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This DIY battery adapter lets you unify your battery power system across your video devices

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We’re quite lucky in the photo and video industries that there aren’t many weird or non-standard batteries, for the most part. Sure, some companies do seem to update their battery design every time they release a new product – which gets very frustrating every time you upgrade and need to buy 3-4 more spares – but for mirrorless cameras, field monitors, LED lights, etc. there aren’t many different ones.

One of the most common types of batteries out there that many photographers and filmmakers will own are the Sony NP-F style batteries. As the name implies, these were developed by Sony, primarily for their own products but they’ve become a standard for many brands now. In this video, though, Caleb Pike shows us how we can adapt our regular camera batteries to work in NP-F slots.

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This 3D printed cage stops your microphone cable from falling out of the Rode Wireless GO II Transmitter

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Now, I have to admit, this isn’t a problem I’ve faced myself, but it is a problem I’ve seen a few other people mention, both in person and on social media. The Rode Wireless GO II is pretty much the standard by which others are judged when it comes to tiny wireless microphones. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the best in every aspect, it just means they set the original standard because they’re the second generation of the first type.

One aspect where some users have issue is that the microphone cable occasionally pops out of the transmitter – or gets removed by talent and forgotten to be put back in again. As I mentioned, this isn’t a problem I’ve had but it’s one Caleb Pike’s had and he’s done something about it. He’s designed the Go-LOCK. It’s a 3D printable cage for the Wireless Go II transmitter that locks the mic in place and still gives you access to the belt clip.

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How to turn your old TV into a stunning photo and video background

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TV isn’t only for spending countless hours in front of it when you don’t feel like doing anything. Instead, you can turn it into a creative prop, and a pretty awesome one.

Caleb Pike of DSLR Video Shooter will show you how to turn a TV, a monitor, or even a projector into a fantastic background for all sorts of product shots. He guides you through the process step by step, helping you build a setup for some neat stills and videos.

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This $30 DIY Shure SM7B alternative sounds almost as good as the real thing

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So, that title deserves some qualifiers. It doesn’t sound as good as the Shure SM7B, but almost as good? Yeah, sure, it’s pretty good, especially considering what it costs – and assuming you already own a 3D printer. It’s not a totally DIY project from scratch, more a modification of an existing microphone to put it into a new housing. A bit like modifying old film photography lenses with a new housing to turn them into cinema lenses – they’re not really cinema lenses, but they’re close.

The Shure SM7B is a staple amongst podcasters, vloggers and live streamers but at around $400, it’s not exactly an inexpensive microphone. In this video, Caleb Pike shows us how we can take an inexpensive $20 Behringer microphone and a couple of bits and turn it into something that gives a very similar sound to the vastly more expensive microphone.

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Here are 15 filmmaking items you can buy for under $100

Once you get hooked to them, photography and filmmaking can become pretty expensive hobbies. But it’s good to know that there are many items that offer a fantastic price-quality ratio. In fact, there’s a bunch of gear you can buy for under $100, whether you’re a photographer or a filmmaker.

In this video, Caleb Pike of DSLR Video Shooter gives you 15 affordable items that will kickstart your filmmaking career or just be a great, yet cheap addition to the gear you own.

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Everything you need to know about adapting lenses

Adapting lenses has become a lot more common in recent years as now that pretty much every DSLR and mirrorless camera out there shoots some form of video. Older lenses give us a favourable aesthetic that’s often lost with the latest high tech lenses that try to eliminate every lens imperfection possible. I’ve been doing it myself for about a decade now and it’s a lot of fun to see what some of those old lenses can do for your footage.

While adapting lenses might seem quite easy now, there are a few things you’ll want to look out for when buying an adapter and a couple of “gotchas” you’ll want to beware of. In this video, Caleb Pike at DSLR Video Shooter walks us through the adapting process and things we will need to think about when buying adapters and using old lenses on our current cameras.

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This detailed comparison shows how the Sony A7 IV stand up to the Sony A7S III for video

People waited a long time for Sony to replace its ageing A7S II body. It finally came mid-2020 in the form of the not surprisingly named Sony A7S III. And despite being no slouch at stills, its video capabilities were its big selling point. It lacked the 8K capabilities of the Canon EOS R5 and it can’t record internal raw video, but it does offer the core of features that many Sony video shooters want.

Last year, we saw the release of the Sony A7 IV, the successor to the popular Sony A7 III. It, too, brought some very impressive video features with it and it offers some distinct advantages over the A7S III when it comes to shooting stills, but how do the two stand up when shooting video is your primary need? Well, in this in-depth comparison video, Caleb Pike answers exactly that question.

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These are the best and worst brands you can buy for shooting video… maybe

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Camera gear talk is always quite interesting and often pretty amusing. So many are loyal to their brand, not that I’m pointing any fingers, and just can’t seem to look at things objectively. And while most brands these days have got things pretty good when it comes to stills, the sub-$5,000 camera market for video shooters is still a bit all over the place. Relatively speaking, though, it’s a pretty young sector of the market and everybody’s still trying to figure things out. One or two might have it almost right, though.

In this video, Caleb Pike looks at all of the manufacturers currently producing cameras for less than five grand to see how they really compare to each other, including everything from build quality to ergonomics and features to overheating issues and some 30-minute time limits in between. And while Caleb doesn’t really cite any specific camera models here, just the brands as a whole, it’s pretty interesting to hear his take. Even if it is still pretty subjective.

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Check out these 20 filmmaking gear items you can buy for under $20

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For filmmaking and photography there are a lot of expensive pieces of kit out there that we either need to do our jobs or will make our lives easier and save us time in our workflow. But there are also a lot of very inexpensive items out there, too, which can make our quality of life much easier when shooting and working. There are also a bunch of cheap alternatives to expensive gear, too, if you get a little creative.

In this video, Caleb Pike at DSLR Video Shooter walks us through 20 of his favourite filmmaking accessories that each cost less than $20. It includes a variety of tools covering lighting, grip, power and various other aspects. Some of these are things that Caleb’s been using in his workflow for over a decade and still prove useful.

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Is this the perfect camera rig for video shooters?

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When it comes to shooting video, we all have our favourite rig setups that we like to use for different tasks. I have three Panasonics here that I use for different things and they’re all set up differently so that I can just grab one and go whenever I need each. But is it possible to build the perfect camera rig on a single perfect camera that meets 99% of your shooting needs?

That’s the topic Caleb Pike explores in this video, and he believes that he’s found it. At least, he has for his needs. There are so many different ways of setting up a camera and everybody has their own personal preferences but Caleb’s setup offers a lot of versatility and options for different shooting demands.

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