• 6 Comments

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Tamron currently has some Mail-in rebates offered on pretty much all of their lenses. One particular lens that might be of interest is Tamron's 17-50mm F/2.8 with VC (image stabilization). A much cheaper alternative if you compare to the equivalent range of Canon's 17-55mm IS which runs just over $1100 dollars. Correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think Nikon even offers a lens in this range, with this aperture, that has Image Stabilization. Extremely helpful for those who shoot mostly video to minimize that rolling shutter / jello effect (especially on some early Nikon DSLRs). You can find more Tamron lens rebate information following the link (click here)

tamron-17-50mm
find-price-button Tamron Lens Rebates Canon Nikon.

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Lee Morris of F-Stoppers picks up a NIkon battery grip, that turns out, it's really not a battery grip. For those on a budget we often choose aftermarket, but at least we know of our decision. Picking up a complete knock-off being marketed (and priced) as the real thing is bad news. Anyways, if you guys are looking for a grip on your D7000 watch out for those too-good-to-be-true Nikon branded ones, and if you're choosing the aftermarket brand for around 40 bucks, at least Lee says this one seemed to work pretty well (click here).

Nikon Battery Grip Aftermarket
find-price-button Neewer Vertical Battery Grip for Nikon D7000

• 8 Comments

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Screen shot 2011-09-23 at 11.56.37 AM

Alzo's latest Multi-Mount serves the same purpose to hold accessories like a DSLR cage, and at the same time provides a shock mount for your Microphones / Portable Recorders. Looks like there's no need to buy silly homemade shock mounts just for your Zoom H1 or a separate bracket to mount your JuicedLink DS214, this bracket does it all (and then some).

Screen shot 2011-09-23 at 11.56.51 AMzoom-h4n-h1-shock-mount

As a shock mount it can support thin shotgun microphones, as a Zoom H1 shock mount adapter, all the way up to the large Zoom H4n, and heck maybe even the Shure SM58 for handheld interviews. At the same time it provides (4) shoe mounts & (5) 1/4" holes for mounting other additional accessories like a small monitor, LED light, Juicedlink DS214, wireless mic receivers, etc. Now available via Amazon (click here).

alzo shockmount bracket
find-price-button ALZO DSLR Shock Multi-Mount Accessory Bracket

• 4 Comments

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The folding Fancier Mini Rig with quick release, shoulder pad, and counterweight I reviewed not long ago (found here) is now available to the UK following the link below. Best offers for £110 UK Pounds for anyone who mentions Cheesycam will be accepted and delivered free to UK.

Screen shot 2011-09-23 at 9.11.21 AM
find-price-button Fancier FTV-50 Folding Mini DSLR Rig UK Seller

For USA buyers, you can still find the Fancier mini rig via Amazon (click here).

Fancier (1 of 7)
find-price-button Fancier Folding FTV-50 DSLR Rig Counterweight

• 14 Comments

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tascam-adapter-ipad

Here's a little product sent in from Arni. Tascam's little iXZ adapter provides a Phantom Power XLR or 1/4" interface turning your iPhone, iPad, or even iPod touch into a portable recorder. The iXZ Phantom power is provided by a few AA batteries, and the unit has adjustable levels (gain), along with a headphone monitoring port on the backside.

Features:
* Switchable mic/line input
* Phantom power
* Gain control
* 1/8” headphone output
* XLR mic input
* High-impedence guitar input
* Mic input powered by two AA batteries
* Non-powered guitar input

tascam-ixz-adapterheadphone-line-out

Umm, is it just me or does that look like a fairly standard output plug? I guess this means it could be a cheap way to add XLR phantom power, adjustable pre-amp gain, and headphone monitoring to your DSLR camera (if you don't suffer from AGC). If it's not standard, Arni also points out an adapter that could get things back on track found here.

Available now, only through pre-order [Thanks Arni] (click here).

xlr-phantom-iphone
find-price-button Tascam iXZ Portable Audio Recorder

• 16 Comments

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This test is in reference to my eariler post (found here). So I charged up the Tekkeon overnight and setup this Timelapse test. The reason I used a Timelapse method was to determine if the light output would change during the duration of battery use. I locked the exposure on the camera to 1/25th F/4 and ISO 100 to see if the light output would dim towards the end. The big 900 LED light was set to full power.

It was interesting to see that the Tekkeon remained at a full 14 Volts during the entire test, and when the indicator was down to the last bar, the battery just shut off instantly. If there was a voltage drop during the test, the 900 LED light would start to dim (it didn't dim). Total run time in this test was about 1 hour 6 minutes (1:06). Keep in mind this is a larger 900 LED light on full. If performed at lower output, or for smaller lights like the 600 LED, or 312 LED at only 12 Volts, it would probably run for several hours.

tekkeon-3450i
find-price-button Tekkeon myPower All Plus Battery 5V-19V DC

600 LED 900 1200 Video Light Panel
find-price-button Dimmable LED Video Light Panels

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Zacuto's introduced a new CheeseStick bar for the Z-EVF that will allow more flexible mounting options. (surprised it wasn't named something like Z-heesestick?) Instead of using the lonely 1/4-20" thread below the Z-EVF, you'll now have a variety of mounting points along the top or the back (depending on how you install the cheesestick). Found below

zacuto-cheesestick
find-price-button Zacuto Z-EVF CheeseStick Mounting Bar

zacuto-EVF-300x151
find-price-button Zacuto EVF View Finder

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dslr video rig

I'm all for traveling light, shooting with small cameras, and using Mini Stabilizer Rigs, but I don't know about this new one. It's being offered from the same guys selling the inexpensive single filter DSLR Mattebox (found here).

This new Mini Rig is a two handle flat folding design, that can be reconfigured for an offset. Looks cool, but things just seem out of place. The shoulder pad to handle distance is way too short, and the camera will probably sit too low (no riser). Nice try fellas, but I don't think this mini rig configuration is going anywhere. (Nevermind. Looks like sold at least 10 already).

Filmcity shoulder padScreen shot 2011-09-21 at 10.46.59 PMScreen shot 2011-09-21 at 10.47.16 PM
Mini Video Camera Rig

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Hey remember that plastic MatteBox / Sunshade I mentioned about two months ago and said 'Don't do it!'? Still for only about $65 dollars, there were many people who picked up on it and said it served a purpose for what they needed it for (aesthetics?).

Well here we are just 60 days in from it's initial release and now it's received a major price slash, we're talking about half price plus FREE Shipping [Thanks Kenrik]. Some people charge just that on the 15mm clamp alone. I'm still not a fan of the thing, but to each their own. Now you can now find these plastic sunshades through a variety of sellers for the price they were first meant to be released at (click here).

MatteBoxplastic mattebox
find-price-button Cheap Plastic Matte Box Sunshade for 15mm Rails