NAB ’12 – Shape, Red Rock, & MORE ARRI
I was super excited to visit the Shape booth over at NAB because I absolutely LOVE their handgrips. They don’t have an unnecessary amount of articulation (like the O-connor’s O-grips or the Zacuto ones), and because they use rosettes instead of a ball-and-joint lock, they’re rock solid. Plus they’re only $300!
They’re my zombie apocalypse weapon of choice (if I had to choose between parts of a camera rig to defend myself against zombies… otherwise my zombie apocalypse weapon of choice would be this sound cannon thing that can implode things). Aw man, if only there were some sort of establishment in Vegas that made available all my favorite zombie apoc- OH WAIT.
Their motors are actually smaller than Heden motors, and they say they perform just as well… SKEPTICAL.
I will say though, I’m not a big fan of their receiver design. On this and their remotes they use these buttons that feel like your grandma’s tv remote buttons after she wrapped it in 13 layers of plastic wrap because you kept spilling juice on it whenever you’d visit. There’s not much physical feedback to denote that it’s been pressed, and in the dark, the near-flush buttons may become hard to see.
Here’s an aks block that has a 1/4 20 and 3/8 16 taps to mount whatever your heart fancies to your MMB-2 (I use mine to arm out a mirror to make sure no zombies are attacking me from behind). This way you can get monitors a better distance away from your face as opposed having to crane your head back all the time like you’re avoiding the mouth of that girl at the club who more than likely has mono who’s trying to drunkenly make out with you. Plus it’s only $30! (the aks block, not the girl at the club)
HDMI cable locks are getting pretty popular these days, because it turns out people really like breaking HDMI cable. I KNOW I DO This makes Germans frown though, so here’s Arri’s cable lock system. What sets this apart from most is that it doesn’t mount flush to the body, which often blocks the other ports on the camera. Instead, it mounts to Arri’s DSLR cage. I for one have never been a huge fan of cages. I find it completely defeats the purpose of shooting on a small body~
SONAR VISIONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN