Røde Talk - You Listen - People Watch

Making a video? Making it on your DSLR, mirrorless, or cine camera? Thinking to have someone out there in the middle distance do some talking? Would you like to hear what they have to say?

So would your audience. Trying to get to get clear speech recorded from the camera position with an in-built microphone can be impossible. Even using a shotgun microphone with all the housings, mufflers, and booms can still result in bad sound - the wind and background noises can conquer all your efforts. You either have to have the actors hold up signs with their lines printed on them or hire Marcel Marceau...

The answer is a small microphone attached to the actor and some way to transmit this back to the camera wirelessly. Røde have now introduced their equipment for this - the Rødelink Filmaker wireless microphone/transmitter/receiver set.

The pack shot is included above to show you the basic boxes for the set - there is an omnidirectional lavalier microphone and a number of connecting cables in the carton as well, but it seemed a pity to unpack it when it was such a cute parcel.

The range of the transmitter/receiver combo is 100 metres and it throws the signal with a series II 2.4 GHz digital transmission. The signal is encrypted as it goes so only you share the info with yourself. If you need to adjust the gain control there is a three-level system.

At last - a neat, clean, Australian sound linkage. No mimes need apply...

The Sony Cine Solution - A Lens To Dream Of

Sony enthusiasts who use their mirror-less camera systems are often cine enthusiasts as well - they recognise the video capabilities of these full-frame systems to produce high quality footage.

The lenses that Sony release to do this are many and varied - but one of the recent additions is quite phenomenal in capability and form.

The FE 4 /PZ 28-135 G OSS runs from f:4 to f:22, features a powered and a manual zoom, optical shot steadying mechanism, and a close focal distance that can be a short as 1.31 feet.

There is a direct unlocking of the automatic focusing if desired - you slide the front focusing ring backwards and there is instant response.

There are no stop detents on the aperture ring.

Each ring; focus, zoom, and aperture are fitted with geared teeth that must connect to dedicated focus pulling mechanisms - indeed there is a thrreaded socket on the zoom ring that suggests the addition of a small lever to smooth out manual zooming.

The optical performance is reported to be superb and the finish of the lens is no-less professional. I can most accurately describe the finish on the barrel by comparing it to the parkerising on a military firearm. I think it is sintered metal, but the effect is low-key sheen.

The mounting foot is substantial as is the weight of the entire structure - it is meant to work on an adequate tripod.

Looks as though the Sony company is serious.

In store now, ask for a price, or a time to check it out!

When I Were Young We Were Too Poor To ...

When  I was young we were too poor to own a digital camera. The late 1940's were a hard time in the Rocky mountains and all we had to record life was stretched deer hides and ochre dug from the creek bank. In retrospect it was not too bad, because you could get packs of really good A3+ deer hide cheaply...

Okay, that was a lie. We had a Kodak camera. As it happened my parents owned an 8mm Kodak magazine cine camera and a projector and Kodak Canada would process 50 ft reels of Kodachrome movies and post them back to you within a fortnight. The results are still with me and the colour has not faded. When I care to project it my mother and father are alive again and I am 1 year old in the bath.

Valuable? To you, no. To me, priceless. To my daughter a link to the past. Much hilarity over the bathtub film...

When next you're doing your sums for yourself and wonder whether you ought to spend a few more dollars on a digital camera or an extra memory card...remember that someone will want to see what you look like one day. It might be a long - term investment, but it does pay off handsomely.

PS: We have good waterproof Nikon  and Olympus cameras in case the bath splashes.

PPS: We were too poor to own memes too...

Fresh Outta The Box

As a retail shop assistant I am a connoisseur of boxes. I analyse the packaging of all the goods that are presented here in the shop. I applaud some and curse others. I struggle to open some of them with a fire axe and then struggle to close them again with a wool press. I am searching for the designers of some of them, and I know where the fire axe is...

All the above to introduce some of the smartest packaging on some of the best value products in the place - the Samyang lenses.

Look at that package - smart, printed well with a usable picture on the outside and the entire specs of the lens on the end-piece. And inside the lens cradled well, but not buried like King Tut in the pyramids. You can get it out and in without strong language.

The lenses themselves are designed well, produced well, and are startlingly economical. You'll always have to do your own focussing as these are all MF and apertures but the optics are really excellent. I see we have Canon-mount, Nikon-mount, Micro 4/3-mount, and a video mount varieties in today. There is even a tilt shift lens for architecture and studio work at  price that should clean the major manufacturer's clocks for them.

Delightful addition to the inventory, and a pleasure to sell.