The folks at Arri were the first to the party with their Alexa menu simulator, but now they have a menu simulator for their Alexa Plus.  

And Canon, not to be outdone by their former fellow Axis Power, has recently come out with a simulator of their own for the C300.  

And over at Abel, they’ve recently added the BlackMagic Cinema Balls Face Box to their Field of View Comparator (which I’m pretty sure isn’t a real word). Now you can finally put an end to the fiery debate you’ve been having with that punk DVXUser member over what your uncle’s sweet Canon FD lenses that you found in the attic would look like on an F65.

In case you don’t have 30 minutes to kill to watch the full review because it’s a Monday afternoon and you have like, a real job (PFFT), here are the results in a nutshell~  

Nikon D4 – $5995.95
- completely useless in video mode unless you’re shooting at 2.7x crop – FAIL

Nikon D800 – $2999.95
- produces the sharpest image of the three
- aliasing is worse than the 5DmkIII but better than the 5DmkII
- has clean HDMI out, allowing you to feed to an external recorder like the Sound Devices Pix240
- usable image up to 3200iso

Canon 5DMkIII – $3499.00
- images needs to be sharpened in post to compare to the D800
- performs the best when it comes to aliasing 
- ALL-I compression bests the Nikon’s at 90mb/sec
- usable image up to 6400iso


So you’ve got a mixed bag of pros and cons where no one camera stands out as THE MOST ULTIMATE CAMERA EVER CREATED. But then again, that’s electronics for ya. While you get a sharper image straight out of the camera with the D800, it’s at much lower bitrate than the Canon, which may screw you if you’re looking to do a lot in post. But then again, you could just go HDMI out of the Nikon into a recorder and get 220mb/sec Pro-res files, which would be miles better than the Canon. But then you suffer in low-light and aliasing performance. OH DECISIONS. 


There is something to be said though about where the industry stands when it comes to that question of “what camera should I buy?” My first HDSLR was that cute little Panasonic GH1, and I loved it. Especially with the bitrate hack, it was an awesome camera. But I ended up selling in lieu of the Canon 60D because, as much as I thought the GH1 was a better camera, Canons were what more people were using, and, more importantly, Canons were what clients were hiring.


If you’re looking to get a camera for your own personal use and make really really good looking sex tapes, then knock yourself out, get whatever camera you want. (I suggest Go-pros, they’re easy to hide) But if you’re working freelance, 9 times out of 10 clients are looking for Canon cameras. Whether it’s to work with B-cams or match something that’s already been shot. As a freelancer, the worst thing you can do is be a pain in the ass. And if you’re that guy who they and their editors have to make all these exceptions for because you’re shooting at a different codec or on different media or they have to rent rigs specifically for your camera body because the heights are different, chances are you’re not gonna get the job. 


BUT THE BIT-RATE IS HIGHER ON MY GH-13!!! Yeah, well, the number on my paycheck is higher, BOOM. Now bring me more cake.

Of course, things may change. I’m not saying don’t get anything other than Canon cameras. In a couple years, Brett Ratner may be shooting the Tower Heist/Rush Hour cross-over on that goddamn Black Magic Cinema Camera. WHO KNOWS? It’s just important to gauge where the industry is, especially if you’re looking to invest in a camera body with the intention of making it back in rentals~ 

From front to back, the handles are, of course, the Shape 15mm handgrips. The monitor is the SmallHD DP6 HDSDI, connected to the camera’s hot shoe via a noga arm. The follow focus is the Red Rock V1 follow focus (um, it’s like, totally vintage, okay?). The baseplate is a Chrosziel baseplate with a generic quick release plate. The shoulder pad is a Zacuto shoulder pad with quick release, and off the back is a generic V-mount brick on a Trusmt battery plate, which actually powers the monitor (and can power the camera body as well if need be).


What I like about this setup is that is that it’s pretty fantastically balanced. The weight of the camera in this setup sits close to your body, meaning the counterweight, in this case the V-mount battery, doesn’t need to extend five feet backwards backwards to properly act as a counter-balance. COMPARE:

The above Zacuto rig Alex was stuck with was probably a solid foot longer than mine. Of course, Zacuto doesn’t advertise the counterweight being so far back in any of their product photos, but this is actually how far back Alex needed to have the weight to make the rig remotely comfortable. 

If there’s anything I hate more than dead weight, it’s dead weight that has as a stupid ironic name, which is why I swear against products like the Zacuto Z-Lite. The way I figure it, if you’re going to put extra weight on your rig, it sure as hell better serve more purpose than just to be stupid and heavy. Although, to be fair, spinning around in place with this rig is the perfect way to say, “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY, I’M MAKING MOVIES.”


Perhaps I’ll add some retractable version of this feature in the Mk XXVIXIIVXIV.


In the meantime though, I’m racking my brain trying to come up with a single word that describes these rigs I put together while paying proper homage to my Asian heritage… OH WAIT.

—


Shot on:
- Arri Alexa w/ Panavision Primo and PCZ Lenses
- Arri 435 w/ Panavision Primo Lenses
- Canon 5D MkII (AS CRASH CAMS, PEOPLE, CRASH CAMS)

Also, what was Robin Sherbatsky doing in the Avengers? You stop that Robin, and just marry Ted already. 

Here’s the main shot we used it for, a macro shot of Cindy’s eye. This is on a Canon FD 50mm w/ 2x Extender on a Sony FS100. I’ll post a still from the final result when they get into post, but you can get an idea of the effect in the monitor above. That’s Travis Tips, the DP, grabbing focus because I was taking the above photo for this blog, which was obviously far more important. 


On the bottom left corner, you can also see a gobo arm that Cindy is leaning against. For shots like these where the focus is super shallow, this helps the actor keep their position. This technique is also useful for shots where an actor’s hand or other body part needs to land in a particular spot, like an XCU of giving someone the finger.


And speaking of tricks o’ the trade, Sachtler tripods make good monitor stands as well when you don’t have a free hand but you really really want a cookie. 

 I had a lot of cookies that day. 

K5600′s newest Joker has twice the output of it’s predecessor, the Joker 800, and can still run off a household outlet, HUZZAH. This means you can throw this baby up into the ceiling of your kitchen to justify eating an entire box of Lucky Charms at 11pm because it’ll look like MORNING.

The Joker 1600 comes in the two flavors users of the Joker 400 and 800 are all familiar with, the Bug-lite bare bulb version which adapts to lanterns and softboxes, and the Beamer swappable lens version.


But exclusive to the Joker 1600 is a new version called the Zoom Beamer, which uses no lenses because its housing is focusable like a typical fresnel unit. A Joker without lenses?! BUT NOW WHAT WILL I USE AS MY NOVELTY SIZED MONACLES??


// Litepanels – SOLA & INCA Fresnels

On the tails of Arri, Litepanels just debuted a line of LED fresnel units as well. They come in either tungsten (INCA) or daylight (SOLA) flavors, but there’s no bi-color option. Litepanels says it’s not possible based on their LED technology (BUT ARRI DID IT, SO FAIL, LITEPANELS, FAIL).


I will say though where these units excel over the Arri units is in how the unit focuses. On the Arris, when you spot and flood, instead of the lamp moving within the housing, the fresnel lens in front moves in and out, changing the actual length of the unit. So if you have gels or nets or flags set up close to the unit, spotting or flooding may become an issue in cramped situations, such as porto-potty confessionals. 


The Litepanels fresnels on the other hand spot and flood entirely within the unit like traditional fresnels.

Litepanels also debuted a kit for their popular Sola ENG lights, which are mini on board fresnel LED lights. They’re fully dimmable and focusable with an equivalent output of 250W unit while drawing only 30W.

The kit comes with three daylight units, gels, power cables, a softbox, and three Manfrotto nano stands, which are just like regular light stands… ONLY REALLY TINY.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE. Here you can see the p-tap power cable that lets you power them off battery plates. Because of their low draw, you’d have no problem running the camera and light off the same brick if need be. 

The softbox folds flat and just slots around the head of the unit, just like a regular chimera… ONLY REALLY REALLY TINY The whole three light kit ‘n kaboodle is $2995~ At that price point, can’t say it’s an incredible buy. Certainly not as versatile as some of the Arri softbank kits at the same/lower price, but it’s a hell of a lot more portable. They’d really be ideal for on location interview and event work, especially when you need more output than those dinky on-board panel LEDs.


// Kino-Flo – Celeb 200

Kino-flo also debuted an LED unit at NAB this year, forever disregarding the fact the word “fluorescent” is in their name.

With an output of a Diva 400 and drawing only 1 amp, the celeb 200 is dimmable DOWN TO THE DECIMAL. Finally I can tell my gaffer to give me .3% more output and he can’t sass me. 

It’s color temperature is also full controllable, and not only from tungsten to daylight, but green to magenta. And when you find a color you like, you can save it to a preset, the same way we all have 90s on 9 preset on our XM radios.

It ships with a gel frame, and two louvers which narrow the beam to different degrees. YOU CAN’T FOOL ME KINO-FLO, I know these things are just a rectangle frames filled with cut up boba tea straws…