The 14th annual Cine Gear Expo took place this past weekend in Hollywood, and this year's event undoubtedly included more low-cost film and DSLR accessories than any of the previous thirteen. I'm combing through all of the excellent event coverage by folks who were actually there, and sharing it here:
Cinema5D interviews Jacek from Optitek, who has a very interesting DSLR rig designed to defeat one of the main problems with DSLR rigs: front-heaviness. His rig has an electronic viewfinder, HDMI splitter, and baseplate that powers the camera from a full-size battery (which serves as a counterbalance). The setup isn't cheap and doesn't look to include an actual shoulder support pad, but it's one of the more innovative and feature-rich rigs I've seen:
DV Culture interviews Stephan Ukas-Bradley of ARRI about their new RED-killer ALEXA. Ukas-Bradley demonstrates the camera's ability to record ProRes straight to SxS cards:
Cinema5D interviews Canon's Tim Smith about their forthcoming "traditional" video cameras (as well as their DSLRs). "Should everything ever made be shot on a Canon 5D? Of course not:"
DV Culture interviews Alan Hoff of CineDeck. CineDeck is basically a monitor and SSD hard drive recorder in one, and would make sense on larger shoots where sizable (and hefty) monitors fit into the workflow. For example, on a shoot I was on yesterday we used a Panasonic BT-LH9000A, which is an 8.4" monitor with an Anton-Bauer battery mount on the back. The combined weight of monitor and battery was at least 10 lbs, so it wouldn't work on a handheld shoot, but as we were using it on the dolly cam, it was fine. This is the kind of situation the CineDeck is designed for:
Cinema5D interviews Kim Heath, who has created what basically amounts to a camera on a boompole (instead of a mic), which allows for great maneuverability. Because of the small size and light weight of DSLRs, "wherever you can put a boom mic, you can put a camera."
Could you see yourself using this on one of your productions? More to come from Cine Gear.
