm-1.4

Below: Nikon 24-120mm
Nikon-AFS_24_120_ED_VR_la

Below: Nikon 28-300mm
nikon-AFS_28_300_ED_VR_ia

Below: Nikon 55-300mm
nikon-DX_55_300_VR_la

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Yes this blog has many DIY posts, but you won't find a DIY jib or camera crane article on here. I thought those types of articles were just over saturated and you can find that information just about anywhere. Thanks to Tim for sending this in, this DIY Camera Crane video by Martin Roberts showcasing his build was one that definitely needed to be shared. Not only a very clever build with lots of thought in place on the design, the video is edited and pieced together nicely too. It's not a very informative DIY video about how you can go about building your own step by step, but those who might be DIY savvy can probably pickup some tips. There's also additional photos over at his Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/53188536@N06/

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craigslist-boot-camp

An image of a Z96 LED light on a Glidecam HD4000 + Steadicam Vest + Rode VideoMic + Canon 5D Mark II + Battery Grip + Zoom H4n shows up in the wild. Well it wasn't really that wild. Somehow an image of just a small part of my rig showed up on the BayCitizen.org website, as I was part of the video team covering the Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp event over at UC Berkely. I was the only one roaming with any type of Steadicam, let alone a Steadicam Vest and sure did get lots of attention and questions about the rig. It's smooth to fly, gets good audio from the Rode VideoMic shotgun + Zoom h4n (on the lower sled - not seen), and when cruising indoors I have the ability to switch on some extra LED lighting. It's a versatile setup that works for me, and I use this same setup consistently for many types of event coverage. It's change a little bit, but you can see more of the Steadicam + Glidecam rig I've assembled in this article.

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Zooom-H1-release-date
I'm still waiting for an email response from Zoom about the official release date, since it's just a day short and there's always different emails about when this thing is going to hit the streets. The actual 'Zoom' store on Amazon has a posted release date of Sept 8th, so we'll see what happens. The good news is that the official 'Zoom' store on Amazon is accepting those Pre-Orders, while other website including BHPHOTOVideo.com are not. So if you haven't placed a jump on it yet, here's the link to the Zoom store on Amazon.

Update: A twitter pic shows them out on the streets. Could it be available? https://twitpic.com/2g8nwo

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In reference to my recent post about the new Nikon Replica Lens Mug with Zoom capability that I received, here's some images. The details on these replicas are incredible. Also there's some images of my other Canon Replica Lens mugs. The 24-105mm Lens mug you see in the gallery is the old one. The new Canon 24-105mm F/4 Replica Lens mug now has a stainless steel insert. Images were shot in my Product Cocoon with a Canon 580 EX II speedlight on each side triggered by my Canon ST-E2 transmitter. Images are a bit underexposed, but it's about midnight, and hopefully these should be good enough to give you an idea of the quality and detail of the Nikon 24-70mm Replica Zoom Lens Coffee Mug with Stainless Steel insert

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find-price-button Nikon Coffee Mug Telephoto Zoom


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find-price-button Canon Lens Mug Coffee Mug Replica Telephoto Zoom