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SmallRig releases yet another matte box system – 5th time lucky?

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Regular as clockwork lately, SmallRig has announced yet another new Matte Box. What makes this one different from the SmallRig 3575 Mini Matte Box Lite, the 2660 Lightweight Matte Box, the 3196 Mini Matte Box or the 3680 Mini Matte Box Pro exactly? Well, this one’s modular. It’s the SmallRig 3556 Modular Matte Box, and it comes in a bunch of different kits depending on your needs.

Thread adapters are available to mount it to 67mm, 72mm, 77mm or 82mm lenses as well as the option to mount it to standard 15mm rods. This matte box also offers the ability to drop in the new SmallRig Variable ND Filter Kit that lets you adjust the strength without having to touch the filter itself – you can even motorise it!

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DIYP reviews the SmallRig RC220B LED Light – a small but mighty light

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So, it looks like SmallRig is here to stay as far as LED lights go and the RC120 (reviewed here) family got some new double-the-power members – the RC220B and the  RC220D. (Those stand for bi-colour and daylight).

From what I can tell, it seems that SmallRig has refitted the RC120 body with a more powerful LED. And this is a good thing. If you have any bags, cases, or kits that you’ve built for the 120, the 220 would feel right at home for those.

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SmallRig RC120B COB LED light review

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Today, SmallRig announced their first COB light, the RC120D. This moves the company from being a cages and other mechanical parts manufacturer into the domain of Light Manufacturers. Brands like Aputure, Nanlite, and Godox. It seems that they are aiming right into the “bread and butter” product – the 120W COB LED. They do this with two new lights, the RC120B  and RC120D: a bi-color unit and a daylight unit.

Along with the 120-Watt lights, SmallRig also announced a set of modifiers, which probably signals that they are going to build a family of lights in the future. Let’s see how the light performs and is it worth investing in this system vs. getting an Aputure Amaran or a Godox VL light.

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2020 DIYP Holiday Gift Guide – Tripods, Sliders and Gimbals

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Keeping cameras steady or having complete control over their position is important, regardless of whether you’re shooting photos or video. We’ve already covered cameras, lenses and lighting, so in this gift guide, we’re going to be taking a look at tripods, sliders and gimbals. Let’s start off small and build our way up.

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“Here is the first thing you should buy when getting a new sony Camera”

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Many of us have our little rituals and must-haves we must buy when we get a new camera. For me, it’s usually some form a cage these days that I can bolt all my other doohickies to, but for Justin “Dunna” McDonough, it’s the humble L bracket. After recently picking up the new Sony A6600, he put together this little video to explain why.

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Blackmagic Pocket 4K/6K cage comparison – SmallRig vs Nitze

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If you’ve had a go at shooting video for any length of time with any camera that has a DSLR or mirrorless-like form factor, you soon realise that you need some form of cage. You need to attach handles, lights, microphones, external batteries and all kinds of doohickies. Sure, you have a cold shoe on many cameras, but you can only attach one thing to that.

When it comes to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, there isn’t even a cold shoe. There’s just a 1/4-20″ screw thread, and it can’t handle a lot of weight attached to it. The solution to this problem is to add a cage.

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SmallRig shows off new cages for the Sony A6400 and Blackmagic Pocket 4K

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Whenever a new camera is released, the first company to produce cages and accessories for them is usually SmallRig. We use a lot of SmallRig kit here at DIYP, too. We caught up with them on their booth at NAB 2019 to find out about their latest offerings for the Sony A6400, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and the Zhiyun Weebill LAB gimbal.

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This $15 gizmo is a perfect solution to add a mic to your Sony A6400

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The Sony A6400 is a camera of choice for many vloggers: it has good video features, a flip screen, and retails at a reasonable price. However, if you want to add an external microphone to it, you either have to rig it on the side of the camera, or it will completely block the screen when you flip it. In this video, Jason Vong will show you a simple and dirt cheap solution that will let you mount a microphone on top of your camera for cleaner sound without blocking the screen.

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5 budget must-have video accessories for your Sony A6300 and A6500 cameras

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The old cries of “If you want to shoot video, get a video camera!” are becoming fewer and fewer these days. Which makes sense given that DSLRs and mirrorless cameras basically are video cameras these days. And just like “real video cameras”, you need to bolt on extra bits to really get the most out of them.

Hybrid shooter and YouTuber Jason Vong talks about his 5 must-have budget accessories for the Sony A6300 and A6500 cameras in this recent video. It’s a good list of handy tools that many of us will need when shooting video.

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How camera cages are built

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Earlier this year I was visiting a few camera gear factories in Shenzen China. Aside from getting my phone nicked in a cab ride, it was an enlightening experience. One of those factories was the Small Rig factory. If you are following the blog, you know how much we love our A7 cage (and a bunch of other small gadgets from Small Rig). Actually, this is the rig we take on most of our productions.

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