Gear Round Up – August 2013

There’s quite a bit happening in the video production world, especially gear. Every company is pushing the limits to make better cameras, better glass and more comfortable rigs. Here’s the inside scoop on what’s hot and new this month.

Cameras

Now there isn’t a new camera but Black Magic Design has dropped the price of their Cinema Camera significantly. How significant you ask? $1,000! The camera is now selling for $1,995. There is still some quirks to overcome and accessories to buy, but for $1,995 this needs to be considered when looking for a camera.

I have a feeling that the price drop has something to do with the fact that the Canon 7D now has a RAW hack. Magic Lantern is known for hacks for the DSLRs to give them tons of features but shooting RAW is the most impressive. The have it available for the 5D Mark II and the 7D is the next in line. There is talk that the resolution may only be 1728×972 which isn’t quite 1920×1080. This should also be able to get to you continuous recording. Here are two examples that showcase the RAW capabilities:

Foldable Rig

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the new foldable rigs made by Zacuto at NAB and they are now available. What is great about these rigs is that they fold up. You can easily fold into a book bag or suitcase when traveling. When it unfolds, it becomes a lightweight and stable rig. A perfect rig for DSLR cameras and when you add a viewfinder to it, you get more stability and a great way to see what you are shooting. I was surprised to how stable the rig is, but it won’t work for every situation. If you need to add accessories to your rig this won’t be the one for you but for run and gun situations, these is a great asset. Here’s a video from Zacuto outlining all the features.

Foldable DSLR Rigs: Enforcer and Marauder from Zacuto on Vimeo.

That’s all we got for this month be sure to check back next month for the next gear round up.