In late April I ordered a Lux Falcon 12 carbon fiber boom pole from Lux Cinema, a U.S. based company. They claim to be the most affordable carbon fiber (also called graphite) boom pole and it’s true. The 12ft model cost me $150 (+$19 shipping). That is an incredible value! A comparable Gitzo 3560 would cost $330, a K-Tek KEG-150 would cost $472, and a Rycote G5-4M MKII would cost $490. Okay, those are the big boys… What about the real competitors for Lux Cinema? [...]
Wish I had something more interesting to report, but all I did was buy two Canon LP-E8 batteries for $44 with a coupon. That brings my total battery count to four, which should provide me with ample shooting time during the day and provide back-up in case I lose one. COST BREAKDOWN for this BLOG ENTRY: Previous balance: $4,928 Canon LP-E8 (qty 2) batteries $44 TOTAL: $4,972
I had no intention of purchasing these particular headphones. All I knew was that I wanted something for my sound engineer to use that was comfortable, light weight and had a female audio jack in the headphone itself. I found the AKG K 480 on eBay and put a bid on impulse. Surprisingly, I actually won them for $54 and $8 shipping. They are in terrific condition. These headphones seem to be $200 brand new. I received these a few days ago and have burned [...]
When I purchased my Canon 550D/T2i, I also purchased a Hoya 77mm UV 0 S-HMC filter. Even though it’s the best UV filter available, I thought I would do a quick test to see how it would degrade my image. I’m not worried about flare or ghosting because I’ve found the super multi coating on the filter really does work to minimize such things. My Canon 24-70mm came with a deep lens hood, which prevents such things from happening anyway. According to Hoya, there is [...]
Today is a quick update. I purchased a set of 4 MSE (Matthews Studio Equipment) orange cordura sandbags for $35. The previous owner never used them and gave me a good deal. They look like 25lb bags to me, which is more than enough to stabilize a light stand with a single bag. I’m not sure I actually want to fill it with sand. Pea gravel or river rocks might be better. I’ve never had trouble with sand, but I’m still a little paranoid of [...]
I received my reflector and holder arm yesterday night! Even though I am running low on funds, I decided to purchase this, because I can’t imagine not going in to production without the ability to bounce fill light on to my actor. Without a reflector of some kind, I’d be stuck shooting nothing but high key shots for all outdoor scenes and that would be… well, odd looking and inappropriate. I could go to the hardware store and buy white insulation board like they do [...]
Just a quick post. I bought a pair of Wells Lamont gloves for $5, it’s the basic economy version you see everywhere. I find they are just fine for handling hot lamps. I thought I’d need a pair of expensive insulated gloves, but my mom gave me a pair like these years ago and they were great. My old pair is really dirty (I did some yard work with them after it looked like I would never make a movie again) and so I decided [...]
I purchased a Mole-Richardson 2831 Baby Baby 1k Fresnel light for $235. A “baby” means that it is one size smaller than a traditional studio sized light. A “baby baby” means it is two sizes smaller than a traditional studio light. In other words, this is a 1k light in a 300 watt light body. Why do this? Well, smaller lights are easier to carry to location. I’ve had full sized studio lights and they do become a pain to carry around, especially now that [...]
I purchased a battery and a charger for my Lilliput 569GL 5” external monitor. I am using the SONY NP-F970 battery plate. I ordered a 6800mAh battery and charger straight from China. I wasn’t sure if it would be worth buying a Chinese knock-off, but then I got sticker shock from seeing the cost of the actual Sony product ($109 for battery + $98 for charger) and I changed my mind pretty quickly. The battery is very large! It weighs quite a bit in my [...]
Created another prop for episode one. My protagonist uses his mobile phone as a hacking device for remote entry assistance and I needed him to plug a high gain antenna in to it. I bought a 3.5mm plug and an antenna from China and super glued them together. Looks a lot better than I thought it would. I was afraid I’d need to get some heat shrink tubing to cover up the ugly area where they made contact, but I was able to cut the [...]