nofilmschool » weaponsofmassproduction

What's the Best Camera Under $1K? Canon T4i, Sony NEX-6, Panasonic GH2 Shootout

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:39:00 +0000

Kevin Good and the Weapons of Mass Production team are on a sleepless mission to determine the best bang for your buck, and weed out all the rest. Each contender will get its due where it excels, but a clear winner will emerge from the settling dust just about every time — and WOMP will suffer no runners-up, all on behalf of the budget shooter. You know this from the show’s 24-70mm lens shootout — you also know how to shoot with an iPhone, or how others measure up to GoPro as action cameras. Now, WOMP sets out to answer the question of questions in today’s camera market: what’s the best you can do for under a thousand dollars? (Runners-up, beware). (more…)

Weapons of Mass Production Action Cam Shootout: GoPro HERO3 vs. Panasonic TS4

Dave Kendricken — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:48:19 +0000

One could say that last year marked the occasion when GoPro really ‘went pro.’ How ‘pro’ does GoPro go? Well, 2.7K imagery (and even up to 4K in sub-FMV frame rates), almost universal mountability, and a toy-sized frame aren’t factors to mess around with in the action camera world. Similar offerings from competitors may actually have some advantages over the GoPro HERO3 line, though — and this is exactly what Kevin Good and Weapons of Mass Production have once again set out to evaluate — pragmatically, thoroughly, and entertainingly as usual! (more…)

Shoot a Film on Your iPhone, Control Canon DSLRs with an Android Tablet Monitor Rig

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:28:19 +0000

There’s no doubt that modern mobile technology has the capacity to streamline or benefit many aspects of filmmaking. Whether it’s the micro-video art emerging in social media, script supervision capabilities, lighting-fast previsualization softwares, or the surprisingly high-resolution video some phones and tablets can shoot (given what they are), there’s something to be said for their place in the industry. For goodness sake, modern smartphones are better at giving directions than my GPS navigator and shoot higher quality video than my first camcorder. With all that said, though, how far can things like the Apple iPhone or an Android tablet be taken down-and-dirty in the trenches of shooting? (more…)

Canon, Nikon, Sigma, and Tamron 24-70mm Lens Shootout: What's the Best Value for Your Money?

Dave Kendricken — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 03:16:44 +0000

Kevin Good over at CrisisLab has recently published a comparison of both higher end (Canon and Nikon) and less expensive (Sigma and Tamron) lenses common for various types of DSLR shooting — 24-70mm f/2.8 zooms. The test compares overall clarity, both at the center of each lens as well as at the edges, the quality of bokeh, the amount of vignetting, and the ability for internal optical image stabilization. The results of each test were weighted against the going price for each lens, in order to determine which possesses the best overall value. Read on to check out the video — and which lens may have the most bang for your buck. (more…)