Radio shack has a few adapters, but nothing as nice as these cheap little end terminals. This one is the correct size to fit most of your camera accessories with a 5.5mm OD and 2.5mm ID barrel. You can use this to make a cable to power up your Z96 LED lights, 312 LEDs, 600/900 LED Light Panels, and the list goes on and on. If you want to see an example of this cool little battery pack in action (click here).
Not long ago Luca did a test, and this battery should run the 352 LED ring light for at approx. 1.5 hours in full power. These batteries are cheap and you can get multiple ones if you need to swap. For these little end plugs, there's clear markings to show positive and negative (posi-in) and does not require any soldering. Grab two wires, strip the ends, and tighten up the screws. Make your cables as long or as short as you need.
Fancier is back with a portable stabilizer rig. The first time they tried to do this, I reviewed one of their rigs and it didn't go over so well. You could find that old article (click here). I guess they were listening to feedback and made some really good changes. First, they got rid of all the plastic knobs - those were just meant to crack and fall off. They've also priced this new mini rig around what's currently on the market, but it also has much better quality than the one provided with the RJ focus.
The counterweight is a clever flat folding design which adds stability, and it makes for easy travel. There's nothing I could say about the shoulder pad, except that it completely lacks one. It's just a very thin foam lining. The only other thing you could easily point out as 'not-so-good-quality' is the handles. It's a nice contour design and easy on the hands, but it's a faux rubber plastic mold. Don't get me wrong, the handles don't feel frail like it could break. I'm sure they'll take quite a beating. I guess they could be easy enough to rewrap or cover if needed.
The FTV-50 rig is based on 15mm rod and clamp rigs, so it's possible to expand, but as it is now, it will not support something like a follow focus. My guess is it's targeting all the new hot little video cameras coming out from Pentax, Sony, Olympus, and Panasonic. Very little parts, but completely adjustable in all manners.
It has one hotshoe in the rear and two 1/4-20" threaded holes which you can add accessory arms to. Since the whole rig is based on common 15mm rails you could find optional clamps if you want to mount more. Why they still choose blue is beyond anyone's guess, but it doesn't look too flashy and at the same time doesn't look at all cheap. The price is floating around $130 dollars which is fair, but hopefully we'll see more cheaper rigs from Fancier in the near future. You can find the FTV-50 from Fancier on Amazon (click here).
If you live and die through HDMI, then you might have heard a few stories (maybe experienced it yourself) about HDMI damage on your DSLR. This little achilles heel in DSLR workflow when using LCD monitors or EVF solutions can cost you big repair bills. Zacuto introduces a new HDMI lock (requires a zacuto plate to mount) called the Pincher. Not the cheapest solution, but it's almost the only one out there. Found at the Zacuto website, or a few dollars cheaper at B&H.
Zactuo HDMI Lock - Pincher
Or as some others have pointed out in the comments, the new TrusMT DSLR cage has HDMI locking options found here.
A quick update about the Pico Flex Dolly. The first batch of pre-orders have already been completely purchased and should begin shipping (estimated) September 12th. The website is still taking orders for the next batch that should ship about 5-7 days after the first batch.
Here's some important information. The wheels might be a bottleneck for production until the supplier can catch up. We were able to make another small volume batch order very quickly before they ran out. So as of now, there is a limited quantity of complete Pico Flex Dollies available in the second batch. They are moving pretty quickly, so consider getting an order in while it's there. We are also hoping to make International Orders available this week. Found at https://photographyandcinema.com.
If you're not up to speed, there's a set of 96 LED lights on the market that didn't please many users. The seller Tony seemed to be a straight up guy and worked with all the buyers to accommodate any unsatisfied sales, while he worked to address some features. Serge received an early version from one of the LED lights in progress, but it doesn't seem to be picture perfect just yet. Although Tony seems like a very responsible seller who takes care of his customers, if this light can't totally outperform and outprice what's already on the market, I don't see a big shift. There's also a long written blog article over at Serge's blog found here. [Thanks Serge].
Jason wanted to see the 717AH fluid head mounted to the Pico. Here's a video clip showing the mount and how much area is left. The 717AH has the same base diameter as most video fluid heads so a variety should be able to fit without issues.
Now going back to using friction arms, many people have asked about a way to mount their iPhone or similar HD Video device. Here i'm showing a universal quick camera clamp that can adapt to literally any cellphone or small camera. There is very little spring tension so it won't crush your device. The device stays inside the clamp through the angled design and with rubber grip pads. I also show my Sony HX9V mounted to the clamp. We're hoping to make these clamps available at PhotographyandCinema.com soon.
Some wardrobe hangers set on a couple of Push up bars are the foundation for this pretty slick DIY motion control slider by Vimeo member Jayhas. A wireless RC remote and continuous servo control the speed, and the basic rig is comprised of a few skateboard trucks. I think I have a good idea on how it all works, but there isn't a very clear tutorial on the build. Hopefully we'll see a follow up with a closer inspection to how it was all assembled. You could find some additional information following the link.
Just thought i'd string up the 360VM Crank slider with some 30LB Fishing line and see what type of movement I could achieve with a basic battery powered Rotisserie motor. There are some great examples of these rotisserie motors being used on DIY projects like this one here and here.
It might look like things are standing still, but if you look closely the carrier is slowly inching it's way across. These very slow speed rotisserie motors are great for simple motion control on a slider because they can probably pull a full sized turkey. To speed things up I could possibly add a larger spool. The larger diameter will pull the carrier down the rail at a much faster pace. Or if you're up to it, start looking into servos or motors and speed controllers like the one Gordon has used on his Konova.
Not long ago I showed off some portable 12V / 5V USB battery packs that were able to power a variety of camera accessories. These battery packs worked so great, I picked up a few more, and there's always one in my backpack (in case my cell phone runs low). YouTube member LucaFurgiuele runs a time test powering up the 352 LED Ring light at Full Power.
It's not often you'll use a light like this on full power the entire time, but these batteries were still able to push about 85 minutes of run time. Definitely not a bad deal for these versatile little packs. You can find some additional information about the batteries in my old post here. [Thanks Luca]
5.5 OD 2.5 ID Power Plug End Adapter
