So this is my last post from NAB 2011 – only 2 days late. I had a great time seeing old friends, meeting new ones and of course checking out all the new toys. I’d like to thank the dslrnewsshooter crew members Seppe Van Grieken and Johnnie Behiri for their tireless work during the show. Their contribution really made our coverage much better this year.
As a parting shot here are a few more bits of gear that we would have featured in detail if only we had the time:
Canon Explorer of Light Bruce Dorn was at NAB showing his unique iDC system Zero rigs. These are an update of his earlier designs and use a friction based follow focus on a custom bracket to keep the rig ultra compact. The rig for the Canon 60D looked especially nice. Bruce says there is a version for the Panasonic GH2 in the works.
Zacuto was showing off their prototype Scorpion rig. It has an interesting integrated shoulder support/carry handle and is articulated in a way to make balance easy. With the Zacuto Z-EVF fitted it was nice to use.
Manfrotto had a whole range of new gear. Most important to many news shooters will be their new video heads. The 509HD is a model up from the popular 504HD and features the same bridging technology (whatever that means). There is also a new lower end model called the 502HD which is essentially a replacement for the ever popular 501 head.
Manfrotto also showed Dado – an innovative spherical universal junction that connects to threaded accessories or rods. Looks like a piece of 1970’s art but it very cool. They also have a new snake arm which is a more flexible alternative to the magic arm.
There were a lot of Ipad based teleprompter systems at NAB this year. This one is probably the cheapest and I’m thinking of getting one for myself. It’s only $299 from LCD4video.
GoPro were at NAB again this year showing their just launched 3D system for the diminutive action cams. As I was walking past their booth I spotted none other than legendary Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown trying it out on a Merlin stabilizer.
Another 3D solution came from Mio 3D. Instead of using two cameras their rig has 3, allowing them to shoot with two interocular distances at the same time. Make sense? if not don’t ask me – check out their website.
Fastec were a company getting a lot of press coverage for their new hand holdable TS3 high speed camera. Capable of 720 frames per second in HD. Wow! Now if only it were the same price as my DSLR.
Rig company Denz had an interesting solution for mounting an EVF to cameras like the Panasonic AF100. I’m going to need to work out some arrangement for my own EVFs so this is definitely an option.
The Radcam has got to be one of the coolest DSLR gadgets I saw at NAB. I’d love to see shots from one of these.
And to finish our NAB 2011 coverage is this DSLR helmet cam. Recognise the celebrity anyone?
