» Archive for the ‘Review’ Category

22May Fotodiox PRO 7″ flapjack C-200RS – First impressions

After years of seeing others move towards LED lighting, I’m finally starting to catch up. When large LED panels first hit the market, I wasn’t really a fan of the light quality, but these days even very affordable LED lights provide very decent light. I just finished reviewing those extremally affordable $40 edge lit V-Pad 150 […]

30Apr Vpad-150 Edgelit LED panel review

It isn’t often that a low price LED panel ends up being very impressive, but the Vpad-150 Edgelit LED panel actually is. At a price just under $40, you get a bi-color edgelit soft LED panel that puts out a supprising amount of light for the price. However, while the price is low, the Vpad-150 […]

29Apr Mefoto globetrotter carbon fiber Travel tripod

I’ve been using the Sirui N1004 travel tripod for the last 5 years and it has been a great tripod that’s stood up to a lot of abuse in multiple countries. The Sirui N1004 even came with me to NAB this year. But after all this time, the N1004 has started to show it’s age. […]

24Apr Smallrig Sony a7s II $68 cage Review

If you’ve been a DSLR or Mirrorless shooter for any length of time, camera cages are a way of life. Over the years, I’ve wondered between huge bulky 15mm rail setups and shoulder mount rigs, but in the last 5 years or so I’ve settled into a minimalist approach to camera rigs. That’s why Smallrig has […]

22Apr Saramonic UWMIC10 Bodypack Transmitter TX10 for $129

Remember that Saramonic dual channel receiver lav kit I reviewed a few months back? First of all, Saramonic has fixed the channel mixing issue. You can now isolate the two transmitters by sending the signal to the left and right channel of your camera’s input. Which means for $399 you can buy a very decent dual channel […]

01Apr Panasonic LX100 Wide angle adapter AG-LW4307, old but it works.

In the days of DV cameras, if you wanted a shoot with an angle any wider than the built in lens offered by the camera you had to use a Conversion Lens. With the advent of interchangeable lens cameras, this type of adapter has basically been forgotten. However, that doesn’t mean something like this isn’t […]

29Mar Blatantly miss labeled Generic DOT-01 Sony NP-FW50 batteries

First of all, I’d like to point out that most generic battery claims are dubious at best. If you look at the labeling for any type of generic battery out there, the Watt-hour (Wh) and milliamp hour (mAh) ratings are almost always higher than their name brand counterparts. It is easy to assume that a larger mAh […]

25Mar Minolta 85mm f1.4 Sony a7s II lens review

If you are looking to save a little bit of money on glass for your Sony a7s or a7s II body, you always have the option of buying older A-mount or Minolta glass. After all, Sony’s A-mount was purchased from Minolta years ago, which means all you really need is the proper adapter. In this […]

20Mar Gear Tie, a nice cable management option

As a filmmaker, you know that cables end up on everything and the more cables you add to your rig the more of a rat’s nest it becomes. You can try to twist cables around the frame or use tie wraps, but maybe there is a better way, which is where Gear Tie comes in. […]

19Mar Feeding two Lav mics into a 3.5mm Audio port on the cheap

There are tons of very expensive audio adapters out there that allow you to mix XLR and 3.5 mm audio sources into your camera, sometimes you just need to feed two lav mics into your camera on the cheap. That’s where the $4.50 Hosa stereo breakout cable comes in handy. After all, most Lav mic kits […]