Equipment Reviews

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900-LED-Video-Light

I setup (3) of my new 900 LED Video light panels against the 500 LED panels. These things really put out some power. Obviously there's more light output than the older 500 LED panel, but the color and throw is a world of difference. The 900 LED panel has an AC power cord that outputs 15V, and terminates to an 'N' size (Radio Shack) pin. This is the same size pin the Z96 and 352 LED Ring light uses. So I quickly threw on a variety of my DIY batteries to test total light output.

With the 900 LED panel powered from a 12V battery, the light turned on but was pretty dim. Using my (2) RC batteries joined together to 14.4V, the light was at full power. The third light I connected to AC power (15V) and was exactly at the same output as the one running on RC batteries 14.4V. I left the LED on full power using the RC batteries (fully charged) and after about an hour the light began to dim.

So it's possible to power these LED lights from a portable battery pack, but you'd need something that was at least 14V and fairly large to get some decent run time out of them. Even though they come with the V-Lock Battery mount, that might not be enough time to be worth the high cost of those batteries. Time to find a solution...

900-led-video-light-panel
find-price-button 900 LED Dimmable Photography Video Camera DSLR 5400K/3200K Lighting Light Panel Sony V Mount battery Adapter INCLUDED 14V OUTPUT 110V-230V

• 14 Comments

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JuicedLink-DS214

Doesn't look like it in photos, but this thing is small. The DS214 is really a great little device to professionally (and simply) add headphone monitoring and level adjustments for microphone inputs to DSLR's. The DS214 even includes AGC Defeat so this little black box can literally work magic for all DSLR audio shortcomings. Love the starting price point too. I'll mount it up next to a camera and show what that would look like.

ds214-JL-juicedlink
visit-button JuicedLink DS214 Low Noise PreAmp with Headphone Monitoring Audio Meters

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These 'other style' LED lights are popping up everywhere you look, especially on eBay were most of the LED Video lights start out. At first glance the style is similar to the Comer light, but it's not the same, and it's not even half the price of even the 'generic Comer'. The above video review from Vimeo member Olivia shows some sample use with the LED-5001 (or sometimes called VL5001). Positioned over the GH2 you can see it's relative size, and it doesn't look very tiny. From the review, it looks like it has decent overall light output, but a little spotty without the diffuser.

The LED-5001 video light kit has (3) LED's, comes with a folding Diffuser, Tungsten Filter, and two barn doors. Nice to have all those filters and gels in one place rather than thrown in your bag. The LED kit also comes with a battery charger and Sony compatible 7.2V rechargeable Lithium Battery - and yes it's also Dimmable. Run time? Not sure, but looks like you can still mount Sony's double sized 7.2V battery as opposed to the smaller one provided with the kit. [Thanks Olivia]

LED-5001-DSLR-Video-LightLED-5001-battery-pack
find-price-button Dimmable Video LED Light Lithium battery with Charger 4 Leaf Barndoor For on Camera DSLR Video

• 6 Comments

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battery-grip (1 of 3)

battery-grip (1 of 1)

They said it would work, but you never know until you try. Just confirmed that the Canon T3i is compatible with the same BG-E8 Battery grip for the Canon T2i / 550D. Works seamlessly.

The camera bodies are very close in design, but still a bit different. It doesn't seem like you can swap the camera's battery doors (when removed for installing battery grip). For those wondering about the GGS glass protectors working on the Canon T3i / 600D, it doesn't look like a fit. The buttons are close to the same position, but everything is just slightly off. Other accessories such as Batteries, Cards, and Chargers are all the same, so the T3i / 600D should be seamless to drop into any existing Canon T2i workflow...

Canon-550D-Aftermarket-Grip
find-price-button Canon T2i & T3i Battery Grips

• 21 Comments

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YouTube member John Waskey writes in and shares his secret to a budget Motion controlled Timelapse slider. As an Astronomy fan, he uses a Telescope Motor mounted to a Kessler Dolly. Probably one of the best variable speed motors i've seen that can run you just under $40 bucks, specs on it state it can last up to 40 hours on a single 9 volt battery. What's the top speed? I'm not sure, but it can move slow enough to produce great time lapse footage, and it's already boxed up ready to mount. You can find these motors available below. [Thanks John]

via Amazon:
Screen shot 2011-02-28 at 9.23.58 AM
find-price-button Telescope Motor Drive

via eBay:
Telescop Motor Time Lapse
find-price-button Variable Speed Telescope Motor for DIY Motion Time Lapse Slider

• 58 Comments

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The Canon T3i is in, and so far looks very close to a Canon T2i. There is one cool feature that none of the other Canon's have and it's the 3x-10x Zoom feature. The T2i and 60D had something similar but could not perform this while shooting in HD resolution. The Panasonic GH2 already had this feature built in, so it's nice to see Canon stepping up with the same.

canon-t3i (1 of 1)

The new T3i has this Zoom ability that can only be used in 1080 either 24fps or 30fps. You can't use this feature when shooting in 720. It's not a hard set Zoom factor, as you can start at 3x and slowly work your way to any Zoom in between all the way up to 10x. For people trying to find a solution to shooting far (wedding guys?), this new feature can essentially change my 100mm F/2.8 into a 1600mm F/2.8. So a simple 50mm F/1.4 can become a 500mm F/1.4. You see where this can come in handy? Oh and because my 100mm is one of Canon's finest 'Macro' lenses, the 10x feature on this lens is 'INSANE!!'. A must see, I mean seriously this is where this feature really really shines. It's crazy....

Let's hope Canon has the ability to throw this feature in via Firmware updates to our older cams, but don't hold your breath.

canon-t3i-available
find-price-button Canon EOS Rebel T3i 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR

• 30 Comments

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I couldn't make it out to the studio just yet, so I decided to shoot a 'First Glance' video of the new LED Light Panels hitting the market. This one in the video is the 1200 LED version, but they are available in 600 and 900 LED counts. Some versions are available with V-mount battery adapters and all lights are dimmable. We ran some color temperature tests just using the meters in the Sony EX1 and they had excellent results being 5600K and 3100K with the provided tungsten (yellow) filter.

I'll have to do a side by side comparison, but the 600 LED version of this new panel is said to throw light further than the older (more popular) 1000 LED panels. The 1200 LED panel i'm playing with here is 'extremely' light weight. Much easier to pack, travel, and handle than the other versions. Uh and FYI, I'm considering posting my (3)pcs 500 LED kit online very soon to upgrade to more of these. When that happens, you'll find it in the Cheesycam Classifieds.

600-LED-Video-Light
find-price-button 600 Led Light Weight Studio Photo Light Dimmable Video Photography Lighting Sony V mount Battery adapter 14.8V DC 110V-230V

900-led-video-light-panel
find-price-button 900 LED Dimmable Photography Video Camera DSLR 5400K/3200K Lighting Light Panel Sony V Mount battery Adapter INCLUDED 14V OUTPUT 110V-230V


1200-LED-Video-Panel
find-price-button 1200 LED Dimmable Video Light Panel Still Photography Studio Portrait Lighting 24V DC, 110V-230V

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Should the available US links (above) be out of stock, then you can find them over seas (below)
600-LED-Video-Light
find-price-button eBay 600 LED, 900 LED, and 1200 LED Dimmable Video lights

• 29 Comments

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600-900-1200-LED-Video-Lights1200-900-600-LED-Video-Light-Panels

There's been some new LED Video panels floating around the Internet, but mainly coming from over seas companies. Not much has been said about these panels, probably because someone is waiting to hear what the quality is like. Well now it's finally available via Amazon and ships from the US. I got my hands on a set and I'm going to try to make it into the studio today and throw up some examples of these new LED Video Light Panels. So far we've been drooling over them for the past few days. These are from a different manufacturer and priced higher than the popular 500 and 1000 LED panels found here: http://cheesycam.com/bts-sample-with-cheap-500-led-video-light-panels/

These new 600, 900, and 1200 panels are thinner than the other models, extremely lightweight, dimmable, and can be powered via DC batteries. It sits centered in a Yoke mount which makes it easy to reposition and keep the units balanced. The biggest difference with this light compared to other ones is the 'throw' and color temperature. These LED panels throw light much further and is very bright. Putting the 1200 LED panel against a Sony EX1, the temperature was detected at 5600K - Yes! Throwing on the provided Tungsten filter, the Sony EX1 registered it as 3100K - very close. These new LED Panels come in 600 LEDs, 900 LEDs, and 1200 LEDs - all dimmable and options for Sony batteries V mount.

I'll have more information soon, but there's only a limited amount available from Amazon so im just giving you all a heads up. You can find out more information about them here.


600-LED-Video-Light
find-price-button 600 Led Light Weight Studio Photo Light Dimmable Video Photography Lighting Sony V mount Battery adapter 14.8V DC 110V-230V

900-led-video-light-panel
find-price-button 900 LED Dimmable Photography Video Camera DSLR 5400K/3200K Lighting Light Panel Sony V Mount battery Adapter INCLUDED 14V OUTPUT 110V-230V


1200-LED-Video-Panel
find-price-button 1200 LED Dimmable Video Light Panel Still Photography Studio Portrait Lighting 24V DC, 110V-230V

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Should the available US links (above) be out of stock, then you can find them over seas (below)
600-LED-Video-Light
find-price-button eBay 600 LED, 900 LED, and 1200 LED Dimmable Video lights

• 15 Comments

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Yongnuo-RF-603

Thanks to David for reminding me about Yongnuo's new RF603 Wireless Flash Triggers. The new RF603 version (replacing RF602) is both a transmitter and a receiver hence the name 'transceiver', so you can use each one as both. The old RF602 version required both a separate transmitter and reciever unit in order to work. There's a few more new features that make the RF603's a better buy if you don't already own a set, but a bit of bad news is that they are 'not' compatible with the older RF602's. Blah. I have quite a few of the RF602's.

One thing that might be confusing if you're looking at the product pages would be the difference between Canon and Nikon versions. The units are all the same and the difference is the provided shutter cable. The RF603 Transceivers can also act as a remote and receiver to fire your Camera's shutter wirelessly (sorry no video starting). You can find out more information about Yongnuo's RF603 following the link.

Screen shot 2011-02-25 at 11.19.42 PM
find-price-button Yongnuo Transceivers RF603 Wireless Flash Triggers