I posted this article about a week ago. A few minutes after posting the first item was off the grid. It's back if anyone was looking, found here: http://cheesycam.com/4-ft-camera-video-crane-jib/
Monthly Archives: June 2011
3 Lens Essentials You Should Have
Here's a couple of things I highly recommend you should already have with your lenses. The day you purchase your new camera lens, the store will always suggest you buy it with at least a basic UV Filter. I'm not going to argue about the price and quality of the stuff they are pushing, but it's a very important thing to have. A basic UV filter isn't anything special that will dramatically change your images, but it will protect your front element from dirt, oil, dust, and most importantly scratches.
If you get a single scratch or mark on your lens, you're throwing good money out the door. Let the filter take the hit, and just replace the filter. If you walked away from the store without one, you need to at least throw something on there, and you'll find many for under a few dollars.
Next item to care for your lenses is a pouch or a sleeve. Even some high end Canon L lenses don't come with decent lens pouches, just a gray bag and a pull strap. Regardless, you need something, anything. Not only will it protect from scratches, moisture (throw in a silica gel bag into the pouch), but also dust. Dust finds it way into 'everything'. Neoprene pouches (same as surfing wet suit material) can be had for as little as $3 dollars.
Photo Video Camera Lens Pouches
Another inexpensive item you can grab for a single dollar or two - The Lens Pen Brush. Most of us don't have room for Compressed Air Cans. Those Liquid Bottles and Cleaning cloths are mainly used to clean up oil, but aren't the best for dusting off your lens. In fact, you should 'Dust before you Wipe'. Dust can sometimes be very abrasive and taking a cloth to it could be damaging.
If you see a few specs of dust on your filter, or in between the filter and your front lens element, don't reach for it with your finger. Don't try to swipe it with your T-Shirts (laundry softners have wax). Simply pull out your lens pen, push out the brush bristles, give it a good shake and then lightly dust away those tiny particles. You can brag about your thousand dollar cameras, lenses, and big budget shoots, but a spec of dust on your lens has the potential of ruining everything.
These lens pen brushes are so cheap, I purchased a dozen. I keep them everywhere. I'll use them to dust my laptop screens, keyboards, camera lenses, filters, and more. Small yet incredibly useful. There's a long list of things you should have as well, but these three very inexpensive items should give you a good start on maintaining your investment in lenses.
Lilliput New 5″ HDMI LCD
Thanks to Ruben for this new piece of information. Looks like Lilliput wants to play in the 5" HDMI LCD market. With cameras looking to compete in the 'smaller' form factor, i'm sure we'll be seeing more and more in the 5" range. I guess a 7" LCD monitor might look a bit crazy on the new Sony NEX or Panasonic GF3's coming around the corner.
The new Lilliput 5" monitor(s) go by 569H or 569GL and are compatible with the typical Sony / Panasonic batteries. It can be powered via external DC, 1/4x20 threaded inserts on both sides and bottom, come with a sunshade, Hotshoe Mount Ball, a resolution of 800x480, headphone monitoring out, and also have HDMI input (optional HDMI output / pass through). This is a new series of monitors not yet released and pre-orders are listed below.
Lilliput 5" LCD HMDI Monitor 569GL
Of course if shaving off 2" isn't an important thing for you, there doesn't seem to be much difference in features over the very similar 7" versions (which are cheaper). The 7" version doesn't have the Sony/Panasonic battery adapters, but outside of that they might be similar. You might want to give those a peek as a refresher: http://cheesycam.com/7-hdmi-lcd-w-internal-battery/. [Thanks Ruben]
Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 – Nikon gets Focus Confirmation Chip
Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 For Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Pentax
Just talking about how well reviewed the Rokinon 85mm F/1.4 lens was, and now here's a bit about the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4. First off, this is the same as the Samyang but since it's a different name, you'll save about $100 dollars off the retail price.
For Nikon, the Rokinon 35mm F/1.4 lens actually has a 'focus confirmation chip' built in. Why did they not include this for the other brands? The Rokinon 85mm F/1.4 comes in at an excellent price range, and I would say very affordable. This new 35mm F/1.4 sounds good, but it's going to have some very very stiff competition. In this area you could still get the wildly popular Sigma 30mm F/1.4 for cheaper, and that comes with full Auto Focus.
The Sigma 30mm F/1.4 has already been proven out in the field and is a very sharp lens for cheaper than than the Rokinon 35mm. The Sigma 30mm is just a tad wider, but that's a good thing especially for cropped cameras. If prices don't change, in my opinion the Sigma is the lens to get. A quick note to Micro Four Thirds shooters - the Sigma 30mm F/1.4 has been discontinued for Four Thirds cameras. If you're considering this for a GH2 (would need an FT to MFT adapter), there might be a few left in retail spots like Amazon Here
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Budget DSLR Follow Focus
Thanks to a tip from Jarrod, here's a look at a very inexpensive DSLR Follow focus with universal lens gear. The R.J. Follow Focus states that it's made mostly out of Aluminum with a reversible gear to be used both left and right handed. There's a large marking disc area and standard knob to accept an external 'whip' if you decide to get one in the future. The gear sits low, so if you're using a small lens and a battery grip, you may have some trouble getting the FF to mate to the lens gear. The last question would be how much 'play' the follow focus has in the gear box, but at this price it can't be all bad.
DSLR Follow Focus with Lens Gear
Like most follow focus systems, this one will require a set of 15mm rods to mount. If you don't have a set you're best bet is to take advantage of those Gini auctions. What you're looking for is a rig that has at least the DSLR base mount and two rails.
Tamron 18-270mm Super Zoom PZD
I don't know how Tamron has done it, but they made a great thing even better. There's a 'new' version of the 18-270mm Super Zoom lens. This lens might hold the record of longest zoom in a single lens, and this all includes Image Stabilization or as Tamron puts it VC - Vibration Compensation. I admit Tamron's VC is very very effective and much quieter than most of my Canon IS lenses.
This is a highly recommended lens by me when i'm looking to travel light on vacations. I get the best wide and super duper zoom features in a single lens (NOTE: not for full frame cameras). Below is a snapshot of my 60D with the original version of the Tamron 18-270mm.
So what's great about the new version? New motors make the lens more silent and faster. Smaller too. Yes, as if they couldn't make a 270mm Lens any smaller, they've managed to cut down the whole package another 24%. Obviously this all translates to being even lighter than the original version too. I know, you're curious about Video quality. I loaned my original version out to a friend and had a hard time getting it back, he loved it so much. Here's a sample video below shot during his trip to China on the 'older' 18-270mm @24fps.
The Video above is a good example of how far this lens zooms out to, so that you can grab a few 'stolen shots' or use it for 'stealthy street photography' without your subjects even knowing. Now you're wondering about Photography. What is the difference in zoom from 18-270mm? Here's two examples I shot in a Museum, one at 18mm on a Canon 7D and the other at 270mm (handheld too - love the VC).
Above: Image shot on Canon 7D at 18mm
Above: Image shot on Canon 7D at 270mm
Overall this lens won't give you the most incredible shallow DOF as a single Prime lens would, but once you have it in your hands, it's hard to let go. The convenience of carrying a single lens with the amount of zoom range and very effective Image Stabilization makes this one of my favorites. And for the first time, this new lens version is now available in a Sony mount (not just Canon / Nikon).
Tamron 18-270mm Super Zoom with Vibration Compensation (a.k.a Image Stabilization)
Rokinon 85mm F/1.4 Review
Another thumbs up review about the Rokinon 85mm F/1.4 Lens. I wrote an older article about these lenses found here: http://cheesycam.com/budget-manual-focus-85mm-f1-4-lens/. As you know Canon has an affordable F/1.8 lens
Vivitar 85mm F/1.4 Manual Focus Lens
ASXMOV Video Camera Stabilizer Vest Kit
Anyone know much about ASXMOV? It's another Steadicam like vest and Stabilizer kit. Pretty poor old school demo video (above), but none-the-less somewhat effective. A single unit shows up online with total pricing on the kit (including shipping), cost about $1100 less than Wondlan's new Leopard stuff.
Fancier FC-02H Fluid Head Review
Vimeo member Jonathan Nicol throws up a review on the Fancier FC-02H video fluid head. I guess this is supposed to be a step above the typical 717 heads. There's some samples at the end of his video review, and the samples do look smooth indeed. I couldn't locate this particular model on eBay, but it looks like the FC-02H head could be mounted on different tripods and coming up with different model numbers.
There's two different version over on Amazon, and from the image appears to be the FC-02H head (75mm Bowl Mount). Although these heads may provide smooth movements, keep in mind that bowl mounts are not the ones that make it easy for you to remove and use on Sliders. These are best used as just straight up fluid head sticks.
Fancierstudio FC-270 Professional Pro Tripod
A more expensive version also exists, it appears to be the same head, but possibly a different Tripod.
