a new DSLR rig in town

A few weeks back I discovered a nice & affordable rig for DSLR Camera use (in my case i use it for a Canon 60D) on Ebay (got it via Austria)  … building up a solid DSLR rig is now my new hobby … it replaced my “buying lens” hobby.

(I might add, it’s a straight rig so you kinda need a flip-out-display on the camera or a 2nd LCD or EVF for cameras like the 550D, 7D or 5D because your camera LCD is a bit too far to the right)

For the money all that stuff is kinda awesome. It might not be as durable as a the big players we all know & love … but for a start out rig, it should be ok for 1-2 years at lest. It replaces my Spider Brace that i used for just over 2 years now. The new rig is a bit better even though the Spider Brace was very easy to use and had some advantages.  I will test all that in the next few weeks & months and as soon as I’m “finished” building this up i will let you know how it works in real work conditions.

For now, a little list of what I’ve got so far:

Sevenoak SK-R02 DSLR Rig:
sevenoak.biz

UPDATE:
It seems that this Rig is not “available” anymore in our area :-/ !
Anyway…I’ve got it got arround 180 EUR from this seller on ebay … maybe contact him directly.
Alternatively  I would say go with Jag35 you get better quality right away anyways …. you don’t need to buy better extra parts and stuff … for all UK / EU fellows this seems to be a good alternative as well.

RJ Follow Focus for 15mm rod support: ebay.com
UPDATE: There is an new version of that FF with 2 hard stops now

Manfrotto 244N MagicArm + Super Clamp + Manfrotto 143BKT Camera Platform (as Top Carrying Handle)

Studio Clamp C Type w/ Spigot +  Mini ball head
(to mount Monitor or Zoom H4)

Studio Clamp C Type w/ Spigot  + small dumb bell wight
(as counterweight)

Altogether, this cost me around 300 bucks (EUR)

I use the RODE NTG-1 mic and a ZoomH4 Audio-recorder for the audio

new stuff:

- i’ve got a 90 degree Rod clamp for 15mm rail + Grip Handle with rod clamp + 20cm long 15mm rod to use that as a top handle (pretty cheap from china … quality is ok but could be better)
- LILLIPUT 569GL-50NP – 5″ LCD/TFT HDMI Monitor with HDMI & Video loop-through via the UK for about 200 bucks (EUR)  quality is ok but could be better … but useful especially as a HDMI  loop-through device!  (BTW can be powered by SONY NP-F550 or Panasonic batteries) i guess this thing will be replaced by an SmallHD DP4 EVF at some point and the Lilliput will become a portable directors monitor or so
- i also got a new Viewfinder the GGS DSLR 3x LCD Viewfinder Loupe with a pretty need “flip up” option

still not finished yet … stay tuned … will try stuff and do more tests the next few shoots!

here some new pics:

here some “old” pics

In the end the is the question do you need the expensive gear ? The Built-quality is better for sure and in some cases it just works better. But in the end it’s not the gear that makes a good shot or film. Sometimes I have the feeling people buy expensive gear just to show off (in a way) or “buy in” into a club (so to say). Use the right gear for the tight job and the gear you can afford and find other ways ( techniques)  to get your stuff done … just my opinion … what is yours? 

FCP EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 update v1.2

fcp.co:  Canon post latest 1.2 update of EOS Movie Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro

“Go to download page for EOS MOVIE Plugin-E1 for Final Cut Pro Ver1.2
Select OSX from the “Choose Operating System” menu in the middle of the page and the disk image should be third in the list.”

Step 1:

Step 2:

download & install … done! … i will test it today!

UPDATE:
it works just fine with FCP 7.0.3 on Mac OS 10.6.7 … even with files not in the EOS_DIGITAL folder! 

more infos: provideocoalition.com

A NEW DSLR LIGHT JIB

(photo by Sascha Plagge)

UPDATE: The DSLR Light-Jib is available now: www.abc-products.de

After i posted my Cinec Best Of i got a “few” questions regarding to the ABC DSLR LIGHT JIB. As it seems like a nice tool even for our work back here i did contact ABC due the fact there is almost no info out there yet. (as it was shown the first time ever at cinec 2010 anyway). So here are some facts i got to share with you.

- its made of carbon tubes so it should be lightweight (around 3,9 kilos / 8,6 lb)

- total max length of the jib arm is 1,52m (5 feet) that should be enough for some nice moves / shots

- max payload is 4.5kg /9,9 lb (so you could even use XH-A1 or HVX 200 kinda cams)

- the jib should be easy and quick to mount

- the jib head can set at “infinite” positions and locked
(will keep the angle during movement)
it can also set to tilt “automatically” during a move. (angle can be set)

-  the jib has a horizontal and vertical brake as well as a bubble level

- very handy is a monitor bracket that can be mounted (a plug-in system) on the head (left or right) or the jib arm.
(we alway struggle on other system to get a LCD mounted)

-  the jib can be mounted on every 75 and 100mm tripods  (and very handy as well as 1/4″ or 3/8″ Cam-Stands via adapter)

- for “transportation” the jib can be “reduced” to a small packing size

- pricing is arround 1.190 EUR (without tripod or stand though)

- should be available December 2010

Overall it’s a nice little jib for nice moves. I hope to get one in my hands to test it in real working conditions as soon as it comes out. My experience at the Cinec show with the jib was great. I was able to get the mounted 5DmkII in some nice angles / settings and managed to make some real nice smooth moves. It’s very user-friendly, easy and “light” to operate. the head has adjustable angles and  tilting. Yery nice  is the monitor arm. I’m really looking forward to use it again sometime.

More info at the ABC Website shortly. (as i was told )

( NOW ON DSLR NEWS SHOOTER AS WELL! )

more Cinec stuff:

550D recording time

i got a question on twitter “how long in live view are you getting per battery” … at first i really had no idea  for sure…

but i did a lil test and here is my answer  (click to read more)

how the hell i got into HDDSLR’s ?!

i was just finishing my Philip Bloom blog-post-”adulation” … as i reconsidered: “actually …how the hell i got into video dslr’s ?!”
… well it was October 2009, i just got on vimeo & twitter and in kinda coincidence i got a hint on a webside called canonfilmmakers

this was my fist peek / notice on the 7D:

this is Jon Connor holding his (at this time) new Canon 7D – package in his hand(s)…
this is literally the fist impression i got on Jon & the 7D … fist thought … besides “boy, he has to shave”  …“why is he so excited ?”

…well i read his “Canon 7D: My First Impressions” and as he is always surrounded by cristina valdivieso i ended up – a few days later or so – on the vimeo page Canon 7D Field Test:

my comment on that: “stunning !!! a stills cam !!!”
… well i heard of some video-shooting going on with still-cameras… just hadn’t seen footage till this point in time (at least not that i was aware of)

so after that in invested some research time and at some point i got to Philip Bloom …
and there you go …

since that i had some serious discussions with my co-workers/co-founders and our DP and local filmmakers … about to use a canon-dslr for some of our next projects (as i mentioned before) and certainly i watched a lot of cool Video-DSLR stuff since then …

so i got excited too

so now (after x-mas) i’ll have to find a rental-house to do some actual test-shootings with our DP … to see who this works for us and how this can fit into the budgets … and so on.
now i guess i have to thank cristina, jon and philip for opening my mind a bit
so … thanks a lot guys!

some final thoughts, tho’:
in the end actually it’s not that important what camera we use … i still like the footage that comes out of the XH-A1, which we use all the time lately. it is the story/concept/idea you have / want to tell … it is the right voice … a great music / sound…the talent of the DP “behind” the camera … the whole package -  so to say … that matters the most

… but i also have to say again: the footage you can get out of this DSLR’s is really great !

you want to shoot Video with a DSLR ?…

… you have to watch this: Philip Bloom - a well experienced filmmaker – did some astonishing work / tests with the canon video-DSLR’s and did some serious blogging about it…
this is just mind-blowing. we’ll have quite “some” corporate film and viral stuff coming up in 2010 and we definitely considering using V-DSLR’s

philip and his stuff helped us quite a lot making this decision …
just to see and read how this works is great … so check this:

Canon 5DmkII and Canon 7D on Skywalker Ranch

philip’s blog-post about that

Low-light-testing of a pre-production Canon 1DMKIV in Prague

philip’s blog-post about that