Equipment Reviews

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There's practically an adapter to mount any lens to any camera these days, and here YouTube member videotestground talks about the Pentax M42 Super Takumar 50mm F/1.4 [Thanks Vedran]. These M42 lenses are older manual lenses for Pentax film cameras that can be mounted to your Canon DSLR through a cheap adapter. A Canon 50mm F/1.4 will run you close to $400 dollars, so you could save quite a bit adapting older manual film lenses. He also goes into showing a small step up filter adapter, and examples with a static ND filter to shoot at the wide aperture in the bright day.

You can find these old lenses for your Canon DSLR on eBay (click here).
Super Takumar M42 Pentax F1.4
find-price-button Pentax Asahi Super Takumar 50mm F1/.4

And you can find the adapters needed to mount M42 lenses to Canon cameras (click here)

m42 adapter
find-price-button M42 to Canon EOS Lens Adapters

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Great little video from Vimeo member Stavros Koulis showing the build process of a Time Lapse Skater Dolly using an arduino controller. You may not require the need for a skater, but the parts list and instructions might be a good start for adding motion control to even a slider. For a complete parts list and build instructions, check out the article at https://nikondslrtips.com/15mm-rig-motion-controlled-timelapse-skater-dolly/.

DIY time Lapse skater dolly

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A honeycomb grid on your flash helps direct and concentrate light, and depending on the design of the honeycomb you can even achieve a very tight spotlight. YouTube member CAMPHOTOPIX shares his DIY grid build that is based on a bunch of cut straws. I'm not sure where this first started from, but it's an old DIY build that even I have tried years ago. It's very effective and you can customize the length of the straws for different effects. I also like his use of neoprene material for a very snug fit.

These grids were very expensive a few years ago, but if you lack the patience, you can now find similar style honeycomb grids for less than $13.00 dollars shipped. You can find them in 1/8" and 1/4" honeycombs on eBay (click here).

Polaroid Grid HoneycombHoneycomb Grid Speedlite
find-price-button Honeycomb Flash Grid Speedlite

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Here's something pretty interesting that reader Nathan Smith shares for an external HDMI Monitor. The Motorola Lapdock is used to connect to Android phones via HDMI and provides a keyboard, larger screen, two USB ports, and more. The Lapdock also has an internal battery that claims an 8 hour life span. Well the Lapdock never really took off as a product, and now you can find them on clearance or at discounted prices. Nathan was lucky enough to grab one for around $59 dollars. So what does this have to do with DSLR Video and cameras?

There were a few forums that claimed the Lapdock will perform as a normal HDMI screen with the right adapters and some videos have shown it being used with a Playstation. If you're wondering, the Lapdock has a Micro Male HDMI connection, so you'll need a female Micro HDMI to start with. Here Nathan proves that with the right cables, you can even use it to display the HDMI signal from your camera. Can't beat that for $59 bucks.

I also found this interesting because the Lapdock provides two USB ports. The Lapdock with it's internal rechargeable battery can be a remote monitor receiving the HD video feed and power the Asus through dual USB power without extra batteries (theory). I've updated the comments in this article with some information about the adapter and cable you'll probably need. Anyways, it's a neat idea and could be a fun thing to have with the clearance prices, but the only thing i'm still unsure of is the exact model that Nathan is using. [Update] He's using the Atrix 4G Lapdock and you can find the Lapdocks online via Amazon (click here)

Motorola-Lapdock-HDMI
find-price-button AT&T Laptop Dock SmartPhone

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USB DSLR Video Control

There's about a dozen USB remotes sold as a USB Follow Focus System, but this particular one lacks lens focus controls and just throws in some basic functions. This one was designed to mount close to your rig handle so that you can access common settings like ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Zoom Focus, Start / Stop Video Mode, etc.

Don't be confused by some of the listings, it's obvious they don't know what they are talking about and list it to be a follow focus controller (wrong!). This looks like the Okii MC1 controller, except it's about $100 dollars less. I like this particular handle design over those ugly round Canon USB Follow focuses but i'm still not sold on paying so much for this type of remote. You can find additional info about these Canon USB Video Remotes on eBay following the link (click here).

Screen Shot 2012-05-22 at 11.25.03 PMUSB VIDEO CONTROLLER Canon
find-price-button Canon mini USB Camera Control

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Some Directors may want to look over your shoulder to see what you're shooting, so by streaming a video feed over, they can stand aside while you shoot. This is a test of an 8" monitor that has built in wireless, powered by a Canon LP-E6 battery, and a remote is mounted to the camera. It also has an HDMI input for non-wireless. That's all I can say for now.

Ok, someone nailed it. It's an 8" HDMI LCD monitor, but has built in wireless and comes with an SD Video transmitter. Normally around $500 bucks, there could be a few dozen available (soon) for around $200-250 which is why I was testing it out to see if it could be useful in some ways. It doesn't appear pixelated even when using the 5D Mark III SD out port. I could see this being used to send video out to someone who needs to see it. What do you guys think, at a lower price is this something useful? Find more information about it below (click here).

8-inch-wireless-monitor
find-price-button 8" LCD with HDMI - SD Wireless LCD Monitor

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Here's a helpful video showing some balancing techniques with the Opteka SteadyVid Pro camera stabilizer from YouTube member videotestground. Looks like he's able to get it dialed in pretty good. Just want to remind people that these stabilizers won't make you a perfect operator overnight. That comes from knowing what to look for when balancing, and months of practice practice practice. [Thanks Vedran].

You can find the Opteka SteadyVid Pro via Amazon (click here).
Opteka SteadyVid Pro
find-price-button Opteka SteadyVid PRO Video Stabilizer- via Amazon

And for International shipping, it can also eBay (click here)
Opteka SteadyVid Pro
find-price-button Opteka SteadyVid PRO Video Stabilizer- via eBay

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Red Scarlet

At NAB2012 this year, I saw a few manufacturers making designs for the RED Scarlet. I guess this camera ended up being fairly popular for it's price point. In an interesting new twist, Gini Rigs has decided to make a custom video cage bracket for the RED Scarlet. I'm not a RED user myself, but maybe some of you can tell wether it looks like an original design or inspired by another? Products include a complete cage, or Top and Bottom plate sold separately. Find it at the ebay store (click here).

Red Scarlet Gini Rig CageGini Rigs Red Scarlet Video Cage
find-price-button Gini Rigs RED Scarlet Cage Top Plate Bottom Plate

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YouTube member LJtutorials gives a run down on the new BeachTek DXA-SLR Pro. These audio adapters are used to adapt your higher end XLR Microphones to DSLR cameras and provide features like headphone monitoring, Phantom power, Cleaner Pre-amp, Manual Levels adjustment (during recording), and AGC disable. If you're already enjoying a workflow of separate audio recorders with the Zoom H4n, then this might not be interesting to you. [Thanks LJ]

If you want to capture best audio directly into the camera so that you don't have to sync in post, then these types of adapters are a must have. There are several different models of BeachTek and Juicedlink Preamps that offer different feature sets at a variety of prices. For instance, you don't need headphone monitoring or AGC disable with a Canon 5D Mark III, and you may not require XLR and Phantom power if you're using Self Powered Microphones. This review is based on the the DXA-SLR Pro version which will run you over $400 dollars (found here).

BeachTek-DXA-SLR-Pro
find-price-button Beachtek DXA-SLR Pro HDSLR XLR Audio Adapter