Equipment Reviews

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Well the results are in, and i'm super impressed. As you know the GoPro HD camera doesn't focus well underwater due to a curved lens cover on the waterproof housing. Eye Of Mine provides modified 'Flat Lens' housings to correct this. I was able to get my hands on one of his Flat Lens housings, but I couldn't find the time in my busy schedule, so Waylon was kind enough to shoot some samples for me to use on this blog.

Wow, it's a big difference. So much of a difference, you wonder why you would ever go back to the old housing. The quality on YouTube has compressed the original video, but it's way sharper than stock. Waylon says he rates it at 50% better, but I personally feel it's at least 90%. I'm that impressed. Check out this diver video below using the Flat Lens modification (make sure to select the highest resolution on the YouTube player).

Sure it's no secret how it's done, grab a flat lens and hack your housing. But for something like this, and something at this price, you might be better off just having Eye Of Mine do it for you. More information about the GoPro HD Underwater Focus Fix can be found here. Thanks Eye Of Mine!

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I'm not home just yet to play with this thing, but wifey grabbed a few snapshots via Sprint Evo (cellphone). I received the Black Sony NEX-5 with 16mm Lens, the unit is found here at BHPHOTOVIDEO.com. Can't wait to run home and dig into the user manual. LOL, OK i'm lying..who reads manuals? I'm just going to push a bunch of buttons until I figure it out. Hopefully there's a factory reset somewhere...

For now check out a nice teaser video about the Sony NEX cameras.

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FYI. Just reminding everyone, If you've been holding off for that new lens, you have 4 more days before the Canon Rebates end. Below are a few of the lens rebates, you can find more following this link. Canon Lens Rebates ending July 10th

Canon Lens Rebates
EF 85mm f/1.2L II USMSave $130
EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Save $100
EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM Save $100
EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USMSave $100
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USMSave $90
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USMSave $90
EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USMSave $80
TS-E 90mm f/2.8 Save $80
EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USMSave $65
EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USMSave $50
EF 17-40mm f/4L USMSave $50
EF 15mm f/2.8 FisheyeSave $45
EF 70-200mm f/4L USMSave $45
EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USMSave $30
EF 50mm f/1.4 USMSave $25

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power-squid

I've been shopping for another power strip for my lights and Eneloop chargers. These 'Squids' are a great way of maximizing the available outlets. Since they are split up, large power adapters and chargers won't be covering up other available outlets on a traditional power strip. You can find these as high as $60 dollars, or as low as $15.00 dollars, but shipping and taxes will always squeeze a few more dollars out of you. Right now the daily deal on eBay is $12.99 + Free shipping (via Tiger Direct), but daily deals only last a day (or when inventory is depleted). Check out the Power Squid on Sale with Free Shipping.

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Ok, there's only been a few players for DSLR viewfinders namely Hoodman, Zacuto, and LCDVF. Here's almost an exact replica of an LCDVF, but not sure how much effort was put into the optics. The mounting uses a metal frame, much like the original LCDVF. It looks like this fake LCDVF through some forums, say the quality is fairly nice. Now this auction is running just a bit high maybe because of recent demand, but still cheaper than the original LCDVF. This eBay LCDVF item ships from USA (free shipping), not too shabby. Apparently though this is only a copy of the original 3" LCDVF, and not the 3:2 version for the T2i / 550D. On a good day, you can find these for around $69.00 dollars which makes it the cheapest LCDVF with frame mount ever. Hopefully we'll see more of these soon. Check out the eBay LCDVF copy, sometimes less than half the price of a real LCDVF by clicking here.

Update: If you want the LCDVF 3/2 for the Canon 550D / T2i, they are now available at BHPHOTOVIDEO.com

Update: You can now buy the LCDVF 3/2 from BHPHOTOVIDEO.com.
Grab yourself the LCDVF 3/2 from BHPHOTOVIDEO.com

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This is soooo cool!!! I love running a DIY blog for times like these when someone shares their idea. This submission was sent to me from Johan. Unfortunately Johan doesn't have a web address I can link to, but leave your comments here for him to read.

Most of the time, i'm trying to assemble DIY gear from off-the-shelf parts to make things easier. This is an extremely clever idea of using some readily available (and cheap) off-the-shelf parts and assemble it into something awesome! Now it looks a bit under scale for a 5D Mark II or 7D, but would probably look the part on a T2i. It would most definitely look the part for a Four-Thirds system like the Olympus Pen, Panasonic GH*, or even the new Sony NEX. I really have to go out and try this myself.

Parts used look to be Automotive Plug Wire type seperators. These small parts come in a variety of materials and color from plastic to billet aluminum. After measuring out the required rods, Johan grabbed some 10mm tent pole rods. Not to say you can't just locate some normal 10mm round rods. You can find these billet aluminum rod clamps by clicking here..

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find-price-button Click Image - Billet Wire Holders

Hey hook Johan up for sharing this new idea, Digg it, Twitter this, Facebook it!

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express35-dslr.rig
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There's a new DSLR rig player in town with prices that aren't even in the competitions range. Then again, the configuration of this DSLR rig is cleverly assembled using many of the same parts keeping manufacturing to a minimum and costs low. Coming in with a price to compete with the new shoulder rig from Jag35, this DSLR rig seems to be aimed directly for the budget film maker or serious hobbyist. Personally i'm more of a fan of the flat black on this rig, over the colorful Jag35 DSLR shoulder rig (not yet named). Actually i'm going to call this rig 'Cheaper' than Jag35, since i'm sure Jag35 will have shipping charges and possibly tax applied. Right now you can grab this new DSRL rig on ebay + free shipping.

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Very happy to see more players in the game, it benefits us small time buyers, eventually forcing product costs lower to compete. By the way, black Rods are actually more expensive due to additional coatings applied. This one doesn't spare on those important aesthetic details.You can find the new DSLR rig by eBay seller Express35 following this link.

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drobo-4bay

Let's face it, i'm pretty sure you guys aren't burning quite as many DVD's as you were in the past. Once you move onto DSLR video, you're not going to try and backup 16 or 32GB of data onto DVD media. Even Blu-Ray is still overpriced and slow to read / write. The new workflow is hard drive storage. In fact, when i'm offloading data from my set to hand over to the editor, it's all on external drives. We're not dealing in disc media. The problems with hard drives (and I know, I work on computers all day) they will FAIL. Yes..be it traditional, or solid state drives, don't count on putting all of your eggs in one basket. There are many problems that WILL occur with storing all of your data in one drive.

Buying 2 hard drives to 'Mirror' the data is a great cheap solution, but a very slow process and never quite up to sync in real time. So now we're talking about Storage Units, cases that support drive bays, raid, mirroring, striping, however people want to explain it to you. The basic principle is that with a Storage Unit that can house several hard drives at one time, you can increase your total storage capacity in a single 'Drive Letter' and at the same time mirror your data across several different drives in case of failure. Just a few years ago units like these were only for Enterprise use and cost thousand of dollars. Now that technology has become cheaper, hard drives can contain more storage, these units are now being put up in homes. Especially with the craze of HD video files, it's just a smart choice to start looking into these units.

The most popular units that were targeted to the home were made by Drobo. They've been out for quite a while, but I could never find myself spending so much money on something. Now that prices have dropped incredibly for Drobo Storage units, hard drive capacities are huge, I think it's time I add this to my current workflow. Just remember when choosing a storage unit like Drobo, find one that can support the correct file system (i.e. NTFS) for your files that are larger than 4GB. B&H has a $100 dollar instant rebate on this unit (at this time of writing). Note: This unit may not support NTFS file format. Please check before you buy. If it doesn't, it would still be great for Photographers though!

drobo-4tb

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Palo Alto translated can mean 'tall stick'. This special adapter was designed for the niche market of Painters Pole Photography, as seen in this article.

I was unable to locate an affordable solution to adapt my Photography Camera to a simple Painters pole. Using painter poles allow for huge savings, but current available adapters are few and expensive. The new custom made Palo Alto by PhotographyandCinema.com will make these more affordable for Painter Pole enthusiasts.

Shot with Palo Alto

Here's the exact same Pole i'm using, it's awesome.
Shureline Painters Pole
find-price-button Shur-Line Easy Reach Extension Pole

There are many painter poles that extend further than 10' Feet. Custom machined from steel, this adapter will mount on any standard painter type pole allowing you to bring your camera to new heights. This video was a sample taken by Dion Wong @ DionWong.com. Photos were taken with a Canon 5D Mark II using a Shure-line 10' painter pole, video was taken using a Canon SX210 IS point and shoot (mounted on the same Shure-line Painter Pole). This adapter is now available on a new website at https://PhotographyAndCinema.com

up-high-palo-alto
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