Equipment Reviews

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Arri Alexa 352 LED RING LITE


Arri Alexa LED RING LIGHT screen shot

Gustavo from www.o2lighting.com writes in and provides a few BTS images of the 352 LED Ring Light on an Arri Alexa! That's one fancy camera, and i'm glad to see this thing in use by these guys. It definitely is a kick-ass ENG Light. Traditionally most people want to use this light by putting the lens through the center, but it can also be mounted as a top light or off to the sides with a light stand. [Thanks Gustavo]

I used my 352 LED Ring light with my lens through the center when working on a Steadicam setup mainly to try to keep things balanced. When the light is used off camera this LED Ring throws a very soft even diffused light that can be still be controlled via Dimmer. I have to say that the bracket that comes with the item pretty much sucks. The unit itself is awesome and very very lightweight. I removed the brackets from my unit and just used a Friction Power Arm to the hot shoe of my DSLR. You might have caught that in my video here: http://cheesycam.com/last-minute-glidecam-mods/

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find-price-button 352 LED Ring Light with 12V AC Adapter

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I'm still set on getting some type of Tilt Shift lens (eventually), but if you just want to experiment putting some videos together you can do this without an actual Tilt Shift lens. One of the popular tricks is to shoot far. Really far. Here's an example of a Tilt Shift video I posted that used post processing software to create the effect: http://cheesycam.com/tilt-shift-without-the-tilt-shift-lens/

Here's another example from Vimeo member Mark Rigler. In order to get these shots, he used an inexpensive Samyang 500mm mirror lens. Afterwards, the Tilt Shift effect was added in post.

Sounds like a monster telescope, but mirror lenses use a technique to multiply the image inside a small form factor. The cons to using this technique is some softness and loss of light and the best of the best Mirror lenses at 500mm might be about F/6.3. The pros are you're able to get a crazy distance in a lightweight lens for super cheap. These lenses are often rebranded so Samyang is just one name. You can also find them in Rokinon, Vivitar, and Bower. Imagine using this lens on a GH2 or T3i with new Cropped modes - Crazy far!

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find-price-button Cheap 500mm F/6.3 Mirror Lenses

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Tilt-Shift-four-thirds
find-price-button Micro Four Thirds 4/3 Tilt Shift 50mm F/2

Owning Canon DSLR's make it pretty expensive to get into some decent Tilt Shift lenses, but for Micro Four Third cameras there's more options and come a bit cheaper. Looking to get some Tilt Shift action going on the GH2 there's a few inexpensive lenses I've been following. These lenses mostly shop themselves around under the name Photex, Arax, Big, Fotex, and Arsat names. Commonly found in an 80mm F/2.8, but for Micro 4/3 systems they have a 50mm F/2. Plenty of still images via Flicker with these popular tilts, but nothing I could track down for videos or Timelapse. Anyone got links to samples of these Micro Four Thirds Tilt Shift lenses in use?

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DS214-JuiceLink

Ok, so you got your DSLR and fancy new Rode VideoMic Pro with +20db feature. If you've got AGC on the T2i (without ML) or Canon 7D, then you need a way to disable AGC. Or maybe you don't? Maybe you've got a Canon 5D Mark II or 60D with Manual audio levels - no AGC to worry about. You're still short of a way to monitor the audio levels via headphones.

There's been different ways of trying to get clean audio into your camera, but it normally came at a hefty price. Here's where this new JuicedLink DS214 comes in. Just recently announced as available for purchase for under $145 bucks, this little black box provides all the missing features of running a stereo jacked microphone into your camera. The DS214 provides you with Audio meters, a Low-Noise Preamp, Headphone monitoring, and even AGC Disable if needed (everything that sucks for a DSLR). Ok, yes you can use an MP3 player with constant tone to 'tame' the AGC, but still no way to adjust levels from the Mic, or give a little low-noise preamp boost to the signal. Any way you cut it, this thing was thought out to include all the different 'workarounds'. For the price and convenience, it can't be beat.

This version doesn't have inputs to support XLR Microphones, but there's a swamping new audience using the Rode VideoMic Pro that sure could use something like this. For XLR phantom power you'll want to check out the DT454. Only 1 stereo input? The DS214 also has seperate L/R potentiometers which makes it possible to run a splitter to two different mics and capture mono on each channel.

As of now the new JuicedLink DS214 is only available on the JL site with a bunch of information which I suggest you checkout to see if this will work for you. There's also some different Audio Samples from a variety of possible Audio setups with the Rode Mic + Zoom H4n you can listen to.

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

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Wow, the store front really expanded for this tiny eBay seller. I've had my eye on them for a while now as they had a few interesting items. Today they just really loaded up with a bunch of new items. Two of them are some serious clones. First most interesting item is the 'mysterious' clone of a Cinevate Carbon system. I posted the article here: http://cheesycam.com/indias-got-a-carbon-camera-dolly/ and not more than a few hours later, they removed all postings. Looks like 'The Man' got to them. Well it's back so we'll see how long it can stay online this time around (i'm betting the Man will shut them down after this post)

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find-price-button Video Camera Slider Carbon Dolly Clone

Second on the list. Well well well..here's a Clone after my own design, another SpiderTrax dolly. This one doesn't look very good and shipping makes it more expensive than the Konova clone. Konova's design seems to be more polished, and this one looks exactly like another home made overpriced knock-off. Yeah get yourself a Konova dolly if you really need one.

SpiderTrax Dolly
find-price-button Video Camera Rotating Skater Dolly Clone

Third up, this one goes out to the boys in Blue. It's been said that the Blue accented Follow Focus was based on a Huco gearbox, and so is this one. This DSLR Follow Focus clone for standard Rail mounts come with flex gear, speed crank, whip, yadda yadda yadda. You can get more info via the links. At this price, you might still be better off going with ikan's latest Follow Focus system.

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find-price-button DSLR Follow Focus Huco Gearbox Clone

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Not sure if you can see the thumbnail in the video, but something about that slider doesn't look quite right. Oh yeah it's upside down! Vimeo member phoSumpro! shows a new way to use the Konova slider. Actually seems like a new way to use any camera slider. By mounting the slider upside down with the carrier Tripod, he's actually sliding the entire rail (not the carrier). I'll let the video explain why this was done, but that's one pretty cool trick. Sorry guys, but don't think this would work on a non Roller Bearing type slider. [Thanks phoSumpro!]

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find-price-button Konova video Camera Rolling Bearing DSLR Slider

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comer-2nd-gen-1800,png

Heard of Comer LED Video Lights? It's a damn good LED Video light with a damn good price tag attached of over $300 dollars and doesn't even come with a battery. The design of the Comer lights are also much different than just a flat square panel full of LED bulbs. The second generation of Comer LED lights has a newer design with 10 LEDs on the front panel.

If you wanted a Comer, you had no choice but to buy one. Well, up until now I guess. There's a new LED light floating around recently that looks similar and claims the same 1800 Lumens output, so could this 'other' LED light be a Comer Clone? It sure does look like it through the limited amount of the photos I could compare online. From design, features, position of buttons and switches, it's pretty close. This 'other Comer-like is coming in about half the price and unlike Comer, comes with a Sony style Rechargeable battery + charger. Anyone sporting a Comer now, or experience with these Comer-like lights?

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find-price-button 1800 Lumen LED Video Light Rechargeable Battery + Charger

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If you've been following the long wait for the Atomos Ninja HDMI recorder, then you'll know it should start shipping this week (hopefully). It's a sexy little unit that acts like a low res monitor, but is really a portable recorder to capture uncompressed Video goodness. Many times this is done by connecting a Video camera to a computer of some sort and a capture card. Above is a nice little example from Vimeo member UrbanFox.TV or what the Ninja is all about. It's already been delayed for several days and i'm waiting to see some examples.

DSLR shooters probably aren't going nuts for something like this because it's pretty rare to get clean HDMI out for recording. Sure the 7D outputs in 1080, but there's something not quite all there.. Other non DSLR camera shooters who use higher end Canon's, the fancy Sony's, and Panasonic are literally drooling for a portable solution to capture uncompressed HD output signals. Sony camera like the EX1 will need SDI input on a recorder, so soon another version 'the Samurai' will meet those requirements. [Note: Though your camera may output uncompressed signals, the Ninja saves the incoming signal to Apple ProRes]. Rumor mill is that only 250 units will touch US ground on this first shipment and who knows when the next batch arrives. If you weren't on the pre-order list and didn't get confirmation to receive one soon, it looks like someone is making one available via eBay.


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find-price-button Atomos Ninja Portable HDMI Recorder

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4.3lcd-monitor

Not long ago I toyed around with a 3.5" mini LCD for about $26 dollars. It also worked on the GoPro HD Cameras that (at the time) lacked any LCD viewing. Now that GoPro has released their LCD BacPac there's no need for this. It definitely would have helped the guys out while shooting testing the Korean Dolly out in this video: http://cheesycam.com/test-drive-spidertrax-clone-korean-dolly/

Reader Alex writes in and decides to go about .8 inches larger from the 3.5" to the 4.3" still at the same price. This little LCD also includes settings for adjustment, but would stepping up another inch provide better color, contrast, resolution? We'll just have to wait to hear back, but Alex says it's all working out and more robust than the previous. For cameras that lack a certain angle of viewing, $26 bucks sure would help on those low rotating dollies & sliders shots for framing.

4.3" LCD Monitor DSLR Framing
find-price-button 4.3" Mini LCD Monitor