Equipment Reviews

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Terry Gray from LocalTVHero.com, throws up an informative and amusing review of the DSLR rig he's chosen to work with. His review is around the IndiSystem UltraCompact DSLR rig. I've listed the product details from Indisystem's website, but i'll let Terry break down the goods and the bads in his Video review. You can find more from Terry at LocalTVHero.com.

Product Description:
Under 4 pounds with handle grips and shoulder pad, the ULTRAcompact can be shoulder mounted or after removing the handles and shoulder mount, on a tripod studio-style. It has the built in miniMOUNT, a "C" bracket with handle that allows for accessories to be mounted vertically or horizontally. The miniMOUNT has enough clearance for a DSLR with battery pack or to mount a sound link device underneath. The camera is mounted to the ULTRAcompact with a quick release mount, allowing for minute horizontal adjustments as you change lenses.

My personal experience hasn't been good with Indisystem, in fact to this day i've never heard anything back from them. I don't doubt that if you can get a hold of some gear, it's manufactured really well. Supposedly some top notch stuff. Now I'm not one to rain on anyone's parade, but there was an article started on this blog a while back, and some comments that might be of interest if you choose the Indisystem route: http://cheesycam.com/indisystem-contact/

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I tend to share alot of information on this blog, but there are still many things I keep under wraps. One of the new ideas i've been mapping out with PhotographyandCinema.com is close to final design and should make things quite interesting. It will be an extremely versatile tool for budget film makers, and making traveling abroad much easier. This all came about from my own personal experiences packing and traveling into an entirely new product design. It's not as easy to DIY so this is another product that will retail at PhotographyandCinema.com. As usual tons of thought went into the design to keep things as cheap as possible for the budget film community. I have a feeling, you're all going to enjoy this next one...

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California/Arizona Time Lapse from Dan Eckert on Vimeo.

Dan Eckert sent me a message about being able to find some cheaper LED's through the Cheesycam website that he was able to use in one of his recent Timelapse videos. Apparently Dan used the popular 126 LED lights and modified them to tripod use. I took a look at the timelapse video Dan Eckert put together, and was just blown away. Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, this timelapse video showcases some of the most amazing footage i've seen. It's not so much about catching moving clouds that we've all seen before, but more about finding appreciation for the hard work and endurance that is involved with capturing this kind of footage day after day, most of which in the desert heat. This is some amazing stuff, you've all got to see. Shot completely with still images, yet the video seems extremely fluid, and no signs of flickering. Lots of camera movement makes this a truly amazing piece. Involved in this video is a custom dolly built for train tracks, panning shots, sliding shots, and techniques with image shutter speed. It's too bad there isn't a BTS video on his road trip, as i'm sure many of us would love to see the journey involved in creating something a piece like this. Great work Dan, looking forward to seeing more! My offer to carry some gear still stands!

A bit of BTS with Dan's DIY train rail dolly. Very cool, looks pretty smooth.

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Well, those of us who got the jump on the pre-order knew this would happen. In just one day after the extremely late official release date, the Zoom H1 is sold out from one of the largest retailers in the country - BHPHOTOVIDEO.com. The item listing now reverted back to 'pre-order' status. Amazon never even had a chance. The item on Amazon still shows for a September 8th release date. Most people, including myself should have it in by next week. I personally have ordered a total of 3, but with the pre-order list growing a little each day, I'm sure it will be a hard thing to find in stock for a while. If you're really hard up for one, check out this link to the auctions of Zoom H1 sellers who say they have it in stock. These are guys who'll buy a bunch and resell for a small profit on top of the already $99 dollars. If you're patient and still want one, you may want to get on that pre-order list BHPHOTOVIDEO.com is having right now at this link for the Zoom H1 Ultra-Portable Digital Audio Recorder.

On of the first unboxing videos to hit YouTube for the Zoom H1. It's not quite as small as I thought it would be. Just have to wait for mine.

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The studio is still being built out, but I got a request to do a an interview in the place tomorrow. Since it will be 1-2 people in the shot, I thought i'd just pick up a simple, cheap, but effective 3 piece lighting set. Just got these in today at the studio, so I unboxed and set them up. The 3 piece set I received, comes with 3 lights, 2 medium sized softboxes, one has a barn door attachment, all three light stands, three bulbs, and each one dimmable, and large bag to keep them all together. The barn door light will be used overhead and behind the subject(s) for some edge / rim lighting, softbox lighting on each side, and since they are all dimmable i'll try to use one as main fill. Each head I think rated at 800w halogen. I still don't have my gels in the studio and these bulbs are quite warm, but since I have total control over the lighting in the studio, perhaps I can get away with just white balancing.

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To sorta mask the background and keep things looking nice, i'll be shooting with long lenses with a shallow depth of field. These lights should be plenty for my ideal tight shots on each person (multi camera angles). I totally wasn't ready for this project to be done in this space, but it's good practice to see what i'll need for future projects. I'll post some videos of how that lighting comes out next week. Total spent $299 + Free Shipping. Here's the link to the 2400W 3 pc Light SOFTBOX BARNDOOR PHOTO VIDEO LIGHTING KIT

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find-price-button 3pc 800w (each) Dimmable Light Kit w/ softboxes

If the above link is not available, you can find other sellers (below) but not all come with the Softboxes

find-price-button 800w 3pc Dimmable Lighting Kit

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So first thing in the larger bag is my YongNuo Wireless Trigger / Remote set. I talked about them in this article: http://cheesycam.com/never-ending-upgrades-wireless-shutter-flash-remotes/. As you know i've been building up a studio and these versatile triggers can wear many different hats around the equipment i'm using. First off, I can now use my Canon 580 EX II's through the hotshoe these remotes provide, or trigger my studio strobes through a PC sync cord these offer, and if I really needed to, trigger my camera shutter. OK that's a bit overkill to remotely trigger my camera in studio, but I really was just looking to replace some old Pocket Wizards since these will allow me to expand to more triggers at very minimal cost. For times when I don't want to travel with my ST-E2 or Radio Popper PX's, these will work great. I'll do some closeup detailed photos possibly tonight or this weekend and explain why I currently use so many different trigger sets.

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find-price-button Yongnuo RF-602 Wireless Triggers for Studio, Speedlight, and Camera

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After posting about the possible Double L bracket stabilizer idea, Dave Taylor over at DaveTaylorMP.com shares a few images of his Double L Bracket setup with what looks like a Canon 550D / T2i. He's using the Video Camera Light Bracket - by alzodigital.com which has two cold shoe mounts. He mentions that he also added the Trek Tech T Pod Table-Top Tactical Tripod With Magmount Star to his configuration for a simple Shooter rig with an extra handle. His inspiration for this came from TheC47.com video below. Check it out, looks pretty cool if you can't afford the RedRock Micro theEvent Rig.

I'm still looking to mount two L brackets but with an Aluminum flat bar in between to make the handles more level, and a QR adapter dead center. Maybe i'll change that center AL bar into a 'T' bar so that I can support both a QR adapter and room for the T-Pod configuration. Thanks for sharing Dave!

Update: Reader Chuckarama just sent in this Flat bracket that looks like it will do the job in between the L brackets. Should be able to mount a QR plate and still be Tripod mountable. Great job Chuckarama! Let me know how that comes out when you're done.

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Troy throws up his version of the SpiderTrax Rotating Video dolly using cheap and readily available PVC (above).

Calixte Works uses the real Deal SpiderTrax Rotating video Dolly available at PhotographyandCinema.com for a few Orbits and Slider shots. (Below)

Below: Original SpiderTrax Rotating Video Dolly
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The Original SpiderTrax Dolly can be found at PhotographyAndCinema.com

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Well it was just a matter of time. As we see it, technology changes every few months weeks. It's hard to keep up with all the great new upgrades going on, but luckily we have a lot of readers submitting information to this website. Thanks to phoSumpro.com for this information, Lilliput's new 7" HDMI capable monitor now rocks a few new tricks. Many of these new features won't be used in DSLR world, but the best new feature is it's Internal Battery. Yes, the HDMI monitor now comes with Internal Battery. This would be a better fit for my Steadicam work should I choose to mount it.

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The new 7" Lilliput also throws down some BNC and YPbPr connections as well as the usual HDMI + AV. There's also a short sun shade that fits nicely over the top, although i'm not sure how effective that would be. I guess it would be a good starting point to hard epoxy our own DIY shade so that it can be removed and installed whenever we want. It does claim to be a newer model with 'Higher Brightness', but i'm already sold on the internal battery option. This thing looks fairly new, and I can only track down 2 auctions. One comes with a hotshoe mount, but the shipping looks high. The other is a straight up deal + free shipping. Check out the Lilliput 7" HMDI & BNC & YPbPr & Internal Battery

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find-price-button Lilliput 7" HDMI LCD for DSLR with Internal Rechargeable Battery