fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

Hollyland’s Mars 300 Pro wireless HDMI video system brings lower latency & weight with more connectivity

by Leave a Comment

Hollyland has today announced its new Mars 300 Pro wireless HDMI video transmission system that offers significant improvements over its predecessor, the Mars 300. While it still has the same 300ft transmission range, it has lower latency, weighs less, features a new OLED display, can stream to your smartphone as well as the included receiver and it’s available in three different kit options.

It even offers a few options over the slightly more expensive Hollyland Mars 400S we reviewed a little while ago, such as HDMI passthrough and a receiver that can actually output to two HDMI monitors or capture devices simultaneously.

[Read More…]

This lunatic is diving 18-story buildings with a $20,000 drone-mounted RED camera

by 1 Comment

The world of FPV droning doesn’t typically have much to do with the more aesthetic, cinematic of drone filmmaking. At least, not usually. Well, not unless you’re Paul Nurk. Going by the name NurkFPV on YouTube (and Instagram), Paul is pretty obsessed with FPV. How obsessed? Well, he’s obsessed enough to build an FPV drone he could mount a RED Epic Mysterium-X to it.

The goals are to capture the speed and excitement of flying FPV, but at a much more cinematic way than FPV cameras typically allow. They’re usually pretty cheap stripped-down action cameras, essentially, with low resolution and terrible dynamic range. Strapping a RED to such a drone, though, is no easy task.

[Read More…]

The Vortex8 is a $5,000 650W cinema LED panel with an IP65 waterproof rating

by Leave a Comment

Well, this is an interesting looking light, if not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination. Coming in at $4,999, the Vortex8 is the new flagship LED panel from Australian lighting manufacturer Creamsource. It’s a high powered 650W LED panel with a 60 x 30cm front face and it’s IP65 rated for use in even the wettest of weather.

If you haven’t heard of Creamsource before, that’s perhaps not too surprising. They’re not a common name amongst most photographers and filmmakers. But their kit has been used to light the likes of The Mandalorian, Captain Marvel, Black Panther and more.

[Read More…]

Learn how to use sound design to add massive impact to your videos

by Leave a Comment

Sound design is an often-ignored part of video production for many people outside of the world of big movie studios. But it’s an important part of the overall production that can add a lot of value to the end result. It’s not just for feature-length movies, either. It can be used very effectively in your vlogs and travel videos, too.

In this video, filmmaker Bryn North talks us through the process of adding sound to your videos. To demonstrate that you can do it with just about anything, Bryn downloaded a bunch of clips from ArtGrid and cut them together. Then he walks us through the types of sounds and why he chose certain shots for certain clips.

[Read More…]

Irix expands its Cine lens lineup with the new Irix Cine 15mm T2.6

by Leave a Comment

Irix has today announced the addition of the new Irix Cine 15mm T2.6 to their cinema lens lineup. Teased a few days ago, it joins the 11mm T4.3, 45mm T1.5 and 150mm T3.0 Macro lenses in the Irix range of cinema lenses. Irix says that it’s designed for super-high-resolution 8K video, with minimal distortion, and compact and lightweight construction.

Like most cinema lenses, it features built-in toothed gears on the focus and aperture rings for use with follow focus systems and is weather sealed to stand up to a wide range of shooting environments. It’s available in several popular mounts, including Canon EF, Sony E, Micro Four Thirds and PL.

[Read More…]

Use these three techniques to shoot manual focus lenses on a gimbal

by Leave a Comment

I don’t shoot on a gimbal all that often. When I do, it’s usually for b-roll. But I’m usually doing it with manual focus lenses. It presents some challenges, but they’re pretty easy to overcome. Sure, plenty of cameras have autofocus these days when shooting video, and it’s getting better and better all the time, although it’s still not perfect.

Imperfect systems that are quite easy to confuse are the problem that wedding photographer and filmmaker Matt Johnson has with autofocus when shooting on a gimbal, too. So, in this video, he talks about three of his top tips for shooting video on a gimbal using manual focus lenses.

[Read More…]

8 stupid photography and filmmaking mistakes we’re almost all guilty of making

by 4 Comments

While most of us aren’t out shooting, now is a perfect time to sit and reflect on the photographic and filmmaking mistakes we’ve made, and how we can stop making them going forward. In this video, Joris Hermans talks about 8 of the dumbest photography and filmmaking mistakes he’s made (and sometimes still makes). They’re mistakes that almost all of us have made at some point.

[Read More…]

Four ideas for recreating Hollywood shots with stuff you have at home

by 2 Comments

A lack of gear or budget is frustrating, but it shouldn’t stop you from creating. To help you get stunning shots even on a tight budget, Dan Mace has prepared a fun and useful video. He recreated four shots from movies and TV shows with almost no budget. Mainly he used objects he found around his house and he even acted as his own stuntman. So, if you need low-budget filmmaking ideas, check out his video below.

[Read More…]

Zacuto scales down their Recoil Rigs with new “ACT” line for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras

by Leave a Comment

Zacuto believes that DSLRs and mirrorless cameras still have a big place in video, and have now announced a new line of ACT Recoil Rigs designed specifically for use with them. Claiming they can handle everything from the teeny tiny Sigma fp up to a giant Canon 1DX Mark III. They come ready-to-shoot right out of the box, and come in a variety of different kits for various specific camera models, and there’s a universal option to cover the rest.

[Read More…]

The Maxima 7 flicker-free LED light is a 1200 PAR HMI equivalent with 700 Watts of power

by Leave a Comment

LED lighting technology has come very far over the last decade. It’s replaced the more traditional incandescent “hot lights” we used to see in video, movie and photography studios. The Maxima 7 is a new 5600K Chip-on-board (COB) LED light that’s the equivalent of a 1.2K HMI that lets you pretty much recreate the sun on your set.

It’s being developed by a company in Italy, and while there are other 1.2K equivalent LED lights out there on the market, this one wants to separate itself by form factor, light output and versatility. It even has a Bowens mount to let you use softboxes and other modifiers.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts