» Archive for February, 2014

28Feb Generic Edelkrone rigs showing up on ebay

It looks like someone has finally started cloning the Edelkrone rigs. This generic clone from india looks like it has most of the same features offered by the entry level Edelkrone rigs at about a 1/4 of the price. At $378, it’s still a very pricy rig for a clone and I have no idea how […]

28Feb More on those cheap $6 LED christmas lights

A number of you were asking about filming those cheap LED christmas lights I posted yesterday. I haven’t seen any problems with them on video but I thought I’d shoot this quick demo at 24p and 30p so you can get an idea of what they look like on film. As you can see from […]

27Feb Nice Bokeh with Cheap LED lights

Cheap Christmas lights are an easy way to add bokeh to pretty much any shot. Place your Christmas lights 5 or 6 feet behind your subject, open your aperture up to f1.4, and you’ll be getting beautiful little sections of bokeh in no time. These lights aren’t anything amazing, but you can get them in […]

26Feb Zoom h4n memory card load times and the slow boot problem

A number of you have sent me emails about incredibly slow boot times when using the Zoom h4n. Instead of replying to the question multiple times, I thought it might be easier to address it here. The Zoom h4n is a pretty decent field recorder for the price, but it doesn’t seem to play well […]

26Feb Azden FMX-DSLR XLR audio adapter in the field

I took the Azden FMX-DSLR out on a shoot earlier this week in an effort to get a feel for it in the field. Instead of mounting the FMX-DSLR on the bottom of the camera I opted to mount it underneath of a rail mounted belly pan. This keeps the camera at the same level and […]

21Feb Manfrotto 501PL plate disappointment

For light weight camera gear Manfrotto fluid heads are a pretty good value and I’ve standardized my kit around the 501PL QR plate. I recently ordered this 501PL plate from amazon, as you can see from the video it’s not a very good product. If you’ve used this QR plate, it’s pretty easy to spot […]

20Feb Sony Vegas Pro Premium $149

I’m not a Sony Vegas user, though I do use Sound forge regularly, even so, many people use it and love it as their primary editing program. Normally the Pro version of Sony Vegas will set you back about $300, but right now on Newegg they have Sony Vegas Pro Premium on sale for $149 […]

19Feb Samsung 840 EVO 1TB drive $479.99

Samsung 840 EVO 1TB drive $479.99 on ebay with free shipping. I just bought one, the seller only has a ranking of 6 so this is probably only for the brave. Hopefully it shows up and isn’t some kind of refurbished drive.

19Feb DSLR Camera rig mounting options

Everyone has their own opinion on how things should be mounted on a rig, but there are a few basic bits and pieces you’ll need in order to get started. First, lets answer a very common question. What is the difference between a hot shoe and cold shoe? A “hot shoe” has active electronics attached […]

18Feb ADATA XPG SX900 512GB SATA $259!

I’ve never actually used the ADATA XPG SX900 SSD drive, but man $259 for a 512GB SSD is a darn good deal even with a Sandforce controller. The ADATA XPG SX900 might not be the fastest SSD on the market but it’s still miles ahead of any spinning drive out there.