It’s a good time to be a camera guy. Three years ago, who would have
thought that soon you’d be able to buy a camera that shoots 1080i for
less than $10,000? Whether you’re working strictly indie or as part of
larger productions, you’ve never had so many lightweight, low-cost
options for getting your picture in the can, onto tape, or saved to
disk. Camera support is evolving, too, with vendors at shows like
Burbank’s Cine Gear Expo and New York’s Cine Equipment show helping
keep your shoot mobile, flexible and efficient. Here’s a catalog of
some of the coolest camera-related gear we’ve seen lately.
It doesn’t matter so much how many pixels you have when you don’t have
time to lay the tracks you need for a smooth camera move. Whether
you’re shooting film, DV or HDV, The P+S Skater Mini
camera dolly is designed to make set-up for small-scale tracking moves
a painless experience. Holding up to 60 pounds worth of camera, the
Skater offers a friction tilt head attached to three skateboard-style
tracking wheels. The three wheels can be easily adjusted to move the
dolly in any direction, or to execute a precise circular track around
an object you’re shooting. The camera can tilt up to 20 degrees forward
or back, or up to 30 degrees with an optional rocker. It will run you
$6225 in its basic configuration.
Lens adapters for connecting 35mm lenses to video cameras have been an
important part of many production arsenals, since they allow you to
capture a film-style image to a 2/3-inch or 1/2-inch camera. The
P+S Technik Mini35 system hooks up the Canon XL
series, the Sony HVR-Z1, and the new JVC GY-HD100, among others. The
Mini35 breakout box distributes power to the lens adapter, camera and
accessories, and also outputs video to a viewfinder and additional
monitor.
Pretty Fly for a Camera Guy
Garrett Brown of Steadicam fame designed the
SuperFlyCam, which is billed as the world’s lightest
flying 35mm camera system. The SuperFlyCam, which is now sold and
trademarked by Top Hat Productions, is supplied with a modified Arri 2C
camera from ultra-lightweight specialists SL Cine and a 17-35mm Century
precision zoom. A 27-68mm Panavision lightweight zoom lens is available
on request, and other lightweight primes and anamorphics are balanced
to order. The camera is controllable, including lens control and
pan-and-tilt, by a Preston MDR-II system and wheel box. The total
weight of a system is just under 40 pounds— it’s designed for
deployment between structures that couldn’t hold a heavier system. To
date, the system has flown 1200 feet and has already been used on a
handful of films, including The Brothers Grimm,
Stay, Glory Road,
Forgotten and Without a Paddle,
but it’s only now being aggressively promoted to filmmakers.
Yet Another Aspect Ratio
If you’re trying to get a specialized lo-fi look without resorting to
digital video, you may have considered Super 8, which offers the grain
and texture of film along with instant street cred. If you have,
Burbank’s Pro8mm is betting you might be interested in a widescreen
version of the format. That’s why the company developed
MAX-8, a widescreen version of its Classic Pro Super
8 camera. MAX-8 works by extending the image-recording area of the
Super 8 negative to include the area that generally holds an optical
soundtrack. The gates in both the camera and the Rank Cintel film
scanner back at Pro8mm headquarters have to be modified for the
format’s new 1.58:1 aspect ratio. (It’s not exactly 16:9, but it’s
getting close.) Who’s using it? According to VP of Marketing Rhonda
Vigeant, the Fox 2000 production of The Devil Wears
Prada, which shot on location in New York City and stars Anne
Hathaway and Meryl Streep, rented two MAX-8 cameras. If you want to buy
one, it will set you back $2995.
Going Direct to Disk
nNovia has worked closely with Hitachi on its tapeless camera systems,
including the Z-DR1. The company’s line of digital video recorders
supports connection to an external 12V battery via the Anton Bauer
gold-mount battery system. On the one hand, attaching a big battery
makes your recording device bulkier and heavier. On the other hand, it
offers a dramatic improvement in life— more than seven hours of digital
recording, or about five hours if you’re recording via the analog input
on the nNovia QuickCapture A2D and digitizing to
disk. The basic QuickCapture recorder comes in capacities up to 100 GB
($1599), while the A2D version adds analog-capture capabilities in
capacities up to 80 GB ($1799). These little boxes would make ideal
workmates for the new generation of HDV camcorders, so the big news on
the nNovia front is that HDV support will be added early in 2006.
Shining Technologies is already on the market with an HDV-recording
solution, the CitiDISK HDV — the company’s first
product. The company aims to be highly competitive on price, with its
80 GB recorder selling for an estimated street price of $879 and a 100
GB version for $949.
The Big Picture
How about a zoom-through, or afocal, wide-angle lens adapter that looks
like a filter? The Red Eye wide-angle adapter from
VF Gadgets weighs less than 3.5 ounces and threads onto the front of a
lens (58mm, 72mm, 77mm or 82mm thread mount) equipped with autofocus,
macro, or back-focus adjustment. The adapter uses a high-clarity
optical material to reduce the size and weight of the lens, and the
small form factor means It can be used with existing lens hoods and
matte boxes. The.7x version increases you’re angle of view by 30
percent, while the.5x adapter should increase it by 50 percent. Just be
sure to check it with your equipment before you purchase— you may need
to use a macro or back-focus adjustment to bring the image into view.
(It may work with wide-angle film lenses, as well.) Depending on your
camera, you may even be able to zoom with the adapter in place, as long
as you’re using auto focus. Prices range from $355 for a 58mm adapter
to $495 for an 82mm.7x adapter.
Got a Light?
Finally, LitePanels released a new LitePanels Mini DV
battery-adapter plate that runs a LitePanels Mini head for up
to eight hours off of two standard Sony, Panasonic or Canon DV camera
batteries. That makes the LitePanels Mini a self-contained lighting
source rather than a light that needs to be connected to heavy battery
packs — which may be exactly the advantage you need to get that special
shot in a really, really tight space.
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