These pipe clamps look to be very handy for anyone wanting to create a 'Rod' type shoulder rig. Supposedly you can find them around the copper pipe aisles at Home Depot and they have a nice spacing to them which look similar to real 'Rod rigs'. The front support handles are cutdown Bike handlebars and obviously your choice of bike handles. These are very cool looking rigs that i'm sure nobody would recognize as a DIY project. These videos are not super clear on the complete assembly, total parts list, and configuration, but i'm on the lookout for more detailed versions of the copper pipe clamp rigs showing up now. I think i'll have to try my hand at configuring my own Copper Pipe Clamp DSLR Rig.
This was a friends video project. He decided to use my house to shoot a very short video clip. It's his project, so i'll wait to let him post the video before sharing it with you. Those cheap Bike clamps (found here) sure came in handy for us to make a DIY boom pole. I used one to mount at the bottom of a regular monopod and adapted the Zoom H4n to the bottom. The top was the Rode VideoMic on it's own adapter. We used an extension cord to run the mic down to the Zoom H4n. The Windscreen was on the Rode, because we were going in an out of the house. The Spider Trax Dolly was also out on the floor and used for some really cool shots. Glad we had a tool like this, otherwise there would be no way to pull off some of the long tracked shots and curved motion shots.
The basis of this project was about some kids who come over to a friends house, practices break dancing, and well..i'll share the rest when it's online. I saw a quick edit of his project, and it came out great. Thanks to some of the Renegade Rockers for showcasing some of their awesome break dance skills. More information will be posted later.
I'm not sure exactly which infrared remote model number is used on the Canon T2i / 550D, but for the Canon 5D Mark II you would use the RC-1 infrared remote. This is a nice handy little remote to shoot photos and also start and stop video. The problem is that it's infrared and you'll need to get the remote somewhat in front of the camera to trigger. A tethered remote is nice, but that has some limitations also, especially not being able to start and stop video (only the infrared remotes can start and stop video on the canon DSLR).
Here's an unusual remote that just surfaced offering both a cord type connection and offers an infrared trigger too. Now if your only concern is to get a corded remote, i'd go straight to the Intervalometer I blogged about not too long ago. But to start and stop video, you definitely need to trigger it via Infrared so you'll have to get a second remote.
If you're shopping for a remote simply to do photos, here's a similar setup as to the Wireless remote I did a demo with on my Canon 5D Mark II. (See the Demo Here) This is both a corded remote as well as a Wireless Remote option for photography. It cannot start and stop video, but the wireless works much better since it doesn't rely on Infrared. check out the dual Corded + Wireless remote for the Canon T2i / 550D.
I was wondering you Em or anyone had any experience with color correcting these 126 LED lights to (near) Tungsten?
It's true, the Tungsten gel that comes with the LED light panel isn't very close to Tungsten. Now I don't have many gels available to me right now, and i'm also not a lighting genius, but I guess I can shop around and find something that works best. Instead of myself trying to come up with a solution, I thought there might be enough of a community of Cheesycam.com readers who might have more experience with this.
If anyone out there has a good solution of Gel color, type, size, etc. the rest of us would love to find out. These lights aren't going away any time soon, so let's see if we can nail this down to a standard Gel type and color. In fact if you have your own solution for Diffusion, I would love to hear that too. Even any type of Mods or Hacks on how you might use these lights differently or creatively would serve as good tips too. Anyone Anyone?
Update::: Joel Hartz - Hartz Photographic LED Review teaches us how to get better color match on the 126 LED Video light. Looks like this problem is solved. Thanks Joel for the awesome review, and thanks for the shot out to the blog!
Ok, i'm really excited to talk about this item, it's such a great find for me. I've seen this item many times but couldn't find a single YouTube or Vimeo video review about the 717AH Video Fluid Head (note that the number on the box doesn't always match the number on the fluid head). Other search results on the Internet come back as just product sales information. Am I the only one reviewing this item? Have I truly discovered the next DSLR hidden treasure? LOL.
You gotta watch my short video review above as to why this thing rocks. I'm comparing it to 3 different style Monfrotto brands. As you know i'm the happy owner of a Monfrotto 701HDV Fluid head (I demo it on the 99 dollar slider video). Don't get me wrong, the 701HDV works totally awesome. But as many of you might know, i've been working on a Skater Dolly type project 'Spider Trax Dolly' and one of the delays have been researching the perfect Camera Head to mount. Since there will be an option to purchase the dolly 'without' a Video Head, I wanted to make sure I found the right options to suggest to people.
I've already invested in 4 different fluid heads (not cheap blah!) trying to find the right one for you guys. One of the problems I was trying to solve was the 701HDV mount. Everyone out there with a Slider, Skater, or Dolly knows what' i'm talking about! The lower locking knob doesn't clear very well when mounted on flat surfaces. This means you need to DIY some type of spacer. A simple spacer doesn't always work well either. The fluid head is quite firm so you need to drill out some locking screws to make sure it doesn't come loose. Sure I love the 701HDV, but it has problems mounting to anything other than an actual video tripod.
Here's where I struck Gold. When i'm just about fed up with Fluid heads, and figured I'll have to come up with a special adapter for the Spider Trax dolly project, I run into this little Gem. I've seen this online before, but was hesitant about the build for a brand I wasn't familiar with. It was pretty much my last resort in trying to find the best Fluid Head to suggest for the dolly project. It's available from a US seller which means super fast shipping - (no four week waiting period). Even better, It's half the price of a Monfrotto 701HDV and as far as i'm concerned it's twice the build quality. This thing is compact (same size as 701HDV), but it's beefy! It's designed with lots of metal, the fluid head is smooth, has incredibly strong locks to support lots of weight, and comes with a very very nice adjustable (very long) Video handle for extra leverage. In fact you can mount two handles for smoother panning shots. With the adjusted length, this handle actually is perfect for the Spider Trax Dolly use too! It performs same if not better than fluid heads more than three times it's price.
Why isn't anyone else talking about it? I feel like i'm breaking new ground here much like when I started blogging about those 126 LED Video lights. I'm not sure, but I was sooo happy with the first one, I purchased a second one so I don't have to keep remounting my head onto different sliders, tripods, and dollies. The cheapest i've found the 717AH fluid head was on eBay by this seller, while others sell this upwards to $100 dollars. Click here to visit the USA seller that I received mine from..
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Update: Just contacted the company to see if they can supply me with alot more for the Dolly project. They mentioned there's a limited amount in stock until the next shipment. This will be the official Fluid head that will be packaged as an option with the Spider Trax Dolly, so if you're shopping for an awesome quality Video Fluid head, now might be the time to grab one.
Unlike the 70-200mm F/4 Coffee Mug at the Winter Olympics, this cup was never released directly by Canon. When this lens replica cup was first available, it was a very cheap looking, terrible design, that had many many flaws. After finding that there is a 'Version 2' of this lens with over 90% accuracy, it was something I had to add to the collection. I have to admit the new design is even more accurate to the referenced lens than even Canon's 70-200mm Coffee Mug. There are no stainless inserts, so it's not designed for hot beverages. It does although work as a great tumblr for summer time coolers. Starting around $24 dollars, You can find the Canon 24-105mm Lens Replica Cups here.
Why is everything related to Camera's marked up a Bazzillion percent? I looked for a good solution for one of my DIY interests, and couldn't find exactly what I wanted, especially for the price I wanted to pay. In fact there are very very little solutions for this type of camera related interest. Sorry i'm being very vague, but sincerely I have to be.
Since I couldn't find exactly what I needed, i went back to the guys who are working on the Spider Trax Dolly project and had something else 'custom made'. It's a very versatile little 'whos-a-ma-widget' adapter, that can save you money on a variety of different DIY projects by adapting camera to umm existing 'thingies'. Even though I doubt there are even a handful of people who would be interested in it, I thought i'd have them run off a few hundred. You'll see these hitting the Internet soon, consider it my investment to the DSLR community.
Message:
Hello, Thanks for the great work and bringing some
clarity to this emerging DSLR scene. I have been searching for
information about a company called
Indiefocus, they have line of lower priced camera
products. They have 3 different follow focus units, one
at $99 that works by friction not gears, it looks just
right for my T2i.
Have you had any contact with them? They do not answer their emails
or phone, so I do not want to send
money. I know this not your issue, but you seem to get around. They
look like good products. Any thoughts?
Here's my response. I've emailed them, called them on several occassions, but have never ever heard back from any of my inquiries. Sorry IndiSystems, hope this doesn't hurt your sales. You look like you have good products, but your support kinda sucks. Oh and that $99 dollar slider i've been plugging for them, I got it second hand and modified the unit by swapping out the cheap plastic head (that broke off). Anyone have any luck with indiSystems? I can't seem to get through, and i've been hearing this from many people. Oh and indiSystems, if you're out there reading this, holla back.
This Golden Oldie (literally Gold) looks very very familiar. If i'm correct, I remember seeing the transformations of this thing while it was coming out of DIY progress on the Internet. I think it was called Pegasus. It looks like it's a pretty finished project now that's gone into mass manufacturing under Wondlan as the 'Ares'. (Doesn't Ares mean 'A$$' in some languages?)
Because of it's entry level price for a Gimbal style stabilizer, I'm finding more and more people doing reviews on the Ares. Although it looks like a Steadicam Merlin, it doesn't have a full functioning Gimbal as the Merlin. The Merlin has much more travel in it's design. Then again it's not priced like a Steadicam Merlin, and it appears that this Ares stabilizer can handle much much more weight than the Merlin can, so it's not ALL bad.
I'm not a fan of the Gold color scheme, it looks like something Austin Powers might have carried in his last movie, or a prop designed for the next Marvel Comic movie. Hey, you can't knock the awesome smooth results this bad boy is putting out though. You can find the decently priced Stabilizer here if Gold is your thing.
Update: Good news, you can send an email to the seller and specifically ask for 'Black', and that should solve that Gold color issue.
126 LED Dimmable Multi Battery DSLR video Light
