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Mostly aesthetics but also functional these are Customized Cine Lens Housings by Cinematics that are designed to fit over existing Canon, Nikon, and Zeiss Lenses. We had an early look at these during PMA 2012 earlier this year, and the build quality is pretty amazing. Example below shows a basic Canon 50mm F/1.4 next to a modified 50mm F/1.4 in a Cinematics Custom Housing.

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find-price-button Cinematics Custom Cine Lens Housings

The customized housings have clear markings, and provide built in aperture and focus lens gears with an increased diameter that should make focus pulls longer and smoother. Some of these lenses have also been modified with a de-clicked aperture, a common feature found in cine-style lenses.

Prices vary depending on which lens has been modified into the custom housings and can be found via eBay (Click Here).

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find-price-button Cinematics Customized Cinema Lens Housing


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Jesse writes in and shares some new LED Video lights in the form of Fresnels [Thanks Jesse]. One unit looks to be using the 'As Arri' style housing. To be more accurate, one of these units do not provide an actual fresnel lens, so it would be considered more of an LED spotlight. Both units stuff a 100w High Power LED inside that should offer an equivalent power output of a 300w tungsten bulb.

LED Video Light Fresnel SpotlightLED Fresnel Lighting
find-price-button LED Fresnel Video Lighting

The other more expensive unit appears to offer the fresnel style cut glass to focus the beam. I think it's still too early to invest in such lighting, but hopefully in the coming year we'll see more of these lights being offered bringing prices down and quality up. You can already find some of these LED Fresnels available via eBay (Click Here).

mainPhotoLED Fresnel Lens
find-price-button LED Fresnel Video Lighting

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For those shooting on the Sony FS100, FS700, or NEX cameras who wish to control the iris of Canon EF lenses you would need something like the Metabones electronic adapter. In the last few weeks, a few other companies have developed a similar adapter that allows you to control the iris of a Canon EF lens directly from the Sony body, and states that it also supports Image Stabilization. One new adapter quotes the following:

" I hope this does not sound too silly: We developed this 100% on our own. We took a different route, and achieved the same result, if not better 🙂 "

That's a bold statement, and i'm hoping to shed more light to see how well this new Canon EF to Sony NEX smart adapter works. Especially since it's currently half the price of the Metabones adapters. If you guys have more information, leave a comment. You can find this new EF to NEX adapter via eBay (Click Here).

Canon EF Lens to Sony NEX Aperture AdjustmentCanon EF to Sony NEX Iris Adapter
find-price-button Canon EF to Sony NEX Electronic Adapter

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Canon 5D Mark III Grip

The OEM BG-E11 Battery Grip for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III (seen here) runs for over $300 dollars, still out of reach for something I don't think I would use very much at this time. I have had aftermarket battery grips for my 5D Mark II, 7D, T2i, and 60D to add more grip space on the camera body, and to also add that handy extra button when shooting photos in portrait mode.

Now that the Aftermarket BG-E11 Battery Grips for the Canon 5D Mark III have come down to just a little over $50 bucks, I felt it was time to try it out. From the images, it looks pretty spot on with the real deal as far as button layouts and includes the little joystick. I won't have an OEM version to compare it to side by side, but i'll take some pics as soon as it comes in. Check them out via eBay (Click Here).

Canon BG-E11 Battery Grip
find-price-button Aftermarket BG-E11 Battery Grip Canon 5D Mark III -via eBay

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Less than a year ago, Wondlan introduced a few hand held carbon fiber stabilizers. Since the release, it was short of showcasing excellent examples of the stabilizers in use, so it was hard to tell if it was the actual unit or operator experience. Here's one video that shows some pretty fluid movements and also a short balancing tutorial with one of the Wondlan stabilizers. Besides the light weight Carbon Fiber, certain models of the Wondlan Stabilizer can telescope fairly tall to be used as a short monopod when you're not flying around.

Wondlan Carbon StabilizerWondlan Stabilizer Leopard Carbon
find-price-button Wondlan Carbon Video Camera Stabilizer

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Alex writes in and shares his thoughts on the Tilta Lens Support for 15mm Rails. These are designed to provide support for longer lenses, especially if you plan on using a Follow Focus system that could easily shift the lens around. Later Alex moves on to the Tilta Video Follow Focus System and other rig accessories. If you're not familiar with Tilta, this company possibly makes the highest quality Video Rigs coming out of China. Very good stuff, and you can find some of the other rigs they offer via eBay (Click Here).

Tilta RigsTilta Follow FocusTilta handlesTilta Shoulder Rig
find-price-button Tilta DSLR Video Rigs Follow Focus Systems

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YouTube member Arthur Woo writes in and shares his thoughts on the Gitzo 1542T Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod. [Thanks Arthur]. At $550 dollars (without ball head) it's pretty darn expensive, but it's actually one of Gitzo's least expensive travel tripods. For those with that have been looking towards the Gitzo Carbon Fiber systems, you can find the 1542T via Amazon (click here).

Gitzo Travel Tripod
find-price-button Gitzo 1542T Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod

There's also a number of them listed on eBay auctions (brand new) which might land you a better deal at one of these high priced traveler tripods (click here).

Gitzo 1542T Travel Carbon
find-price-button Gitzo Carbon Fiber 1542T Travel Tripod - via eBay

If you're looking for another option for a decent quality travel tripod, you can look to Benro. Not quite as tall, Benro recently released a new series of mefoto travel tripods found via B&H (Click Here).

Benro-Travel-TripodBenro-Travel-MeFoto-TripodBenro-Travel-Bag-MeFoto-Tripod
find-price-button Benro MeFoto Compact Folding Travel Tripods