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A camera can only be as good as the recording made from it. In the past year or so we’ve seen some interesting new portable recording devices such as the AJA Ki Pro and the Convergent Design nanoFlash. Now comes the Cinedeck Extreme, which is not only an excellent recorder but also doubles as a full-featured on-camera monitor. The Cinedeck Extreme can input HD-SDI in 4:2:2 or 4:4:4, as well as HDMI, and record it to the wavelet-based Cineform codec. Coming soon (with a firmware upgrade) will be Avid DNxHD, as well as Uncompressed HD. That’s right — an Uncompressed 12-bit RGB HD recorder for under $12K that sits right on top of your camera. Recording media are consumer 2.5″ SSD drives designed for laptops.

The Cinedeck’s monitor offers functions such as waveform, vectorscope, false-color exposure meter, audio meters, pixel-to-pixel zoom for focus, grid and frameline overlays, etc. All this in a package about the same size of a standard on-board LCD.

Watch the video for more on the Cinedeck Extreme and to see it mounted to the new ARRI ALEXA Digital Cinema camera.

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DSC Labs recently introduced the RED CamBook, which is designed for the RED One and other future RED cameras. It has three pages of framing charts, exposure aids and color alignment scales. Watch the video to see all the features of this useful tool.

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One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive about the XDCAM EX cameras is how to adjust back focus. Like all ENG style lenses, the lenses that come with these cameras can sometimes develop back focus issues over time. The cameras all have a method for adjusting this, and luckily the PMW350, PMW320, EX3, EX1R, and EX1 all follow a similar procedure. Watch this video to learn when and how to adjust the back focus on your EX camera.

DSCLabs has some great charts for checking back focus, they also offer a couple free ones that you can print yourself – here.

Note: To access the hidden menu on the EX1 / EX1R, hold the Menu, Scroll Wheel, and Cancel button at the same time. DO NOT adjust anything else in this menu.

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Need a small portable daylight lamp with a lot of punch? How about a lightweight three light kit? What about a camera ringlight? Need to power them off a single circuit? What about off battery power? You want all of this and don’t want to bring a grip truck along to carry it all?

The IANILED54 is a versatile light system that can function as a three light kit or as a single powerful LED unit. It can be battery or AC powered. Three concentric rings of LED lights can be used as individual units or mounted together as a single powerful fixture. Each light section features dimmer control as well as Ianiro’s unique color balance control. The complete kit can be powered from a single camera battery with on board mounts available for Anton Bauer or V-mount bricks. There are more options available in this clever light; check out the video to see.

Abel will also be showing off the IANILED54 at Cine Gear today, so stop by our booth #S209!

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A lens is a lens is a lens, and it doesn’t know what size sensor or film gate is placed behind it.  A lens projects light and the magnification size of that projection is determined by its focal length.

Nevertheless, there has always been a great deal of confusion associated with the focal length of lenses and their relationship to the size of the image area.

I’ve read many explanations in various books and on the internet over the years and authored some of them myself. But often written explanations confuse as much as they explain. If a picture is worth a 1000 words, I figure this video is equal to a small novella on the subject. Many people seem to use the various optical terms incorrectly or interchangeably, so I figured showing what happens would help demystify the concepts involved.

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Need to generate timecode easily on your iPhone or iPad? There’s an app for that.

JumpStart LTC is an elegant and easy to use app designed by Abel client Edward Richardson, which generates a Longitudinal Timecode audio signal. It also allows you to manually set your frame rate and userbits. Simply plug in a headphone cable to your iPhone/iPad, connect the other end to the timecode slate (or other device) of your choice, and it will jam sync to JumpStart LTC. Since iPhones have become such ubiquitous sights on any shoot, it’s always great when something like this comes along to make our lives a little easier.

For more info, visit the iTunes App Store or the official site here. JumpStart LTC is 50% off for the entire month of May!

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Recently, I got a chance to play with one of Canon’s newest lenses the HJ15ex8.5 2/3″ ENG-style HDTV lens. It features Canon’s advanced Vari-Angle Prism Image Stabilizer (VAP-IS) technology, allowing users to adjust for specific shooting situations – perfect for handheld work while walking, running, or on a moving vehicle. Check out the video to see my overview of the lens’s key features.