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First look at the new SmallRig F60 modular follow-focus unit

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Follow-focus units have been around for a long time. Over the last few years, we’ve seen many of them pop up from quite a few companies. Particularly manual follow-focus units. You’d think that by now, it’d be pretty difficult to innovate and do something a little different, right? Well, SmallRig’s taken up that gauntlet and run with it for the new Small F60 (buy here) modular follow-focus unit. And despite the buzz over last year’s SmallRig MagicFiz, this one’s all manual.

What makes the new one so special then? Well, it dispenses with the lens gears. Sort of. It does come with a gear for those using cinema lenses, but it also includes a friction wheel for those who want to use photography lenses without the hassle of fitting gears each time. We spoke with David Zhuo on the SmallRig stand at NAB 2023 to learn more.

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SmallRig Heavy-Duty Tripod carbon fiber kit is packed with features

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A while back SmallRig entered the tripods market with a heavy-duty aluminum tripod. It was an entry-level video tripod at about $150. Now, there is a second, more professional version of the SmallRig Heavy-Duty Tripod in Carbon Fiber ($399.00), and it is packed with features.

I guess that Smallrig took the time between the design and manufacturing of those tripods to listen to customer feedback, because a lot of the things that were missing from the first-generation tripod are now solved. Let’s jump right in.

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This foldable vlogging rig fits in your pocket

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For those of you who like packing light but still want to make the best from your phone cameras, SmallRig has announced a pretty cool gadget. The SmallRig P20 is tiny, yet versatile universal smartphone filmmaking rig. Aimed at vloggers, but also other video creators who use their phone, this foldable and portable gadget fits in your pocket and goes anywhere with you.

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Holiday Gift Guide – The best new camera gadgets and accessories of 2022

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It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!

So, this means it’s time for the 2022 DIYP Holiday Gift Guides. It’s the last day today, so we’re going to be going through the list of our favourite new gadgets and accessories that have been released during 2022. Have a look at our previous guides in the series this week covering cameras, lenses, lighting, sliders, tripods and gimbals.

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Holiday Gift Guide – The best new photo and video lights of 2022

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It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!

So, this means it’s time for the 2022 DIYP Holiday Gift Guides. We’re on Day 3, so it’s time to look at lights. These are some of our favourite new LED lights and flashes that have been released over the last year. Keep visiting back this week as we release our other guides, including cameras, lenses, tripods, sliders & gimbals, and accessories and gadgets.

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The SmallRig RC 450B is a medium power LED light in a streamlined package

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A few months ago, SmallRig entered the LED lighting market with the RC120 and RC220 COB units (reviewed here and here). Even in our initial review, we said that the true verdict of these lights would be their ecosystem. And now, SmallRig is adding four new lights to the mix: RC 350D, RC 350B, RC 450D, and RC 450B. This is a mix of daylight and bicolor lights at 350 and 450 Watts output.

The new lights show Smallrig’s commitment to the LED line, and I would not be surprised if there are more lights to come at higher ratings. After all, this is the path we saw Aputure, Nanlite and Godox go with their road map.

This review, however, will focus on the series leading light, the RC 450B, a 450 Watts Bi-color LED light. (The rest of the series is similar in functions)

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SmallRig announces their new modular MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus System

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Camera accessory manufacturer SmallRig has now officially announced their new MagicFIZ Wireless Follow Focus System. No stranger to follow-focus systems, SmallRig’s latest release takes the wheel off the camera for remote use by focus pullers for gimbal, shoulder-mounted, or handheld cameras and for those working in a small crew where you can’t always stand behind every camera.

It has less than 50ms latency up to a distance of 100 meters (328ft) over 2.4GHz and features secure data transmission using what SmallRig describes as “specialized encryption algorithms” to ensure that signals are interference-free, even with multiple units on set. We got to take a brief look at the new unit pre-announcement last month at IBC 2022.

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DIYP reviews the SmallRig Forevala W60 dual wireless Lav mic

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It seems like the new videography gear t get the “everybody makes one” is the wireless lav. RODE were the first with their RODE GO and RODE GO II (reviewed here), and now you have them from Godox, Joby, DJI, and many more.

SmallRig, who by now is making a lot more than cages and rigs, are the last to enter this product nitch with their Forevala W60. We took the unit for a spin, and this is what we found out.

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SmallRig becomes a BigFish with new follow focus, battery and audio system

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SmallRig is on a mission. They may be small by name, but they have big plans. Initially known for their camera cages, rods and handles, they’ve been scaling at an incredible rate and are excited to be expanding their range of products to better serve their customers.

DIYP had a chat with Wilson Chen from SmallRig about where the brand is headed and what we can look forward to seeing in the near future from them.

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We are giving away over $12,000 of cinema gear

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UPDATE: This giveaway has now ended. Scroll to the end to see if you won. Huge thank you to our sponsors for the prizes and support.

With IBC starting this week, we are excited to start our traditional IBC cinema gear giveaway. And this year, we have partnered with top brands to give you the best package to kickstart (or elevate) your Cinematography Career.

Among this year’s participating brands are Sachtler, Sennheiser, B&H, SmallRig, Insta360, Prograde, OWC, Spekular, and Tether Tools. For the full list of amazing prizes hit the rest of the post.

All you have to do to participate is tell us the brand of camera you are shooting with.

This giveaway ends on Tueday, September 20th!

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