Monthly Archives: January 2012

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While Sony is having a hard time keeping the Sony NEX7 camera available, Fuji will be releasing their latest X-Pro1 interchangeable lens camera very soon. This is definitely a camera to look in to if you're all about stills. It seems most of the marketing is based around Photography tapping in to that rangefinder market. There's not a lot of samples about it's video quality. Even still, I'm sure this camera will disrupt a bit of business from the M43 crowd along with Sony's ILC audience who wanted a nice small high quality interchangeable lens camera. With the new adapter for Leica lenses, it may even sway some of that high end market from Leica's very expensive bodies..

Prices are sketchy online, and there is currently no price listed over at the product page at B&H (here)

Fuji X-Pro Video.

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508-led-video-light-front

Looking for a large off camera LED light panel? One of the advantages of LED lights is the ability to run on battery power, but a majority of large panels run only off of V-Mount batteries. A single V-Mount battery could run well over $150 dollars + the price of a charging station. That's a very expensive additional cost for the convenience of powering off the grid. Then maybe you'd be interested in the upcoming 508 LED video light. A light that Herbert seems to have his hands on first. [Thanks for the pics Herbert].

508-led-video-lightback-508-led

Here's where the new 508 LED video light becomes interesting. Using the same body as the popular 312 LED light, the new 508 can still be powered by those super inexpensive Sony Style Batteries. Generic versions of these batteries run under $7.00 dollars. Of course because it's using the body of the 312, the new 508 can still accept an external DC input if you wanted to run it off of something like my Tekkeon battery pack.

Now as excited as I am about the new larger LED panel that's being powered off of cheap Sony style batteries, there's two things i'm fairly concerned about - Power output and Price. Is this large panel just more bulbs with the same power output? If so, then the price should be under $320 dollars because any person could just as easily grab two 312 LED video light panels and place them side by side, adding up to a 624 LED light source. Not to mention it would be easier to store away too once you break it down to two pieces. Hmm..sounds like an interesting test we need to tackle.

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find-price-button 508 LED Video Light Panel

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Steadicam Merlin 2 StabilizerSteadicam Merlin 2 upgrade

Today Tiffen announced at CES a newly designed Steadicam Merlin 2. One interesting additions is an upgrade to the handle that includes a remote to start / stop video. Not available in retail stores yet, but a full FAQ section and PDF user manual is available on the Tiffen website https://www.tiffen.com/steadicam_merlin2.html

Tiffen Steadicam Merlin 2

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Konova K5 vs K3 Slider Compare

Konova has one of the most popular roller bearing sliders on the market, and has now made available their new K5 slider which is a slightly larger version. The larger bearings and slightly larger carrier answers the call for supporting heavier payloads. Hopefully I should have a video review of this unit up soon, but i'm just getting back from CES Las Vegas. You can find more images comparing the new K5 against the smaller K3 slider over at the new listing (click here).

Konova K5 Bearings vs K3 BearingsKonova K5 bearings vs K3 Carrier bearings
find-price-button Konova New K5 Slider - Larger Bearing

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There was plenty of information about Canon replacing the G12 in the last few months, and now it's official with the coming of the G1X. [Update] It appears that the G1X is not a replacement, but a new line of camera.

Sorry for the short post guys, i'm flying out to Las Vegas (CES) today, but you can read more about it over at the B&H Article (click here).

Pricing expected to be around $799 can be found with more technical product specs at the pre-order page already live (click here).
Canon-G1XCanon-G1X-G12-Replacement
find-price-button Canon PowerShot G1 X

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Yesterday Iker shared a link to another set of 2, 4, and 6 bank CFL - Fluorescent light panels. [Thanks Iker] Some will say these are 'Kino Flo-like' light panels. I've been using the original 6 bank type, that works great for throwing a nice broad diffusion of light, but are a bit on the heavy side when I travel. You can find some samples of the light panels I use in this article (click here). In the studio, CFL lighting is the primary type of lights we are using, and have been effective for us for quite some time now. For location shoots, i'm trying to rely on LEDs for their lightweight.

CFL Light KitSlim CFL Light KitCFL lighting Kit Sock Diffuser

These 2, 4, and 6 bank video light panels that were shared to me yesterday list that they use the same Osram bulbs as my 6 bank set, but have a much slimmer profile and come with an outer diffusion panel (sock). Peeking around in the seller store, there's a number of other CFL type lighting kits including a folding barndoor octagon shaped head. Of course much of the quality with CFL lighting is based on the bulb type and ballast being used, so has anyone used these or have any more information on how well they work?

You can find these lights being sold on both Amazon (click here)

2-bank4 bank6 bank
find-price-button 2 Bank, 4 Bank, 6 Bank CFL Light Panels - via Amazon

and there's a number of different CFL lighting kits on eBay (click here).

Octagon Barndoor CFL lightOctagon softbox CFL light
find-price-button Other CFL Fluorescent Light Panel Kits - via eBay

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YouTube member LeftCoastInternetTV has a helpful tip about using the microphone on your hands free iPhone earbuds as a LAV mic. He goes to the extreme to actually cut off the headphone buds to minimize the footprint of the little microphone. I've seen several people covering small events with their rigged up iPhone, and this is a clever little tip from having to deal with dual audio in post. Since this is all based on hands free audio headsets, there's no reason this little tip won't work amongst all the android users out there too. It's not perfect at all, but perhaps a better audio recording app with manual levels could make things even better. [Thanks LeftCoast_TV]

Of course if you're willing to shell out a bit more cash, there's already plenty of iPhone adapters that will allow you to input standard 1/8" jack microphones like the Owle Bubo iPhone Microphone Adapter, or 1/4" jacks like the Peterson Musical Instrument Adapter Cable

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Not impressed by the Nikon D4 just yet? Vimeo member Dan Chung from DSLRNewsShooter throws up a video showcasing more of what to expect on the recently announced Nikon D4 camera. With tons more video features than the Canon 1Dx and a lower estimated price point, Nikon has really stepped up it's game. Unless Canon has some new surprise for us with a 5D Mark III anytime soon, the Nikon D4 is a camera I could really go for.

Some people will question what the quality of HDMI output is going to be, but just being able to capture through the HDMI port to something like the Atomos Ninja, bypassing the 29 minute recording issue, and saving in a compressed format that is native to FCP (no batch conversion), is a huge time saving advantage when using DSLRs for event coverage. That's worth money already to many.

After all of this information, there's no doubt the camera will be sold out on release next month. A few retailers have already listed product specs, but the only spot I know which pre-orders are available right now is via Adorama (click here).

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find-price-button Nikon D4 Pre-Order via Adorama