maximpactphotography

I’m burning a DVD of the first cut of the China documentary from Premiere Elements Pro  (SLOW process).

Meanwhile, some upgrades: Konova ‘s smooth linear 1 meter slider, adding a D7000 and MB-D11 battery pack- which seems to yield very good low-light video!!!; a cable to allow Pocket Wizards to trigger the D7000/D5100 remotely.

Recently, I have written to several who requested being guest posters on this blog. Thanks to them for their interest.

The location scouting for 2 days in Joshua Tree NP was fun, I encountered a long lightning storm on the last morning…plans continue for the upcoming climbing documentary.

I’ve contacted the ANSWER Coalition ‘s LA office regarding coverage of several events in the next month, including a protest on Sunset in West Hollywood  regarding President Obama’s fundraiser on 26 September and an antiwar protest event in early October at the Westwood Federal Building.

I covered portions of this event today using the RRM shoulder rig, D5100, 17-35mm D-Nikkor, Rode VMP mic, Marshall monitor in 720p/24 format for web, to make available to sources such as the ANSWER Coalition’s LA Chapter. A brief clip is posted at my Facebook site.

Included was an interview with Teamsters Local 848 Secretary-Treasurer Eric Tate, who commented on the union’s position regarding what would be needed in the future to restore employment.

The setup performed flawlessly. In particular, I like the sound quality of the VM Pro set at +20 dB to deal with crowd noise. I found myself wishing for an assistant, so I could have done some booming and used a telephoto zoom for the stage presentation. Another set of hands to do stills would also have been nice.. I know, I ‘m always wishing upon a star—–

Batteries:

I find that the only reliable battery power sources for this monitor- until the rear-mount battery accessory is available- would be either very recently charged AA’s or lithium AA’s.

The tech rep from Marshall in El Segundo, CA has shown me a prototype of the upcoming accessory, one version of which will accept the battery for my D300s (EN-EL 3a).

I experimented with rechargeables over a period of several days and they seem to lose enough power in approx 24 hr that they don’t run this unit well, or don’t allow startup at all. Lithiums seem excellent, especially nice because of light weight.

HDMI Live view issues:

Unfortunately, the Coolpix S9100 apparently doesn’t allow LV feed to an external monitor. The D5100 apparently doesn’t allow LV feed while in 1080p/ 30FPS mode, although it works well in 1080p/24 FPS mode. Both cameras allow LV feed at all lower resolutions, such as 720 HD.

Therefore, the most obvious workflow would be to use the D5100 ‘s articulated monitor or a SD monitor for that mode.  The S9100 works well on a slider or tripod.

Having  used this monitor with AA rechargeables and the AC adapter for camera 1 and the 9″ Sony SD monitor/ DVD player for the jib camera on location, I have some comments.

First, for many uses a SD monitor of 9″ diagonal image size-especially one with a screen designed for both indoor and outdoor viewing-seems very sufficient. I find the swivel-type screen useful with this unit. Peaking and false color have been valuable on the Marshall and the magnification/zoom feature and flip are often very helpful, but for the present I’ve decided to continue with this combination rather than add a second Marshall for the jib cam. I run a 6′ extension cord to the AV camera cord for the D300s from Fry’s electronics, to maintain both audio and video at the end of the boom stretching up to about 10 feet from the monitor. I’m very pleased with the headphone audio quality from the Sony.

Second, the onboard rechargeable battery for the Sony has a 7.5 hour life per charge- excellent. For the Marshall, I swap out AA’s  which are kept charged during downtime and that works well; life seems about 2 hours  at normal temperatures. 

Third, I highly recommend the sunhood for the Marshall- mine came with the unit. I find it to be excellent even in bright sun, with such a bright monitor image already provided. Its contrast and resolution are impressive. If someone has found a resonably priced sunhood to fit the Sony, I’d be appreciative.

Of course, for studio use these monitors can be reversed if I want the larger image for the main camera.