At NAB 2018, SmallHD showed off new wireless versions of their popular 5″ FOCUS monitor and we spoke with the company Co-Founder, Wes Phillips, to get all the details. Like the Bolt 703, SmallHD has merged their FOCUS 5-inch monitor with Teradek’s wireless capabilities and the results could be welcome news for directors or for clients looking for portable field monitor solutions. Picture Credit: Teradek and SmallHD We already covered the announcement of the transmitter and receiver versions of the FOCUS Bolt, but we thought it would be useful to catch up with SmallHD Co-Founder, Wes Phillips, and see the product for ourselves. After going hands on with the new monitors it appears that the FOCUS Bolt TX and RX are among the lightest wireless monitor/receiver solutions available. Shipping along with the 5-inch FOCUS touchscreen are the lightweight grippy monitor handles and a Sony L series battery. Of course, you can also power the monitors with a D-Tap cable. For more information on the new OLED version of the FOCUS you can catch our earlier post HERE. According to Wes, SmallHD is listening carefully to customer feedback and future versions of the FOCUS monitor transmitter/receiver might include an SDI version too. I wouldn’t mind seeing wireless 4K or direct camera settings control through the monitor in the future either! Photo Credit: Teradek and SmallHD The FOCUS RX really is the perfect size for anyone interested in making sure the camera team is getting the coverage they need and at 5-inches it’s portable enough to not take up space in your kit. For DP’s looking to make critical color and lighting decisions they may be better served by the SmallHD 702 OLED or a larger production monitor like the SmallHD 1703. Both the Focus Bolt TX and RX have an expected availability of May 31st. For more information on both monitors don’t forget to check out our earlier post HERE. What do you think? Will the Focus Bolt TX and RX find a way into your kit when they ship later this month? Comment below!

The DJI MasterWheels which we’ve already covered here aim to provide very precise gimbal control achieved with “old style” motion wheels. A more precise alternative to joysticks and knobs. The Master Wheels are basically a combination between classic wheels from big camera tripod heads, and a much more sophisticated apparatus which controls the gimbals. “Old style” motion controllers to get the organic movement The reason behind DJI designing the Master Wheels is that a lot of DPs and camera operators still prefer to use wheels so they can accomplish more organic and precise camera movement than can be achieved with joysticks. DJI has made decent efforts to mimic the good old days’ wheels by very carefully designing the look-and-feel and weight distribution in the wheels, in order to elevate the accuracy of the movement and make it more precise, as we can see in the video. The friction of the wheels is adjustable as well.  The wheels are made of stainless steel, which provides a classic feel, reliable operation and accuracy by using ultra-high-resolution optical encoders to detect subtle movements and transmit them to a connected gimbal system, and can be fully customized by dedicated speed and smoothing adjustment knobs for each individual axis. Furthermore, the Master Wheels own dedicated acceleration dials which allow to control the speed of the movement. Modular design The three stainless steel wheels and the control modules have the ability to be swiftly detached from the main console and connected with a wire for space constrained shooting situations (like shooting inside a car or small spaces). Motion controller – recording the movement  The motion controller is a cool feature of the Master Wheels that allows you to record the movement so you can repeat complex movements by just pressing a dedicated button. General specs Wireless Long-Range Gimbal Controller 3 Wheel Control Modules, 1 Per Axis Compatible with DJI Ronin 2 and Ronin-S – Supports 3rd-Party Gimbals via SBUS 1.8 Mile Distance; 10 ms Latency 3-Stop Gimbal Direction Toggle Switches – Speed, Smoothness, and Damping Dials – Savable/Repeatable Moves 2.4 and 5.8 GHz Dual Frequency Up to 18-Hr Operation in as Low as -4°F (powered by an Inspire Ronin battery) Pricing and availability The Master Wheels will be shipped on June, and will cost $6000 for the two axis version and $8000 for the three axis version.  What do you think about the DJI Master Wheels? Do you prefer to control the movement of your gimbal via joystick or via classic movement wheels like in old days cinematography? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

K5600 Lighting presented their new Joker² lights to the US market during NAB 2018. These lights come in three watt sizes – 400W, 800W and 1600W. K5600 is an international lighting equipment manufacturer specializing in compact and versatile HMI fixtures. We visited their booth at NAB and asked about their new product line – the Joker² lights. They were first presented to the European market during IBC in September 2017, and this year’s NAB was the opportunity to showcase them for the first time to the US market. The Joker² comes in three watt sizes – the 400W, 800W and 1600W. These lights are a redesigned version of the older Jokers, which have been widely used for over 20 years in the filmmaking industry. K5600 gathered feedback from its Joker users and incorporated that feedback in their new line. Main improvements of the new Joker2 line are: the ability to easily convert to a tungsten PAR. The Joker² 800 incorporates a plug-in igniter that quickly converts the light from HMI to 2K tungsten. Wireless DMX interface allowing the new ballasts to be controlled from a tablet or smartphone. On/off and dimming control is supported. New three-way axis yoke for more angular flexibility and new improved braking system or better control – system remains in position to support larger light shapers such as light banks, ellipsoid spots and Softubes. There is also a hook added that allows lenses to be kept close to the source. Screw-on ring eliminating the need of tools. The Joker² heads (or Bugs) incorporate a threaded ring that mounts a clear or frosted borosilicate lamp cover (or Beaker). This allows quick and tool-less relamping between 3200K lamps and 5600K lamps.   K 5600 Lighting – Joker² Power supply Joker² Lights Additional Specs two frequency settings (300Hz or 1000Hz) on the ballast allow for high speed shots. compatibility with a wide range of accessories (like the original Joker lights) – Softube, Big Eye, Multi-bug, etc. new accessory compatible with 400 and 800W fixtures – the Joker² Bug-A-Beam. can be used in two configurations: bare-bulb (offering an even spread without any hotspots; ideal for use in Lightbanks and lanterns) or with the PAR beamer (directional with various beam patterns, features a specular reflector, customizable with a set of four lenses – medium, wide, super wide and frosted fresnel). the 800 and 1600W lamp can be used with two different beamers: the PAR beamer or the zoom beamer (segmented reflector, focusable from 15 to 55 degrees). According to K5600 Lighting, the lamps are available and ready for delivery now. Pricing depends on the type of kit and also the size of light, of course. What do you think of the new Joker² lights? Is there a big improvement over the old Jokers? Let us know in the comments below.

Multicolor LED lighting is a real thing nowadays. The CAME-TV RGBDT range of LED lights is no exception here. And these are available either in tube form or as foldable ring light. Portable, stackable, multicolor, controllable via app. That’s the future! This new range of mutlicolor LED lights seems to be very interesting. As successors to the already available daylight balanced or bicolor tube lights, these new CAME-TV RGBDT lights are true multicolor devices. Same goes for the new RGBDT ring light which is also foldable, very neat! CAME-TV RGBDT Multicolor LED lights These new lights come in various shapes and sizes. The tube version will be availabe in either 1, 2, 3 or 4-feet length. The ring light has a diameter of about 30″ (76,5 cm) which is pretty big indeed. In order to transport this light, CAME-TV made it foldable. When folded up it’s basically half the size (and half a circle) which makes it much easier for transportation. The cool thing about these CAME-TV RGBDT lights is their ability to emit any color of the spectrum. They come preloaded with the full spectrum of RGB hues and variable white balance values are also possible, of course. The light is being powered by either AC power or DC power. Your choice of  Sony NP or V-Mount batteries can be used. Furthermore, and that’s really cool, you can stack several tube lights together and control them as a group. Up to 64 individual lights can be grouped together. Once grouped, you control the whole group with the supplied controller box or a smartphone app. But, and that’s even cooler, you also can control each light within a group seperately, again either with the controller box or your smartphone. That’s actually very neat! Just wire them up once and then control everything remotely by phone! The device itself is pretty slim and it comes with a detachable barndoor in case you need it. Otherwise just slide it off and the light becomes even more portable and lightweight. The ring light is basically the same device as the CAME-TV RGBDT tube lights, just with a different form factor. This makes the ring light a very versatile and portable solution for all kinds of colorful (or just white) effects. Pricing and Availability These lights are still prototypes (but working ones, as we could witness at NAB). They will become available around the end of May 2018. Pricing is not yet known, but since CAME-TV is known for very competitive prices, I assume this will not ruin you. We’ll have to wait until official pricing is announced to be certain, though. Link: came-tv.com Are you in the market for some versatile, portable multicolor LED lights? Share your thoughts about these new multicolor lights in the comments below!

In case you have an upcoming shoot and you want to up your game in terms of fancy car to car cinematography, this is for you! The Hydra Arm is a modular russian arm system which mounts to any car and it only costs a fraction of a matte-black turbocharged SUV equipped with a russian arm plus crew. The Hydra Arm comes with everything you need. Just add any car with a metal roof, a gimbal system like the DJI Ronin 2, Movi Pro or XL and a camera, of course. Hydra Arm We ran into this russian arm device on the showfloor of this years’ NAB and we couldn’t resist asking Aaron Stephenson from Hydra Arm everything about it. It’s actually super cool to have a modular system like this and mount it to any car. Sure, the results may not be 100% on a par with fully fledged russian arm systems but the footage you can see in the video looks very promising! We have to wait for the final product, I assume. The Hydra arm is an actively stabilized system (in contrary to the passively stabilized RigWheels Slingshot, for example) and it is mouted to the car via suction cups. This active stabilization is really a unique feature for a car-mounted crane system in this price range. We still have to wait a little longer to actually play with this Hydra since it’s still a prototype but the guys behind it have gathered a lot of feedback here at NAB 2018. They claim that the final product will be ready by the end of the year and it will cost just under $50,000. This pricepoint makes the Hydra Arm accessible for both rental houses and owner/operators which is really a novelty in this high-end segment of the market. Aaron claims that the whole system can be set up by a team of 2 in just 30 minutes. I’d like to add a few minutes but it’s still a very impressive figure! The sytem is controlled via a mimic system and the whole setup can be controlled by one single operator. I’m wondering if one operator just for the jib and one for the gimbal itself would be better / safer? But that maybe an option, too. The maximum payload is 55lbs (25kg), which includes gimbal and camera package. Again, this is still under developement but it already looks really cool! Let’s wait and see what the final Hydra Arm will look like by the end of this year. We’ll keep you updated, of course! Is it Dangerous? There’s something on my mind, though: Normally you would rent a highly professional crew for this kind of shoots. They bring their own car equipped with a Russian Arm which they know inside out. They know which permissions you’ll need, they know the risks, they know about the possibilities and impossibilities. They know about physics and how the arm behaves in certain situations. And they are super expensive. What happens if everybody can rent such a device? Isn’t it.. dangerous? I think a trained tech is absolutely mandatory for this kind of shoots! Which is why the guys behind the Hydra Arm are establishing a certification program. Links: Website Did you ever used such a device before? Would you like to rent (or buy) one if you could? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Vocas, a shoulder rig and camera accessory manufacturer, has developed a new shoulder rig with a clever offset capable design for the Sony FS5 and DSLR users primarily, but it will work with other small body cameras. More information below:  Most shoulder rigs require the use of an external monitor or 3rd party EVF to work effectively, but Vocas hopes to change that with its new shoulder rig. You are able to quickly offset the shoulder pad on this setup allowing you to use the built in EVF of a camera like the FS5 (pictured above). Of course, you can also quickly configure the rig for use on the shoulder with a monitor. Allowing the offsetting of the shoulder pad is a good idea, but in practice I tend to find most built-in EVF’s to be lacking when compared to 3rd part options from companies like SmallHD or Zacuto. But, when time and money is a factor, you’ll need to use whatever is available while filming in harsh sunlight at noon. The core rig includes everything you see in the image above, with the exception of the front handle grips. Beyond the hand grips, optional accessories include a counter weight system and impressive looking top handle. The top handle even has a magnetized spot for a hex or allen key to live ensuring you are never without the proper tools for tightening the rig. More manufacturers should do this. A sliding baseplate makes moving the camera closer or further from your eye easy and 15mm rails are included for mounting accessories such as a matte box. This is a highly modular system with room to expand as the owner/op starts working with larger and larger cameras. Pricing, availability and even the final name of this rig are still a bit in flux, but we’ll update here when those facts are locked down by the manufacturer. What do you think? Does a shoulder rig like this make sense for your kit? Let us know in the comments below.

Easyrig, the company that develops products which help camera operators to transfer most of the camera weight from shoulders to hips through their popular contraptions, introduced four new products at NAB 2018. Let’s have a look.  The Quick Release Camera Hook The quick release camera hook can securely hold the camera with little to zero setup time, by attaching and reattaching it on a ball joint. The quick release camera hook was tested to hold up to 115 kilo/255 pounds. Judging from the video, this product indeed justifies its name since it looks like the camera is released very quickly. Check out a very convincing (and funny) demonstration about the quick release camera hook tested by the “Pizza Man”: We just could not wait to show you one of the four "Top Secret" products that we will release at NAB..This is the Quick Release Camera Hook! .Under our stay at NAB we will release the other three products, stay tuned!.#easyrig #secret #nab #invention Posted by Easyrig on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 The quick release comes with a ball joint (3/8″ and 1/4″) to match your camera. The Gimbal Flex Vest for camerawomen The Gimbal Flex Vest was designed for female camera operators who want more support around the waist and chest. This vest allows further velcro adjustment on the top in order to help supporting and distributing the weight specifically tailored for women operators.  Line Guide for Serene The Line Guide facilitates shooting from the shoulders when using a Serene arm. The product forces the camera to go back towards the shoulders and make it easier to shoot from the shoulder.  The Line Guide can be mounted to an existing Serene arm using five included screws. Umbrella with Holder Simple as it sounds, this allows mounting of an umbrella to the upper arm on an Easyrig. On the Umbrella Holder there is also a 3/8″ and a 1/4″ thread hole to mount a battery or other accessories. Obviously, this device is made to help protect the operator against sun and rain. Prices and availability The exact prices are yet to be announced, but they’re estimated to be around $100- $150 for each accessory. The products will be available to ship within the next two weeks. We will update the post with product links once we get them.  Have you been using an Easyrig before?  Were you missing one of their new accessories before? Let us know in the comments section below! 

Nino caught up with Ted from Aputure at NAB 2018, to talk about the latest iteration of their incredibly popular 120d, the Aputure 120d Mark II. Retaining the key features that users have come to love about the original, the Aputure 120d Mark II keeps the same form factor and Bowens accessory mount. Based on user feedback, however, Aputure have made the 120d Mark II 30% brighter. The 120d Mark II now draws 140w of power (20w more than the original 120d) but the big increase in output, from what was already a punchy fixture, is great news. Also a major refinement is the ability to now make <10% fine adjustments to the dimmer. Talking of which, Aputure have now integrated the controller and ballast in to one unit, making a much neater setup. The new unified controller also features Neutirx locking ports for the included 6m, colour-coded, cables as well as the V-lock battery mount on the back and integrated wireless control. Finally, in response to user and rental houses requirements, the general sturdiness of the yoke on the 120d Mark II has been improved, meaning the mount and threads will stand up to heavier use, and the lock has been changed for a handbrake style lever, giving more rigidity. The new yoke can also now be underslung, giving users more options for locating and mounting the fixture. New Accessories Ted from Aputure also showed Nino their latest accessories for the 120d and 300d, including a new 32-sided light dome. Like the old 16-sided light dome, this is a great way to soften the hard output of the 120d and 300d, allowing for three stages of diffusion (half frost, full frost and ‘magic’ cloth) but now with a much more spherical shape to the light – perfect as a catch light in your talent’s eyes. Aputure say the new design allows the light dome to be set up in two seconds and broken down in four! In addition, a new filter tray holder allows for small amounts of gel to be used inside the dome, making it very easy to add CTB, CTO or any other type of gel. The new dome will be priced at $200 and will be available in “the next few months”. Oh, and there’s also a new mini dome, which has the same quick setup design and will have an RRP of $150. Not to be outshone, Chimera have also announced new light banks for the LS1 and LS1C which, along with some new barn doors and a Leko mount Aputure have also announced for the 120d and 300d, means there are now some really compelling modification options for Aputure’s popular LED lights. The Leko mount in particular, opens up a whole host of light shaping options, by giving users the ability to project and focus the output of the 120d and 300d, in 19, 26 or 36 degree spreads, using their different lens options. Users can also add slashes and other shapes using the integrated barn doors, as well as allowing the use of Gobos for creative patterns or logos to be projected. Aputure say the big thing is there is also absolutely no colour fringing when using the $400 Leko accessory, which is due to ship by “end of year”. If you are an owner of the original Aputure 120d, share with us your thoughts about this light in the comment section below.