IMPORTANT UPDATE: Due to price increases that take effect on January 1st, we've moved the end date of the Teradek Bolt Group Buy forward to December 27th at 11:59pm EST. This will give all group buy participants time to complete their purchase at the current pricing. Get your orders in now to take advantage of this exclusive pricing.
Wireless video has rapidly become the norm on film sets, but if you've been dragging your feet waiting for it to become more affordable, now is definitely the time with this group buy. To navigate directly to the group buy, click here.
Here is the thing: zero-delay, wireless, 1080p video completely changes how you are able to shoot.
Monitoring your image doesn't just get better when working on a gimbal, steadicam or drone (though of course, it does, you couldn't see your image without wireless), but just moving through your shoot day gets easier, faster, and less messy without constantly having to re-run your SDI cable back to video village every time you move the camera.
Plus, it's just more fun when you never need a cable wrangler walking behind the dolly making sure you don't roll over the cable.
While its been expensive in the past, prices are finally coming down, and are better than ever before with this group buy for the Teradek 500 Bolt XT and LT, offered exclusively to NFS readers via our partnership with Adorama.
The bolt range offers some amazing distances, but in reality, the 500-foot range is the default range for the vast majority of film shoots.
While 1,000, 3,000 and 10,000 foot ranges obviously have applications in live events (streaming from one side of a stadium to another) and automative work (beaming down the mountain to basecamp while shooting on a hillside), for the everyday filmmaker the 500-foot range is what you are looking for to get the job done. Your average film set is well within a 500-foot footprint.
One huge perk of the 500 XT and LT units is that they are compatible with the Bolt 500, 1000, and 3000 units that are already out there.
So let's say you are on one of those mountainside jobs and the crew has a Bolt 3000 transmitter rigged up to the camera. They probably have their Bolt 3000 receivers rigged up to a monitor at basecamp, but now you can pair your Bolt 500 XT or LT receiver with that same 3000 transmitter for a second monitor--or a director's monitor--or really any application where wireless video will benefit you.
So what do you get out of the XT that you are missing in the LT models?
The biggest features you are looking for in the higher end XT units have to do with the extra processing power to convert the video. The XT can convert framerate, resolution, and even input/output, so you can bring in an SDI signal and put out at HDMI signal or vice versa, which is often helpful when dealing with a variety of gear on set.
On top of that, it can also process 3D LUTs, which allow you to transform how your image appears.
Let's say you are shooting a camera in Log mode to an external recorder, but you want to send the director and client a contrast, colorful image to keep them happy. The XT allows you to do that cross-conversion in-camera.
That doesn't mean the LT is a slouch. It offers all the wireless transmitting and pairing power of the XT, but without the conversion. If you mostly work with units that all work together (say your monitor receives SDI, and your camera puts out SDI, both 1080, and your camera has internal LUTs built-in), then you are likely going to be very satisfied running an LT kit.
Here's the form.
Tech Specs:
- 3D LUTs - apply looks directly to the video feed. Upload your own LUTs or select from presets native in the Bolt.
- Cross Conversion - Bolt XT automatically converts resolution, frame rate and input/output interfaces for seamless transport to external monitors.
- 5GHz Spectrum Analyzer - scans the surrounding area for radio frequency (RF) congestion. This helps to determine which frequency to set your devices to operate on for best transmission results.
- Channel Selection - manually choose which 5Ghz frequency channel to operate on.
- Dual Inputs - XT transmitters feature HDMI & 3G-SDI inputs with a 3G-SDI looping output.
- Dual SDI Outputs - XT receivers feature HDMI & 2x SDI outputs.
- NATO rail - 1000 XT and 3000 XT receivers have built-in NATO rails for easy mounting.
- ARRI ⅜ Pin-Loc - built-in on all XT (and LT) transmitters.
- Additional mounting options - Gold & V-mount battery plates can be added onto receivers.
- Sony L-series and Canon LP-E6 plates can also be added to either the RX or TX.
- Pass-Through Power - all battery plates feature pass-through power via a second plate (Gold / V mount on 1000 XT and 3000 XT receivers), P-Tap (Gold and V mount plates) or barrel connector (Sony and Canon plates).
