Product reviews of cameras, lenses, microphones, lights, tripods, and more related to video and film production.
A while ago, I received the book An Independent Filmmakers Guide to Preparing and Submitting to Film Festivals (Amazon link) by Anthony Straeger for review purposes. Avid FilmDaft readers might remember Anthony, the director and co-founder of the amazing Berlin Sci-Fi film festival, which I was lucky enough to be accepted into with my first …
The Olympus 75mm f/1.8 (also known as the M.Zuiko 75mm ED f/1.8) was released in July 2012. So this year marks its 10-year anniversary on the market. I’ve used the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 for the Micro-Four-Third (aka MFT or m43) systems for years, so I thought it was time to show this lens some LOVE. …
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K (aka BMPCC4K) was initially released in 2018 by Blackmagic Design. This camera is an upgrade to the popular Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera released several years prior. More importantly, this camera looked to be an upgrade to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5K and 4K with its functionality. According to Blackmagic’s website, …
I’m usually a backpack man when it comes carrying my cameras and smaller accessories around. The reason for this is that I like to distribute the weight of my gear evenly across the shoulders with the help of added support from the belt around the waist. But there are times, that I don’t want to …
Update: I’ve tested the lens barrels again, and I can confirm that there is no sand trapped anymore. I can still change the zoom though (albeit with some resistance), even though the zoom lock ring is in the locked position. I’ve wanted a super-telephoto zoom for my Panasonic GH5 for a long time since my …
So I decided to do a comparison of four budget-friendly wireless lavalier microphones and compare them against my old Sennheiser ew100 G3 (link to Amazon), and to see which one I liked the best. I basically wanted to test how these affordable options stack up against each other and against a much more expensive option …
A couple of weeks ago the folks from Moment send me a set of their new variable ND filters to test. For a while, they’ve just been sitting at my desk because I’ve simply not had the time to test them out properly because of all the crazy stuff going on in the world at …
Over the past year, I have done several shoots for a history documentary. The director wondered how we could make the classic talking head interview more visually engaging while keeping our crew small. She asked me to research motorized sliders which, in theory, would offer dynamic camera movement without multiple operators. Interviews regularly use two …
Top Photo: Rachel Bardin As a photographer turned cinematographer, I have owned the Canon L Series 24-105 EF IS since 2013. It came bundled with a 5D Mark iii, which I primarily use for stills. In the past, I might have balked at using this slow, f4, zoom lens in filming situations and opted for …
Top Photo: Colin Elves I’ve owned the Panasonic EVA1 since it’s initial release in October 2018. In addition, I have dedicated a fair amount of time to delving into the depths of its capabilities and comparing it to its direct competitors. So I think it’s fair to say that I know the camera well and …