Your one stop shop for everything photo-video
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.
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!
It’s like everybody’s jumping onto microphones right now and not being one to be left behind, SmallRig’s decided to have a go at their own system, too. It’s called the SmallRig Forevala W60 and like pretty much all of the other recent small wireless microphone releases, it runs on 2.4Ghz. It’s a dual microphone kit that comes with two transmitters with built-in omnidirectional microphones and one receiver.
It promises low-latency transmission (as low as 10ms) at up to 100 metres away, with adaptive frequency hopping to ensure 48Khz 16-Bit audio without interruption. You also get most of the usual features you might be used to, like a low-cut filter to get rid of rumble and background noise as well as mono or stereo output from the receiver.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!