My GH3 Rig for NAB

I finally broke down and bought a set of rails. I'll be doing some one-man band interviews and B-roll with my GH3, Sigma 18-50mm constant f/2.8 lens, Audio Technica AT835b mic and Hosa MIT-156 XLR to 3.5mm transformer adapter at NAB next week, and since I'll be putting a new F&V R-300 LED Ring Light in front of the camera, I needed a set of rails.

The least expensive option I could find was a set of $21 40cm/16-Inch rods with end caps, a $30 camera mounting plate, a $30 quick release, a $23 RainbowImaging pistol grip, a $7.50 Pixel remote cable for Panasonic cameras and a $35 convertible shoulder pad/shotgun rest.

Please subscribe to the blog to catch my updates from NAB next week - and I'll definitely let you know how the new rig works out!

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Has Arrived!

It's here!  I've been out of town for the past couple of days, so I haven't had a chance to unbox it, but looking forward to getting it powered up and ready to shoot.  All of the accessories I need are here - except for the step-up ring I need to mount the ND filter, which should arrive in the next few days - so I'll stick to interiors for now.

In the meantime, my $27 Kamerar 20cm Hot Shoe Extension came in, and Professor Tu was right.  This is a great way to mount multiple accessories.  I especially like the way he tilted the external recorder back, making it easy to monitor sound levels from behind the camera.  For cameras such as the EOS M, Pocket Cinema Camera and GH3 (whose sound meters disappear after a few seconds of recording), this is essential.

Fortunately, the Pocket Camera and the GH3 both have headphone jacks (unlike the EOS M), so it's not a problem that my recorder doesn't have separate line and headphone outputs.  I do wish that this was a more common feature, however, and I'll never buy another recorder without separate output jacks.

Here are a couple of pics of my "poor man's rig" with the GH3, pistol grip, $27 hot shoe extension, $160 Tascam DR-40 , $29.90 CoolLCD top handle, with my $75 used eBay AT835b mic and $32 Windtech MM-21 mic muff mounted on a $25 Campro Deluxe Shock Mount.  I can remove the whole thing from the camera by unscrewing it from the hot shoe and removing the Sescom cable between the recorder and the camera, the setup costs less than a cage would have, it works like a champ and I look forward to trying it on the Pocket.

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