Photography Gadgets

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One of the most popular inexpensive DSLR Video lights would be the CN-126. It's been featured many times on this blog and to this day is still one bargain that's hard to beat. The CN-126 contains 126 LEDs, hence the name 'CN-126'. If you haven't seen it, this article is a good reference: http://cheesycam.com/calling-all-lighting-experts-126-led-lights/. This was probably my first LED Video light for DSLR videography and still have three of them in use today. I carefully selected the CN-126 because it was cheap (at the time was about 350 dollars cheaper than comparables), was the right size, used several different battery types for more power options, and most importantly was 'Dimmable'.

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find-price-button 126 LED Dimmable Multi Battery LED Video Lighting

Aside from the 126 LED video light, the family of LED video lights available from this manufacturer include the bigger 160 LED down to the tiniest 48 LED.
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find-price-button 160 Dimmable LED Video Light

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find-price-button 48 LED Video Lighting Requires 2x AA Batteries

If you've done your research you'll even find the even bigger '183 LED Dimmable Video Light'. The 183 LED Light didn't fly off the shelves like it's smaller siblings, mainly because it was misunderstood. Unfortunate PR, but this also helped to keep prices down. Recently people have been very interested in the 500 LED Video Light Panels, but because of it's really directional light output (a feature of LED lights) small spaces proved to be work in diffusing the light from the larger panel. Another drawback on the 500 LED video light panels is that they work off of an AC outlet. This means you'll need power at your location, and also travel with tangly extension cords and surge protectors. Even if you can modify a small battery, you might be concerned about short run times from larger light panels. This is where the 183 LED Video light was designed for. A smaller unit than the 500 LED panel and packaged with it's own portable rechargeable power source.

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Because the 183 LED video light resembled it's smaller siblings, I believe people may have misunderstood it's purpose in life. It's not something that would be totally suitable to use on the hot shoe of a camera for Run and Gun. It's a bigger design and also exclusively uses an external battery pack. Instead, the 183 LED Video light would best be used as a portable video light similar in use as the 500 LED video panels. Throw it on a light stand and take advantage of the portable battery pack (included). The 183 'cannot' use AA batteries internally. There is only a connection for the 12V input. A nice addition is that the battery pack was designed with two outlets to power two 183's giving you hours and hours of LED lighting. Unfortunately due to poor marketing, it's been misunderstood, but you can see the design was to support two lights together with a portable battery solution mainly for stationary use like the 500 LED Video panel.
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Straight Bracket with Two Adjustable Flash Shoe Mounts

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(above) 183 LED next to 48 LED and Z96 Video LED Light

So if you've been eyeballing those 500 LED video panels but either couldn't afford it, or are turned off by the the lack of 'portable power' options, the 183 LED might fit the bill. You can travel with these lights without worry of an AC outlet and with it's power pack can shoot for several hours worry free. One thing to mention though is that the cord that comes with the unit is fairly short, but would be an easy task to snip down the middle and add some wire in between to extend. The best deal would be to grab a pair and get you up to 366 LEDs of broad diffused light, and two lights can be powered from a single battery. This setup would still be dimmable and each light can still be individually powered on or off. By grabbing a pair, you'd also have a spare battery set aside for even more hours worry free use. Pack all the items into a nice travel case, and you'll be set to add outdoor fill light or indoor studio video lighting wherever you might end up. While this is not a popular item for anyone looking to mount a video light 'on camera', these would work well for building a portable lighting solution set to be used 'off camera'.


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find-price-button 183 LED Dimmable Video Light Panel Digital Camera Video Camcorder DV Hot Shoe mount lighting Panel

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Canon OEM flashes are no joke when it comes to pricing, but also no joke when it comes to features. Regardless, there's a handful of people who may never even cross those extra abilities and are just looking for a flash that works. You might have caught Aaron's review of the Yongnuo 560 at this article: http://cheesycam.com/yongnuo-560-flash-review/, but now we've got another one to add to the list. Vimeo member Rick Elrod shows a bit of the Yongnuo 468 which supports TTL communication from the Canon camera. In simple terms, the flash meters through the camera in a few different ways and makes decisions for you. This Auto Pilot feature works great and is more often what you need, and very seldom what you don't need. So for those who want to go the manual route in those rare incidents, the flash can be set all manually as well. Got questions? Send them over to Rick via the Vimeo page here. [Thanks Rick]

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find-price-button Yongnuo 468 Speedlite Flash with TTL

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DSLRMarketPlace provides a video with an up close look on all the things the WF718 Tripod + Fluid head has to offer. I was always under the assumption the WF718 was the same as the 717AH fluid head, but there's some differences including the quick release mounting and positionable sliding plate. Now i'm curious if the internal build is the same as the 717AH. This Video Fluid head with extension arm is a set that includes the much requested video Tripod legs. These tripod legs have some skills that show off a nice range of positions (as seen towards the end of the video). The tripod also comes with a lower central bag hook, not only to store your backpack, but to weigh it down for some extra sturdiness. For those who are starting out in video and are in need of some good sticks, or if you're working on that 4ft. slider project that needs two Tripods for support, this is looking like a good deal. If you've got questions about this particular item, you can contact DSLRMarketPlace at the vimeo page here: https://vimeo.com/16912877

DSLRMarketPlace purchased the exact item here:
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find-price-button WF718 Fluid Drag Video Head + Heavy Duty Professional Video Tripod

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500 LED Video Light panel running from $99 dollar portable battery

Testing to see how much power these 500 LED lights really consume. LED light is on full, camera is only at ISO 100. If i'm correct, I believe this 500 LED panel only requires 50w of power. That's really not much. Something like this $99 dollar portable battery (normally used to jump start cars) has two 115v outlets in the rear. So one of these batteries can power two lights directly, or with a surge protector, can power all three. It has a built in inverter inside, but there's a small fan that turns on when the inverter is running. Since these lights don't draw much power an extension cord and moving the battery pack further, audio shouldn't be a problem. If i'm at a last resort where I know I wouldn't have power readily available, or when Audio isn't an issue, this could be a decent option for location use. Run time? I'm guessing the run time will out perform those portable camcorder batteries that some of these units have. Not a bad thing to keep in the car since it can provide you with a jump. Can also serve to run a laptop if you're on the move, or charge up some batteries while going from location to location. I'll throw up a video soon enough.

There's a number of different batteries similar to this, some provide more wattage, and even comes in it's own rolling case. Check out some of the options through the link below.
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find-price-button Portable Jumper Battery with 115v Inverter

Related Article: http://cheesycam.com/bts-sample-with-cheap-500-led-video-light-panels/

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Thanks to a tip from Ron, here's a unique eBay storefront run by rock artist Eddie Houston. Many people will recognize the name Eddie Houston having played for some years in famous Rock Groups such as Thin Lizzie, Creed, some time with John Coghlan, Status Quo, and of Course Pilot. Eddie seems to share a love of vintage and rare lenses, and actually 'refurbishes' these items back to it's old glory. There's a limited supply in the store front that changes up periodically, but each lens has been basically restored sometimes including the original box and user manuals. Is it weird to ask for an autograph too? LOL. You can read more about Eddie Houston's eBay storefront called 'The Lens Doctor' following the link: Check out the inventory of Refurbished lenses from The Lens Doctor
The-Lens-Doctor

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I'm sure you're all planning on gathering up a ton of photos and videos this holiday season, and BorrowLenses.com is looking to hook you up. Not just Photography stuff, BorrowLenses.com has a HUGE amount of video gear, including microphones, field monitors, stabilizers, lighting and more. With the right rental selection you can grab yourself a 7-day Rental for the Price of 3 Days. That's right, you can get UP TO 4 days free if you do the following:

1. Order a 3-day rental that begins Monday, November 22nd.
2. Type the phrase "Turkeytime" into the coupon box before checkout.
3. Return the gear to us the following Monday, the 29th. That's 7 days for the price of 3!
4. Read the fine print below for more details.

A few more bit of information to know: This discount applies only to 3-day orders that would normally end on November 25th through November 27th. The coupon code "Turkeytime" must be used. Cannot be used with other coupons or offers. You will only receive 4 days free if your 3-day rental begins November 22nd. There you go fellas, check out the selection and see what you might be able to take advantage of this Holiday from BorrowLenses.com.

visit-button BorrowLenses.com

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Canon 85mm F/1.2L FD Manual Focus Lens

Canon FD mount lenses designed originally for older film cameras are a beautiful option for many video shooters. Not only are they wildly popular with DOF adapters to be used with standard camcorders, you'll find DSLR bodies such as Panasonic, Sony, Olympus, Nikon, and new Canon DSLR's adapting these older lenses to get wide apertures on the cheap. The controls are completely manual to set aperture and focus. Many enjoy shooting these older lenses simply because the focus rings work better for pulling focus in video mode.

There's a bunch of different adapters to mount these FD lenses to just about any camera. For Canon this i'm using one which has an extra piece of Optical glass to correct the image and prevent vignetting at wider angles. For other cameras, i'm not sure if the optical glass would be necessary. If you've got an FD lens adapter story to share, post your comments here.

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find-price-button Canon FD Lens Adapter with Optical Glass for Correction

It's also pretty sharp, but not too sharp and often giving a very vintage feel with your footage. The look from these lenses will definitely give artistic video shooters a bit more of a creative documentary feel with a slightly softer high contrast look. Here's a good example video https://vimeo.com/3919586 that was posted (now 2 years ago). You can catch groups on both Vimeo and Flickr all dedicated to older FD and FL vintage lens styles. The current EF auto focus 85mm F/1.2 runs for close to $2,000 dollars. Look carefully and you'll catch an 85mm F/1.2L FD mount (yes L lens) for less than a third of the EF mount price. Of course F/1.2 should provide you with a beautiful image, but it's not your only option. There are many other other great FD lenses to be adapted including F/1.4, F/1.8, F/2.0 with all ranged from Fisheye Wides to Super Zooms.

So if you're looking to get more Depth of Field on the cheap with a nostalgic look, check out the many FD and FL lenses available most starting auctions at under $5 dollars.
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find-price-button Canon FD Mount manual focus manual aperture Lenses

Related Posts:
Canon FD 200mm F/4 Video Sample http://cheesycam.com/canon-fd-lens-200mm-f4/

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find-price-button Cheap V Shaped Top Camera Support for Monopod

For photographers always on the move with heavy lenses shooting sports or even fast moving wildlife a monopod is probably your best bet. Some cheaper monopods come with just the 1/4 x 20 thread to mount the camera (or lens ring), so it would be wise to at least add a quick release plate for faster on / off mounting. But even a quick release can slow you down if you need to get the camera on and off in a pinch, so when a Quick Release adapter is not quick enough, check out this cheap V Yoke support that will turn any standard monopod into a resting spot for your Lens. Having a monopod carry the weight of your camera will provide you with extra stabilization, and allow you to focus at the subject at hand. It will also make sharing a monopod with a partner fast and simple without having to deal with QR plates. For Wedding Photographers who use double camera straps, this might also be of interest since you can get that Monopod support without having to dismount any cameras from your strap. It's a basic design normally used to give sharp shooters that extra stabilization for rifles, but works just as well shooting a camera with a heavy lens.

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find-price-button Canon EOS T2i 18MP HD Video DSLR Camera (Body Only)

Looking to get into DSLR videography, or stepping into DSLR photography for the first time? The Canon T2i is no slacker, but the recent release of the Canon 60D for a few dollars more did steal some of that thunder. Well right now the Canon T2i has dropped even lower putting some spotlight back on this little work horse. You'll have to go through the steps of adding it into your Shopping Cart before seeing the final price, but if you're looking for a first time DSLR, or another backup DSLR the Canon T2i at this sale price should meet your needs. Student film makers and photographers might need to hit up the folks for an early gift. Sale price following the link: Canon EOS Rebel T2i 18 MP CMOS APS-C Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)