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Gear

This is my Rick. I want to show you For those of you who were creating your own are doing anything else. Um this is what, basically what I've settled on this is how I shot. The stuff we're gonna be looking at is how if this is what I took to Japan on the photo safari, this is a matter of fact. If you get next issue of photo media magazine, the spring issue. I did a story on rigging for travel that covers all this stuff in detail. But there's a few things that I have found for me that are a must for doing things. I've got a small HD monitor. Um, this has got HD output. It's got false color. It's got focus, assist. It's got everything even doesn't dishes for me, you know, when it's my turn. But this is probably the the greatest thing, you know, I can replace everything else, but but this I love I've got bad eyes, you know, I'm about right here. I start to see without glasses from here for 90 glasses, so it's really tough. So being out and being able to have situational awareness and a cr...

isp sharp image really matters to me. Does that work out? Bright sunlight, I can tell you, how well does that work out? Bright sunlight, You need to put it well. It just so happens they make this cool little snap on viewing. I've only had to use it once. All the time I was shooting over in Japan and just down in Mexico, in Mexico, I had to use it when we were out on the boats shooting the whales because it was just like we're frying and there was glare from everywhere. But I'm finding that I'm usually, you know, camera could be in a different angle. So I'm blocking Japan. It was any problem. It was raining all the time. But this is a cool little neoprene snap on hood. I don't know what the other ones have, but Yeah, this company is really innovative. They're great on that. The way I have this set up is I've got a genus basic rig that I use all the time. And this little rig is so much fun. I have a big shape W l b from Canada. That really adds mass and stuff. So fun local and I need a lot of massive. I'm doing kayak races or boats or I have that. But all of this packs up into this one little space where I used to have a quantum two by two and a trio. Okay, a flashing a battery. And I've got a whole rig in there, but great points of contact. Shoulder brace. I found out that if you take the shoulder brace while it's on the tripod, you can fit an umbrella in here. I just don't think they intended it that way. But, um, the handles are adjustable, so I can drive my follow focus, which is also a genius. The Bravo I tested all the real real expensive ones over $1000. A $500 under 500 owner. This has no no lash, no back, no, no. Play anything. And I'm not general with my gear. You know, when I take this apart, I'll throw that in the center with the bars and everything else, and it works out great. Um, the rial optional item for me is the mat box. I usually use rubber lens hoods and the mat box doesn't work really great with one of my favorite discoveries that you've got to get because the reason we we play with these cameras and we and all this stuff when we go through all the pain, um, to shoot him as video cameras is to get that cinematic narrow depth of field. OK, now, when you shoot, you know you're shooting at two times the frame rate. So if you shooting 24 years trying to shoot 48 of 50 is a shutter speed, that's just pretty much standard to keep things from moving around. This camera goes down. Do I have so 100? Okay, if I'm outside Sunny Day. Greg What Sonny? What's normal formula for outside on a sunny day? Sunny 16 16 is not the depth of field that I want or that I shoot these cameras for, you know, and is OK. So I was carrying four nd filters and a polarizer and stacking things and going through all this when I was talking to the folks at from Gina's Tech at photo, plus extra about this rig and follow focus. They showed me this I got a lens hood on it, but this is a variable nd filter 2 to 8 stops with the twist of the handle. I don't know if you can see it changed and dark and stuff I'll passes around. So you put it on. Doesn't matter, Sonny. cloud comes over. You just change it. You can. I shoot 50 at F four is like my favorite, my snow monkeys and everything else. Okay, I can stay there. All I do is adjust a filter, now, is it? It's a circular in a linear, polled or after sandwich. Together, they were available for 400 something bucks by one company. They're available from a couple of different companies in the same price point of this, I think it was around 135. This one had the best coating and at the extreme end at the eighth stop, and the other seemed to show cross hatching when I was processing my my footage. So this one didn't. Would you pass this one down? Let them look at that so they can just hold the very inner ring, and then you can turn it and see with a couple questions from the chat room. I'm sorry. I'm not taking questions. Just a real question. One about do they ruined color? How does how does the unusual density affecting the color? You know that one had the less the least amount of color effect. The other one I got from Hong Kong had a green cast to it, so that one is pretty much like a neutral density. But I'm glad you brought up color because I have a different I have a take on color that you cannot leave a home without. You can leave home without your American Express, and I try to is often responsible. But I could never leave home without this. This is probably the most valuable thing in my camera bag. It's called X right passport color checker. It's indestructible, virtually. It's hard plastic fits, and you think it's got a lanyard everything. It's not only the Macbeth color charts that you see here, which really help in post production. It's got a nice little you know, off white grayscale for you, too. Um, there's the 2nd 1 in my bag for some lucky participant. He's a really great s I r marketing who reps X ray. Steve Rosenbaum was really great to give us one of these because he knows I won't shoot anything without. You'll see it on all the footage we work with. You know, it's up there in the front, just like at the end event and a moto piece with Yaya. This thing, Greg, you've worked with me before, You know, It's like I used to carry around a big Macbeth, you know, $89 piece of cardboard. This one's been through a lot of shoots, and she's still holding up. She's not falling apart, but it will make your post production life a lot simpler. So if you have the variable in Dion and then you shoot your test shots or get white balance, you know, from here and shoot first couple of seconds of footage, you're good to go in post. Okay? What else we have here? Got you know, I look at all this stuff and I'm trying to think. Okay, um, except for the small age D and the switchblades, which is my next favorite new to new discovery. Everything else here, it's from being age. I know that it's kind of usually a shop for deals and do things and everything else. But over the years, I've found. And Celeste just reminded May that you order it. You pay for it, it gets there. It's on. If it's on the website, it's there. It's not like that other company or it's on the website and they call you in the next day, right after you expected to be delivering. See? Oh, by the way, we're out of stock. We have no idea. Lights on the website B NH is just reliable. I love him. Okay, I do. More than half of my business with all of this stuff is available there. Um, where were we? Oh, these okay again? I hate to pick on Greg, but Greg is assisting me a few times and he knows that I have, what, 14 last? A light diffusion panels with every cover made. And we're talking from the big ones down to the small ones. And they're not bad for me. It's a photographer because I usually don't have to set him up. You know, my assistants dio, but there are pain in the butt with the elastic everything. They're gorgeous. I love the silks. I love everything about him. But when I started doing this and started doing the running gun type stuff, and especially when I got the the led lights. You know, like the 501,000 bulb led is trying to get a convergence type light, something that was low wattage, yet bright enough to use. They have weird quality of light. It's not like my pro photos or my quantum's or are like areas. They're a little harsh. So I'm looking around for something smaller portable and to diffuse the light and to reflect the light into uses. A regular flag kid came across these, and I had to call the guy because his website, you know, claimed all kinds of stuff. His next film maker are still film makes film, but had these things that fold out, and the whole kit has super white mounts, diffusion blocks, floppies, nets, everything. It's called the Switchblade, and there's four of them in the bag. Four frames like this. He's even gone down to where he has a new one out with serrated edges, so it blends better with the floppies if you're using a net or diffusion or something like that. So anyways, John Miller, the owner of Switchblade, inventor of this has donated a double kit, which means four frames with all the fabrics and everything else is another one of drawing practice. But again, I want to really emphasize because I didn't ask these people just because I knew they were easy touches. I asked him because I used the stuff and I love it. I use it. It helps. May, when we were setting up to shoot Jordan or we're setting up to shoot Yaya and I had these led lights. I could have gone down, set up the Big Four by four panels with six by six panels and gone through all of that. But these things were a snap. And, you know, I've got four complete flag or diffusion rigs in this little bag. Something many ways that one's not available, be in age. Sorry. Um, what else did we have up there? I want to talk about Let me come back to these Del Concern. 16 gigabyte class tens. How many of you shoot s THC and how many you shoot? Compact flash. So s THC compact. Okay. Uh, what What class cards to you. Shit. I don't know. You don't know? Ok, um you know just I don't know if it's the tech weeny part of me or whatever. It was one of the first things I really got into because I noticed this price gap like this between class four, class six and class 10 and I'm looking at these going okay, What? The hex of difference. I finally went and found out. And thank God, um, Delk in Martin down there makes you get Belkin cards. Cool. Yeah, and you know, there. I still can't believe 16 gigabytes fits in something the size. It's scary. Compact flash was small enough for me, but anyways, Class 10 is going to give you a better speed and more consistent speed. And with the amount of information that they're pushing through on these one of the 25 megs per second, um, the throughput you've gotta have a class 10 card to be able to capture everything and to deal with. That's pretty heavy compression. You know, we're going into ah, down a funnel into a real narrow throat, and then, you know, we're going to bring it back out into the computer. But, Rick, we have a couple of gear questions while you're up there wait. A couple people asking Who? The manufacturer of the follow Focus Waas and who was the maker of the frame for the camera? Both Gina's Tech, Jenna's Tech Excuse me that's available to be in age. It's actually distributed my man photo here in the States. I've got in with the generous tech folks through the follow focus. And then when I met him down to PPE, they turned me on to this basic field rig because I was looking for something for this one bag convergence kit for the story and the trip to the snow monkeys. Then they showed me, um all the different pieces in parts Mark Blaker, the tech rep turned me on. I have these. You listen how old fashioned I am. Um, these were from my mama Mia rz 67. You know, old rubber lens hoods that I keep transferring from camera to camera. Um, this is what I usually use. And he looked at it and went, you know, that's not very cinematic. Um, this is cool when I shoot in the studio. Truthfully, that's the only place I shoot with a Matt box. I use hoods everywhere else. Number one because the variable and D filter does not work with the mat box and I've become more addicted to that. Then I have to this otherwise follow focus crank. Um, the whole bottom rig is all Jenness tech. We're small HD on the monitor. This is the man Photo seven of the bogan 701 HTV lightweight fluid head. I've got the 502 at home. Um, these are the people. That man photo Tell me I'm nuts for using him, But I've been carrying them for probably five or six years with my still gear. And, you know, there 55 the 0 55 grand mag fiber. They weigh almost nothing. And I keep telling them that they're not the ones hiking up the mountains with it, packing it or carrying it around. They want me to have these. Well, they told me they have those. The same ones are cameramen are using here, which is cool. I'd love to have a set for my studio, but not for rigging. Enough for traveling. This is my main bag. This is a think tank airport security bag. This plane this fits on any plane from a 7 on up in the cabin with me. All of this gear, except for the tripod legs, which going with my clothes, everything fits inside here. I'm a one bag person now, Um, Greg's got a different job now, and my son Ian is married and got a kid on the way. So I've lost that Sherpa, you know? So I've got to carry the stuff myself. This airport security is a roller and a backpack. I just going up to see the snow monkeys. You can roll part of the way, and then also, you have to climb up Muddy Hill and then you've got these, you know, steps carved. And so you gotta carried his backpack. It's got straps that pop out. Um, so I've just tried to get it all down into something that was really convenient. Would you happen to have another question? Uh, yeah. There's been a couple of questions about microphones. Are you going to talk about those? Thank you for the reminder. That's why I came up here in the first place. Um, source Microphones go. We should probably dig Adam out of the boot. Adams are both guy over there making sure all this happens. It's probably upset that I'm talking about him right now. Hi, Adam. Can we get a camera on the booth? Are you allowed to turn around and show? No. Okay. Okay. Okay. Another one of those mighty wonders. This is a zoom H four n. Okay. Up until I started getting involved with motion, the only thing I knew about sound was, you know, um, CD sounded better in tapes most of the time. This thing is compact. It's easy to use its stereo for channel. It holds 68 hours on a small four gig STH seat card again, um, battery powered and the sound you'll be hearing. Or the sound that you heard if you were on the net of Jordan talking was recorded separately on a little microphone stand a little cheap light sand down out of camera range for Jordan and up above Yaga. That's all it was. These air semi directional. I think there is some kind of car toyed or there's some complex name. All I know is for $299 I got a great system that travels well, Works well, comes with where there's a remote with a 25 foot cord available so I don't have to keep running out every time we have a different take or do something. Hear that, Nikon? There is no remotes on these. You got to go up in punch each camera and do everything. Okay? We're still waiting for them. So having a remote? Really cool. It's got Thea foam when buffer rather than the dead cat, which makes my wife happy. She's a cat person. And, uh, what can I say? Downloads. Just like everything else. You straight to the camera. But this is probably one of the better investments I made because even not being a sound person, I can put out decent quality sound with, You know, my clips at least good enough to get to somebody like Adam or Nico who actually knows something about sound editing. And they can clean it up. Adam says you're mistaken. He doesn't know that much, huh? Adam says you're mistaken. He doesn't know that much. That isn't what he was saying the other day because we're live now He's claiming, you know, he's being modest. Okay, seconds of anything. Seconds of anything. Uh, camera, two bodies. Yes, two bodies. That was a real leap of faith for me because, you know, this is my rial object of lust. Ah, this is my dig three. I've had this for years have shot the Olympic trials where that have shot all around the world, whether it's never failed May she produces gorgeous images and I know how to work with. She's like an extension of myself. So for the one bag convergence, I took two d seven thousands and it was scary. I mean, using one is stills in one for motion was definitely a scary experience. But you go up and you look at and you look at all the stills from the Snow monkeys and from Mexico from this last photo safari and the In Thing produces great stills to she's a C chip, which I don't particularly care for. You know, the 1.5 crop factor. So my lenses, we're weird. I don't My 14 is like a 30 or something, Um, and she's 16.8 megs. So with the crop factor and 16.8 megs, those photo sites are really, really tiny. Okay, the D three is 12.2 megs or 12.4 megs somewhere right in there, it's a full frame, so the photo sites of the pixels are really big and fat. So if you have slightly off technique, the D three is very forgiving and still looks very sharp and everything else. But if you don't have excellent technique and you're at the border of your lenses capability like what's in Italy, the shutter speed equals the focal length of the lens. You know, for hand holding that kind of thing. Is that right, Patrick? Something like that. I thought that was one of your rules. Yeah, that that sounds. That's what I remember. Learning focal length equaled shutter speed generally free in hell. So, you know, like my seven dated 200 which is, you know, one of my favorite lenses. Um, it's a VR lens, and I could shoot it down to 1/ or 30th at times with the do you three. I'm back up to a 203 20 somewhere right in there with this one because the photo sites is so small and you don't have that margin of error. So it's it's a good thing, you know, it really forces you to come back and okay. What was this tripod technique in? What about wrapping my strap around? What about these funny little things? Right here? You know, putting it on a tripod, so it forces you back into good technique. She's good.