Now that 2009 is almost over, it is a good time to look back at all the products we have tried during the year and see which one stood above the rest.
My first idea was to name a product of the year but I quickly realize that it would not work and I should split the contenders in various categories.
Shoulder rig
While not a rig by it self, the Shape telescopic arm has to be the best stabilization device one can get. With some tinkering, it could be installed on pretty much any rig or even at the bottom of a bare camera. I can foresee similar version of this product to be in the catalog of every manufacturers in 2010.
Read the rest of this entry »
This is right off the press, Red Rock Micro updated their offering for DSLR Rigs. In fact, it is such a scoop that they have not updated their website yet! Here is the press release:
Hollywood, CA (September 17, 2009) — Redrock Micro, the leading provider of cinema accessories for digital filmmakers, today announced a wide range of new accessories to enhance video DSLRs. Collectively these new accessories significantly reduce weight and increase the options available to exactly match customers’ desired features and configuration.
Highlights of products in this release include:
Carbon Fiber rods that cut weight a dramatic 66% – Redrock’s second-generation carbon fiber rods deliver state-of-the-art precision and strength, and are 66% lighter than comparable stainless steel rods. All Redrock DSLR rigs are now shipping with carbon fiber rods. Read the rest of this entry »
As you all know from my previous reviews, I am a big fan of the D-focus follow focus system. It is priced cheap enough to make even Indian stuff seem expensive while doing a decent job. While following Dave on Twitter I noticed his tweet about every new D-Focus coming in black with an accessory port to plug a crank or whip. Cool!
The more I use my follow focus, the more I realize how useful whips can be and I am probably going to add one to my 350$ follow focus rig.
This is a nice improvement which places the D-Focus in an even better position to compete against more expensive alternatives. Nice job Dave, now could you please make a 100$ Steadicam alternative?
Picture source: DFocus twitter account
In case you were thinking about buying a DFocus follow focus for your 5DMrkII, you might want to wait a few more days. I am not saying this because of any quality issue with the product (you all know that I love it) but because of a teaser picture Dave posted on Twitter.
This new product is called the DFocus Pro. It will include a better gears system and be upgradable from the current version. An official announcement should be made in a few days.
By the way, if you are interested in any of Dave products, you should follow him on twitter. He always tweet about incoming products and stock levels.
Zacuto announced a very minimal rig system today: the DSLR Gorilla kits. The idea is simple: staying as light and compact as possible. This is, of course, in direct reaction to the line of light weight rig from Red Rock Micro. Who said that competition is not good?
Personally, I think removing the follow focus is a good idea. I never figured out why Red Rock put one on such a small rig.
Enough reading, lets take a look at the promo clip.
I have to admit, they managed to convinced me! I have been carrying my full cine rig in the woods for a few weekends to shoot my friends doing bouldering and it was no fun. By the time we found a boulder and I finished setting up the camera on the tripod, my friend were already climbing and I missed the start of the problem (and sometimes the whole sequence). And do not get me started on the logistics of carrying tripod + head + rails + follow focus + camera in the woods! A rig like this would be super easy to carry around and I would be ready to shoot before they even put their shoes on.
Of course this is one expensive gorilla! After all, we are talking about Zacuto stuff here and you will have to pull at least 550$ off your wallet to get the bare minimum. Add to this another 400$ for the Z-finder and you might have to have a conversation with the wife.
By the way, the Z-finder is NOT included in the packages contrary to what the pictures show. Some people are going to have a nasty surprise.
Now the question: which one should I pick?
I received a reply from Mike Wong @ On One regarding my review of the DSLR Remote iPhone application. Mike had the generosity to go over each element I outlined in the wish list and to give us a glimpse of what is coming in the 1.1 update. So here is the relevant part of the email (with my comments).
Auto focus
Assuming that you are not shooting in Live View mode and that your lens is set to AF, the camera will automatically attempt to auto-focus when you press the fire button. You’re not alone in asking this question though so I’m going to be soliciting some feedback from users to find out more about what people are looking for here. As for focusing during Live View, that is something we have planned for a 1.1 update.
Yes, I was thinking about Live View.
Video recording
Also planned for the 1.1 release is to add start & stop for the video recording function on the 5D Mark II
YES! If we could change exposure settings while shooting, it would be even better 
Adding filters to the live view
I’m not sure how we would do this. I’ll share the feedback with the product team though.
Big screen mode
If you rotate the iPhone to landscape mode, the controls disappear.
Oups, my fault! When I tried to rotate my iPhone while I was testing the app and nothing happened. I will blame this on my iPhone then.
Bracketing Assistant
Another feature we have planned for the 1.1 release.
YES, YES!
Shortcuts to some user made presets
If you set up your C1, C2 and C3 buttons with a custom function and then move the dial to one of them, the camera shoots in those modes. You just can’t change into one of those modes from the iPhone.
Too bad, I guess we can’t get everything we ask for in a single update.
Thank you very much for the response Mike. If you have not done so yet, go get the app before the special pricing ends (in$ instead of 20$). Looking at the incoming features of the next release, it is a no brainer!
We talked about it a few days ago and now On one software just announced that DSLR Remote is now available for purchase on the iTune store. It is available in two format: lite (2$) or pro (10$ now, 20$ regular price).
I did not even take the time to read the differences between the two and picked the pro version. I will test is out for a day or two then post a review.
I talked about my rig a while ago and never had time to (1) show it to you guys (2) write a proper review of the follow focus. So in this first post I am going to present the rig which consist of:
Manfrotto 323 RC2 Rapid Connect Adapter
DV City Lens gear
D-Focus
RailsPro
FD to EF adapter
Also shown in the clip are my Manfrotto 701HDV Pro Fluid Head
Sorry about the quality of the clip. It was made with my girlfriend Canon PowerShot G9
Have fun with my French Canadian accent! The D-Focus tests results will be online in the next 24 hours. are now available.
UPDATE:
If you get the D|Focus DSLR Mount, you can replace the RailsPro with it, reducing the overall weight and size of the rig and save some money. If you are not planning to get a matte box, this is the way to go.
It’s finally here! My bitching about the shipping time for my rails was totally erroneous: it was delivered in less than 2 days. The problem was with the supplier shipping my order 2 weeks after I placed it!
So without any further delays, here is my first impression of my intermediate cinephotographer kit.
When I was shopping around for my kit, my biggest concern was weight. Since my Manfrotto 501HDV can only hold about 2.5kg, I had to make sure the whole system would be under this limit. As the biggest and heaviest part of the kit, rails have the biggest impact on the overall weight. That is why I went with the 12” carbon fiber rods from Indi Systems. 12” might seem a bit short but as you can see, I have enough room to put everything plus a matte box if I ever want to look fancy.
Installation
Installation of the whole kit was much longer than I expected. Adding the rails and the follow focus to the tripod increase the number of moving parts that need to be screwed and tighten. As soon as there is one loose part, shake appears on the screen resulting in crappy clips. This movement is mostly caused by the FF ‘pushing’ the lens/camera up or down and can probably be reduced by improving the position of the FF gear on the lens gear and using a better attachment system on the rails.
Something that might not be obvious at first is that the dFocus mount does not have anything to lock itself on the rails. No matter how much you squeeze the screw it is only going to hold on tighter the metal plate on top of it. Being a bit loose generates some shakiness. My advice would be to get a DIY rail mount and modify it so it could squeeze both rails into place and keep everything in perfect alignment.
On the other side, it is great to be able to adjust every part of the system. Otherwise, it would not be possible to accommodate every lenses. In my case, I had to make a few adjustment to find a setting that allows me to use both lenses with minimal adjustments between the two.
My biggest deception was with the DVCity lens gear. It must be bad luck but none of the gears fit easily on my lenses (EF50 1.4 & FD28 2.8, going to tests others soon). I really had to squeeze them in and it was so much work that I think I will keep the gear on the 50mm even when I am shooting stills… I am going to get a few gears from Dfocus, they must be so much easier to install and remove!
Built quality
Lets be honest, we are not talking about Zacuto, RedRock Micro or Cinevate quality stuff here. Yet, knowing that my overall spending for this whole kit is less than the price of their cheapest part, I am surprised happy by how well everything is fitting. Of course there is some shake when pulling focus but I think it is mostly due to bad technique.
What is next?
The only missing part of this puzzle now is the focusing loupe. I don’t believe in spending a fortune on this so it is probably going to be a ghetto loupe. I have shopped around and finding a 3” wide rectangular loupe is not as easy as it sounds. All the ones I have seen so far have a circular base which prevents me from seeing anything but the center of the screen…
Testing
It is too late (dark) for me to start doing some test footage but I will shoot some tomorrow.
Two weeks ago, I decided to move my rig to the next level and buy a follow focus kit. Well, actually it is not a real kit per day since I ordered each part from a different supplier, each time going for the cheapest alternative that seemed to fit the task.
Rails
Rails were the easiest piece to shop for since the are pretty standard. I ordered from Indi system simply because they were the cheapest and had my desired length (12”). It has been two weeks since I made my ordered and I have not received it yet. Stuff from India came in 5 days and, these are still not at my door. I email the seller and I am still waiting for an answer. I will wait a few more days…
Follow Focus
I was about to buy the 300$ version from Indi system (thanks god I did not!) when I saw this thread on the cinema5D forum about a 100$ follow focus. I was a bit skeptical at first, especially since the first videos were not really smooth, but I went with it anyways so I could be the guinea pig for the rest of the community. Communication with the seller was responsive, shipped super fast and I built quality seems as good as the 300$ ones. As soon as the stupid rails arrive I am going to do a full review.
Lens gear
Would I have waited a few days I could have ordered lens gears from the same guy who made the dFocus. Instead I went with the gears from DVCity. At about 70$ for 6 gears, it is a great price. The problem is that most of the gears will never be used since they are too big. Out of the 6, I think I am only going to use 3. That is why I think ordering from DFocus would be more cost effective.
As stated, I cant do any review yet because I am missing my rails but hopefully this week I will get them and be able to write a decent review and take some nice clips. The whole kit costed me about 300$ which make the whole thing affordable to any cinephotographer.
