Mathieu Bujold from DSLRExperiment.com wrote to me wanting to share his cleverly named 'Ultimate DIY DSLR Rig'. The three pipe design is very simple to assemble, low cost using PVC, but looks quite professional. This is one of the easiest DIY's you can already start diving into. If you feel you can take it a step further, he's got wiring setup for push buttons to control focus and shutter. Check out at his website DSLRExperiment.com. Thanks Mathieu.
Two new items came in today. One you can see has a crap load of stamps, so you know that's an overseas item. It's a neat thing that i'll show later on. The other brown box might look familiar to many of you, for anyone that's placed an order from bhphotovideo.com and guess what's peeking out....reviews to follow soon.
Relative size next to iPhone 4
Jarrod over at JustBasl Productions has shown us some of his previous DIY's and now recently threw together a full dslr cage. It probably looks overkill with just the camera, but you have to imagine the use with other accessories including a monitor. With 5 handles, holding the cage can be done in various ways providing more stabilization for different shots.
His original video (below) shown used the framework of the DSLR Cage Fig Rig with the popular Strut Channels. These strut channels proved to be too robust and heavy for handheld use, so the video above shows his new redesign with aluminum channels shaving off quite a bit of weight. More description and information can be found at his video link: https://vimeo.com/14380333
Check out this new DIY spin on an old DIY trick from Nate Gallagher. Inspired from the crazy popular Wooden Shoulder rig in which the handle is rotated as a follow focus system, Nate Gallagher takes a simple gear box and some type of U-Joint and transforms it into his own clever Follow Focus whip. The main advantage this design has over the wooden rig is that the FF can be rotated 360 degrees. The whole shoulder rig is a bit raw in aesthetics right now, but mapped out well for functionality, and for me is the most clever 'DIY follow focus' since the Wooden Shoulder rig from Jonathan Clifford Bergqvist. Apparently these parts may have come from a previous salvaged item, and I'm hoping to get a bit more information on the parts used. Just by looking at it though, there's no reason you can't use the famous Traxxas Universal Joint (From RC Cars) made famous by WSCLATER for this type of Follow Focus whip.
Redrock Micro is releasing a new line of configurations on it's website called 'nano DSLR Rigs', targeted for lightweight support DSLR rigs. Still a bit too expensive for something as simple as a handle or two, but these parts are designed to be compatible with more Redrock gear as you grow. Information from their website is posted below, you can find their storefront for the Redrock Micro nano DSLR rigs here.
Product Description:
nano DSLR rigs are compact, economical rigs designed for maximum value and discreet shooting. These rigs are a great value for photojournalism, travel, and documentary style HDSLR shooting, or as a great entry level rig, easily upgradeable to additional features found in our DSLR handheld, shouldermount, and studio configurations.
Monday's mail bag contains my two Sima L Brackets referencing this article I posted not long ago http://cheesycam.com/double-l-bracket-configuration-alzo-t-pod/. I went with the Sima as it was cheaper than the Alzo L Bracket. It feels real solid and has the dual shoe mount. I'll have more information on what I plan on doing with these when I get my aluminum flat bar cut out.
Here's an image of the Canon T2i with Sima L Bracket next to my Zoom H1 Portable Audio recorder.
Sima Video Bracket with Handle + 2 Accessory Mounts
Next up, received the package from bhphotovideo.com . No it's not my Zoom H1 Portable Digital Audio Recorder, that's coming in the mail tomorrow. This box contains some very special lenses. I recently shot at the Craigslist Foundation Boot camp, and was requested to shoot the conference event speeches with DSLR's. Normally I would have opted for a Sony EX1, or Panasonic HVX for longer running video clips, but we were able to shoot with the Canon 5D Mark II using multiple camera angles and overlapped recording. The only problem we ran into was the range of the lenses. Shooting off to the side and wanting the closest possible headshot, my Canon 70-200mm F/2.8 on the full frame just didn't cut it. With the Canon 2x Teleconverter on, we got closer, but the aperture minimum now up F/5.6 (the converter does this) plus the dim lit theater combination had us up to ISO 1600 at the least.
So after every shoot I think about what lenses could make this so much easier and provide better quality, still keeping in mind it has to be at an affordable price. Having a telephoto lens is important for this type of coverage, so prime lenses would be out of the question. I needed to zoom in and zoom out for wider shots as they traveled the stage. For low light, I needed something that had at least a comparable aperture of F/5.6. So I narrowed down cost + functionality to two lenses. The Canon 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L with IS & the new Sigma 50-500mm F/4.5-6.3 with optical stabilization. Yes the Sigma stops down to 6.3 at the longest 500mm, but as a comparison i'll see if I can get 5.6 at 400mm with the Sigma. Both priced roughly around $1600 US Dollars i'll have the lens vs. lens comparison up this week......
Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS (Image Stabilizer) USM Autofocus Lens
There's quite a few sources talking about the huge information leak on Sony's new Alpha DSLR's named the 'A580' and the 'A560', but so far the most important feature is finally recording in 1080. I'm sure there's a few more tricks up Sony's sleeve, but unless it's doing RAW video, fixed rolling shutter, or found a way to do super slo-motion in 1080, we've seen it all. I'm not sure if they'll have special features to convert die hard Canon or Nikon fans, but if the price is right maybe they can find a way to at least get in the HD DSLR video game. I have no information on pricing and availability yet, but i'm still digging for more information. Engadgets got a bit of read too: https://www.engadget.com/2010/08/20/sonys-alpha-a580-and-a560-leak-out-with-1080i-video-recording-m/
Lightcraft workshop, probably best known recently for it's Fader ND Variable Neutral Density Filters, but also produces high quality optics for other types of filters is entering the Loupe Game. The new 'BiGeye' LCD Viewfinder for DSLR's is coming in under $140 for the complete setup. Yes, it's weird but they are selling parts of the loupe individually possibly if you happen to damage it, you can cheaply replace small pieces. Cheaper than the Original LCDVF viewfinder, but offering a 'diopter' I think it's priced very nicely. It's not the most beautiful design and I'm not a fan of the name nor the product images they display in their store, but I'm sure they've got the whole optics thing down and that's really what counts. Thanks to Paul Kondo for this tip, you can find the new LCW BiGeye LCD Viewfinder at this link.
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/
