Live From NAB:  The Oddest Trend This Year

You can’t swing a dead audio guy here at NAB 2009 without hitting a camera with a matte box.  Doesn’t matter how big or small it is - Red, Sony, Ikegami, Canon, Panasonic, JVC - everyone has GOT to have a matte box.  Funny thing is - almost to a one - they are all empty.

I bet they would work better with filters in them, huh?

Live From NAB:  An LCD Monitor You Can Actually See Outdoors

Anyone that has tried to view an LCD monitor in direct sunlight knows that just can’t be done, right?  Well, get ready to change your tune.  While wandering in a sun-blinded haze, I almost tripped over the C-stand holding the Nebtek NEB100HDS LCD Onboard Camera Monitor.  Once my eyes adjusted, I could barely believe what I was looking at - an LCD monitor, being hit directly by the blazing Nevada sun, with a very viewable, colorful image.  One of the things I am looking for at NAB 2009 is an LCD monitor with integrated vectorscope and waveform monitors, and while the Nebtek doesn’t have that exactly, it does feature a really cool “false color” exposure meter.  Basically, once you trigger the “false color” mode, everything on the monitor changes color to reflect it’s brightness - 10% IRE is blue, 50% is brown, 100% is orange, and over 100% is bright red (there are 12 steps and colors in all.)  While that isn’t exactly what I am looking for, I can certainly see the appeal.  The monitor will accept HD-SDI, component and composite analog video inputs, and the list price will be in the $3000 range.    You can learn more at the Nebtek website.

Live From NAB: More EX3 Alternative Media Choices!

Previously best known for those fabric hoods that NFL instant-replay referees stick their heads into (or shelter LCD monitors in bright light,) the folks at HoodmanUSA have jumped into the SxS-alternative-media business with both feet.  Their “RAW” SDHC memory cards and “SxSxSDHC” adapter card feature something a roll-your-own solution can’t - a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  With list prices at $50 for the adapter and $150 for a 16Gb SDHC card, Hoodman is charging a premium over other vendors, but is the guarantee worth it?  Time will tell.  Learn more at their web site.

Live From NAB:  When Is A Monitor More Than A Monitor?

While it is fun to gawk at all the “big iron” at an NAB show, I usually find the coolest stuff at the smaller booths.  Accessory maker Ikan is showing a wide range of gear, and the thing that caught my eye first was an LCD monitor that, in addition to providing great pictures and audio, will work with the LANC connector on Sony and Canon cameras to allow remote control of zoom, focus, record, standby, and several other functions.  The “Director” monitor can be either mounted on your camera or handheld, and it is when you hold it in your hand that you get a feel (pardon the pun) for how good the design is.  The zoom rocker falls under your right index finger, and you focus and roll tape with your thumb. The list price is $499, and you can learn more at the Ikan website.

Live From NAB:  EX3 Wide Angle Lens, And More!

If you have been following my ramblings of late, you have likely come to the belief that I like the Sony PMW-EX3 camera.  And you’d be right - I like it a lot.  It’s reasonably compact, it takes great pictures, the 1/2” imagers give back a large part of the depth-of-field that 1/3” chips took away, and to put the cherry on the sundae, it happily records 1080i pictures to ridiculously cheap media.  And it possesses a wonderful feature it’s older brother the EX-1 lacks - a removable lens mount.  But what good is a removable lens mount if there isn’t anything to replace the stock lens with?  I wandered into the (very large) Sony booth at NAB 2009 to find out.

And I was rewarded doubly.  The lens was mounted on an EX3 in the camera demo area, and shooting the models, toys and assorted props proved it to be quite usable both on the long end and the wide end.  I can easily see it being my #1 lens when I get outfitted with an EX3.  But that is just where the story started.  Giving the demo was Doug Jensen, author of Vortex Media’s “PMW-EX3 Field Guide” and its companion DVD, “Mastering the Sony PMW-EX3.”  He proved to be full of good information and good humor, and demonstrated the EX3 and its wide-angle lens with knowledge and aplomb.  Both Doug and his book and DVD prove that many equipment manuals really aren’t very good, and a little additional information from people who take the time to figure out the details can be a real help.

Live From NAB:  The Xtender!

Here’s a hint:  NAB 2009 is The Year Of The LED Light.  There are over a dozen different manufacturers here (and in the next few days I’ll tell you a bit about a whole bunch of them.)  But the problem with almost all of them is that they either screw to the top of your camera or slide into the shoe - and both of those places are dead-center on the axis of the lens.  This produces ugly, flat, boring lighting.  What you really want is to be able to get the light up and off to the side of the camera - and former news shooter Shawn Dennison has made it happen.

His product is called The Xtender, and it is magic.  Three joints on two lightweight-yet-sturdy arms make it possible to get that light around a foot in the air, or off to the right or left, or some combination of the two.  It’s a simple idea, elegantly executed, and reasonably priced to boot.  His website is www.xtender.tv - I recommend you give it a look!

An Inflatable Camera Bag?  It’s About Time.

I was doing a shoot at an airport last week when I was swept with waves of nostalgia. I remember way back in the 1990’s, when I was traveling by airplane on assignments frequently. Of course, it would have been suicide to bag-check a Betacam in anything less sturdy than an ATA-approved plastic cube, so to save all that bulk on the far end what I (and most other shooters I knew) did was to carry the camera on the plane. Of course, this approach wasn’t without it’s difficulties as well. I treated my camera as if it was a baby - for example, if I went to the bathroom, the camera did as well, and for the duration of the time the shoulder strap was wrapped around my leg to thwart “snatch & grab” thieves.

Once on board, the trick was to find an overhead compartment with an ample supply of blankets and pillows (remember them?) I would create a pillow and blanket “cocoon” for the prized camera, lay baby to bed, and spent the rest of the boarding time growling at other passengers to watch out for the baby. I can say this technique - while certainly invasive of the other passengers - always got me to the destination with an intact camera. I cannot say the same of checking the camera in the baggage compartment.

This gag wouldn’t work well these days, now that pillows and blankets are rare at best on commercial airliners. Petrol to the rescue! They have just announced their Inflatable Airline Bag (model number PIAB). It provides an air cushion for your precious camera, and claims to be large enough for “a full-size broadcast camera without disturbing the viewfinder and lens.” You inflate the bag with a tube that lives in an outside pocket, and the inner bladder is covered with soft fabric. GREAT idea!

It lists for $259, and should be available soon. Find more info at www.petrolbags.com .  And if you do happen to find yourself on the same airplane as me…stay away from my overhead bin!!

KIDDING!!!

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