Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

I recently purchased the Motorola Droid X as my smart phone of choice. To start I’m going to say that I am completely happy with the phone. The build quality is amazing, the screen is great, switching over from a physical keyboard to a touch screen was effortless. In fact I’m writing the draft for this post completely on the WordPress App! The only things I dislike really are on the app side. The apps out right now are usually buggy, lacking design, and not all that useful all the time. I’m still waiting for that day when well know developers make great apps that will start to set standards for apps to come in the Android Market. But till then I’ll leave you with a few apps that I enjoy right now.

BoothDroid
If you are a member of Dailybooth and want an easy way to upload photos off of your mobile this is a great way to go.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.sanderborgman.dailybooth

doubleTwist
Adds iTunes like media management and a music player. Great for getting all your music from your computer to your phone.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.doubleTwist.androidPlayer

Dropbox
When you work in many different areas and need to get some files quickly from one machine to another it can some times get problematic with thumb drives, external hard drives, ftp’s and so much more. Dropbox syncs your files between your computers and your mobile device for easy access anywhere.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.dropbox.android

Foursquare
“Foursquare helps you find new ways to explore your city. See where your friends are, learn about the places they frequent and unlock rewards as you travel.”
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.joelapenna.foursquared

GBCoid
Here is an app that would never see the light of day in the iTunes App Store. GBCoid is a Gameboy Color Emulator which is amazing for me. Now I can play my Pokemons any wheres I goes!!!
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.androidemu.gbc

Pandora
“Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio now available to stream music on your phone.”
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.pandora.android

Seesmic
Seesmic was the perfect Twitter App for me. I liked the widget more then the actual Twitter app’s widget. It’s fast and keeps me in the loop.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.seesmic

The Weather Channel
This one is self explanatory…
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.weather.Weather

WordPress
“WordPress for Android is an Open Source app that empowers you to write new posts, edit content, and manage comments with built-in notifications.” LOVE IT!
http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.wordpress.android

Colour My Queen – Grin and Forebear It from Phil Hoyt on Vimeo.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE

Good friends of mine and band Colour My Queen got me on board to do a run and gun music video for their song “Grin and Forebear It”. The entire thing was shot on a Canon T2i with a Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens and a Vari ND.

Night before prep

Some issues I ran into when shooting “When we are together” was stabilization of the camera and I wanted that hand held look for this project as well, but I still haven’t settled on a rig to build for myself. My solution to this problem was to take a cheap tripod, shorten the legs, and take two of them and positioning them around my hip bones. Along with a Z-finder and two hands on the camera this allowed me to have 5 points of contact to stabilize my footage just enough to be clean yet still hand held feel.

Video Details:

Colour My Queen – Grin and Forebear It
CMQ is:
Kyle Galloway
Brandon Morgan
Ian Hayes

Directed by Phil Hoyt
PA: Tara Haime
PA: Nick Mrosko

I also was second camera on a Jason Jendre music video that I hope goes well for him. Some images from the music video and a cell phone snap of Jasons shoot are below.

Tweet

Canon released a firmware update for the Canon T2i and 550D which fixes “a phenomenon in which the set aperture moves unexpectedly when shooting movies in manual exposure mode using some Canon lenses (such as macro lenses).” It is always a good idea to keep your camera up to date so I recommend to all owners to update.

You can find the firmware here: http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eosdigital7/firmware.html

This was shoot all with a 5D Mark II and a bunch of 7D’s! Had a lot of fun on set and met some great people.

Over the past weekend I took the two hundred some mile trip up to Buffalo, New York to meet up with some DSLR enthusiasts and Guru Philip Bloom. We all met at Duff’s Famous Wings in Depew, New York last Sunday to enjoy some buffalo wings, talk, and share DSLR info. It still amazes me that some 20 strangers can get together and have lunch and get along really well. Highlights of the whole thing would have to be watching Rob taste a death wing and almost cry, Philip actually eating a death wing, and me getting death wing sauce in my eye and needing Philip to pour water in my eye to help save it. I owe you one Philip.

Here is a video montage of all footage I took of the DSLR Meetup. It is a combination of Canon T2i and Flip Ultra HD footage.

Philip Bloom Buffalo, New York DSLR Meetup 6/20 from Phil Hoyt on Vimeo.

or view it on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsEXsa5K0-0

Below is a video that Philip Bloom shot on his hacked GH1 of the event.

WARNING: CONTAINS LARGE AMOUNTS OF CLOSE UPS OF MEAT EATING!

Buffalo Hot Wings from Some Like It Shot on Vimeo.

Raf’s Video!

Buffalo Wings DSLR Meetup with Philip Bloom from raf on Vimeo.

Also if you were there send me some links to your video so we can share!

Thanks to Rob Imbs of lovelyjunkie.com for organizing.

More and more DSLR manufactures are entering the viewfinder race and in my observation Zacuto really sets the standard for a DSLR Viewfinder which is why I decided to go with the Z-Finder. This is not to say that other manufactures are making lesser products. Like in my previous post comparing the Z-Finder to the Hawk, Letus has really put there best foot forward in there variation of a Viewfinder. But we seem to have a few other contenders that I didn’t touch base on in my original post.

Genus, manufacture of some great budget matte boxes and other camera accessories, has come out with their own Viewfinder. The Genus Loupe(G-LV) has a 2.5x magnification and fits 3-inch screens, made from hard plastic, and is rumored to cost around $125-$150. I have emailed the company asking for more details, but that is all I could dig up for now. If I get a response I will be sure to update this post. Click here for more information on the G-LV

Coming in at a lower price point then the Zacuto and Letus viewfinders iDC Photo has lot full of viewfinder’s for the T2i,7D,and 5D Mark II. Each of which seem to have a 3x magnification and can come with a eyecup attachment. Downside is that they are NOT compatible with battery grips for your camera. But with a sale price of between $120-$150 for the T2i and $200 for 7D and 5D I find it really hard to complain.

Click here for T2i VF Info
Click Here for 7d VF info
Click Here for 5D VF info

The last viewfinder I will talk about is the cheapest and personally my least favorite. Coming in at the low price of $79.99 the HoodLoupe 3.o has a -+3 diopter, but doesn’t seem to have a way to attach to your camera out of the box. That is probably because it was designed more for reviewing photos then as a viewfinder. But I assume with a product like the Hoodman straps or Half Inch Rails Finder Keeper you can rig it up to stay positioned over your LCD screen.

The HoodLoupe in my opinion is for the cheapest of the cheap and shows no redeeming qualities to me. But if you use of of these for video let me know what you think of it.

It doesn’t take long after a new popular technology comes out for a few knock offs to hit the shelves and DSLR supports are no exceptions. While browsing around I came across two Zacuto rig knock-offs that might rival the real thing and felt compelled to share.

Hailing from Hong Kong,  the WONDLAN DSLR Shooter comes at a tune of $289.00 (via Ebay) and bares a striking resemblance to the $948.00 Zacuto Striker.  The seller (domob) seems to get the products in periodically on Ebay making it hard to plan your purchase. The company’s website http://www.wondlan35.com/en/encompany.asp doesn’t appear to have an order online function which isn’t helpful at all but at the moment they seem to have a few rig’s in stock over at Domob’s Ebay Store.

Now for the legendary Gini rig’s. They seem to be machined very well and can be found on Ebay or at G-Cinema. Here is a shoulder rig from the Gini line of products.

This South Korea seller has definitely stirred up the Cinema5d community and the rigs being produced sure look tasty.

From Cinema5d user: iNero (Neil Rosales)

The folks over at G-Cinema emailed me with this to say about there rigs

“We are committed in Making Field & Cinema Rigs for HD-DSLR that are Modular, Functional and Allows the Operator to Custom fit the Rig to his/her specific needs. We are trying to achieve this while maintaining the quality of our products high and keeping the prices reasonable. The Simplicity and Modularity of the G-Series Cinema Set-up is One of the Best Attributes. For instance, The G-1700s Cage Set-up, a Dual Handle Shoulder mount can be configured and be  utilized as a Run and Gun Set-up for fast and quick-set-up can be easily converted to a Low-Angle Handle Set-up but also will function as a Studio Set-up without purchasing additional items to make it work.” – G-Cinema

They also provided me with a few images of there featured rigs posted below.

Click Here to Check out G-Cinema

and they go on to say

“The Basic G-One Series Set-up starts at about  $365-465 which includes International Shipping via UPS   and G-1700s Cage Matte Black Dual Handle Shoulder Mounts runs about $795 Shipped Internationally… I should mention that there is a Sale going on that will be Extended till the end of this month on Select Items… That is up to $100 off. The Company is Based in South Korea.” – G-Cinema

Both of these over the sea sellers look like they have some great rig’s and I can only hope that they become easier to buy in the future.