Another practice run on the Electric Skateboard. I'm determined to learn how to ride this thing, and I think I'm getting pretty comfortable. I picked up quickly for someone who never really knew how to skate. I had to warm up a 21 year old car and decided it would be fun to chase it around. Surprisingly this car still gets her 35+ MPG and passed the smog so clean, the Smog techs were in awe. Keep in mind i'm still not shooting with a Video camera Stabilizer, this is all with a short Velbon UltraStick monopod and the Sony HX9 point and shoot camera. The full 1080/60p helps with these moving shots. I'm almost pretty comfortable to take out my Steadicam Vest and Glidecam setup, so that should yield much better results.
Canon 15% Off Refurbished Cameras, Lenses, Flashes
I purchased a Refurbished Canon DSLR a little while back, and was very happy with the overall experience. Thanks to a tip from Scott, i'm not sure how long this was going on, but Canon's got 15% off Refurbished DSLRs. 5D Mark II sold out, Canon 1D Mark IV sold out, but a Canon 7D can be had for $1155.00. There's a few 60D and Canon T2i kits on the site, but don't forget this even applies to Lenses and Flashes. A Canon 580 EX II for $339? A Canon 24-105mm F/4L IS for just over $780? There's a sweet 17-55mm IS I know some of you have been looking into. You can check out DSLRs here: https://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subCategory_10051_10051_-1_29252#
And you can find Lenses and Flashes here: https://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subCategory_10051_10051_-1_22751#
Gale Tattersall Free Online HDSLR Workshop
Who is Gale Tattersall? He's the DP that made big time news shooting a season finale for popular television show 'House' with the Canon 5D Mark II. Find out more about Gale here: https://www.galetattersall.com/.
If you want to get some great tips on how to get the best quality out of these DSLRs, he's the man who can tell you everything you need to know. This is a very late posting, but tomorrow morning (July 10th) about 10:00am Pacific time, you can enroll in his free online HDSLR workshop. Find more information about it here: https://www.creativelive.com/courses/hddslr-filmmaking-gale-tattersall. I'm definitely interested in sitting in on this one. [Thanks for the tip Alex]
Triple Flash Bracket Yonguno RF602
Sweet little setup by Vimeo member kaydawgy shows a triple flash bracket with Yongnuo Speedlites and Yongnuo RF602 wireless flash triggers. As mentioned in the video, instead of using a single flash at full power, you can use several flashes at low power. This will give you faster recycle times and a broad light source for softer light. This also helps to keep your flashes from overheating too quickly. That large 60" shoot through umbrella also enhances to create the large soft diffused light for portraits. The triple flash bracket can be found (click here).
Triple Flash Bracket
The Yongnuo RF602 wireless triggers work great for firing flashes off camera, so if you're in a dark venue (i.e. wedding reception), many photographers will spread flashes around the room. Clamp them to the ceiling, throw them in the corners, or use them as backlighting to silouhette subjects on the dance floor (cliche I know). The RF602 triggers also come with a cable to fire off mini plugs and 1/4 plug studio strobes, and an optional cable (purchased seperately) turns them into a remote shutter. These handy little wireless triggers can be found (click here)
Yongnuo RF602 Wireless Flash Triggers
One thing you need to be aware of with this setup, is that these Yongnuo triggers don't communicate ETTL and can't support HSS (high speed sync) with the Flashes. You'll be working with the flashes on full manual mode. The triggers can only sync to about 1/200ths shutter speed. Important Note: So, if you're at 1/200ths and F/4 to blur out your backgrounds on a bright day, you'll be very much overexposed. To shoot with a shallow depth of field, grab yourself an ND filter. If you don't have the ND Filter to cut out the bright sun, you can still use 1/200ths shutter speed and close down your aperture to say F/16 (no more blurry backgrounds). If you happed to be working at an indoor studio type setting, you should be fine at that shutter speed. You can find a variety of different Yongnuo flash models (click here)
5D2 V-Mount Battery Shoulder Pad
Just a few days after I decide to pick up the redesigned shoulder pad, they show off their V Mount power solution. If you're not familiar, these types of adapters are virtual power stations for your entire rig. Using high powered V Mount batteries (like Sony or Anton Bauer), you can power up all the mounted accessories from LCD Monitors, LED lights, Portable audio recorders, and even down to juicing up your camera. The V Mount battery can be quickly swapped out with another to keep you running all day instead of having to deal with multiple battery types and chargers. This setup can also act as a counterweight on rigs, so instead of having useless dead weight, you've got a functional piece of gear.
This V Mount power station has a built in HDMI splitter so that you can run two monitors, (2) 12V outputs, (1) 7.2V output for your Canon Camera, (1) 5V out, and even has (1) 5V USB port out to charge your cellphone. The kit comes with (1) V Mount battery, (1) V Mount battery plate (which also acts as the charging station for the V Mount battery), and the redesigned Shoulder Pad (the one I just bought). If you've shopped for DSLR Rig V Mounts + Battery Packs, this kit is very interesting. Additional close up images and information following the jump (click here).
DSLR Rig Shoulder Pad V Mount Battery + Power Station Kit
Quilted Moving Blankets On Location
Here's a basic tip that everyone should use. Imagine someone coming in to your well kept space and unloading gear onto your cherished hardwood floors or fancy carpet. Shooting on location in million dollar homes or expensive venues? If you want to make sure you're starting out on the right foot with your host, there's one very small thing you can do. 'Lay down moving blankets'.
The first thing you should do is drop down quilted moving blankets wherever you drop your cases, tripods, light stands, or anything else you plan to bring to a borrowed location. Quilted moving blankets are a very inexpensive investment that will not only show your professionalism, but will make your host more comfortable about using their space.
Delkin (minor) Upgrade SensorScope Cleaning Kit
You've spent hours traveling to a location, unpack your gear, and build your set. You've got a few hundred to a few thousand dollars of equipment, crew, and talent waiting around, and then a tiny tiny spec of dust on your sensor puts your entire project to a halt. Scary right? There's always that possibility. You should always take great care when cleaning your sensors or trust a certified location to do so. All it takes is to follow directions carefully and start with using the right tools like Delkin's patented sensor cleaning system.
This is an old video (above), but Delkin's SensorScope kit has been upgraded with two new components added to the arsenal of cleaning tools. The new 'SensorScope2' kit partnered with respected manufacturer LensPen® resulted in a custom designed polishing and edging tool inspired by DSLR camera technicians. The SensorPen™ features a non-carbon triangular tip for cleaning the edges of the sensor and polishing the sensor surface, as well as a slide out soft DSLR body brush that safely removes dust and debris from the camera body. You can find the kit via B&HPhoto (click here), or find the Delkin and other Sensor Cleaning kits via Amazon (click here)
Tokina’s 11-16mm Available
Thanks to an email from Matt, The Tokina 11-16mm is back in stock. This was my first 'Tokina' brand lens I picked up because of some excellent reviews and I admit this thing has become one of my favorite wide lenses for cropped cameras like the T2i, T3i, 60D, or 7D. It is possible to mount this lens to a Full Frame camera like the 5D Mark II, but only when it's zoomed out to it's 16mm. When used in that manner, this thing is wicked wide.
The Tokina 11-16mm is one of my favorite lenses for Flying with a Steadicam / Glidecam stabilizer (many others favor this lens too for flying). Unlike Canon's 10-22mm, the Tokina can also maintain a nice wide aperture of F/2.8 throughout it's range for low light imaging. The lens has a solid build and very sharp, so if you're missing this super wide range in your lens collection, this is definitely the lens to get (click here).
Panasonic GH2 Hack News
GH2 hack footage - 4:3 MJPEG for true LOMO anamorphic 2.35:1 cinemascope from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.
For starters the GH2 was mostly unavailable throughout it's release, but has anyone noticed that the Panasonic GH2 prices have recently ridiculously inflated again? It's been brought back to life with the recent news of a firmware hack mod that will unlock some new features, but also unlock some crazy video bitrates as well. Testing different features so far looks very promising and since hardware wise it's superior to previous Panasonic's, this should bring out quality from a Micro Four Thirds never seen before. If you've already picked up a GH2, it's just a matter of waiting while the firmware is fine tuned, but if you're looking to jump on the bandwagon some average pricing can be found at the auctions (click here).
