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 to it’s base and can do things like trigger a flash or interface with proprietary equipment like microphones and lights. Basically it refers to any shoe mount with an electrical interface. A “cold shoe” is the same mount without the electronics or ability to trigger a flash. A cold shoe can be used to hold a piece of equipment in place but it does not have any electrical connections and is instead a purely mechanical device.
For ease of description i’ve always referred to the cold shoe on the right as female and the cold shoe on the left as male. I’ve never really gotten a confirmation from anyone about using the term, but it doesn’t usually require any explanation when working with others. The female adapter usually comes with a 1/4 20 female thread at the bottom of the unit that can easily be attached to a friction arm or rig. If you are looking for a female adapter with a 1/4 20 male stud on the bottom you might want to check out this unit.
The male cold shoe (above left) comes with a flat plate on the bottom and a 1/4 20 stud on top. You can buy these with a single thumb screw or two thumbscrews. Generally I prefer the two thumbscrew variety because you can use one thumb screw to snug up against the shoe and the other to snug up against the device. The price difference between the single and double thumb screw is only 50 cents to a dollar so it’s usually worth it to spend a little extra on the double.
These little ball head units are also very handy to have around. Great for field monitors, microphones, and anything that needs an adjustable mount. For less than $6 a peace it’s nice to have 3 or 4 of these in your kit.
Last but not least are these incredibly handy friction arms. If you need to place a microphone, move a field monitor, hold an audio adapter, position a flash, or just about anything else, a friction arm is very handy. These guys are lightweight and designed to hold around 3 to 5 pounds which is more than enough to support most accessories. You can find these friction arms on Amazon for under $20 apiece and under $15 apiece on ebay.
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.
18Feb Canon 5d mark III body $2549
Another Ebay Canon 5d mark III sale. This time you can pick up a Canon 5d mark III body with free shipping for $2549 from seller 6ave. As with all of these ebay sales, they don’t last long, so if you want one you might want to move fast. The deal went up less than an hour ago and they’ve already sold 25, this is the lowest price i’ve seen on the 5d mark III in almost a year.
18Feb FMX-DSLR, DXA-SLR, and Riggy XLR audio adapters side by side
Here we have (from left to right) the Juicedlink RM333 “Riggy” ($399), the Azden FMX-DSLR ($261), and the Beachtek DXA-SLR ($285) audio adapters. It’s easy to see that all three of these units are very similar in design, square boxes that are about the same form factor with a handful of volume control knobs on the front. The most expensive unit (RM333) is slightly thinner than the other two and it offers up the least amount of control from the front of the box. Unlike RM333, the FMX-DSLR and DXA-SLR have most of the common controls placed in an easy to reach location and full sized knobs on the FMX-DSLR and DXA-SLR are easy to identify and use.
The Azden FMX-DSLR has it’s 48v phantom power and AGC disable switches located on the bottom edge of the unit which allows room to access the switches even with a quick release plate installed. The Beachtek DXA-SLR takes a similar approach to the FMX-DSLR with two high/low gain switches as well as a ground lift switch on the bottom of the unit. Again these switches are placed off to the side for access even if a quick release plate is installed.
The RM333 jams pretty much every possible setting you can think of into 15+ tiny dip switches in a few inches of space on the bottom of the unit. Put a quick release plate on it and you’ll have a pretty hard time accessing any of these little micro switches.
Do you need to turn on phantom power? Remove the QR plate. Need to adjust the gain from low to high? Remove the QR plate. Need to select between line and mic inputs? You guessed it, remove the QR plate. The RM333, in my opinion, is the least user friendly and design conscious of the whole bunch and it’s the only one of the three that doesn’t come with a paper manual. I work with audio gear all the time and even I have to spend a minute thinking about what the heck is going on in this mess of switches.
The Azden FMX-DSLR is the winner in the input department, followed closely by the Beachtek DXA-SLR and trailed by the RM333 “Riggy”. Both the DXA-SLR and FMX-DSLR offer up 3.5mm auxiliary inputs that allow you to bypass the right XLR channel, and both of them offer return audio monitoring. Where the FMX-DSLR pulls ahead is it’s “MIC 2” 3.5mm stereo input that provides 3.5 volt input power and the ability to mix that stereo input down to either the left or right channel.
The RM333 “Riggy” has 3 XLR inputs, but basically mixes “L1” and “L2” into a single channel. There is no 3.5mm inputs, no return source monitoring, and no 3.5 volt input power. Want to plug the RODE videomic pro into the RM333? You’ll need an adapter.
One other thing to note is that all three of these units are designed to be mounted under your DSLR. The Beachtek DXA-SLR is the easiest to mount with its large thumb screw, the Azden FMX-DSLR has a common flat head screw for attachment, and the RM333 “Riggy” uses an allen head. While the thumbscrew on the DXA-SLR is my favorite, you can still easily install the FMX-DSLR with a penny or the edge of your car keys. On the other hand, if you forget to bring the appropriately sized allen wrench with you and you won’t be mounting the RM333 “Riggy” on anything. Also for mounting, both the DXA-SLR and FMX-DSLR have rubberized grips that press up against the bottom of the camera to keep the unit in place. The RM333 has no rubberized grip. Instead you have a smooth metal surface that easily spins loose from the bottom of your camera.
When I get a chance to start recording audio samples i’ll be sure to add the cheaper Tascam DR-60D and extremely cheap hacked iRig pre into the samples list. I’m interested to see how well the extremely cheap iRig pre stacks up. I’ll keep you posted.
17Feb Canon EOS-M questions answered
I finally got my Canon EOS-M body back so I thought I’d take the opportunity to test a few things out and answer a few of the questions that have been coming in about the camera. To make sure everything is up to date, I went ahead and downloaded the latest nightly build of Magic lantern for the EOS-M.
First up is audio monitoring. Although that option does appear in the Magic Lantern menu, audio monitoring does not currently work on the Canon EOS-M. You can turn it on or off but you will not get any audio out of the USB port on the side of the Camera via the adapter. Hopefully there will be progress on this in the future, but as of right now it does not work.
When you have the current version of Magic Lantern installed on the Canon EOS-M audio level meters in ML do not start reporting levels until recording is started. On screen level meters work fine in record mode, but before you hit the record button the meters report no sound.
To access Magic lantern controls and settings on the Canon EOS-M you need to tap the touch screen with two fingers. While the ML menus are displayed you can use the “MENU” button on the back of the camera to change between the touch friendly and standard ML menu system, both of which provide access to the same set of controls.
Focus peaking, zebras, and Magic zoom all work on the EOS-M. In fact about 80% of the Magic Lantern features are up and running on the EOS-M so if you’ve used ML on other cameras, you should feel right at home.
Next up DSLR Controller. The app does not work with the Canon EOS-M plugged directly into the tablet. I tested this out multiple times via usb connection and the app does not see the EOS-M. When using the TP-Link wireless method, DSLR controller seems to detect the camera, but the EOS-M immediately goes into file transfer mode and no controls are enabled.
Last but not least, EOS Utility. This app does not work correctly with the Canon EOS-M, you can download photos and change a few settings but the camera control and view options are disabled. I’m told this was done intentionally by Canon in order to distinguish the EOS-M’s place in Canon’s camera line up.
Hopefully that answers most of the questions I’ve been sent. If you have any other questions about the EOS-M, let me know and try and test them out while I have the camera around. Current price for the EOS-M body on Amazon is still $234 which still makes it a pretty attractive buy even if there are a few features disabled.
16Feb Samsung 840 EVO 1TB drive $499
If you are in the market for a very large capacity SSD drive, B&H has the Samsung 840 EVO 1TB drive on sale for $499. That’s about $60 under retail price and only $50 more than the Crucial M500 960GB SSD. The Samsung 840 EVO is currently my number 1 choice in SSDs on the market. Between the free drive cloning software, RAPID mode, and SLC read/write cache, this SSD offers up a lot of value. Samsung really has a winner with the 840 EVO especially when you can buy 1TB for under $500.
16Feb Azden FMX-DSLR audio adapter – First Impressions
I just got the Azden FMX-DSLR XLR audio adapter in for testing. Similar in design to the Beachtek DXA-SLR, the FMX-DSLR offers up 2 XLR inputs, independent gain control, powered monitoring, AGC disable (if you have a camera that requires that) and 48V phantom power. Both units also have the same selection of AUX/XLR inputs and the two units are within a 1/4 inch of being the same size. There are 3 major differences between the two units. First the Azden FMX-DSLR runs on 4x AA batteries (Beachtek used a 9 volt), the Azden’s case is made out of thick plastic (Beachtek is in a metal case), and the Azden is currently priced at $261, while the Beachtek is at $285. It’s also good to note that both of these units are far less expansive than the Juicedlink Riggy RM333 (and much easier to use).
Controls on the Azden FMX-DSLR are pretty straight forward. You have independent source select of MIC 1, LINE, and MIC 2, as well as LOW/HI gain switches for each channel with easy to use volume control knobs below. On the right hand side you can select between mono and stereo output to the camera as well as monitoring sources for the included headphone amp. Pretty much everything you’ll need to use is right there ready to go.
Inputs are mostly straight forward on the Azden FMX-DSLR. XLR inputs are pretty much self explanatory set each channel source selector to “MIC 1” and you’ll get the XLR input signals sent to your camera, the “output” jack is the feed for your camera or audio recorder, the “phones” jack is for headphone monitoring, and the RTN is designed to monitor return audio from your camera or other input if needed. The “AUX (R)” input is designed to connect an unbalanced device with a mini-plug output cable and sends audio directly to the right channel bypassing the right XLR input.
Were the Azden FMX-DSLR surpases the Beachtek is in the “MIC 2” input. This stereo input allows you plug something like the Rode Videomic pro directly into the unit. Then using the MIC 1/LINE/MIC 2 selector switch on the front of the unit you can choose to feed audio to the Camera’s right channel, left channel, or both at independent volume levels. This plug also provides 3.5 volt input power which can be very handy if you are trying to use a powered lav mic or something like the Rode Videomic go.
On the bottom of the unit, you’ll find the 48V Phantom power controls, 1/4 20 mounting point and AGC disable features. The only thing I’ve found slightly confusing about the Azden FMX-DSLR XLR audio adapter is the note on the bottom that says “Camera AGC switch, ON: enables the AGC function, OFF: disables the AGC function”. When I first read this, I thought “ON” meant that the unit was sending out an AGC disable signal to the camera and “OFF” removed the signal. In actuality it’s the opposite and “ON” actually means the camera’s AGC feature is left alone. So keep that in mind if your camera doesn’t require the AGC disable signal.
I’ll post some audio test and more thoughts on the Azden FMX-DSLR XLR audio adapter as I get a chance to spend more time with it. If all goes well I’ll be putting together a show down between the Azden FMX-DSLR, Beachtek DXA-SLR, and Juicedlink Riggy RM333 over the next few weeks so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, if there is anything you’d like to see tested between these three adapters let me know.
15Feb Canon c100 price drop to $4999 on B&H
Canon’s dropped the price of the c100 yet again, perhaps preparing for the onslaught of new cameras coming in April. The c100 started out at well over $6000 upon release, but now you can pick it up on B&H for $4999 with free shipping. It’s still not cheap but the price is starting to head towards the affordable range and should have the added benefit of pushing down the price on the used market into the low $4000s.
14Feb 5d mark III body $2768
Canon 5d mark III bodies are back on sale again. Right now ebay seller t-dimension3 has a batch of Canon 5d mark III bodies from Hong Kong for just $2768 with free shipping. Since these are from Hong Kong I would guess that they are gray market. Still that’s a pretty good price on a new 5d mark III body. As with all of these ebay deals, if you want one, you should probably jump on it
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13Feb Wasabi Canon BP-970G 8500 mAh c100/c300 battery
As I continue to uses the Canon c100 (which still has yet to impress me), I wanted to get a few more batteries for longer shoots. The Canon BP-955
The $150 Canon BP-955 batteries are rated for 5200mAh compared to the 8500mAh batteries from Wasabi and the difference in capacity is noticeable. I get around 5 hours of shooting time out of the Wasabi batteries, 2 more hours of run time than the $150 Canon offering. There’s also no decoding issue, these batteries work just fine in the Canon c100 with full battery indication as well as the Canon charger. I’ve been using these Wasabi batteries with the c100 for the last few months, charge and run time seem pretty stable. If these are anything like the rest of my Wasabi batteries they’ll probably out last the c100’s usefulness.
Still enjoying the Watson Duo battery charger and so far, no problems. It seems to charge these large capacity c100 batteries about an hour faster than the Canon charger that came with the camera. As long as you have enough charging capacity, two of these Wasabi batteries and the battery that came with the camera should be enough to get you through a full day of shooting without any trouble.
