Goodbye NAB 2011 – The Easyrig that helped me cover NAB

This is the last of about 30 video clips I made during the 4 days of NAB 2011. I hope you enjoyed the coverage that became a last minute one man crew job for me.

Breakfast was at 6pm and the whole thing was a big lesson. We’ll come back, better prepared and ready to give you the finest possible coverage next year.

The image on the left shows me with my favourite piece of equipment during the whole show. Johan, the inventor of the Easyrig saw me as I walked around on the floor all day and lend the Turtle X to me with a smile. I could use this tool for the remaining 3 days and I must say it became my very best friend.

Not only did it relieve my back like 10 to 1, it also made it possible to hold the mic with one hand while holding the rest of the rig, zooming and focusing with the other hand. I worked about 80% of the interviews like that, as it eventually became my prefered method to use my free hand as a boom so to say.

This is the Easyrig homepage: www.easyrig.com
If you’re interested you can buy the Easyrig Turtle-X for 4kg here.

If you’re intruiged by the idea of the Easyrig you should watch the clip by Brad White at the end of this post (click “more“)

The last shot of this video shows about half of the hall where all the DSLR and video equipment was presented. As you can see it’s a huge floor and there are several more halls that were packed with 90,000 people.

The crane shot was made with the fully remote controllable Barber Boom. It was pretty cool to handle this “boom” (isn’t it a crane?), the problem was I didn’t have a video cable for dslr with me, so I couldn’t see the video feed. Usually you have a monitor and a joystick to control your camera and the remote head at the back of the boom/crane.
[UPDATE]: Michelle Barber confirmed that it was initially called “boom”:

(…) a long Arm with a remote control Camera head on the End of it is a Remote Control Camera Boom. I know this because I invented it (in 1973) and won an Emmy Award for it!

I saw this thing on B&H, but if you want to get it you will have to make sure you get all the accessories as well, the head, dolly, weights…
In total the 22 inch (5,5 meters) version is a little under $10,000 and in Europe it’s only available through a company in Belgium and another in Switzerland.

This is the Barber Tech website: www.barbertvp.com

On the first day at NAB I spent about half my time looking for a company that would lend me some headphones as I had left mine on the plane (not a good idea).

The one company that had a spare pair of headphones and also lend them to me was Audio Technica.
I had the Audio Technica ATH-M50 and as the 141 5 Star user reviews out of 141 user reviews on the B&H Site suggest, this is a great pair of headphones at $160 dollars. In Europe they’re 170€ Get them here.

They were very comfortable to wear and the sound was very good to me, being an old audiophile myself.

The Audio Technica website is: www.audio-technica.com

Goodbye NAB 2011 from cinema5D
Sebastian Wöber

Another video of the Easyrig after the jump:

More…

NAB 2011 – The Foundry: STORM

Remember the Rolling Shutter plugin by British Software company The Foundry? I guess the name speaks for itself.

Well apparently they have something new for DSLR people in the works. Their new stand alone application STORM has been a very useful on set tool for RED shooters since March. By mid 2011 this software will support all Canon HDSLR cameras and give us some handy features like timecode, organisation, tagging, basic grading, even editing and then edl (universal editing format to save stuff) to Final Cut etc…

Very good on set workflow. Will they have Rolling Shutter implemented? I don’t know, but that would be cool.

You can check out the 15 day free Trial on their website. The application costs $375

More…

NAB ’11 – Dedo TECPRO Felloni: new hq LED at low price

This is one of the last NAB 2011 videos by cinema5D, yet it’s one of the more intriguing new products we’ve seen. Especially if you’re into LED lighting this one could be very interesting for you.

Where I come from (Austria) Dedo Weigert is a name well known in the film industry. His lighting company carries the same name and you can find their stuff right next to Arri and KinoFlo lights in production houses.

This year Dedo Weigert introduced the “Felloni” LED panel which they have developed under their partner company Dedotec (a bunch of electronics and precision mechanics specialists) and some other foreign technicians and named the series TECPRO. It’s all very confusing with the names I know, but the result is a pretty decent LED lighting solution.

Here’s what this light can do:

- very high CRI of 84
( = good light color)
- half the price of most other LED panels
- water resistant (rainproof)
- lightweight and robust fixture
- Detachable/Extendable dimmer (included)
- Foldable diffuser (included)
- Uses 24 watts (half of most other panels)
- more output than most other panels
- magnetic frame for filters

Powering options:
- V-Mount battery plate 14V
- Sony NP-F battery plate 7,2V
- Ac input 12V (mains ps included)

.
.

Pricepoint:
Normal version either tungsten or daylight:
US: should be around $900
Europe: around 600€

You might say that’s a lot, but if you know LED panel prices this should shock you. There is also a Bicolor version (continuosly adjustable from tungsten to daylight) for around $1000. The 1×1 LED series by Litepanels is a great tool but I think at $2600 they will have to do something about their pricing.
TECPRO also has a high output (576 leds instead of 324) version for around 1000€ and low profile versions (for ceiling mount) as well and all of them are available in 15°, 30° or 50° angles (spot/flood).

Unfortunately in the US and the rest of the world these lights are not available in a click to buy kind of fashion. You will have to either contact resellers or order from Dedolight USA directly.

In Europe the lights are more commonly available. For example here.

Wired DMX control unit:

And here’s one more mindblowing gimmick:
[UPDATED]
I roughly remember one of the major developers of the Felloni telling me that you can control I think some hundred thousand of these units simultaneously via a wireless DMX module across 1000-1500 feet (400 meters).
Price and availability for these units is not here yet, but it certainly won’t be cheap.

Here’s the Dedo Weigert website:
Dedo Weigert Europe
Dedolight USA

More…

NAB 2011 – New Vocas rail support and lens support

Famous Dutch gear company Vocas also presented a few new products at NAB this year. Bas Ladru’s mother language might not be English, but rig making surely is, as past experience shows: Their handheld DSLR rig, won our editors choice award last year when we tested several handheld rigs.

Bas showed me a very simple lens support unit that could come in very handy if you’re working with longer lenses. It comes with the great Vocas snap-on handle that sits on one side only.

The new rail support works for the Sony F3 and Panasonic AF100 cameras and allows for a quick switch between 15mm and 19mm rods.

The Vocas gear is extremely solid, durable and lightweight, but comes at a price. While the announced products are not yet available, the full DSLR handheld rig costs about $2100.
Bas also mentioned that their modules are designed with versatility in mind and 80% of the dslr gear can be used with other cameras as well.

We have talked about the Vocas gear here and here and here.

Their DSLR rigs are available in the US: here
Or through other retailers listed on their website for the rest of the world.

More…