Zacuto Control Grip - ENG Camera Killer?

I hung around the Zacuto both at NAB for a couple days to see the new Control Grip and Z-Motor, but, according to the NAB entry on the Zacuto News & Events page, the grip "didn't make it due to some last minute tweaks for Zacuto's high quality standards".

The Zacuto crew were very nice and very apologetic (shout out to Megan Lally, EVP for Sales & Marketing for the free t-shirt), but I wasn't able to see the grip. But enough about me.

The Control Grip and Z Motor did make it down to CineGear last week - and here's another great video from Nate Weber of newsshooter.com, this time with Steve Weiss of Zacuto, pitching the new products:





After seeing this, it seems to me that broadcasters will be a lot less likely buy a traditional $12,000 ENG camera like the Panasonic AG-HPX600 (pictured above, with the big red "X" through it - subtle, eh?).

With a $5500 Dual Pixel Autofocus Canon C100, a $799 Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 for low light plus a $2699 Canon 28-300mm f3.5-5.6L or a $2499 Canon 70-200mm f2.8L for telephoto, stations will still have about $3000 left to buy a rig, control grip and z-motor - while staying under the price of the ENG camera.

At the end of the day, this means cinema quality Super 35 images for local TV broadcast, with the ease of use of ENG.

As this 2012 piece from tvtechnology.com suggests, 3CCD ENG camera sales have been declining for some time due to the advent of CMOS DSLRs, prosumer camcorders and relatively inexpensive large sensor cinema cameras such as the Canon C100/300.  But the last bastion of the old guard has been the fast autofocusing shoulder mounted ENG camera.  After watching this video, it seems to me that traditional ENG camera sales are destined to drop even faster.

The Zacuto Control Grip and Z-Motor haven't been released yet, but when they are, they'll be available at the Zacuto stores on Adorama and Amazon.

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Studio Ring Light or Ring Light for your Rig? The F&V R-300 is Both!

Last month at NAB, I was a "one-man band" - shooter, gaffer, interviewer, sound person, editor etc. I learned a lot about shooting events solo - enough to know that I had almost the right rig for the job.

If I ever do this again, I will need the Panasonic 12-35 f2.8 lens or some other fast autofocusing, low light glass. The focus motor on the old Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 just isn't fast or accurate enough (you'll see that in the interview at the bottom of the post with F&V North America Manager Connor Hartnett).

That said, my DIY rig worked well - especially the new ring light I bought for the show.

That light is the $199 F&V R-300, and it is easily the best lighting investment I've made in 35 years of video and moviemaking. I love my Stellar Ring Light - but the F&V is better - because it is dimmable, has easy-to-use magnetic clip on filters for both diffusion ($25) and tungsten color balance (included) - and it is powered by one $8.50 Sony FP-V550 battery (or by 12V input from an AC adapter if you want to plug it in).



The R-300 is smaller than the Diva and much more portable - both in the studio and in the field.  Here it is on the front of my DIY rig, attached with the $40 F&V rail mount.



This setups gave me great light and lots of flexibility. It was also a lot more convenient than having an LED mounted on top of the camera. Several folks stopped me on the show floor to ask me about the R-300 and I sent them over to the F&V booth. Here's the interview with Connor, where he talks about the R-300, a new R-300 softbox as well as some of their other new products:



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Blackmagic Studio HD Camera Now Shipping for $1995 from Adorama!

I saw Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty demoing the new Blackmagic Studio Camera at NAB - and it produced fabulous images in a studio setting (which is what it is for). For low budget web, cable and broadcast production, this camera is an incredible value for the money. With a couple of these cameras lenses, mics and a switcher you'll have the basics of a live production setup for around $10,000 - a fraction of the cost of a single traditional broadcast camera, such as the $87.5K Sony HCD 2000 Studio Camera.

It is interesting that Blackmagic has been able to start shipping the Studio Camera so soon after NAB. This augurs well for an early (or, at least, on time) ship date for the Blackmagic Ursa - which I am much more interested in, as an amateur cinematographer.

It will also be interesting to see whether prices on traditional cameras start coming down in reaction to this camera. The big manufacturers in this market have already seen their profits in this market segment decline over the past few years. This will probably drive a few of them out of this line of business.

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Making "Big Hollywood" Production Values More Accessible - Exclusive Interview with Eric Kessler

The place for the cool people to hang out at NAB this year was clearly the well-stocked bar between the Zacuto and Kessler booths.

The biggest crowds I saw at the show were at GoPro - the most ostentatious displays were at Sony, Canon, Blackmagic and RED - and the Vegas showgirls were at the booths of companies I'd never heard of (which is why the showgirls were there) - but if you wanted to see Philip Bloom holding forth or see Steve Weiss showing a shoulder rig to Vincent Lafloret or meet Eric Kessler, this was the place to be.

I didn't get a chance to meet Phil or Steve or Vincent, but Eric Kessler took a few minutes with HCR to describe some of their latest products and talk a little about Kessler's mission.





I was really impressed by what I saw at the Kessler booth.  I've been saving up for a slider and thought about settling for one of the low-end models.  But my conversation with Eric convinced me that it would be better to wait a little longer and buy something that will last a lifetime.

If you're in the market for a high quality slider, jib or camera support system - and anything here has helped you to make a decision to buy Kessler products, please visit the Kessler Crane Storefront on Amazon or click on one of the display ads below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help keep posts like this coming.  Thanks!

New Product from NAB - Affordable Multi-Axis Stabilizers from Big Balance

So I see a gentleman in Flava Flav-style white framed sunglasses racing around the show floor in a motorized wheelchair, followed by another guy "flying" a very small handheld gimbal. Okay, so my interest is piqued.

I start following these two to see where they're going. Turns out they're headed back to the booth for Big Balance Technology - an exciting new player in the multi-axis gimbal market.

With the introduction of the $15K MoVI 10, the $5K MoVI 5 and the $1.8K Defy last year - plus the proliferation of brushless gimbals we're starting to see on 'copters (such as the Zenmuse Z15), there are lots of gimbals at NAB this year. For years, I've dreamt of smooth, gimbaled Hollywood-style motion from a 2 or 3-azis stabilizer, but I hadn't planned to stop by any of the gimbal manufacturers' booths this week, because there was no way I could afford a powered stabilizer - or so I thought.

Enter Big Balance. A new Hong Kong company with a presence in the US and Europe. They saw the opportunity to bring multi-axis gimbal technology down from the high-end to smartphones, action cams, small and large interchangeable lens cameras - and this year they're at NAB, planning to ship their products in June. Prices start at an unbelievable $220 for their "Gazelle" 2-axis smartphone stabilizer.

Here's my interview with Larry Reich from Big Balance with a demo of the $995 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera on a $750(!) Big Balance Gorilla stabilizer. I was so impressed,I forgot to pay attention to holding focus on Larry:




For smartphone and action cam filmmakers, this is a no-brainer. They should buy the Husky and the Mustang as soon as they are available.

For compact cam and DSLR/DSLM filmmakers, it's a little more money - but still worth it - especially for BMPCC owners (like me) who are frustrated by how hard it is to hold the camera steady.

If you have been on the fence about buying the BMPCC because you have been concerned about image stabilization - it may be time to pull the trigger.

Bear on the loose - no, it's not the Russians, it's the Blackmagic Ursa!

This morning at NAB, while I was still enroute, Blackmagic dropped their latest bombshell. Two new cameras, the Studio Camera and the Ursa, for the pro TV and cinema markets. Hard to believe that the Ursa is $6495 for the PL mount version and $5995 for the EF mount version. Global shutter, Super 35 sensor, 12 stops of DR, a built-in 10' monitor, and dual CFast RAW or ProRes recording.

Unlike some other bloggers, I am not upset that they didn't fix their existing cameras first. Disruptive companies disrupt. That's what they do. I have a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera - it is an imperfect camera, yes - but for the image quality it produces, it is still a great value for the money.

That said, unfortunately for Sony, the specs on this camera sound a lot like the specs on the $29,000 F55.

Between the A7s' externally recorded 4K and the Ursa, it has already been a bad week for Sony - and it's only Monday.

I am waiting to see the price for the HDMI Ursa - the DSLR/DSLM "dock" that will turn cameras like the Panasonic GH4 and Sony A7s into cinema production cameras.

If you want to get on the waiting list for the Ursa (and knowing Blackmagic, you want to get on the list early, because it is likely to be a long wait), please click on the links above or the display ad below. It won't cost you anything extra, and it will help keep updates like this one coming. Thanks!

Final Rig Configuration for NAB 2014

The last piece of my "Frankenrig" arrived on Saturday - so here's the final configuration I'll be using for interviews and B roll on the show floor at NAB.

Instead of a static picture, as in my first post on "Frank", I shot a short video to point out all the pieces/parts - and try out my new Audio Technica AT8004L handheld mic (on sale for $89 plus shipping right now at Adorama).

This setup is for shoulder-mounted work and not really for mounting on a tripod, due to oscillation. But the ability to mount it on the tripod will still be convenient for interviews (and for giving my shoulder a rest).

And, given that it's NAB, there will probably be plenty of people with huge cameras and tripods walking around - so I won't look too strange.

If you have a mirrorless camera with an EVF, and you'd like to build your own in-line rifle style rig, the parts list is in the display ads below - or you can go directly to the video and order from the links in the "About" section.

Hope to see you at NAB!

A Reminder of What Has Sony (and Canon) Worried - Adorama Reviews the Panasonic GH4!

Panasonic DMC-GH4 with DMW-YAGH Pro Audio-Video Interface - $3298
Click Here or on the Photo to Order 

While we wait for Sony NAB 2014 Press Event (less than an hour away as I write this), here's a reminder of why Sony is (may be) in such a rush to introduce a 4K interchangeable lens mirrorless camera - the enthusiastic reception that the 4K $1698 Panasonic GH4 is getting.

Adorama TV has just released another positive GH4 review - with example scenes from different shooting scenarios - to include recording to an Aja Ki Pro Quad (with the usual caveat that you can't tell a lot from YouTube compressed video).

And there's a lot more on the DMW-YAGH audio video interface (which the reviewer calls a "breakout box") and on the camera's ergonomics when it is combines with the YAGH and an external recorder.

Here's the video:



This is a great reminder of the high bar that Sony will have to clear if they want to compete with the GH4. With any luck, I can get my hands on both cameras at NAB and tell you all about it.

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World's First Full Frame 4K Camera? Watch Sony NAB Announcement Live!

Sunday Night, April 6th, at 2PM Pacific, 5PM Eastern and 10PM London time, Sony will hold its annual NAB Press Event. The rumor sites are pretty much all reporting that the company will announce an "A7s" 4K full frame video/still camera.

Full frame is nice, but we'll have to see whether the new camera's codec and connectivity measure up to the GH4's.

Sadly, I don't get to Vegas until Monday night, but Sony will live stream the event - so we can all watch it right here on HCR!


EDIT: Okay, okay - it's the world's second full frame 4K camera (after the very expensive Canon 1D C). That said, it is likely to be the world's first full frame 4K camera that many people can afford.