Videography Gadgets

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sescom-line2mic

Hey, here's an idea. Run the Microphone into your portable audio recorder, and then run the headphone out port into your camera mic input. If it sounds good in the headphones, it should sound good running into the camera. Well before you tackle that idea, just know that headphone outputs aren't all the same and run pretty hot. Some portable audio recorders have a dedicated 'Line Out' so you'll be safe, but not the Zoom H4n or Zoom H1. You can easily damage the mic input on your camera if you're not careful.

So above is the cable from Sescom. This isn't something new, and most of you might have already run into this product. This particular one I have is for the Zoom H4n, but i'm showing it with the Zoom H1 (didn't have H4n with me). It's a Sescom Line2Mic attenuator cable that drops the headphone out from the Zoom by -25db making it safe to use directly into your camera's Mic input. There's different cables with different levels of attenuation provided for different recorders. Don't think this will save your AGC enabled cameras, that's not what it's there for. This cable is for the Canon 60D and 5D Mark II that control manual audio. (Or try it on the T2i with Magic Lantern).

So why do it this way? Well for starters, the amps on the Zoom recorders will help you adjust levels and sensitivity. If you're using the H4n, it gives you a way to connect XLR type microphones. Is the audio just as good as what's recorded? Not really, but you'll be surprised on how well it does sound. I'm not going to run through a bunch of tests today, a bit swamped, but if you're curious you can find lots of tests already at Vimeo.com. Or for those of you who have your video links, throw them in the comments.


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find-price-button Sescom LN2MIC-ZMH4-MON 3.5mm Line to Mic 25dB Attenuation Cable for Zoom H4N with Headphone Monitoring Jack

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Not a very precise motion controlled unit as the high end versions, but nonetheless a very effective one. Here's another Rotisserie Motor based motion controlled Timelapse slider from Vimeo member Derek Mellot. The video shows some fine examples of it's use as well as some of it's build rolling over an aluminum ladder. The motor used spins at 4rpm, but if you're clever, you can find ways to gear that down. I think the other smaller battery powered version with 2rpm posted earlier would suffice. This one by Derek is a large DIY rig, something you shouldn't plan to be traveling with on a plane, but if you've got the time, the space, and lack a budget, it's a great little DIY project. [Thanks Derek]


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Testing out the Canon 60D w/ Tokina 11-16mm with cheap Timelapse Timer Remote. I'm still very happy with this cheap Timer Remote. I thought that it would have battery problems since there's no On/Off switch. You have to flip the watch type button battery around when it's not in use. There's been several days I didn't flip it around, and i'm still on the same battery. I stayed at Caesars Palace and this was the view from the outside staircase and took 1,275 photos with 3 second intervals. Really short clips of this will end up in a video project. Camera just set to AV F/9. Everything else was pretty much automatic.

I wanted to travel with a minimum amount of gear to Las Vegas so I played the dating game with my cameras, to make the best decision. Camera #1 what would you do for wide angle and zoom shooting? After a few questions, I ended up taking the Canon 60D over everything (yes even the 5D Mark II). Why? Well most of my footage would be in CES which was very well lit. In fact all of Vegas is pretty 'well lit'. So I decided to take my Tamron 18-270mm with VC. This lens gives me both wide and super zooms and has Vibration Control (same as IS) all in one lens. For super duper wides, I brought out the Tokina 11-16mm. Both lenses won't work on the Canon 5D Mark II, so he's out of the picture. Since my audio gear was going to be minimal, the Manual audio controls of the Canon 60D beat out both the 7D and T2i as options.

We chased a TV hostess for a network show around while she demoed some of the items at CES. She was on a wireless microphone, but I needed to get as much of the same audio for later syncing. With a simple Rode VideoMic and 60D Manual Audio controls, I was able to pinpoint the sound I needed from our television hostess. Using a wide lens and staying close to the TV hostess was also a technique to focus on the sound I wanted and leave out as much ambient noise as possible. For those who still have questions, the Canon 60D has been a top performer and very versatile. I'm also finding myself really using the swivel LCD, and can't wait till Canon implements this into the 5D Mark III (if that ever happens.....)

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Finding a decent 3:2 LCD View Finder still seems to be on everyone's list. I've been getting a few emails from Glenn today and he seems to have tracked one down from Meike. Now Meike was the one who released the LCDVF clone model a while back which everyone was pretty much satisfied with. They rubbed some people the wrong the way with it's exact replica design, so they've changed the look since then. Here's the new look and here's one made specifically to fit the LCD of the T2i if anyone else is looking.

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find-price-button LCD View Finder for Canon T2i 3:2 Aspect LCD

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FL-Ring-Light-Diva-Lite (5 of 15)

Curiosity is probably my biggest downfall, and I end up buying and testing tons of random products. Some make it on the blog, some aren't even worth mentioning. I'm busy getting back into the swing of things after CES set me back, but here's another interesting product I decided to test out and happy to say it's made it this far. These are the Ring Lights that Serge was sharing through the comments of this blog. I did a little diggin' and it seemed to be a solid product with good reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. Now as far as Ring Lights go, there is a cliche way of using them to get that unique catch light reflection in a subjects eyes. I'm all set with that from my DIY Ring Light project, so it's really not what I intended to use them for.

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(Above) Popular Z96 LED Video Light

Since ring lights provide a very broad soft light source, I was curious to see what the quality of diffusion and light power output these guys had. Mainly to see if these can be used for interviews and on location use. Just to give everyone a baseline, i've compared it with the very popular Z96 LED light that everyone loves. As you all know, the Z96 itself provides a broad and fairly even light output.

LED type lighting can be very powerful at close range and very directional. As you can see from the images below, the Z96 is very directional and has high output in the center, but was not nearly as diffused as the Ring Light. (This is not a comparison between the two, this is merely showing you the difference in light output.) By the way this is shot at 1/60th F/3.5 and only ISO 200. I underexposed the image to show the diffusion properties.

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With my camera at the same distance and with the same settings, here's how much diffusion two Ring Lights can provide for your video or photography. (below)
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Build quality is very nice and the entire unit is extremely lightweight. The big square at the bottom is where the ballast lives (CFL's need this), and it also comes with a set of fuses.
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The included bracket is designed to hold a camera in the center of the ring, and is adjustable. The bracket is lightweight aluminum with a tapped hole at the bottom. The bracket is ok, but the tapped hole pretty much sucks and is completely useless. I'll have to make my own mount if I choose to use this bracket and one of the simple ideas is to just drill and tap in a new steel insert.

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(Above) Using Power Friction Arms on Light Stand

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The bulbs are labeled at 5400k and throws very soft even lighting. As you can see from the next set of images (below) I shot this product using two ring lights and the camera set to 1/125th @ F/6.3. Yeah that camera setting would normally block out quite a bit of light, but these lights handled very well with near shadowless lighting.

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As you can see, they diffuse light much better than LED video lights. They are also cheaper than LED panels and extremely lightweight, but definitely much more fragile. As nice as portable LED video lights go, there's also been many complaints of close up lighting situations. LED lighting is harder to diffuse if you're working with close range subjects, so these types of ring lights would better serve in those situations.

Unfortunately CFL type lighting such as these aren't normally dimmable. You get on / off and no in between. A small sheet of diffusion paper would be no problem cutting the output though since these types of lights generate almost no heat. No heat is another advantage to be used in very close range to any subject and still provide a very soft even diffused light source without bulky softboxes or any type of light modifiers. Yes they can be used with real people and would be great for interviews.


Ring Light Example 1/60th F/3.5 ISO 400

I saw no noticeable flicker using these lights in video or in photos. I even tested this with my shutter speed up to 1/4000ths. There are smaller versions of this type of light that are a bit cheaper, but I have to say the 300w ones I got would be of more use to videographers. If you do decide to try the smaller versions, there are some bundles that come with battery packs. I ended up choosing the 300w versions, which have no bundles with a battery pack. For myself though, these 300w lights worked fine with my personal portable $99 dollar battery.

So what's my take on these? I like them alot. They would be very easy to travel with and since they are very lightweight, the light stands needed to hold them need only be lightweight too. I'll definitely be using these for situations that require close lighting. A great use would be for close up product video demos on this blog and clean shadowless product photography.

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find-price-button 150w, 300w, 500w CFL Ring Light for Video and Photography

My version is listed at 40w. The largest version of this ring light can be found here at a claimed 65w:
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find-price-button Stellar Diva Ring Light 65w Fluorescent Video Lighting

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Here's one of my favorite DIY videos that was actually shot over 2 years ago by Vimeo member Edwin Bont. I've been wanting to tackle this project myself, but am always getting sidetracked. It might be on my list of things this weekend if i'm not too backlogged from CES. It's a video that hasn't had much attention, but a very original DIY in what is called the 'Sphere Arm'. This rig uses a set of L brackets cleverly assembled to keep the lens at a fixed distance while allowing it to be rotated in several axises. This not only gives you the illusion of rotating horizontally, but also vertically.

The build quality on the one shown in the video isn't very heavy duty and video doesn't seem to be of high quality, but i'm sure with a bit more DIY out there this thing can really bring in the 'next camera movement'. Might even be an interesting movement with small cameras such as the GoPro and light weight GH2. Wedding videographers, I can totally see this as a macro video movement around some wedding rings. Yeah, I think this idea has been asleep too long and needs to be hashed out with something more refined. Besides myself, (if I can get to it) who else is up for the challenge?

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As some of you might have noticed, this blog went a few days without an update. I was busy attending CES - Las Vegas. Since there were several days of event coverage and many hours of walking, we needed to travel light - super light. The area was sooo crowded with what felt like hundreds of thousands of people, it was too cumbersome to even bring out a simple Tripod. We knew that we had to rely mostly on hand held shooting. Not to mention all the Taxi and Shuttle rides that made it difficult to travel with excessive gear and navigate through crowds. Our weapons of choice were two $24.00 dollar shoulder supports with a basic set of rails and handles. At times, the shoulder support was put in the backpack and the cameras were stabilized through the basic rail system which includes handles.

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(Above) Camera on Basic Rails from Express35

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find-price-button Manfrotto Shoulder Support Adapter

Quick tip: If you want to make a straight shooter out of a basic set of Rails and Handles, you can also carry around the Manfrotto 361 Shoulder Brace for Monopods. This adjustable shoulder support will connect directly to the Tripod plate of the rail system giving you that extra point of contact.

One of the benefits to using a modular rail system is that when it's taken apart, it has the smallest footprint possible and extremely light weight. It's also the core foundation of building up to Follow Focus systems, Matte Boxes, and other accessories that are designed around the industry standard mounting solution. Another benefit is that it can be reconfigured into different ways by shifting the parts around. (I bet you guys never though about doing this). By just rotating the camera sideways on a set of rails and repositioning the Handles to each side, I was able to make a Fig Rig type stabilizer. I didn't want to pack the Flycam, so instead I used this type of setup for all my walking shots. Switching to my Tokina 11-16mm wide lens helped smooth out any walking motion too. When I was done, things packed up very neatly into a small backpack. When I get a third handle, i'll show you guys how i'm planning on adding a 'Top Handle' to the basic rail set. This would have all the same functionality as my DIY DSLR Fig Rig with two handles to each side and one on top. Of course it would be more lightweight and can be broken down for easy traveling.

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(Above) Shown using rails sideways in a Fig Rig Stabilizer Configuration

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(Above) Traveling with Basic Rails

For those who were hunting down a way to mount a set of rails to the Cheap $24.00 shoulder support, here's the answer you've been waiting for. This is a custom offset adapter that I requested from Express35.com. Unlike the mock-up version that I first received, this is a set of parts that allow multiple axis adjustments to get the camera where you want it. If you're looking for such an adapter to mount your Redrock, Zacuto, Gini Rig, or other rails you can contact Express35.com here and let them know you want that Cheesycam Offset for the cheap Shoulder Support.

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(Above) Custom Offset Adapter to Cheap Shoulder Support

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find-price-button Cheap Shoulder Support for Video Camera

Supposedly a few other people have been requesting this same setup of rails to 'cheap shoulder support', but didn't even know where to start. For those of you who haven't invested in a basic rail system yet and looking to adapt to the cheap shoulder support, a new bundle of parts labeled as 'RigX' became available on the Express35.com website. The RigX Project is the custom offset adapter (above)+ basic set of rails + DSLR base + Tripod mounting Plate + HD Handles - all ready to be used seamlessly with the Cheap Shoulder Support. The bundled parts are designed specifically to be used in what many are calling the most comfortable entry level DSLR shoulder rig (you'll need the cheap $24.00 shoulder support) combination. If you want more information and prices on the complete RigX project from Express35, you can check it out here: https://express35.com/rig-x/1857/

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find-price-button Express35.com RigX

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camera-slider

Alright, this next post is going to break a few hearts out there. I'm talking about the hearts of companies making Video Camera Sliders. Camera sliders are a big deal as one of the most sought after DSLR Video tools. When used properly it can add a Cinematic effect that's very hard to replicate. Unfortunately, the good ones are out of small budgets, and the cheap ones are under par. For those just starting out, there's the mostly sloppy but capable $99 dollar mini slider based arond 80/20 extruded aluminum. No bearings, just plastic over metal and lots of play in the mount. I have one, it works, and you get what you pay for. You gotta just accept it, and move on.

For those with a bit more of a budget and some DIY skills, you can go the DIY IGUS camera slider route. For the IGUS route, you can get away with a decent slider that's lightweight and sturdy for about $150 dollars. I have that too, but to save on this piece, you'll need some DIY skills. If you lack DIY skills, there's other companies loosely based around the IGUS Drylin rails that sells ready made sliders, but now you're looking at over $300 dollars (without shipping). After the IGUS stuff, you're looking well over $600 dollars for the next best thing.

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Here's where it gets real interesting. A long time ago I posted about a new slider that was first introduced by Varavon. I'm not sure if that's their baby or a rebranded product, but you can find that old school article here: http://cheesycam.com/varavon-profinder-angled-lcd-view-finder/. Now in my last paragraph of that old article I stated that introduction price was going to be a killer. I believe that slider was being offered at over $$600 dollars at the time. Guess what people - I called it, and sure enough that slider disappeared and was just about never heard from again.

Well here's the heartbreaking news (for cam slider companies). It's just resurfaced and with a bit of a face lift too. Sometimes going under Varavon, CamSlide, SlideCam, bbosasi, or Konova - This time she comes back online at a more affordable price. Filling the void between the sloppy $99 dollar versions and the ready made $300+ sliders, this guy sits somewhere in between. Unlike even the $300+ dollar ready made sliders, this one comes with with actual roller bearings. A design that's only available in higher end $500+ dollar camera sliders. A few more additions is the design that only requires one tripod with a ready to mount tripod plate in center, or for extra stability comes with tripod mounting plates on each end. It also comes with it's own legs and adjustable feet to be used without a tripod and on any uneven surface. It can also be vertically mounted, which is something you'll never find anywhere near this price range. If you've done your research for a good slider, you know this is a crazy amount of build quality and features being offered at this price.

So what am I really trying to say about this slider and this price? Well, for starters this slider is back from the dead and that's an important note. This single tool is looking to penetrate the DSLR market and get more exposure. It's being offered at less than half the price of it's previous induction. Is this price set? Will prices get cheaper? You never know, and i'm hoping that it does. But honestly my gut feeling says no. It looks like it's a marketing move to drive exposure to this product. Once the world knows about it, then it's all a game of supply and demand. Like the Z96 LED video light, prices haven't fallen - Instead prices went up. So even though it's a bit of heart breaking news at this price, don't fear Camera slider companies from abroad, I don't think it's going to last long.

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For the shooters out there who might be looking for a quality video slider with roller bearings, vertical mounting, and the other many features, this one is much better than the IGUS stuff. This might be a price that's not going to last long. I know how fast deals can disappear after posting anything on this blog, and you bet your &^%$*! I ordered one at this price. I'll get a review on as soon as it drops in....

[Update Update Update]!! In just about an hour, there were 17 sliders purchased. Not sure if anyone noticed, but the price just jumped $10 US dollars.

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find-price-button Camera Slider with Roller Bearings, Adjustable Feet, Vertical Mounts

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I've got a few extra cameras lacking some straps right now like the Sony A55 and GH2. Looks like some fancy new camera straps are out and i'm waiting to get my hands on it. This new line of camera straps are being marketed as 'Carry Speed'. Doesn't really show it in the pictures, but I believe this camera strap also comes with a small zippered pocket over the shoulder to hold extra accessories like media cards, and maybe small batteries. The quick release adapter for the strap swivels the camera to keep it from tangling, and the base plate can remain on the camera with support for a tripod mount. Looks like a solid build with dirt cheap 'Buy it Now' prices compared to relevant straps. What's even more kick a$$? If you've got the patience, they've got a few on auction starting at 1 penny + Free Shipping. Can be found online via the link:

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find-price-button Carry Speed Rapid Camera Straps w/ Tripod Mount