the editman.com

Gathering hardware is good but to store and transport them safely makes everything so much more useful. I'm fond of Lowepro's bags and I already got two of them - Computrekker AW plus and a Magnum AW650, but they still can't take everything so I got a Magnum DV4000 to cover the last pieces of equipment.

The DV4000 is not bigger than my Magnum AW650 but shaped a bit different and that suits the rest of my equipment. Tucked inside is my rod rig, mattebox, spare rods, skate dolly, two pan/tilt heads and some spare room for bits and pieces. It's not packed dens so not to heavy carrying.




As all Lowepro bags and many other brands camera bags, this one also has dividers that can be somewhat customized. I wish they could be even more flexible but it works. I like this kind of bags that are soft and still protects everything from bumps and moister. A rain cover is included and it's so easy pulling it out and you're protected!




On three sides there are pockets for all sorts of stuff. Side pockets are easy accessible without open the bag all the way so they are great when reaching for a spare part of some sort. There are rugged handles and a good shoulder strap to carry the load. Exterior is well padded and I think it would survive drops and bumps very well.

 


What's so great about this bag is I can have my camera on the rig and still tuck it inside for safe transportation. And there's still room for my skate dolly! After using Lowepros bags for many years I think they are well built and does a very good job of protection gear. There are other bags from Kata which I also like but the bigger ones I prefer Lowepros.

This is one odd little support for smaller cameras. It's a monopod on top of a tiny tripod. That's right! Now a tripod can stand on it's own and sure the 561BHDV can stand all by itself but I wouldn't trust it to do so without calculating it will eventually tip over.

Somehow it's a beauty to behold in it's simple form. On top of that double packed pod is a special version of the Manfrotto 701HDV head. You can't lock panning but there is a tilt lock. I guess the idea is to pan turning on the monopods shaft and holding the other hand at the handle of the head.



This head matches my 701HDV heads I have on my slider and on my main tripod, thus making it easy to slide the camera on and off which ever support I want. It's rated 4kg maximal load and that's borderline but works with my usual setup of just a 5D or 7D on top with lens attached.




The pole has 4 sections and can go really high for a monopod - 200cm and I tell you that is more than one will need. If I had a tilt able display I could shoot pretty high up and still see what I'm doing. But with the Canons you are stuck with a fixed display.



The three feet locks in position when folding them out and folds back easily. They are rugged and seams to last long. On top of the base is a small ball head and it can support the 561BHDV standing straight up.



Looks familiar right? Basically it's a 701HDV so just pop that quick release on and off on different supports.

I have to do some shooting before telling how well it performs. I love my other Manfrotto monopod with just a small tilt head but this one seams to be more versatile!

This is one of the smallest on-camera microphones for DSLR cameras. It will work fine on other video cameras also. My Audio Technica Pro24 is about the same size but it's a stereo microphone and has less features. I wanted a small one for my Canon 5D mkII when just having the camera and when I don't want to carry audio mixers and stuff like that. You have to turn down the level on the 5D mkII to about 25% to get a signal that is free of to much hiss. This microphone is hot enough when set to the "+" setting.



The Sennheiser MKE 400 has a small breath shield really and I opted to get the bigger wind shield at the same time. This packaged also includes a 3.5" to XLR adapter so I can plug this one in my JL DT454 or similar XLR capable mixers. When mounted on the hot shoe of the 5D mkII it feels like a nice combination. Small enough to avoid attracting to much attention. A run n gun microphone.



Between the hot shoe and microphone is a small rubber damping to avoid camera noise and the cable is just long enough to reach without any excessive cable hanging around the camera. It's battery powered and has a power switch on the side along with a sensitivity switch. The red LED will flash when switched on but there's no way telling it's on. If you run out of power it will just stop working.

About two years ago when the D90 was released I started building a DLSR rig for shooting video. It has been a rocky road trying out different cameras and rail systems. Finally something rise on the horizon. I have many parts from Proaim, Gini, Zacuto, Manfrotto, Easom, Berkey system and Shoot35. Now I don't believe one manufacture could have it all but I've found Shoot35 to be making excellent parts that's right on the money.

This picture illustrates almost how my final DSLR rig will look like. It has all the features I need and still is pretty small. I've seen many rigs that are just to complex and adds to much bulk and weight but this one is feasible.

Parts are from Easom, Berkey, Proaim, Manfrotto and Shoot35 on this rig but I plan on exchanging my Proaim mattebox to the Shoot35 one when it's released. Proaim is a budget brand and most parts are of poor or lesser quality. They will work to get you going but in the end you will upgrade. On the left side is a cage bracket from Easom and I decided to make my rig a one caged one. Just because it's easier to move parts around having only one bracket. When you hold this rig it feels so solid and adds just enough weight making it very stable to shoot, even handheld!

I'm working on a small add-on part to make this rig shoulder mountable. It's a padded shoulder piece that fits on the rear rods and a handle on the front rods.

To have this working on all my lenses which ranges from my smallest Zeiss 50 to my biggest 70-200L the front part of the rods are swapable to longer ones.The ones showed are the shorter lenght rods and they work for every lens except the 70-200L. I can slide the Manfrotto QR plate a good 60mm and this is the fastest way to adjust lenses to the follow focus unit. But adding longer rods gives me enough room for bigger lenses.

It's like a puzzle to put together a good rig. When you adjust for one feature you run in trouble with the next one so to figure out this rather uncomplicated rig took some time. Time well spent because I now know what work and what doesn't. I still like shooting with just the camera handheld or my favourite - on a monopod with or without a Z-finder. Lesser parts makes it easier to use.

I don't believe in over-pimping a DLSR rig and this seams to be spot on to me!

My camera slider has been in use for a couple of times and I just bought one of the smallest fluid heads to put on. It's a Manfrotto 701HDV and the same model as I have on one of my tripods. These heads are not for heavy cameras but since I don't plan to put anything heavier than a 5D mkII on, or a similar camera, it will work just fine.

I also wanted a rather small head to fit in my bag and one that has the same quick release as my tripod. This makes it very easy to go from tripod to slider. Now this head is far from the best ones but on the other hand Manfrotto is so well spread that parts are easy to get and many DSLR gears are built around a Manfrotto 577.




This makes the slider even heavier but as all things heavy has it's pros. It makes for very smooth pulls. It's all up to the operator if the slides are smooth because the slider it self never (so far) fail.

During a vacation trip to the southern part of Sweden - Skåne I took my 5D mkII, Canon 70-200/4 IS, Zeiss 35/2.0 and camera slider with me.

I captured some of the beautiful sights I saw and made this short piece showing this part of Sweden and some of my camera work using these lenses and the slider. The slider I have is the pro version from www.slidekamera.com.

A went a bit different this time with settings on the 5D mkII. I used higher shutter speeds to preserve as much detail as possible, avoiding motion blur. In my bag I even had a Fader ND but I'm leaving these to others. They take away to much sharpness even on shorter focal lengths It's better to have fixed ND but also more cumbersome or do what I did - raise the shutter.

I used Avid MC but didn't do any grading this time. All exposures is pretty much spot on and these days I seldom miss exposure because I know DSLRs very well after using D90, GH1, 7D and now 5D mkII.

The 5D mkII is such a great camera for both stills and video and I love the mix when having Zeiss lenses on. They are superior even to Canon L lenses I think.

Sadly I had a mishap with the Zeiss 35/2.0. It was in the backseat of the car and when I had to break hard it got a bump on the focus ring. It got stuck but when I came home I manage to make it work again albeit with an ugly bump on the ring...

This is my first wedding video shot with Canon DSLR cameras. I used two 7D and one 5D mkII. Lenses was all Canon L or Zeiss ZE lenses.

I started of six months pre wedding day to capture some of the things the couple were doing in preparations. A month before the wedding I did an interview with them and the whole concept is to have them tell the viewer about themselves and people around them tell.

As this job was to try out the concept I learned alot during the process. I started of shooting with Canon 7D cameras and got the 5D2 late in the game. If I would choose one camera to cover a wedding with, it would be the 5D2. Nothing bad about the 7D but there is something very beautiful about 5D2 images.

I did both still and video and this proved to be somewhat stressful to get both stills and video where I wanted it to be. Nevertheless I enjoyed making it and have tons of experience from such a day.

I used many of my gadgets. My selfmade skate dolly, two different camera sliders, Manfrotto monopod and tripods, Juicedlink preamps, Sennheiser and Audio Technica microphones, JAG35 cage and stuff I can't remember. A monopod and decent head is the most used support I've used and it's just so great and versatile to use. It's light and small, doesn't get in the way and takes the stress out of hand held shooting. I have dipped my toes into steadicam but I don't feel at easy with the complex setup. Maybe an easy one like Merlin will suit me fine.

Avid MC was used to edit it together and final output was PAL DVD. Everything shot in 1080p25.

I got another microphone from Audio Technica - the AT875R. It's one of the shorter shotgun mics and this one is more sensitive compared to the AT897 or PRO24. One undocumented feature of many DSLR cameras with video capability is that they do have plug in power to power a small microphone. What's great about these Audio Technica microphones is they can run on very low voltage and still deliver sound.



I admit I'm fond of how Audio Technica mics sound, I like them because they sound natural. They can run on low voltage and they are not super expensive. I'm planning to use this on mounted together with the JAG35 and Sennheiser G2 wireless lav to capture speeches at weddings or as a sync/backup mic when having a sound guy on set. But they even work mounted with the PRO24 hot shoe mounte which is rubber dampened to avoid to much pick up from camera operator sound.

A friend of mine has a Sennheiser MKE400 on his 5D mkII and this is the smallest mic I've seen on a DSLR. But I don't think you can power it from the camera and it's so easy to forget to turn it on. The AT875R has no switch. As long as it's connect and has plug in power it works. Compared to the PRO24 I can turn down the gain inside the 5D mkII half way and still have the same volume with much less hiss from the cameras noisy pre amps. I guess once plugged into the DT454 I will get very good sound quality.

I had to try rods from Shoot35 and got four 15cm rods. They all have one end male threaded and one female threaded so that you can extend as you please.

In my toolbox I have many different rods. Some are thinner and some are wider. These rods are on the slightly wider end but still fits all 15mm clamps and blocks. If I compare these with rods from Gini I like the Gini better. They are better machined but both work great and if I didn't known about Gini I would think they are great. You can screw both Gini and Shoot35 rods together but not mix these. The threads are not the same sadly.

The best rods I've encountered are the ones from Berkey System. They on the other hand does not screw together but fit and finish is topp notch with all Berkey System hardware. I have many things from Shoot35 and besides other brands can have better things I think the strength at Shoot35 is that all things they do make are of great quality at a decent price.

I have Zacutos Zipgears for six of my lenses. These are expensive and I've asked myself are they worth it? Really there was no choice before Shoot35 came with their version called FLEXIgear. Seams similar right? Well they are very similar yet not entirely. Zipgears have two parts which holds the gear strip together, the FLEXIgear has a one piece lock and it's much easier to assemble.

The FLEXIgears are stiffer than Zipgears and I tightened just a turn to have it stick perfectly onto the Canon 70-200/4 lens and it's broad rubber ring.



I have tried lens gears that are bulky and screws onto the lens barrel from all angles and they are nothing I would like to use again. Zipgears or FLEXIgears are much better but the Shoot35 version is cheaper and feels better to adjust and assemble!