DIY Equipment

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If you follow this blog, you've probably heard of those Tekkeon battery packs that are used to power our 600 & 900 LED video lights. Here's another helpful Tekkeon tip from Rod Guajardo who uses the Tekkeon Battery Packs as external power for the Canon 5D for super long run times [Thanks Rod]. This solution would work with any camera that uses LP-E6 such as the 5D Mark II, 5D Mark III, 7D, and 60D. In order to send the power to the camera, he's using the Canon LP-E6 DC adapter found below.

dc-coupler
find-price-button Canon DR-E6 DC Coupler Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 7D, 60D

He combines the LP-E6 dummy battery with his Tekkeon MP3450 for longer run times, but another good tip he didn't mention was that there is also an Extended Battery (seen here) that can be combined to double the capacity of that Tekkeon solution. There is an example of what that extra capacity battery looks like in one of my older videos (here).

You can find Tekkeon Battery solutions via B&H following the link (Click Here).

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find-price-button Tekkeon Battery Packs + Tekkeon Extended Bundle

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Here's a genius little way to add hard stops to a follow focus. While working on his AMC Contest Video (seen here), Chris Weiss decided to remove the white marking disc from a Gini Follow Focus (as seen here) and added a couple of cheap binder clips. As you can see, it's fully adjustable hard stops so you don't over/under pull. Great tip. [Thanks Chris]

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triple flash adapterTriple Flash Adapter LED Video Light

These little triple cold shoe adapters mount to standard 1/4-20 threaded studs to be used on most light stands. Normally used for photography to hold three flashes, for Video you can also use them to mount three on-camera type LED video lights to make one larger light source. Great accessory for the traveler who can't pack up those larger LED light panels. The nice center clip of these brackets is used to hold an umbrella or other light diffuser, modifier, or maybe to craft up a gel holder. Both types can be found for just under $14 bucks via eBay (Click Here).

Triple Flash Adapter eBay LED Video Light
find-price-button Triple Flash or LED Video Light Shoe Mounting Bracket

The Metal Bracket Can be Found on Amazon for under $10 bucks + shipping (Click Here).

Screen Shot 2012-08-16 at 10.05.43 AMTriple Flash Adapter Bracket LED Light
find-price-button Triple Flash or LED Video Light Shoe Mounting Bracket - Cast Metal

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ServoCity.com posted a recent video showcasing the movement of it's latest MPT1100-SS Open Looop Pan & Tilt System. The $650 Dollar unit is designed to mount to camera Jibs / Cranes to remotely control the movement of the camera through a simple Joystick. I have a small video insight of this unit in action and the parts breakdown in an earlier article (seen here), and you can already find the new MPT1100-SS Motorized Pan & Tilt system available at ServoCity.com (click here).

MPT1100 Motorized Pan Head Tilt VideoMPT1100 Servo City Pan Head
find-price-button ServoCity.com MPT1100-SS Pan & Tilt System

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Lee Daley shared his DIY HD Wireless monitor solution via Twitter [Thanks Lee]. My solution is based on the discontinued Asus WiCast (seen here) and powered by Tekkeon batteries. Those Tekkeon batteries work great, but aren't very small so my solution isn't the best option out there.

DIY Wireless HDMI Streaming KitDIY Wireless HD Streaming Kit SmallHDWireless HDMI streaming Kit

Lee is using a different more affordable consumer Wireless HDMI streaming kit. Powering the receiver through what looks like a cheap CCTV battery pack and the HDMI Transmitter is much smaller and can be powered through the USB port of the SmallHD DP6.

These consumer HD streaming kits work great. They don't offer incredible range, but it will keep you untethered to move around and share your video feed (to a director). The kit he uses is often rebranded and you can see how it looks exactly like the one he's using (above). You can be find this kit on eBay for just $160 bucks.

Wireless HDMI Streaming Kit
find-price-button Wireless HDMI Streaming Transmitter Receiver

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Not long ago, another article (here) showed the use of these lights wrapped around the outside of a simple can and used an umbrella to reflect the light. Here YouTube member Taylordfilms shares another experiment using these cheap flexible LED light strips wrapped on the inside of a reflector. [Thanks Steve].

eBay (click here).

White Flexible 600 LED light can
find-price-button Flexible LED light Strip

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Here's a cheap spring loaded flat folding clamp if you have a need to tripod mount your iPad or other Tablet. It can fit variety of large tablets or smaller items down to an iPhone. We often have to mount our iPads to a light stand to display scripts during voice over work or as a make-shift cue card for the talent to reference.

iPad Tripod MountTripod Mount iPadiPad Tablet Tripod MountiPhone Clamp
find-price-button iPad Tablet Universal Tripod Mount Clamp

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YouTube member NitsanPictures shares a few simple ideas on how to combine the P&C pistol grip with a P&C friction arm from PhotographyandCinema.com to stabilize your small camera. The combination of the two could be used as a basic target shooter or a long handle. A great tip if you plan on traveling light with only a small camera like the new Sony RX100. [Thanks Nitsan].