If you haven't been keeping up, a few comments have already come in about the Polaroid Variable ND filters. Looks good, and at 1/3 price of relative Variable ND filters. Not every filter size is available, but the popular 72mm is back in stock. http://cheesycam.com/polaroid-new-variable-nd-filters/. Don't get this confused with a 'Circular Polarizer'. This is the 'Variable ND filter' which serves a different purpose in cutting out light. If you can't score the size you need through the Polaroid's, the Nature brand is still an excellent buy as well http://cheesycam.com/nature-fader-nd-variable-neutral-density-filters/
Photography Gadgets
LED Video Light Panels
Well they've been available for a while, and it seems like the shortage has been cleared up. More LED Video light panels are available again. Just noticed there are a few auctions thrown up starting at $0.01 US. Yeah that's a penny, but you need to account for the $20 dollar shipping. Never know what you can walk away with, if you're dying for an LED Video panel.
DIY Game changing idea?
Minimal, Functional, Versatile, Practical, completely original. I might be a bit distracted lately, not sure if anyone can tell. I've been busy testing out a new prototype I've been working on for several months (6 months ago). I just picked it up yesterday and only a handful of people know what i'm talking about. It's interesting to see their expressions when I show it off, and they all agree that it's going to change the way people think about.......umm...ok said too much. Sorry guys, just a few more tweaks to go and you'll see what it's all about.
DIY Motion Controlled Timelapse
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]
Canon 60D Travels to Las Vegas
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.....)
3:2 LCD View Finder for Canon T2i
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.
The Fluorescent Ring Light Review
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.
(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.
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)
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.
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.
(Above) Using Power Friction Arms on Light Stand
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.
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.
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:
Stellar Diva Ring Light 65w Fluorescent Video Lighting
DIY Weekend Project – Sphere Arm
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?
Sliding Back into Market – Camera Slider Deal
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.
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 $500+ dollar camera sliders. A few more additions is the design that only requires one tripod with a ready to mount tripod plate in center, or for extra stability comes with tripod mounting plates on each end. It also comes with it's own legs and adjustable feet to be used without a tripod and on any uneven surface. It can also be vertically mounted, which is something you'll never find anywhere near this price range. If you've done your research for a good slider, you know this is a crazy amount of build quality and features being offered at this price.
So what am I really trying to say about this slider and this price? Well, for starters this slider is back from the dead and that's an important note. This single tool is looking to penetrate the DSLR market and get more exposure. It's being offered at less than half the price of it's previous induction. Is this price set? Will prices get cheaper? You never know, and i'm hoping that it does. But honestly my gut feeling says no. It looks like it's a marketing move to drive exposure to this product. Once the world knows about it, then it's all a game of supply and demand. Like the Z96 LED video light, prices haven't fallen - Instead prices went up. So even though it's a bit of heart breaking news at this price, don't fear Camera slider companies from abroad, I don't think it's going to last long.
For the shooters out there who might be looking for a quality video slider with roller bearings, vertical mounting, and the other many features, this one is much better than the IGUS stuff. This might be a price that's not going to last long. I know how fast deals can disappear after posting anything on this blog, and you bet your &^%$*! 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.
Camera Slider with Roller Bearings, Adjustable Feet, Vertical Mounts