Ok, i'm behind the times and finally all the emails about joining Facebook has convinced me to setup a profile. I'm sure 99% of you are on there already, so you can connect with me here: Cheesycam Facebook Profile
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NeoPrene DSLR Covers get the Logo
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Somehow a swarm of these NeoPrene DSLR covers are suddenly showing up. Nifty little protectors that can help prevent scuff, scratches, and dust to your cameras while packing things up. Usually found for around $6.00 dollars, they are now sporting a variety of popular logos, coming in different sizes, and a few different colors. Link: NeoPrene Camera Case Cover for DSLR's.
Canon ‘Instant’ DSLR Rebates
I saw this a few times today, but was reminded again by Kevin about the new Canon Instant Rebates. There's plenty of rebates for Canon gear, but the ones to be excited about are the DSLR bodies. The 7D kit, 7D Body, and T2i are on the list. No mention about the 5D Mark II. You can find more information here: Canon Instant Rebates BHPhotovideo.com
$2-$6 Dollar DIY’s for Budget Minded Students
Ok, you professionals can skip right over this article. This may even fall under 'tacky' for the seasoned Pro's. There's surprisingly a lot of young readers at this blog, possibly still in high school and unemployed. Aspiring to make fun YouTube videos with a standard handheld camcorder, they need an extra hand in some low budget DIY advice. These are probably the easiest & cheapest DIY stabilizers I could think of. So here you go kids, I hope you enjoy it, as I looked quite silly modeling these brackets on various parts of my body in the aisles of Home Depot like i'm creating the next Lady GaGa costume. It's ok though, I can rock a $2000 dollar Steadicam setup and still rock a $2 dollar Shelf Bracket, it's all good....i'm all about inspiring the creativity.
All of these 'Heavy Duty Shelf Hangers' can be found in the same place. These curved brackets are typically used for hanging heavy objects in your garage such as bikes and ladders. Unlike flat steel angled brackets, these are round (tubular) which are more comfortable to grip. There's plenty of different shapes and sizes to use these for adding extra support for your video camera.
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First up is a one sided angled bracket. By just adding a quick release plate on the bottom, you'll have yourself a very sturdy (very very sturdy) handle to your camera. Flat black paint and wrap up the handle with some Tennis racket grip tape, and you'll be in business. Notice the little angle at the top? Could be a nice place to add a cold shoe to mount another accessory. The rest of the bracket can be drilled to further hold more accessories like LED lights and portable recorders. By the way, just click any of the images to get a better look.Single bracket stabilizer for just $2.36.
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Second on the list is a double sided bracket. This is actually larger than what appears in the photo, and the double sides can act like handles on a Fig Rig. Hey this is way easier than trying to build the Cheesycam DSLR Cage Fig Rig. Just place a Quick Release adapter dead center, a little grip tape along the sides, and you'll have yourself a fig rig style camera stabilizer. Yup, there's another angle up top for that cold shoe accessory too for just $5.98.
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Third on the list, another simple bracket. Used in the position shown in the photo (above) the short angled end (left) actually feels comfortable as a small handle. The (right side) flat side has enough area to act as a chest plate. Throw a quick release adapter on top and you'll have yourself a steady little camera shooter for $5.24. Sure it's not offset, but should work pretty wicked for an HV20 or HV30 with flip out LCD, hey maybe even a Canon 60D with it's flip out LCD.
Yeah I know what you guys are thinking, pretty crazy right? For a group of young students looking to have a bit of fun making videos, so long as the bully doesn't steal your lunch money, you could gain some steady shots with these ideas. Oh and i'm guessing a few of you DIY'ers will be heading down to Home Depot later today to secretly play 'Heavy Duty Shelf Hanger Dress Up'. LOL...Try it, you'll be surprised.....
DIY Angle Aluminum Dolly Track
Vimeo member Fred Norquist used a bit of Angled Aluminum and old skateboard trucks to get this DIY dolly result. Looks like a pretty low budget DIY for those who want to add some movement to your camera shots and not spend a ton of cash. Although pretty effective, just by looking at it, there's a lot of variables with how the rails are positioned that can cause some irregular movements. So if you attempt this, make sure you got things lined up well. The old measure 10 times and drill once routine (I have to measure more than twice). Simple and effective for a DIY project i'm sure most people can tackle.
[Thanks Fred]
Kodak Pulse Digital Picture Frame
Caught this little digital picture frame over at Best Buy and had the chance to play with it a bit. It's the perfect little digital Touch screen picture frame (and cheap), that i've been trying to put into my father's house. Since everyone is shooting digital, and I don't know anyone who still prints photos, he's been quite out of the loop in seeing pictures of the grand kids. There's been picture frames like this before, but normally you had to 'register' for a monthly service fee. I asked several times just to be clear, and there's no monthly service for this Digital Frame.
This little frame sets up on a Wifi network (which I already have setup for him), and comes with it's own email address. Anyone can send photos to the frame through the email address including images sent from your cell phone. There's also a way to connect Facebook accounts so that images are shown on the frame immediately. Obviously you can also configure it to connect to Kodak Gallery (wasn't that Ofoto?). It comes with only 512MB of internal memory, but plenty of options for SDHC and Compact flash cards.
Since i'll be away from the frame, there's even a web console I can log in to administer the Kodak Pulse Digital Picture Frame. In fact you can manage multiple picture frames from a single account. If you happen to be away from the picture frame - say vacation, you can always stay updated with all the latest photos through the same web console. There's currently a 7" version, but a new 10" version will be released next month. Check out your local retailers, but I grabbed mine for a few bucks cheaper via Amazon: Buy Kodak Pulse 7-Inch Digital Frame
Major Studio Upgrade – Red Bull Vending
How are we to be productive without Caffeine? Big ups to AC for dropping one of his vending machines down to my studio. If you're wondering how this blog stays updated, you figured out my secret addiction. That machine will be cleared out in a week just on my own. This machine looks awesome and is a kick ass night light too. Mini Bar, Refrigerator, and Microwave for Monster tacos coming soon....LOL. [Thanks AC]
Manual Audio Levels Canon 60D
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/
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.
Savage Vinyl Backdrops
With my new studio in place, i'm upgrading some of the seamless backdrops from paper to the new Vinyl material. Seamless paper backdrops are pretty common for studio use, but paper drops are extremely fragile. Once they get creased, pick up dirt, or even tear, it's time to cut off a section. Eventually after a bit of use, you'll need to replace the entire roll. Cloth backdrops are more durable, can be washed, but harder to get that infinity look due to the wrinkles and creases.
Savage Backdrops, who I use as my paper drops are now creating a new set of Seamless Vinyl Backdrops in at least the standard basic colors White, Black, and Gray. For those who want to get into Chroma Key 'Green Screen', there's one available for that. The Vinyl material and backing prevents wrinkles, has a matte finish for no glares, seamless all the way through, and can be cleaned with a damp sponge. When purchasing online over a retail store, prices are comparable to paper rolls. You can the backdrops available over at B&H: Savage Seamless Vinyl Backdrops in White, Black, Gray, and Chroma Green.
In order to hold these rolls in place, you'll need to grab yourself a cheap Studio Photo Backdrop Stand set.