• 18 Comments

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I've been asked to recommend a good small ball head that would work well with the Pico Flex Dolly or a good one for small sliders. I tested out a few, and the one that seems to fit the best is the Fancier FT6691. It's larger than the Giottos mini ball head, but still smaller than the larger Fancier Ball head I often use with the Konova Slider. For the price, it's a perfect little head for even DSLR cameras giving you extra stability with your sliders or table dollies.

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All metal with strong clamp force to keep the camera in position and a quick release plate (with safety latch) so you don't have to spin your camera off. So far I haven't found anything else that offers this type of bang for the buck. If you've got suggestions for a good similar feature ball head, let me know. Floating around $24 dollars, you can find them over at eBay (click here)

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find-price-button Fancier Small Positionable Locking Camera Ball Head - via eBay

Cheaper and available for Prime shipping over at Amazon below (click here)

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find-price-button Fancier Small Camera Ball Head - via Amazon

• 10 Comments

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I happened across a small forum over at https://videocopilot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&p=257799 where they were wondering how this rotating shot was done above. They seem to be going more towards large circular dolly tracks huge sets, with rotating backgrounds. All too complicated.

I'm not a registered forum guy, but hopefully someone will see this and answer their questions about how it was done. I worked on a very similar shot before using a green screen background, and that's the reason I came up with this little doo-hickey here: http://cheesycam.com/motorized-lazy-susan-heavy-duty/.

The fan was placed in front of the model and also on the rotating lazy susan to keep the hair blowing away from her face as she rotates. Look closely at the catch light in her eyes (reflection) and you can see the lights don't rotate with her. She's definitely on a rotating lazy susan platform. Hope this helps guys...

• 5 Comments

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Speaking of DSLR follow focus systems, here's another new one. Looks like the same RJ follow focus with a few upgrades adding in some hard stops. [Thanks Jacob]. This version is also reversible, but the mostly plastic quality will not stand a chance against the new Gini iFocus FF on the market. The hard stops is a nice added feature, but the asking price of this new version RJ follow focus will have it collecting dust on the store shelves. It's about $160 more than the original RJ Follow Focus. Until they do something about pricing, I would definitely skip the 'A/B hard stop' pony trick and check to see if you can get a better deal with the latest Gini version first.

You can check to see what the prices are on these new FFs (click here).

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find-price-button Latest Follow Focus with A/B Hard Stops

• 55 Comments

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Here's a closer look at Gini's latest Follow Focus a.k.a. 'iFocus'. Having been a huge fan of the Cinevate Durus design and quality, it was very obvious where Gini was getting inspiration from. I took the chance of ordering this latest FF knowing that it would be good. Especially since it's a custom designed gearbox and not the ol' Huco plastic Box. The craftmanship on this entire FF is like any other Gini part. Flawless machining, quality anodizing, and smooth finish. Absolutely no plastic on this follow focus system (except for marking ring).

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find-price-button Gini iFocus DSLR Follow Focus

The marking disc holds strong with 4 powerful magnets. The hand knob (obviously influenced) is large and comfortable with a standard mount in the center for a whip or crank. The Gini FF gear is 'reversible' and can be used on both left and right side of your rig by removing the rod clamp and swapping the position. The design is tall enough to hit lens gears on a variety of different sized lenses - No riser required (a problem some FFs have because they aren't designed tall enough). To put weight in to perspective, the Durus is 19.4 ounces and the Gini iFocus is 19 ounces, both very solid units.

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find-price-button Gini iFocus DSLR Follow Focus

The one thing that Gini falls short on is the marking disc pointer. It can only be used at the top position and makes it hard for you to see if you're standing from behind the camera. It would be nice to see that changed in future versions, and a couple of hard stops would make this one hell of an FF. Of course, I jumped on the deal early, but who knows where prices will be as this FF becomes more popular. You can find the Gini Rig parts following the link (click here).

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find-price-button Gini iFocus DSLR Follow Focus

• 23 Comments

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GoProHD was already surprising film makers with it's quality to size ratio, but they seemed to have found a way to make it even better. Not just 2x sharper images (bigger sensor), but more FOV (field of view) options, 120fps (yes!), more TimeLapse options, faster 10 photos in 1 second, but also mini-HDMI and external Mic input? Holy cow.

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You think that's crazy, what about the other features that include Wi-Fi Remote Control, Wi-Fi video preview + playback, Wi-Fi streaming to web,Camera control via smartphone, tablet and computer app?? Yeah it's really something to see, and you can only find it available right now at the GoPro site. This will sell out for sure. You can also check out a video tutorial about all the new features and innards at the product page (click here)

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GoPro Hero 2 Wi-Fi Bac-Pac & Remote

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find-price-button GoPro Camera HD HERO2 Motorsports Edition CHDMH-002

• 8 Comments

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I posted up about a very effective (and cheap) Velbon fluid head a few weeks back and it literally sold out in a few hours. For around $26-29 dollars, it's a great way to add on a dedicated Fluid head for camera dollies, sliders, etc. You can find the original video, article, and other comments about the fluid here: http://cheesycam.com/cheap-velbon-video-fluid-head-review/.

A few of the units are back in stock at B&H (click here).
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find-price-button Velbon Fluid Video Tripod head - via B&H

or at Amazon (click here) available at both B&H and Amazon (click here)

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find-price-button Velbon Fluid Video Tripod head - via Amazon

• 13 Comments

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find-price-button Apollo Orb Softbox

I enjoy shooting with small flashes because it's just easier to travel with and set up. I can practically pull a three piece lighting kit out of a backpack. The problem you'll run into with small flashes is trying to diffuse it with light modifiers. Softboxes are a popular choice for portrait and beauty photographers, but normally you need to decide on the proper speedring - Broncolor, Elinchrom, Bowens, Calumet, Alien Bees? The list goes on and on. The Westcott Apollo Orb octagon softbox (above) is perfect for portable flashes (speedlites), but can also be used with larger studio strobes without speedring adapters. The umbrella-like design sets up quick and is easier for Photographers who travel and need to shoot on location. A slit in the bottom of the softbox allows the stand to be placed through the center covering the entire flash unit. Unfortunately besides being too big at 43" inches, the $130 dollar softbox is also out of stock.

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32" Umbrella Softbox for Portable Speedlite Flash

Searching around for the equivalent, I happened upon one company making a smaller (similar) design at about 32" and obviously only runs for one quarter of the Apollo price. Needless to say, i'm already all over it and ordered myself a few pieces. (light stand and flash bracket not included). Remember that once you have your flashes tucked away, in order to fire them off, you'll need at least a good cheap set of wireless triggers like the Yongnuo RF-603s (found here). There are also rectangular versions of this speedlite softbox, that also opens up just as easy as an umbrella.

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find-price-button Umbrella Softbox Brolly Reflector

You can find these clever Octagon softboxes following the link (click here).

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find-price-button Octagon Umbrella Softbox for Portable Studio Flash