Live From NAB: The SkyDolly

Another aerial-themed post:  As Jim Feeley and I walked past the Silicon Imaging booth, I couldn’t miss the 3-foot fan mounted to the back of what looked like a race car seat.  Upon further inspection, it turns out that this is the cockpit for a powered parachute operated by Norm Bercerra, founder of SkyDolly.  Basically, the powered parachute frame has a hand-made weatherproof camera case mounted to it, but what makes it special is that the camera is actually controlled by radio control from the ground by another operator.  This leaves the pilot able to concentrate on flying the chute.  Early shoots have used the Silicon Optics Mini 2K camera (which shot “Slumdog Millionaire,” 2008’s Best Movie Oscar winner.)  I love the inventiveness involved in this product!  Learn more at their website.

Live From NAB:  A Video Helicopter For $300?

I love the odd finds at NAB.  You can get highly sophisticated massage chairs, straps that keep your spine straight, a brain massager fetchingly named “The Tingler” and more, but at least the DigitTronics video helicopter might conceivably qualify as a video tool.  The one on sale here features counter-rotating lift blades (no tail rotor), 2.4Ghz wireless control, and a tiny wireless video camera that has a claimed range of 1000 feet (best practice:  divide that by 10.)  Still, for a show special price of $299, it had a long line of potential pilots pulling out the plastic.

I’ve been flying radio-controlled fixed-wing planes for quite a while, and the one piece of wisdom I can offer is this:

“You can trim a plane to fly itself, but a copter is always trying to kill you.”

But give it a shot.  I might.

PS:  Don’t hate me for the video - I shot it with a Canon still camera.

Live from NAB:  The Numbers Are In

According to an NAB mailing entitled “Organizers deem NAB Show a success despite tough economy”....

FTA: 

“Attendance for this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas is 83,842 compared the roughly roughly 104,000 for the 2008 edition. But organizers called the event a “phenomenal success” given the down state of the economy. “We appreciate the strong support of both exhibitors and attendees who continue to make The NAB Show the most important annual event for the electronic media marketplace,” NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said.

Well, it certainly could have been worse.  I actually enjoyed having less competition to see products, but I doubt that is the attitude of many exibitors.

Live From NAB:  I Get To See The Inflatable Camera Bag!

Regular readers might remember this post a few weeks back about Kata announcing an inflatable camera bag, to protect your baby in the overhead compartment during commercial airline flights.  Well, today I got to see the prototype.  It looks a lot like the Michelin Man, and it does appear that it would do a great job of protecting a camera.  I can’t wait to see the production version.

UPDATE:  Did you notice?  I got my Kata’s and Petrols mixed up!  Sorry about that - today I’ll go look at the REAL Petrol inflatable bag!!  The Kata does look cool, though.

If You Are In the Las Vegas Convention Center And Hungry…

If you eat in the LVCC, you are going to pay thru the nose.  That’s just the way it is.  Better to spend your dough on some decent, Kosher deli, right?  Uncle Joel and Darryl’s New York Deli is located near the back end of the Central Hall.  I paid about $14 for a enormous Reuben, potato salad, a pickle and a drink.  Not free, to be sure, but you can spend a lot more and get a lot less, I assure you!  Highly recommended.

Live From NAB: The EX3 Gets A Shoulder Mount…

For all of the nice things that can be said about Sony’s PMW-EX3 camcorder, one of the primary gripes I hear is about is the form factor.  Shooters that are used to a camera that sits on their shoulder can have a very hard time adapting to the Canon XL-esque shape of the EX3.  Those moans have not gone unheard, apparently.  While walking through the Anton-Bauer booth here at NAB 2009, I stumbled across the DM-Accessories EX3-Shoulder.  It is a shoulder mount that is built of very stout aluminum parts, with comfy foam padding underneath.  The reason it was being shown at Anton-Bauer was that it had an A/B Dionic battery mounted on the rear.  When I put the EX3 on my shoulder, it still felt a bit nose-heavy, but then the salesman flipped open the back plate, moving the battery back and balancing the center of gravity almost perfectly. 

It may look a little funny, but it really works.  DM-Accessories sells the EX3 Shoulder and other cool stuff through their website.

Live From NAB: Get A Handle On Your Camera

There aren’t too many cameras out there that make everyone happy right out of the box.  Sometimes you have to adjust things to make the camera feel like it is “your own.”  A Danish company called Ugrip has come up with a very cool system of plates and handles for just about every camera in use today.  Once installed, the systems allow many places to mount handles, accessories or even mounting boxes for devices like Firestore drives.  The handles are particularly clever; by loosening an Allen screw in their base you can gimbal the padded handle through a large range of motion.  Ugrip parts can be purchased ala carte, or in pre-packaged kits for specific cameras.  You can learn more at the Ugrip website, or at B&H Photo/Video’s website.

Live from NAB:  Get That Car Shot…

There are few contemporary movies where at least some of the action doesn’t take place in a car.  Of course, when Hollywood does it, they do it big, by mounting the car on a trailer and allowing cameramen, gaffers and such to rig the cameras, lights and such to hardpoints on the trailer.  Unfortunately, most of us aren’t in that position, and to the rescue comes Delkin Devices.  Their Fat Gecko Camera Mount features two locking suction cups attached to a short arm that adjusts to point the camera in the right direction.  With a weight limit of 8 pounds, you won’t be mounting an Arriflex on it, but there are hundreds of video cameras that fit under that limit.  (Of course, let’s not be stupid - you should safety-cable the camera in case of trouble.)  The Fat Gecko was on sale for $80 at the B&H Photo booth, and you can find out even more at the Delkin Devices website.

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