DV Expo 09

It’s been a good 3 years since I’ve attended the Dv Expo… It’s a show I have a certain affection for. It was the first exhibition of this kind I attended when I moved to the US and a year later I had my first short film screened at it’s own festival; the DV Film Festival.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the scale of the show, compared to the last time I attended. And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one disappointed to not seeing Canon there…

It is kind of scary to think that events like the DV Expo could have it’s days numbered if this trend grows… it’s like not having Apple at NAB…?! These are rare opportunities you get to talk to developers and to actually have hands on equipment you can’t find in any stores, no matter how specialized they are.

The internet has and will keep changing the world, but there’s nothing like the real world, because in the end, both you and I will be shooting with real cameras in the real world.

I think most manufacturers have trouble justifying, in direct revenue, the costs involved to be present on trade shows like this, but if I’m not alone, you’ll be much more prone to buy a product after playing with it, then after seeing it on some webpage. Not to mention the show’s specials that can always promote compulsive purchases, boosting sales. Interestingly enough and despite the economy state, there weren’t many “great” opportunities as I remember from previous years/shows?!

All in all, I still found the experience the DV Expo 09 very productive and rewarding. I was still able to find products I didn’t know about, and best of all, get to know about them, by the creators themselves.

First off I should say that I was there on a mission! I’ve received my 5D MKII a few weeks ago and I’m dying to get my kit going, so I can put in a real world test, so I can report something worthy, to you!

My first destination was Zacuto. I’ve heard from enough credible people that there is no way of avoiding the Z-Finder in your kit… but $400 have been hard to swallow, for something that somehow looks like it shouldn’t cost as much, specially when you compare the price of other options. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have ended up buying the Z-Finder on-line, but I felt a lot more confident after holding it in my hand and feel out the quality build myself. There’s no webpage or video that can replace that! After you hold it in your hands, you don’t get that same empty feeling when your eyes wander between the small picture and the $ sign on their webpage…

So, without further a due, I introduced my self to @zacuto_mandy and it wasn’t long before I was being hooked up with a little “exception” for the show special (thank you Mandy ), tweeting Mandy’s pic with my new Z-Finder (as seen above) and leaving a little poorer but with a big smile on my face ; )~

My next stop was Redrock Micro…

You might wander why am I jumping between Zacuto and Redrock?!

Well, I “inherited” an M2 kit that was bought for my film but was never put to use, for reasons that are pointless to re-live… but the point is that just like owning a Canon or Nikon you kind of get stuck with what you start with… and owning a follow focus kit from Redrock Micro didn’t leave me much room for thought… well I have to confess I even thought about putting together a hybrid Zacuto Micro kit at one point, but staying faithful ended up being a safer and considerably more affordable bet.

I’m building a peculiar kit to satisfy my camera fetishes… and advice from the creator himself is definitely precious and most appreciated. Don’t worry. You’ll be hearing all about it soon enough ; )

Back to Redrock Micro, I have to say that they definitely build the most budget conscious camera rigs. This company has always had the indy filmmaker with a credit card budget in mind! The brilliant thing is that they are still doing it, without sacrificing quality or versatility. Unfortunately they don’t have a viewfinder solution that attracted me, so thank God for Zacuto to have come up with the amazing Z-Finder, or we would probably be watching even more out of focus clips on Vimeo…

It’s kind of hard to juxtapose these two brands since I only have good things to say about both. They are both brilliant in his own way and only you will know which one is the right one for you.

With all the new cool upgrades Redrock Micro has just launched, I got a little confused on how to complete my kit without breaking the bank, but Brian was once again patient enough to guide and advise me. And if that wasn’t enough, he hooked me up with their largest lens gear ring, so I can get my 100-400mm Canon zoom to work with the microFollowFocus! Thank you Brian!!! You won’t be disappointed with the review I’m going to write about my “in the making rig”!

OK, enough with personal stuff. Lets move on to the rest of the show!

No surprise to see the usual “big boys club” with the exception of Canon, dominating the entrance, with the largest booths. Panasonic, JVC and Sony…

The same old setup… a couple of pretty models, a bunch of tripod mounted cameras, connected to monitors for you to play around with… maybe it’s just me, but I’ve seen this so many times it just feels plainly boring and uneventful… if it was up to me to set up these things, you can be sure you would have a lot more fun and get a lot more excited with your prospect camera/set up… but we’re going through a big crisis, so I believe it might be hard to just be present at all…

I guess the other problem I had with these booths, is that with the 5D, 7D and the upcoming Scarlet, it’s just harder to get excited looking at these same “old” cameras… somehow it feels like I’m looking at “trailer” of a museum… I’m not saying these cameras are dead, yet… but they have definitely “looked a lot healthier”… at least to my eyes… I mean, how long have we been using 35mm adapters to cheat video’s hideous look?!

One thing caught my attention at JVC, though!

A 3D flat screen monitor that looked surprisingly good when you put 3D cardboard shades on?! I mean really, really good!!! A much better experience then I had last week watching “Final Destination” in 3D, which couldn’t have disappointed me more… in every sense of the experience… I really have mixed views on 3D right now… the scariest thing is that I’ve already been approached for two 3D projects next year… can’t make my mind up… But I have to admit that the picture coming out (pun intended) of this monitor looked damn good!

The next spot to get my attention was Alzo Video.
One of the hardest things for independent filmmakers, is getting our hands on an affordable, efficient light kit. Alzo definitely has some interesting propositions. I could definitely see myself with a few of these in a near future.

I’m not a lighting guy, so I’m not going to pretend I know what I’m talking about and you’ll be better off checking it out yourself.

Then I found this very cool do it yourself approach to LED lights. Very cool stuff!!!! Exciting possibilities!!! Definitely sounds a lot more affordable and flexible then anything else out there!

Just get your imagination going! Lines of LEDs that you can layout anyway you want… they even have waterproof ones… I’m curious to see what all the brilliant people out there will be doing with these! I’m definitely going to have a go with these as soon as I get a chance!

Lens babies… I’ve owned one since version 1… how could I not… they are so much fun… but not that friendly to use… or at least to get repeated, respectable results… and that’s when I used it on my old 5D… I can only imagine with the shallower depth of filed of the MKII…

But they have a new model now! It looks and feels a lot more user friendly. Many added possibilities with the loss of some of the spontaneity of the previous versions… but I think I’d prefer to get more shots in focus, then just a few cool as hell shots that only happen when the day is smiling at you… either way, this is a very fun and cool piece of gear to have in your kit! I really had to contain myself to not get sucked into a compulsive buy… good thing the show special wasn’t all that wonderful…

Varizoom, was also one of the “big” players this year. Their stuff is just too tempting and priced in a very dangerous way for people like me… haha… Their jib’s hot heads are definitely in my “wants” list… and their pro-cinema model is just like a filmmaker’s wet dream come true… haha…

I had to get out of there before I OD’d (over drooled)…

Then this very nice lady enticed me to have a look at Diana Weynand’s Final Cut Pro ikeysToGo. It’s one of those applications that if you are an editor and you have an iPhone… you’re probably going to get… wether you’re going to use it or not, it’s a whole different matter… having all of FCP’s shortcuts at hand for $2.99 just sounds irresistible…

Nexto DI was also on my “must check out list”. These devices that resemble the portable SD cards back up hard drive that Panasonic has had for at least 2 years, seems like a very interesting solution for the photographer/videographer on the go.

If it raises to all it’s claims, it’s pricey tag might be justified for the security it can offer. If you don’t have time, or for some reason can’t have a laptop with you while you shoot, then this solution might be just what you’re looking for. On the other hand, with the prices of memory cards continuously coming down, I would do a bit of math before getting one… but no matter how you look at it, and if you can afford it, it’s a very cool solution that can pay it self for the piece of mind alone.
I was also told that an update is being developed to enable direct to disk recording… now that really sparks up my imagination… lets wait and see…

Then I just couldn’t let the opportunity to try out the Steady Cam Merlin with a a 5D MKII on it, go by!!!

The MKII with a zoom lens hits right on the weight limit of what the Merlin was designed to handle… I was still very impressed on how good of a stabilizing job it does. But either I’m a weeny, or it just feels like too much weight to hold on your wrist… but hey, if you got the muscle (and the cash), it is definitely capable of creating some very impressive results!

Then on my last round over the floor and after victoriously not succumbing to the the lens baby temptation (well, at least for now…) I subdued to this plug-in package for $99… in my defense I should say I wasn’t the only one… besides having to wait for 2 people buying it ahead of me, I was actually lucky enough to get the very last copy, to the disappointment of the people behind me…

The Topaz bundle demo was that impressive… it left me both with the “what’s the catch” feeling, but the irresistible wanting of “I have to try this myself”, for which $100 seemed more then fair to pay for…

A perfect example of what an unknown company with a good product, a good demo and an interesting show special offer can benefit from a show like the DV Expo.

I hope events like this never die!!!

Stay tuned for my real world experience on the 5D, coming shortly after RedRock Micro delivers my gear… so if you guys there at Redrock Micro are reading this… please hurry up!!!! ; )~

Thank you for reading!!!