25Apr Creepy background music for your film
Sometimes you need fill sound for a suspenseful scene or creepy noises to create a fake out scare. If you have music equipment, you might be able to chain a few effects together and come up with something usable. Or if you’re feeling in the mood for a DIY project, why not build yourself a Tesla Spirit Radio.
The video is a little cheesy, but the sounds out of the Tesla spirit radio are very useful. Record 5 min of spirit radio in a thunderstorm and you could have a background track as cool and classic as Forbidden Planet. You can find the list of parts and the instructions for building the Spirit radio on the instructables page.
25Apr Canon 7D firmware update posted, then gone.
Source: Canon Rumors
I saw the new Canon 7d firmware 1.2.5 release posted last week. The list of improvements arn’t anything life changing, but the update does include a CF card fix that I’ve occasionally had problems with. Sometimes I would get an Err 02 at random when using a few of my cheaper CF cards. The solution has been to pull the battery, put it back in, and everything goes back to normal.
I had a little bit of time this morning before I had to start cleaning up egg painting kits. So I though I would give the new firmware a test run, but when I looked on Canon’s website the new firmware was gone. So I started searching for an answer. I came across this post on the Canon Rumors site. Apparently Canon has pulled all postings of the 7d firmware update, but not before a few people had the chance to download it and repost.
It does seem strange that Canon would post the update and then remove it. I would love to see some audio functionality added to the 7d, mainly the ability to turn off AGC in the menu. Maybe Canon will finally through the 7d users a bone this year and give us what the 60d and 5d mark II users already have.
Canon Rumors is currently hosting the firmware update. So if you’ve had the same problem I have on your 7d or you can’t stand some of the mistakes in the menu screens displayed in Arabic and Portuguese. Then check out the Canon Rumors post, and download the 1.2.5 firmware update.
23Apr CPM FILM TOOLS DSLR Aviator Cage Review
Before I dive into this review, if you haven’t noticed I mispronounced Aviator through out the video. I left the “i” out in my notes and I didn’t notice the mistake until I finished. I didn’t have the time to go back and correct it, so there you have it.
The CPM FILM TOOLS DSLR Aviator Cage comes standard with 2x side handles, a top mount A frame handle, 4x 15mm rails (2x 8″ & 2x 12″), and CPM’s belly plate quick release combo. The Aviator also has a full Cage in front and a half cage in the back. All together you have a complete cage surrounding your camera and rails to protect your lens.
The front cage has 2x 1/4 20 threads and 4 open holes on either side which allows plenty of mounting options. I prefer to mount adjustable on either side of the rig. These allow me to hang a microphone out in front of the cage and mount a field monitor that can be easily positioned on the other side. As noted in the video, it’s a good idea to make sure your Friction arms are secured. If the arm has weight hanging on it in counter clockwise direction the force can sometimes unthread the arm, causing your equipment to crash to the ground. To prevent this, you might want to use some Loctite on the threads. This should solve the problem.
A few people have asked about using a follow focus with smaller lenses like the Canon 50mm f1.4. The Canon t2i fits through the front cage, so all you need to do is mount your t2i at the end of the quick release plate. This allows you to slide the camera forward to the edge of the cage. If you’re using a larger camera like the 7d, then simply turn your follow focus gear around so that it faces towards the cage. Either way you shouldn’t have any problem using a smaller lens and follow focus in the Aviator Cage.
The Aviator Cage is one of my favorite rigs. It’s great for tripod and slider work, but has enough handles that you can easily go hand held without much problem. The rig protects your camera completely and the half cage in back allows you easy access to camera controls. If you use a camera with a flip out monitor like the Canon 60d or Panasonic Gh2 you can very easily change the position of the half cage to allow room to adjust and rotate the camera’s screen.
If you want to find out more about the check out this post. If you’d like to find out more about the Aviator rig, you can swing by the CPM FILM TOOLS website.
22Apr Adding a larger battery to the 7″ Haier monitor
I’ve received a number of e-mails asking about larger battery solutions for the Haier 7″ monitor. The short (less then 2 hours) battery life just doesn’t seem to cut it for a lot of people. You could spend $25 on a direct from Haier 2200 mAh battery (if you can find one), but that would only give you another 2 hours.
After looking around I think I’ve found a better solution. The I use with my lilliput monitor last for almost 6 hours, so why not adapt them to work with the Haier 7″ monitor. The only hard part is finding a power plug adapter.
I finally found this that will get you from the 12 volt 6800 mAh battery to the Haier 7″ monitor’s 4mm 12 volt plug. Just to make sure the monitor would run from the power plug alone I spliced together a few wires removed the Haier battery and tested it out. You can in fact power the Haier monitor from the 12 volt plug alone.
I just ordered the adapter cable today. Once it shows up I’ll give it a proper test and let you know how it turns out. With the battery adapted to the Haier monitor you can simply attach some Velcro to the back and your set.
21Apr Joby Gorilla pod Focus
I’ve had the Gorilla pod Focus for over a year. When I first started looking at gorilla pods, I was considering one of the smaller models like the Gorilla pod SLR, but after looking at the weight ratings I decided to go with the 5kg model (11 pounds). It’s easy to think that the 3kg model (6 pounds) could handle a DSLR with a lens and a microphone, but the weight rating is a max value. If you try to load the SLR model up, you’ll find that the legs start to fold around 5 pounds.
The Focus model is Gorilla pod’s largest capacity unit and it’s worth the extra money. Your camera and microphone will hold solid when wrapped around small objects. I feel comfortable loading it with up to 8 pounds of gear. I’ve tried to add more weight and had it come loose in testing. If you’re unsure of the load you’re placing on the pod, gaffer tape can be used to secure the legs or to keep them from sliding down the attachment point.
The focus model is also stiff enough that you can configure it to work as . If you need to travel light, but still need some kind of camera stand, the Gorilla pod Focus works great as an all in one adaptable device. It also works well to support field monitors, microphones, and light panels. It always seems to come in handy when I least expect to use it.
There are also a lot of on the market. Be careful, many of these don’t support much weight. They could work great for a small consumer point and shoot or a small HD camera, but they might not have enough grip to support your DSLR. Be sure to test the mounting position out for a little bit before you trust walking away from your camera hanging high in the air.
20Apr Zoom H1 shock mount design.
I’ve been working on a few more DSLR cad designs to test out when my makerbot shows up in a few more weeks. I thought a Zoom H1 shock mount would probably be very handy and it might be nice if the shock mount also used off the shelf rubber bands. I basically designed this around two offset 1/4″ thick rubber bands with a 1/4 20 thread insert mount at the bottom.
There are a few options that can be adapted to work with the Zoom H1 on ebay, like the , but you end up having to
to a 1/4 20 which can be a hassle. Plus the price starts at around $15, add a few adapters and your up to about $25 to $30.
Once I get a chance to try printing this, I’ll be sure to post some pictures. If the design works out, I might post a few on ebay for $10 if anyone is interested. It might even work on short boom mic if all goes well.
19Apr 35mod DSLR Video Trigger.
Andrew over at 35mod.com has just released a handle mount start/stop trigger. It adapts to a standard Canon RC 6 remote and allows you to mount your remote on the handle of your DSLR rig. The 7 inch flex fiber optic adapter can then be pointed at the cameras IR sensor.
I use an IR remote to start and stop recording on many of my review videos and it works great. Adding fiber to a remote like this is a clever idea. Starting price is $35 and I should have a full review out in the next few weeks. I wonder if you could adapt this to one of those $5 generic canon remotes
18Apr SmallHD DP4 4 inch monitor.
SmallHD makes some great monitors, but their flagship model the DP6 is well over $900. So unless you do a lot of paid work, or have money to burn, the DP6 might be a little out of your price range. It seems SmallHD had this in mind when they announced the DP4.
The SmallHD DP4 is a 4.3 inch monitor with a resolution of 800×480, a 6 hour battery life (using 2 canon LP-E6 batteries), HDMI pass through, and all of the software features of the DP6 including focus assist and peaking. The $549 price tag still seems a little high, but a good field monitor is an investment and something that should out last your camera.
I’m not a big fan of EVF adapters, but for an extra $200 you can add a snap on viewfinder to the monitor if thats your thing. The option to use multiple battery types is a big plus and the HDMI pass through could be handy if you want to add an HDMI transmitter down stream.
SmallHD also seems to be taking a Jab at the Sony CLM-v55 for not having proper DSLR Scaling. This is one of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from people who bought the CLM-v55, but the Sony CLM-v55 has dropped down to $322 new. With the price drop of the CLM-v55 and the extra accessories (hood, hot shoe mount, and hdmi cable), Sony could still give the SmallHD DP4 a run for its money.
I have 3 completely usable Field monitors right now so I probably wont be upgrading, but either monitor could be a great buy if you have money in your budget for it.
17Apr Turning the Volume up on quiet microphones.
If you’ve been filming for a few years, chances are you have an old passive XLR to 1/8 inch adapter laying around. Beachtek and Studio 1 where the most popular for a number of years, but none of their early models had any kind of built in amplifier. If your microphone doesn’t put out a strong signal level, you end up with audio levels so low at the camera that they are hard to use.
More modern XLR adapters like the JuicedLink DT454 and the BeachTek DXA-SLR have built in amplifiers that provide strong signal levels back to the camera, but if you already own an XLR adapter or don’t want to spend $300 to $400 on a new adapter, you can cut some corners and buy a . I’ve seen auctions end as low as $20 and a few buy it nows for $60 and $70.
Once you have an adapter, just add a Fiio E5 headphone amplifier in line with your XLR adapter and presto you have stronger signal levels into your camera. Keep in mind that the Fiio E5 only adds about 6dB to 10dB of gain (depending on load impedance), a Juicedlink device, on the other hand, adds about 30dB of gain. 30dB is ruffly 7 times more gain then 10dB, (if I remember my math correctly) which means you’ll get a lot more volume out of a Juicedlink device then the Fiio headphone amp.
So if you have the money to spend the JuicedLink DT454 or the BeachTek DXA-SLR are the way to go, but if you’re just trying to get by the Fiio E5 should help you out. The video illustrates the amount of gain you can get out of the Fiio E5.
16Apr Makerbot 501pl plate print out.
Looks like I wasn’t the only one thinking about making quick release plates with the makerbot. Thingiverse member NRP put together this version of the 501pl quick release plate. His design is a bit different then mine but it’s cool to see that the idea works. I also found a few designs for quick release plates that are no longer made. This could be really great if you own an older fluid head tripod and need a few extra QR plates. I’m sure that as more people get 3d prints up and running there will be more and more useful camera gear designs released.
