Monthly Archives: March 2011

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Varavon's new Armor adds a few extra handles as well as accessory mounting points. It's a cross between a cage and a hand held stabilizer. I think it looks pretty cool, but i'm not sure how you actually set the thing down. Either way, it keeps the camera looking fairly low profile while still adding functionality to shooting hand held, I think it's pretty cool.

Thinking about what I have laying around to simulate a DIY, it reminds me of a Photographer's Rotating Flash Bracket. Maybe throw a handle here and there, drill a few holes... Check this one out by Custom Brackets.
Screen shot 2011-03-06 at 10.00.42 PM
find-price-button CB Junior Rotating Flash Bracket Kit

Screen shot 2011-03-06 at 9.49.35 PM
find-price-button Variety of Rotating Flash Brackets via eBay

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Vimeo member ek2008 really took his time making this DIY video camera stabilizer. Not only looks good, but works great as seen in the video above. Look through some of the older videos and you'll see it's been a work in progress for several months.

Vimeo member Tim Nitsch uses a simple servo, spool, and a bit of string to motorize an IGUS slider. More information on how it's all put together at the video link.

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varavon-GH2-viewfinder

There's the usual LCD View Finders that might work on the GH2, but a very interesting one from Varavon allows you to flip out the LCD and provide enough support so that you don't break it off. Something that can't be done with the traditional sticky metal frame. The company is the same who provided the unique internal mirror for Low viewing angles I reviewed here: http://cheesycam.com/varavon-lcd-low-angle-view-finder-for-dslr/. Not available yet, but looks like it will be soon. They make some quality products, but pricing was always the weak point stepping into the market. Curious as to what initial pricing will be, or maybe we'll get a peek at this over at Las Vegas NAB. You can see more Varavon news here: https://www.varavon.com/product/newproducts.html

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If you're looking to do Timelapse with the GH2, there's a few options for remotes (none as cheap as the ones available for Canon). Vimeo member Olivia writes in showing the Pixel Intervalometer (a.k.a Timer Remote) in action. Seems to do the job pretty well firing off the camera at whatever chosen interval setting. Not sure what's going on with all those extra menu options such as Delay and Long. The Pixel one she's using is cheapest via Amazon than through eBay, and you can find it below. [Thanks Olivia]

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find-price-button Pixel Timer Remote Control Shutter for Panasonic

Of course i'm always looking for a deal, but unfortunately eBay isn't the place to find a cheap Intervalometer for the GH2 at the moment. There's actually a different model that runs even cheaper than Olivia's, but says only 5 left. Does it work? No reviews on this one just yet, but i'm guessing it works just fine. I might have to grab me one of these.

timer-remote-panasonic-gh2
find-price-button LCD Timer Remote Controller for PANASONIC

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The 352 LED Ring light has a certain effect on how it throws light around a subject, so my buddy Dave decided to test it with a Photo Shoot. I removed the ugly bracket and just used a Friction Power Arm. With the Power arm, it can be mounted onto a light stand or to a camera hot shoe and also allows it to be positioned in many ways.

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find-price-button Adjustable Accessory Power Friction Arm

The Ring light really needed to be dimmed, it's just too bright at full power, so there's still plenty of power not shown in the video. The 14.4V DIY battery pack I made lasted for hours, and I could have used the Ryobi batteries too. The rim light to separate the subject was the cheap 500 LED (dimmable knob type) Light panel hung from a beam. To add the halo, there's a Nikon speedlite snooted off to the side. To do this, you can also use these HoneyComb Grids.
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find-price-button Harbor Honeycomb Spot Grid with Colored Gels

All images of the model were shot with Continuous light, even the Canon 7D video used only the light from the 352 Ring light (and 500 LED from the back). The 352 LED Ring light is definitely a great tool and with the battery pack makes it much more usable, pretty cool stuff.


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find-price-button 500 LED Video Light Panel Dimmable

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find-price-button 352 12V Capable Dimmable LED Ring Light

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I created this video a few days ago, didn't like how it came out and decided not to post it up. But since i'm a bit busy today, I thought I'd make it up to you guys and share this budget idea for inexpensive DC Portable Power.

Ryobi-12V-Cordless-Drill

So what's so special about this Ryobi? Well finding a good solid reliable 12V DC Power source for Video and Photo gear is quite expensive. After testing out a few different options for DC battery packs for the Z96, 352 LED Ring Light, 500 LED light panels, LCD Monitors, and other devices I thought about these super duper inexpensive yet highly reliable 12V DC Power packs. The kits normally come with a Cordless drill + (2) 12V DC Battery packs + (1) Charger. I bought two sets, ended up with (4) batteries and (2) chargers. The drills, i'll probably take apart and use the electric motors for a different project.

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These types of batteries are literally built for abuse, can be recharged hundreds of times, last for years, and are dirt cheap for the amount of power they provide. The best part about these 'particular' 12V DC Ryobi batteries is that they can be charged from a tiny AC adapter plug (comes with the kit). No need to pack up those bulky charging stations. These very 'particular' cordless tool batteries also have a very easy way of tapping in with two simple spade terminals.

Since there was no labeling on the battery, I took the drill apart to determine which is positive and which is negative. The end terminal closest to the red logo is 'negative'. The terminal furthest from the red Ryobi logo (back of battery) is 'Positive'.

2011-02-28 22.15.08

You might be able to find the batteries seperately and save a few bucks, but all they had in the store was kits that came with the Cordless Drill. Even if I didn't need the drill, I was able to walk out with (4) 12V DC batteries + 2 charging plugs and (2) carrying cases for $98 dollars. That comes out to less than $25 dollars each 12V DC Power Pack. Not bad if you compare this to single V-Lock Battery that can run you over $350 dollars (without a charging station).

2011-02-28 22.17.22

If you want to go ultra light, Ryobi also sells Lithium batteries that are 58% lighter and slimmer than the ones I have. Run times on the Lithiums might be longer too. Of course the Lithium versions require a large Battery Charging Station and costs a bit more, but they still share the same easy to tap into connectors. I'll probably permanently attach wires to the battery pack for safety and end the leads with Quick Connectors. Same connectors you've seen in my RC battery video with the 352 LED Ring light. So far they've been powering everything around the studio including the large 900 LED Video Light panels. With these 12V batteries powering the 900 LED panel, I thought it was fairly bright. It was only until I compared them side by side to with one connected to it's 15V AC power source (which I've been testing in the studio) did I notice it wasn't pushing out full capacity. Even still on 12V DC with these inexpensive batteries, the LED panels are very usable if you need to be mobile...

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2011-03-02 15.09.57

One of the new features in the Canon T3i lets you select full Manual Audio, dial down the in-camera pre-amps, and go all JuicedLink DS214 with headphone monitoring. Damn this is so much easier than all the other random ways to control, monitor, and route incoming audio into DSLR's. If you still liked running a Dual Audio system, you can run a Zoom H1 or H4n on the output between the camera and DS214.

You can see the relative size of JL's DS214 next to the Canon T3i and Rode VideoMic Pro, all mounted on a (gratuitous product shot) of the Juicedlink Accessory bracket. It's such a simple looking setup, but you've got control over the Rode VideoMic with -10db, 0db, and +20db, and then you have a Low / High Gain features in the JuicedLink DS214, along with incoming Right and Left Levels adjustment, and finally piping that into the T3i Manual Audio controls...

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Canon-T3i_LetusCage-900LED (2)

Canon-T3i_LetusCage-900LED (1)

Because the 900 LED panels can be battery powered, it's fairly easy to use this as a portable On-Camera video light. Here it's shown mounted on the Letus DSLR Cage with Canon T3i + 18-55mm IS II lens. I'm just kidding..it's a joke people. Don't get too serious about this post. You all know I would never be seriously caught going out with this type of setup. I mean, who can take the 18-55mm stock lens seriously? LOL. Now to mount this to a shoulder rig...yeah..now we're talking.. (kidding guys..kidding)

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900-500-LED (2)

900-500-LED (1)

A common question right now is, why the 900's? Well the 900's is a happy medium sitting right in between the 600 & 1200 LED lights. I can't complain since the 900's already push out twice the light as the older 500 LED panels. An upgrade is an upgrade. Also as seen in the images (above) I can fit (2) 900 LED light panels into standard sized Carry On luggage and room to spare for my power cords. The 500 LED panels were a bit beefier and would be impossible to fit two. You can check out more images and specs about these new LED light panels over at Amazon available for Prime - Click Here.

600 LED 900 1200 Video Light Panel
find-price-button Dimmable LED Video Light Panels