Hands-On Review: Godox VL300 LED Light

We tested this new COB LED light out during a recent client project

Dan Brockett

The Godox VL300 is a powerful COB LED and comes with a full array of accessories and features. In 2020, my company’s production work was significantly slower than it was in 2019, mostly due to COVID-19. However, luckily, I landed a real, crewed, multi-camera production shot on a stage for Focusrite, a UK-based audio company. The directive of the project... Read more

Pro Video Gear

A look at the most innovative digital cinema gear that hit the market in 2020

Daniel Brockett

2020 was an unprecedented year for video professionals both in terms of the disruption to our industry and the technology available to us. The new production tools introduced this year have been unexpectedly groundbreaking, and we’re excited to highlight what we think are the most interesting and helpful tools for video and filmmakers. We’re going... Read more

A First Look At New Cameras, Lenses And Accessories

Camera and digital imaging companies are delivering some impressive products

Text & Photography By Terry Sullivan

This image was captured with Fujifilm’s X-Pro3 mirrorless camera, a camera that emphasizes the process of shooting photographs. 2020 has been a challenging year for the camera industry and the photography world, to say the least, particularly as the effects from the coronavirus pandemic continue to be felt in so many parts of the world economy. It’s... Read more

First-Look Review: The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III In Costa Rica

How a new, versatile, compact OM-D camera body performed in the tropics

By Terry Sullivan

This past February, I traveled to the beautiful tropical Central American country of Costa Rica with Olympus to try out its latest mirrorless camera, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III. (This was more than a month before the U.S. Department of State issued a Global Level 4 “Do Not Travel” Health Advisory, on March 31, 2020, which advised, “U.S. citizens... Read more

Hands-On Review: Sony PXW-FX9 Digital Cinema Camera

Where does Sony’s latest XDCAM fit in today’s cine market?

Daniel Brockett

One thing Sony tends to do better than many of its competitors in the pro cinema camera market is to read and respond to market segment demand. I know because I’ve owned several Sony cinema cameras over the years and watched how the company has reacted to new technologies and format changes. It’s why Sony has become a powerhouse in the market segment... Read more

Hands-On Review: Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K

Redefining the inexpensive digital cinema camera

Daniel Brockett

There have been quite a few mirrorless cameras introduced over the past 10 months. However, one of the hottest models of the past year in the world of cinema wasn’t a mirrorless camera or a traditional digital cinema camera at all. It was, in fact, a small, rectangular, 2-pound slab of carbon fiber polycarbonate composite known as the Blackmagic Pocket... Read more

Hands-On Review: Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini Pro G2

The author puts the updated cinema camera to the test by using it in a real-world project

Daniel Brockett

Blackmagic Design introduced the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 in March of 2019, which was a significant update from the original URSA Mini Pro, which was announced two years earlier, in March 2017. Here’s a brief description of it from Blackmagic Design’s website: “The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 is a next-generation digital film camera with... Read more

Pro Video Gear

Some of the tools introduced this year helped redefine what’s considered ‘the cutting edge’

Daniel Brockett

In 2019, we saw some intriguing developments in the new digital video tools from this season: 6K. Full-frame sensors. Mirrorless cameras and mirrorless disruptors. Internal vs. external RAW. New camera card media formats. Shooting to SSDs. Ultra-bright monitors. In many cases, these technologies and features weren’t available to most just a year or... Read more

Caging Your Camera For Handheld Shooting

Filmmakers are constructing cages to add weight, increase versatility and more

Daniel Brockett

Building a cage, like this SmallRig cage system, not only adds weight, but it can increase versatility. For instance, we can add an Atomos Ninja V recorder if we have a client who prefers us to shoot ProRes over the X-T3’s internal H/265 codecs. But if we have to shoot in a tight space, where there isn’t room for the Shinobi monitor, we can just... Read more

Review: Atomos Shinobi SDI

A versatile monitor for shooting on a tight budget

Daniel Brockett

The Atomos Shinobi SDI is plenty bright indoors, but I was interested to see how it would perform outside. Several years ago, when we moved to using the Canon Cinema EOS C200 as our main camera, we avoided investing in a new camera monitor. That’s because we simply used a Hoodman H400 sunshade with the C200’s touchscreen, a set-up that worked effectively... Read more