I’ve been on a media kick recently; life changes in the whole “employment” space will do that to you. Getting back to blogging, shooting, and creating is one of the things I’ve really enjoyed the most.
Last week I had a shoot in a local Tea Merchant for an upcoming catalogue/eBook highlighting all the coolest speciality teas made by staff members. A busted screen on the Alpha A300 meant no live view and no photo review; it was like being back in the early 2000 with my Canon Rebel Ti – which is currently sitting about a foot away from me. Some legends never die (where the hell do I find film for this thing now…?)
Off to the Future Shop I did go, where they sell cameras, so I know. I knew I wanted a Sony camera again; I’ve got a beautiful 50mm f/1.7 and a 28mm f/2.8 Minolta lens that you’ll pry from my cold dead hands. The 18-70mm that came with the A300 isn’t half bad either. I also wanted another camera that would use the FM-50 battery that I already have. I have two Sexy chargers for them, and having a spare battery around is awesome.
The Kingsway Future Shop is generally the bane of my existence (aside from a sales guy named Fuzz–he’s old school and completely awesome), but they delivered the goods that night. They had one A35 left… open box. Sold for $569, $90 off regular, and only a shade above the dealer cost (they always wonder why I ask them if they can check how many they have in stock… sneaky). It was missing a rear cap for the included lens; luckily (ugh) I had an extra after the destruction of my beautiful 70-200mm f/4 Minolta beer can lens. I still need to buy another one of those.
The shoot went well… and instead of turning the camera into a rental, I decided it was high god damned time I started shooting video with a DSLR. I’ve got a Sony HDR-SR7 that a friend and I pitched in to buy ages ago. It’s a good little workhorse, but it can’t scratch the surface of what modern DSLRs can do. My first video project with the A35 was the Nerding Out 3 video.
Thus began The Rig™.
The Rig™
A few things to note: The Sony does stupidly good video. Apparently it gets quite hot when SteadyShot is on during video shoots, but most of my use will be tripod based for now, so I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it (HA!). The microphone, however, is abysmal. I knew it would be, which is why I recorded sound to my Mac using my Blue Snowball USB mic. Final Cut Pro X synced the audio automatically (the naysayers might have a point for their projects, but FCPX is the best thing that’s ever happened to my editing endeavours). All said and done, the audio syncing was more than I wanted to deal with right now (saving every take to garage band as a separate files was a pain in the ass… I’ll revisit independently recorded audio when I can afford a Zoom H4N.)
So I concluded that the next step in The Rig™ would be a proper shotgun mic. I want to take The Rig™ to trade shows, out on the street, anywhere I damn well please… and I want to shoot fast, so a lav mic is out of the question for now. The conclusion of the Internets is that the Rode VideoMic is the best in class, offering more bang for your buck than anything, including its bigger brother, the Rode VideoMic Pro.
Everyone in Canada wanted $200+ for them… except Long & McQuade. L&M had them for $169… but couldn’t get their inventory shit together unless I trucked it out to their damned Langley store, which closes at 7 Mon-Wednesday. Ugh. I arrived with less than 10 minutes to spare. It was a close one.
So The Rig™ is on its way. Here it is pictured with an Optex mounting bracket; I have to use this until the hotshoe adapter I bought from China shoes up. Sony Alphas use a Minolta hotshoe, which is a pain in the ass despite offering compatibility with three decades of Minolta flashes that no one gives a shit about anymore.
Next up for The Rig™? The Cowboy Studio shoulder rig, a new plate and rails, and a $50 follow focus from KickStarter. Shit just got real.
