Monthly Archives: September 2010

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717ah-fluid-head

When it comes to throwing a spare fluid head onto your DIY slider, Spidertrax Dolly, or other DIY tools, there's nothing with the quality and price as the 717AH Video Fluid Head. When I first found this cheap video fluid head it worked perfectly for my little projects. You can find my little over view video here: http://cheesycam.com/hidden-treasure-awesome-video-fluid-head-717ah/

Within just 4 hours of my post the entire inventory was sold out, and has been for months. Other vendors of this head were charging quite the premium, and at that cost you've got alot of other options for Video Fluid heads. So if you're looking for a decent sub $80 dollar fluid head to throw onto some of your DIY projects, check out the 717AH Video Fluid Head which I anticipate will be again out of stock within hours of this post.

Available via eBay for $79.99 found here: 717AH Video Fluid Head
717ah-fluid-head

Or available via Amazon for $74.99 found here: 717AH Video Fluid Head

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Watching more and more behind the scenes videos and especially those DSLR meetups going around, you'll catch tons of wicked DIY rigs amongst the crowd. It's quite interesting to see how many people connect and how many conversations can be started from simple ideas. Even though it's also available for purchase, when I released the SpiderTrax Dolly on the internet, it was released as a DIY project.

spidertrax-for-sale

Igus, the manufacturer of linear guide rails, for the past few months have been selling a DIY kit over at Amazon to make your own Camera slider.

The most recent announcement of DIY gear for sale is from audiophile JuicedLink. Yeah unusual as it might sound coming from a purely Audio Gear company, they're taking a different approach to "securely and cost effectively mount stuff to your camera". Looks like they are working on a DSLR cage and bracket of some type very similar to the K-Tek KN2274 Norbert Camera Mount Frame, but let's hope it's not coming in at the same price range. There's a few raw mock up images of their ideas in place, and more information about their new product lineup at the following this link: https://juicedlink.com/blog/2010/09/new-product-preview-affordable-dslr-accessory-brackets/
juicedlink-diyjuiced-link-diy-rig

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sanyo-xx-battery

Thanks to a tip in the readers comments, it looks like Sanyo's not completely happy with it's existing Eneloop Battery performance, as they decided to announce a new longer lasting rechargeable battery due end of year. They are announcing these batteries as the XX or Double X. One more X and it's possible it would have been banned in the USA or placed in the adult section for only adults to purchase. They will be rated at 2500 mah, an extra 500 from the standard Eneloop. Doesn't sound like much when talking about a single battery, but most LED video lights are using 5-6 batteries. Multiply that extra 500mah each and you've added quite a bit more run time. You can find their press release information here: https://eu.sanyo.com/portal/News-Releases/2010/20-September-2010/

Standard rechargeable batteries worked great right after you pull them from the charging station, but a week later they would pretty much be drained. Unlike other rechargeable batteries, the Eneloop can hold a charge for up to one year. These rechargeable batteries are the only thing powering my house from all my flashes, portable audio recorders, LED lights, TV remotes, Wii, Xbox, wireless speakers, lights on the Bikes for night riding, etc. etc. With the handy C and D adapter cases those same AA rechargeables can be used in many other items. You just can't go wrong with these things. The initial investment into Eneloops sounds expensive, but if you use them as much as I do, you'll make up for it in a week. Now I haven't had any problems with run time on my Eneloops so i'm not sure if i'm ready to upgrade to the Double X. For those of you who haven't looked into this tech, cheaper than Amazon, cheaper than eBay, you can find the Sanyo Eneloop power pack kit over at B&H.

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Sanyo eneloop Power Pack Starter Kit

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Well as many of you had commented and even emailed, I took a break from the blog this past weekend. It's a combination of being ill and over working. Last week I lent a hand interviewing 'Far East Movement' - a music group with a current hit on the Billboard, then next day worked in a boxing ring shooting an ad for spot Fila's new women's workout pants, and then a Photoshoot the next day. All of which was an experience to take in and come up with better ideas to make the work flow more smooth. I'll eventually post more information about those events, but for now i'll start getting back to the blog.

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canon60D-now-shipping

Damn, i've been catching Twitter pics and news clips about the Canon 60D in stock and shipping all day today. It's still a very rare find, but I managed to check out a few of my 'secret fishing holes' and it should drop in on Tuesday. Yeah, I tried to get it in earlier, but Jewish holiday they say.

Check out an early review @ https://nicolesyblog.com/2010/09/16/hands-on-with-the-canon-60d-first-impressions/ who shows off some of the in-camera filters. I think the 'Toy Camera' filter looked pretty good, and would be tons of fun in a Timelapse project. Curious if they stuck with the same Intervalometer as the T2i.

So i'm excited to see how this thing sizes up against it's 'older' siblings. I have another big event out of state that i'll be dragging this thing to, so I stocked up on the 32GB Transcend SDHC Class 10 Cards which is a deal right now.

Sandisk-8GB-MicroSDI also noticed that the Zoom H1 and Tascam DR-08 only come with 2GB microSD cards. At the highest bitrate, i'm getting short of one hour total record time. If this this is going to be useful in a Catholic ceremony it's gotta run at least half a day! I managed to find some Sandisk 8GB microSD Cards for fairly cheap. With 8GB at the highest 96/24 I should be able to get close to 4 hours of total record time.

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yongnuo-st-e2

Ok, I don't know how I missed this, but it's here. There was talk that about this mytholigical unit said to harness the power to control savage Speedlites. For Canon they call it the ST-E2, for Yongnuo they call it....well...the ST-E2. Yeah go figure. Do a search on ST-E2 on this blog and you'll find it's something I use all the time. The fact that this new Yongnuo ST-E2 Speedlite Trigger unit is only half the price and said to provide the same (if not better) performance is very very cool. There was a review I read online somewhere about these units and it was pretty mind blowing. If I find it again, i'll update this post.

yongnuo-st-e2-transmitteryonguo-st-e2-canon-flash-trigger

If you're looking to firing your Canon flashes off camera, maintain communications, and support High Speed Sync this is what strobists all over Flickr are or will be talking about. If you ever plan on going Radio Popper PX wireless, this would be the base for it. One of the best features is simply just the AA batteries for power source. The Canon ST-E2 uses some specialty battery I can only find in the Adult Video and Toy store around my area. Just kidding, I just frequent there so it's a convenient stop on the way home. Just kidding again!!! (Am I?).Ok, maybe some of the readers don't really care what i'm talking about, but for geeks like me this is a huge deal for a fine piece of infrared, TTL transmitting, group power ratio managing, high speed sync gear. Whew...I need a smoke..just kidding I don't smoke. But if I did smoke, I think I would need one...

P.S. Does it work with Yongnuo Flashes? Me no think so, but i'm trying to figure that out for sure. My guess is Yongnuo has a new flash in the Pipeline that's going to be made for this, which should also mix and match and hopefully play nicely with other Canon Speedlites. That's going to be some serious..serious competition for Canon Gear. Here's the link: Yongnuo ST-E2 Infrared Trigger for Canon Speedlites

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If you're looking to use a tool only a few times, just a money savings reminder that you can always rent gear instead of throwin' down some hard earned cash. I showed up on the set of the music video (above), and plenty of lenses, cameras, Redrock Micro rigs, and more were all rented from BorrowLenses.com. Specialty expensive lenses like the Canon 400mm F/2.8 that normally run for over $7,000 can be had for about $248 / week.

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Sure sounds like money you could be putting towards owning gear, but talk to a few pros and you'll find out that a big part of the business is rentals. Most pros consider a project and throw the rental fees into the contract. I've rented a crazy 72" softbox and Profoto strobe/battery setup for a photo shoot for a mere $40 dollars a weekend, and that gear was well worth over $4k. I knew I would only use it once, and by adding it into client fees, it just makes sense. Find yourself a good solid rental place, and you'll really expand your work. You'll be able to take on larger projects and consider a whole new variety of ideas. One of the easiest most highly rated Rental place is BorrowLenses.com. Don't let the name fool you, they've expanded quite extensively and I believe are in their third move to a larger warehouse. You can rent DSLR's, Lighting, Audio, Camera bags, and even Computers. There's a long list of gear you should check out to help plan your next shoot. If you're new to the rental game, start with something small. Once you get the groove, you won't feel so limited taking on future projects.

borrow-lenses-rent-camera-lens
Click to Rent Gear from BorrowLenses.com

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bg-e8-battery-grip-t2i

Thanks to a tip from 'c n', these uber cheap battery grips orignally posted in this article: http://cheesycam.com/unusual-new-battery-grips-for-550d-t2i/ seem to have a slight upgrade. Originally the unit was super cheap, mainly because it still used very old battery types from the T1i. Now these sub $35.00 550D Battery grips are using the proper LE-E8 battery fit, and appears to have a slight cosmetic upgrade too. Maybe threw out the old junk and now selling an entirely new product. Either way, it's the standard model now, but looks like they kept the pricing at under $35.00 bucks (no batteries). You can find more information by clicking here: BATTERY GRIP FOR CANON EOS 550D /Rebel T2i SLR BG-E8

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Shop for Aftermarket 550D Battery Grip

[Update] If the link above doesn't return any results, they sold out very quickly. Here's an updated link shared by a few readers.
Battery Grip for Canon 550D T2i with Batteries

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Aaron mentioned he received the Yongnuo 560 Flash for off camera use, and threw up a demo video. From the information in the video, i'm pretty impressed. This YN-560 version doesn't support TTL, but when using my Yongnuo RF-602 triggers, I'm using my flashes all manually anyways. I can see event photographers using these either on light stands or clamped around the ceiling to get some extra light into a dim lit event. Especially since they are fairly cheap, I wouldn't be as worried about damage or theft leaving them around. I'm totally paranoid just throwing my Canon 580 EX II's in places that seem 'untrustworthy'. I guess I found my backup solution. Thanks Aaron, for the demo on these inexpensive Yongnuo YN-560 flashes.

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Yongnuo YN-560 Camera Flash