DIY Equipment

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Vimeo member Carl throws up a demo video with the Canon T2i on Hague MMC video stabilizer. Something i've shown a while so nothing new there. Jump on over to 2:18 in the video and you find out how Carl balances the GoPro and iPhone properly. I've always said if your camera is too light for the stabilizer, you need to add weight to the top. Carl achieves this by adding a small Manfrotto tripod which works well for weight and adds the function of a quick release adapter. Now that the GoPro has an LCD BacPac, we could start seeing more GoPro Flying. Watch out Tiffen Smoothee, the cheaper Hague MMC with some small mods can easily balance a Flip, GoPro, iPhone and more...[Thanks Carl]


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find-price-button Hague Mini-Motion Cam Video Stabilizer

Now Carl does an excellent job with the Hague MMC, but i've used this stabilizer before and there's other (better and cheaper) options. The Hague is higher priced than the IndieHardware which I reviewed against the Hague MMC not so long ago. You can definitely save a few clams if you considered the IndieHardware over the Hague for your lightweight cameras.


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find-price-button IndieHardware Camera Stabilizer

If you're really interested in flying a GoPro, you should also check out another version of these type of stabilizers from Lensse. Probably just as good if not better than the rest with a price that sits in between. There's also a smaller version offered by Lensse dedicated to small Cell Phones (iPhones) or PDA's. Right now Lensse is trying to grab some marketshare and some items are being auctioned off starting at .99 cents. These small stabilizers already designed to work with an iPhone without any further modification, just might be good enough for the GoPro too. A deal hard to pass up..

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find-price-button Lensse i-Steady Camera Stabilizers

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DIY-LED_Panel

Matt writes in to share an LED light panel find via eBay. Normally you'd filter down to Video or Camera lighting, so you might have missed this one (I know I did). These are LED panels used as grow lights for indoor plants or aquarium accent lighting. This particular panel holds 225 LED's spaced out to cover a decent area. With 4 of these, you'd be working your way up to a 900 LED light source that is said to be rated at 5600K. Not too bad.

There's two versions that they sell, one being an 'upgraded' Ultrathin version. No specs on actual color temperature from that listing, but the ultrathin looks pretty nice. Since these aren't stamped under video or photo, they run extremely cheap. I just ordered one to test to see if it's a DIY start, but at worst case it'll be great for my Photo Cocoon lightbox or place it over my aquarium. Nice that they already come in a housing (looks like aluminum but most likely plastic). They are offered in a variety of mixed color LED's or just plain white. Make sure you check on the ones that specify 'white only' and you can find them below. [Thanks Matt]

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find-price-button 225 LED & 450 LED Light panels

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find-price-button Ikan Production Slate 9 x 11

About time I had my own Dry Erase slate a.k.a Clapper a.k.a ClapBoard. I ordered this 9 x 11 dry erase slate from Amazon mainly because I had a gift card and shipping was free at the time. This one feels like it has some magnets on the top so as the clapper gets closer it actually snaps in place. Feels like a wooden top and the slate area is a thick acrylic. I personally think it also looks better than the other cheaper ones. If looks is of no concern, cheaper ones like the Pearstone go for about half the price of this Ikan over at B&H.

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find-price-button Pearstone Dry Erase Slate

Cheapest of all the ones i've found is the very generic White 9 x 11 Director's Clapboard via Amazon (below).

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find-price-button White Directors Clapboard 9 x 11

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YouTube member kellyhuffaker throws up a nice (and totally amusing) review of the budget crane I purchased a while back. I've used it only a few times, but didn't get around to sharing much. I like the idea of using the panning bearing (in this video) over a Fluid Head since it saves on cash. You'd need a very large head to support this kind of weight like a Manfrotto 501 or larger. Great job on this video, the tips, and the comedy. [Thanks Kelly]

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find-price-button Affordable DSLR Video Crane

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What is a Teleprompter? In some situations, it could be a life saver. Especially when you're renting a location and time is limited. Teleprompters are extremely useful tools when you're working with a host or anyone that needs to read off lines while looking directly into the camera's lens. Most green screen shows like Tosh.0 or Talk Soup have these types of tools. Many ENG reporters are setup with prompters too. You might think that placing a sheet of paper close to the camera's lens would be just as effective, but try it and you'll see that little bit of offset is very noticeable. If you've ever had to wait on a host to memorize lines or had problems nailing a speech, you need to start looking into Teleprompters.

Teleprompters use a reflective angled mirror to display text from a screen while the camera is positioned behind this angled glass. The camera does not see the reflection and looks pretty much normal shooting through the beam splitter. To optimize the reflection, the entire rear panel needs to be covered and prevent any light from hitting the back of the angled reflector.

Here's a DIY teleprompter from Tompter.com. This version I have uses a bent sheet of heavy acrylic with a special tint film to act as the beam splitter. The one i'm showing is an unfinished version of the 'Tompter' and was sent to me to show me how effective this DIY setup is. The finished versions which can be purchased normally includes: Monitor, Stand, Acrylic Mirror & Bag assembly, and 10' VGA cable. That's pretty much everything you need to start shooting except for a laptop. All for not a bad deal (considering you get a monitor too). You can check out some other Teleprompters here at B&H. Free teleprompting software can be downloaded from various websites, all this information is at Tompter.com.

Acrylic itself may have many cons, mainly because it's not as scratch proof as glass and can collect dust. There are advantages to using acrylic though, and even the super high end Teleprompters which run thousands, sometimes provide the option of acrylic over glass for durability. If you're shooting in a war zone, acrylic might be the better type of material to carry around. The special beam splitting tint film on this Tompter is very effective even when the lights in the studio are on. Even when two 1000 watt lights are aimed at it's direction the text was still very readable. I did not notice any color shifts or much loss in exposure. Now the one I have here is an Acrylic based Prompter, but if you need Glass there's also a higher end Glass beam splitter available from Tompter too. By the way Tom is pretty open about making these and is working on a DIY video to share. If you have questions about making your own, you can contact Tom at for more information about Tompter below.

I'm going to finish this version up with a light stand mount and put this thing to use! To keep my iPad from falling out, I figure i'll just add some velcro to the back of this iPad Hard Shell Case.

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find-price-button DIY Teleprompter Kit w/ LCD Screen, Stand, Prompter - Tompter

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classifieds

Ok guys, there's no question that readers on Cheesycam are interested in gear. It's a big part of why people come here. The other day someone asked about upgrading from their Glidecam HD2000 to the HD4000, and then someone else in the same day mentioned 'downgrading' from an HD4000 to HD2000. It only makes sense to find a way to connect people and share some of these great used gear sales.

I'm planning on creating a seperate page where people can share links to their eBay (only) auctions. Now this can open up a whole new can of worms, and i'm doing this more as a favor and not an obiligation. Don't make me regret opening up this new section on my website! I don't want this to become a spam page. So for the first 'test' run of this new section there will be some very very strict guidelines. I'll tell you right now, that one of the guidelines is for 'individuals' and single items, not for 'businesses trying to sell a line of products'. If you can't meet these guidelines, this is not the place for you to share your link.

I'll be working on this new page today, and will update you all when it's available. In this new page you'll also find what the guidelines will be. I'll become more flexible if this works out, but if it gets out of hand, i'll just have to take the section down. I'll create a separate tab for this so that it doesn't interfere with the articles and postings. More to come in a few hours...

[Update] Page is up, please read through carefully before posting anything. It's available in the [Tabs] above or here: http://cheesycam.com/classifieds/
-Emm

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If you're wondering which LCD Viewfinder would fit the 60D LCD screen, it would be the same aspect as the T2i. You can find some good ones here: http://cheesycam.com/best-new-view-finder-t2i-60d-5d-mark-ii-7d-nikon/

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Well first I want to point out that I don't suggest mounting an LCD View Finder on the Canon 60D while the LCD is swung out. Adding pressure to this swivel can damage your LCD connection. If you choose to use the sticky metal frame type of mount, then you'll lose the functionality of swiveling your LCD back into the camera body for protection. Most people can live with that, but others can't. Here's an easy solution to add a sticky frame without having to touch the LCD.

Grab a thin piece of PolyCarbonate plastic. With a thin enough piece you can bend it around the Canon 60D and 'pin' it between the spaces above and below the LCD screen. Polycarbonate can be thermal set, so a simple blow dryer or heat gun is all it takes to shape it. Once it cools down, it will maintain the shape. Look around for some old product packages, these hard plastic cases might be the type of plastic you need.

First I measured my shape by cutting and bending out some cardboard, then transferred that length to my plastic piece. Plain scissors is all that’s needed to trim the lightweight plastic.

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I found a piece of steel that’s about the same thickness as my LCD. I clamped it down, heated it up, and just pulled it over by hand. Hold the position until it cools down. Do the other side and you’re pretty much done.

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This plastic piece squeezes in between the LCD and provides a very very tight fit. Pulling the VFinder off of the metal frame cannot remove the plastic from the LCD. Again, I wouldn’t recommend using a View Finder while the LCD is swung out.

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[Update] This is what the Metal Frame looks like when placed over a GH2. This is the T2i 3:2 version and it more than covers the area needed to be magnified.
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(above) Panasonic GH2 with Metal Frame Attached. Just a few mm oversized, but everything is in perfect view.

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Vimeo Member Leo Silve went through the trouble of shooting this video to share what he's been doing to get a personalized comfortable budget shoulder rig put together. It's a lengthy video, but it's shot to explain from start to finish why all the parts were selected in his build. In the video you'll see a few different pieces used including the inexpensive shoulder support and Macro rail used for an offset. There's also a follow focus and some Ikan pieces thrown in to complete his lightweight setup. [Thanks Leo]

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Hunter writes in and shares one of his recent budget purchases. It's a collapsible 43" Light Disc with 5 Different color reflectors including white, silver, and gold. Perfect lightweight solution If you're looking for a simple, fast, effective way to throw some fill light onto a subject. It can also be used as a bounce when using flash photography, a small scrim, or light diffuser with continuous lighting kits. Follow the link to find some even cheaper deals if you're looking for something a bit smaller than 43". [Thanks Hunter]


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find-price-button 5 in 1 Portable 43" Reflector