So, I got up at 4 AM to peep this “game-changing” gear. Was hoping it was focusing gear. There’s still plenty advancement room in that area. However, it’s just a dope stabilizer called the MōVI. It’s light, small, and easy to use. I’m not sure how something $7,500 could be “game-changer” but I agree it is a nice step forward in the stabilization area. Not every DP has a need for a steadicam but when they do and have the budget I can see how this would make things a lot easier. Is $7,500 worth upping your production value slightly for stabilized shots?
I’ve talked about the previous RetroN consoles here before, including the SupaBoy that I own. The Retron5 has added a slew of new features including bluetooth controllers, HD upconverting via HDMI, save-states at anypoint, and much more. Hit the link to check them out. This console will be released “sometime after June”.
I recently bought a laptop to edit video away from my home workstation. During my research I came across the HP Elitebook. With an SSD drive and a NVIDIA Quadro video card, it’s the way to go. It’s cheaper than a MacBook Pro and is comparable spec-wise. There are bulkier more robust laptops out there comparable to my home station that will run you upwards of $5,000 but for under $3,000 the HP is it. Check it out.
Wireless cubes that measure temperature, humidity, noise, light, air quality, and barometric pressure, and continuously stream the data to a smartphone app. The app then analyzes the information and sends notifications telling you when to turn on the light, humidify the room, etc., with the goal of increasing your productivity.
Film yourself while playing sports or anything else. I have plenty of questions and plenty of ideas to make this better but this is a great step towards the inevitable.
Tom Baker has come up with an idea for using air as dolly tracks. For $250 you have the chance at buying one early via Kickstarter. If I had use this for this it would be great. Check it out here: Kickstarter
You can pair this bluetooth lightbulb with your iPhone (soon Android) and control brightness as well as color. You can’t directly control color temperature (like cinema lighting) but you can control color as in RGB values. Again, the LED quality itself is pretty poor and far from cinema quality but it may be neat to have low quality accents here and there on a film set. It also may be good as a sort of director’s viewfinder for a cinematographer who quickly wants to see how different color accents look before loading up gels (a stretch). I know this is probably intended for home use where the majority of people don’t mind low quality light but once LED technology advances I’d love to see the cinema lighting automation market take off. Litepanel is still light years away .
Magic Lantern Firmware has finally arrived for the Canon 7D. It’s not yet Beta so be careful. I put it on my 7D’s over the weekend and quickly tested it. Magic Zoom and Crop Marks are the only real features that I needed from ML and for that this is worth it. Unlike other Magic Lantern Firmwares you cannot change the bitrate. That would be a killer feature but I’m okay without it.
A new Slingbox model enters the, now crowded, world of place-shifting. I own the previous model which I think is still the market leader. The new model hasn’t been announced by Sling Media yet but it has been spotted in a Best Buy (not on sale). The new model promises 1080p streaming via HDMI. Read about the sighting here
Just in time for Winter! I remember reading about Friedrich’s wifi air-conditioners a few years ago. They sounded dope. This Summer they became popular when ads started popping up everywhere. Unfortunately consumers didn’t realize that the advertised wi-fi capabilities were not included and did not even exist. Is that legal? Regardless, it’s basically Winter now here and you can get your FriedrichLink wi-fi add-on for your air-conditioner here. If you don’t have a Friedrich air-conditioner you can always do this.
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