Equipment Reviews

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canon-powershot-sx30-is

Slowly the new Canon SX30 IS camera with 35x Optical Zoom and Image Stabilization is hitting the streets. I've been waiting to upgrade my Canon SX210 IS after seeing the incredible Zoom capabilities with Image Stabilization from the video in this article: http://cheesycam.com/canon-sx30-is-review/ Still not available in many websites, but smaller camera retailers that are using eBay are advertising inventory. They are putting a small markup over the suggested retail price, but at least some auctions will throw in a 4GB SDHC card. If you gotta have one now, check it out: Canon SX30 IS Digital Camera with 35x Zoom

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Ok, believe it or not, I get hate mail about some of my comments on this blog. (you know who you are, and I don't know why you bother to continue reading this blog?). Mainly because this blog seems Canon biased. Ok I admit I am biased, but i've been really trying to give Nikon a chance with the new cameras they have being released. In fact, just read my blog post over a month ago: http://cheesycam.com/nikon-d3100-1080hd-autofocusing-in-video-new-lenses/

The Nikon D3100 was supposed to go toe to toe with Canon T2i shooters, but just check out the video review above. No Manual Video Controls?? Aside from that biggest deal breaker, the 1080 resolution leaves you with 'ONLY' 24fps and not the normal 29.97. There is no option for 60 frames per second, anywhere. Umm..i'll leave it at that to minimize the amount of Nikon hate mail coming in, but for those of you who question this blog, take a look at the latest Nikon release into consumer HD Video. But hey if you're only into photography, Nikon does make some pretty sweet lenses.

[Update] Just a reminder, here's two of my favorite Nikon videos posted on this blog that i've raved about.
http://cheesycam.com/lull-by-jeremy-mayhew/
http://cheesycam.com/tilt-shift-without-the-tilt-shift-lens/

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During our shoot, swapping lenses from several different cameras, things got lost in the shuffle. Hoods, DSLR Body Caps, lens Caps, Rear Caps, gear was just everywhere. Gotta always carry some spares if you want to protect that sweet glass and prevent dust in the DSLR.

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find-price-button Three Stage Compact Rubber Lens Hoods

As bright as it's been these past few days, hoods really help prevent washed out images by shading the lens glass as well as protect the front of the lens from minor bumps. If you have lenses that didn't come with hoods, check out these three stage rubber hoods that can snap back for wide lenses or spring forward for zoom lenses. Sweetest part is that they don't take up much bag space like the hard plastic hoods. They will fit any lens as long as you get the right filter size, starting at less than $3.50 cents.

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find-price-button Canon Rear Lens Caps Body Caps

DSLR body caps and rear lens caps (above) can be had for as little as $0.99 cents + Free Shipping. Yeah talk about a steal and you can never have enough of these.

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find-price-button Canon Nikon Sony Front Lens Caps

Front lens caps are the worst. With too many people and too many cameras, front lens caps for me are notoriously walking off from a shoot. I pack my gear fairly tight into as little bags as possible and missing a lens cap sucks big time. Here's a link to some inexpensive front Snap lens caps complete with Nikon or Canon Logos for as little as $2.00 dollars + Free Shipping.

And if you're not rocking lens pouches or lens bags check out this article here: http://cheesycam.com/lens-protection-neoprene-foam-padded-bags/

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find-price-button Padded Lens Bags for Canon Nikon Sony Pentax Panasonic DSLR Lenses

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transcend

These came in just a day late. Luckily I had a few SDHC cards in my Canon SX210 IS and Zoom H4n to fall back on. I was hoping these would arrive for the Music video shoot on the Canon 60D's, but we managed. So I haven't really tested these out yet, but i'll be shooting more fun stuff later this week to see the performance.

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It was a scorching hot day yesterday, but the bright sun helped bring in some light into this old unused factory. There was no electricity so the band rented a 5000 watt generator for the shoot. We had full run of the entire abandoned lot which was awesome. This place was huge with several buildings over 8 stories high and had so much texture of steel, brick, and concrete. Sitting right off the water, the place was just so large, we didn't get to see everything. The entire area is private, fenced off, with 24 hour security so we were able to just leave stuff everywhere. I'd love to get back there and shoot again if I could. Would be a perfect setting for a horror film, that's for sure.

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We started indoors with some really slow camera movements on the DIY track. It could have used another saw horse down the center for some additional stability, but worked fine for just slow movements. Going faster, it wanted to flex. We also did a bit of Crane shooting and later threw in some really close up hand held beauty shots of the band.

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We moved up to the roof in the late afternoon, and to really show off the height we were at, slung a Canon 60D on a crane over the side of the building. A bit scary, but it should be a really cool looking swing from over the side of the building back onto the roof. Hopefully that went pretty smooth, but from what we can see on the LCD it came out great.

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Next we went down to the outside grounds for a walking Steadicam Shot. The band followed the camera slowly while singing to the music. With the Canon 60D articulating LCD, I was able to walk forward and let the band frame themselves by looking into the LCD. They were able to monitor themselves and stay in frame, while I concentrated on not falling over or tripping on anything.

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I'll get the video footage once the editor hands them back, and show some of the shots we did. The Steadicam looked really great with the Canon 10-22mm Lens I rented and had all this space to run around in. Flying through a wide open room with large glass windows and concrete pillars everywhere had a very cool flying effect. I have to admit that with the changes in light, using the white balance on the 60D was much more effective than trying to set it on the T2i (which was being used for some BTS video). The 3 Canon 60D's worked really well and meshes closer to the workings of the 7D than a T2i. Definitely a great camera to work with. Now that i'm done with this project, I may sell one of them, but tempted to keep them both!

[Thanks to Matt for grabbing these BTS photos while we were running around in the heat]

Related Articles:
http://cheesycam.com/canon-60d-video-stabilizer-first-flight-glidecam-hd4000/
http://cheesycam.com/glidecam-hd4000-bts-with-canon-60d-steadicam-vest/

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redrock-micro-evf

Cinema5D's got the scoop on a new Redrock Micro 'Electronic View Finder' specifically designed for HD Video DSLR's. We all new this day was coming, but what I totally didn't expect was the expected price point. Wow, I really hope they can meet those goals, that's just ridiculous pricing for anything RedRock Micro. It looks very functional and I can see myself using that quite a bit. Today we had a crane shot on a roof of a building in broad daylight. It's was about 90 degrees out on a clear day, and we couldn't see crap on the monitor. Having a remote EVF like this running down a jib would have been a perfect solution. This design in remote View Finders via HDMI also means it would be cross brand compatible. Regardless of camera make and model, this should be fairly future proof. Zacuto has also admitted to be working on a new EVF, but so far nothing tangible has hit the web. Even if Zacuto does release an EVF, it would be interesting to see if pricing will be competitive with the new RedRock Micro Electronic Viewfinder. Check out the Cinema5D Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZYW1VwFdHk

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Thanks to a few people for leaving some comments on this item. It's a new view finder loupe on the market that is said to fit the aspect ratio of the Canon 550D / T2i perfectly with no crop. Looks like a similar design we've seen before but now with a custom fit and no signs of 'infringement' here. There's currently only one other view finder that claims to be designed specifically for this Canon 550D, so this opens up another option for T2i owners. For those who are daring enough to attach the magnet frame onto the Canon 60D, it should be the exact same fit. Here's the link: View Finder 4 Canon 550D / T2i

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DSLR BTS Behind the Scenes

Yeah there I go, second member of the DSLR BTS (Behind the Scenes) group over at Vimeo immediately after the man of Zacuto himself, Steve Weiss. Another top DSLR gear maker as a member is Cinevate, which BTW I am patiently awaiting the release of their new and more affordable Atlas 10 Camera Slider (hurry up guys! or send me a Beta!). It's a new group started by the dudes at DSLRUniversity.com dedicated to behind the scenes work with DSLR's, and that's where you'll always find the latest gear, tips, tricks, and techniques. If you guys are interested in that kinda stuff (which if you're on this blog, i'm sure you are), check it out and join in. After my music video shoot with the 3 Canon 60D's, i'm hoping to add a BTS video there too.

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Canon EOS 60D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and 18-135mm

I keep talking about the manual audio levels being a big plus for the Canon 60D right now, and I think some people are still wondering what the big deal is. Currently only the 5D Mark II has this option and hopefully there will be new firmware for the other cameras. The in camera audio for the Canon 7D and T2i use AGC - automatic gain control that can't be disabled. The camera boosts the microphone signal pretty high that it has a constant hissing noise. If you're in a loud busy environment, you won't really notice this due to all the distracting sounds, but put these cameras into a quiet environment and you'll notice the difference big time. If you think Magic Lantern will be your solution, check out the comment I left in this article: http://cheesycam.com/canon-7d-vs-60d-vs-550d-t2i/

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JuicedLink DT454 4-Channel DSLR Camera Microphone Preamplifier

The workaround right now for cameras with AGC on all the time, is to use a separate audio recorder and record directly to that. Next you'll sync that audio in post. For shooting in 24p that gets a little tricky getting long audio to sync. For anyone shooting hundreds of short clips throughout the day, that also adds post processing hours trying to match everything up. If you want to shave some time on recording to a separate device, you can use devices like the JuicedLink DT454 or similar that will send a constant tone to one channel of the audio tricking the AGC. I have to say though that these Audiophile guys who build these preamp boxes weren't very happy with the Nikon DSLR's. Nikon have a different way of setting the audio and still didn't produce as nice results as the Canon's. Don't quote 'me' on that, but that's the scoop I got. We'll just have to wait and see if that's been improved on the newer Nikon DSLR's.

If you've got a few minutes to spare, great tutorials about AGC and the hissing noise can be found here: https://www.juicedlink.com/reducing-camera-hiss/chapter/0

Here's a very old example of a test I did when Magic Lantern was first released for the Canon 5D Mark II to allow manual audio levels. This should give you a better idea of what the new Manual Audio Levels in the Canon 60D are capable of. Not the best of the best, but much better quality can be captured if your camera allows you to manually set the amount of gain.