Cool Tools at Digital Video Expo: Spotlight on Black Diamond Best-of-Show Award Winners

Digital Video Expo West took place Sept. 20-22 at the Pasadena Convention Center. As always, educational seminars were conducted by an assortment of industry experts, training programs were presented by Weynand Training International and special interest groups held meetings in conjunction with the show. The exhibit floor attracted vendors and video professionals checking out the latest gear and software. The Digital Video editors combed the show floor seeking out the latest and greatest products for the Digital Video Black Diamond Awards. Here are the 11 products that our panel found to be the most impressive.

Cineped
Roto-Slider
From $1,500 to more than $5,400
Never before have we seen such a versatile slider. The Roto-Slider is available in 75mm or 100mm bowl diameters with standard lengths of up to 4'. (Pricing for 5' and 6' lengths is available on request.) The unit is totally free-rolling on the slider, meaning that an infinite number of camera movements are available to the operator. It is narrow enough to fit through a doorway. In fact, you can slide, push, pull, rotate, turn and transition smoothly. Operation is virtually effortless. Combine the 3.5' version with the Cineped base for a little over $10,000 and you have the most awesome slider and dolly base ever. But don't fret if you can't afford that ultimate package—Cineped has partnered with a number of rental houses to give you Cineped versatility on shoots of any scale.

Dana Dolly
Dana Dolly Junior Slider
$399
Dana Dolly showed both the full-sized Dana Dolly and the smaller Junior version. We loved both products and chose to award the Junior for the quality it brings for such a low price. Dana Dolly Junior supports cameras up to 25 lb. and has a number of common-threaded holes drilled into it for mounting. Most impressive are its wheels, which are machined to perfection and slide along the optional track (or your own track) with just enough resistance, but no skipping or sudden jerks. A full range of tracks and other mounting accessories is available.

LEDz
Superspot
$4,900
Imagine an LED fixture with a throw of 40' and equivalent to a 575W HMI fixture. And imagine that it draws only 1 amp of power. The LEDz Superspot is fixed at 5,500°K. It has two dimmers, and there is minimal color shift when dimming. Options include 12V portable operation, soft box, and DMX capabilities. It is available for both purchase and rental.

Libec
JB-30 Jib Arm
$1,999 (jib arm assembly only)
The JB-30 offers a choice of 75mm and 100mm bowl mounting options. It might be hard to get excited over yet another jib, but the Libec JB-30 is something special. It supports up to 44 lb. from ground level to 6'. The ground feature is enabled by its special undermount, included with the jib. It weighs just 22 lb.—and with its included carrying case, it isn't difficult to transport to location. Libec advertises that it takes just five minutes to set it up, and from the looks of it, that seems accurate.

Litepanels
Croma
About $500
Litepanels does it again. Not only does the company produce about the most color-accurate LED fixtures for the money, they now bring technology found in larger lights to a camera-top unit that switches between 3,200°K and 5,600°K. Croma follows in the Litepanels tradition of fixtures that can dim without any noticeable color shift. It operates on six AA batteries and draws a mere 9W. Its equivalent tungsten output is between 40 and 90W. Optional powering accessories include A/C adapter and battery plates for Sony, Canon or Panasonic DV-style batteries. Croma is a run-and-gun shooter or news videographer's dream on-camera light.

Marshall Electronics
Orchid OR-70-3D Autostereoscopic 3D Monitor
List price $7,899
Marshall has introduced the first glasses-free 7" on-camera HD-SDI monitor for high-end stereoscopic production. And it is already shipping. The OR-70-3D boasts 1600 x 600 resolution and includes precision 3D calibration capabilities. The features are numerous. Start with dual real-time vectorscope and waveform scopes. Then there are numerous 3D analysis tools: check box, difference, blending, and compare, to name just a few. Most impressive is the emboss mode, which shows a full-frame embossed or luminance difference display of left-/right-eye differences.

Miller
Compass 25 Fluid Head
$2,500
Compass 25 may weigh a mere 6 lb., but this 100mm bowl fluid head handles a payload up to 30 lb. It has five settings for fluid pan/drag and a four-position counterbalance adjustment. The large bowl ensures stability of packages ranging from smaller cameras decked out with accessories to ENG cameras. Miller offers a variety of tripod legs, from aluminum to carbon fiber, to complete the package. Also introduced at IBC 2011 was the Solopod quick-release plate for the Compass 25, which enables quick switching between the Compass and Miller's Solopod three-stage carbon fiber monopod. Miller is also showing an accessory bracket for the Compass 25 that allows mounting of monitors and other devices adjacent to the head.

Panasonic
AG-AC160 Camcorder
List price $4,795
Panasonic is now shipping the AG-AC160 AVCCAM camcorder, which was introduced at NAB 2011. This workhorse for indies, doc makers and event videographers builds on Panasonic's line of AVCCAM offerings to provide full 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 HD in a handheld format with 3MOS imagers. It records to dual SDHC or SDXC with capacities up to 64GB per card, translating into 12 hours of video in the highest-quality mode. It has 22 over-/undercrank settings and outputs both HD-SDI and HDMI for external recording or monitoring. Onboard metering is via both a waveform monitor and vectorscope. Unlike most camcorders in this class, it has four ND settings. There are just too many features for a short description. We will be reviewing the AG-AC160 in an upcoming issue.

Sachtler
Ace Tripod System
$535
It seems that DSLRs and smaller cameras are the name of the game these days. Sachtler, known for its precision-engineered fluid heads and tripods for higher-end cameras, enters the market for smaller professional production with its Ace Tripod System. Ace handles a payload up to 8.8 lb. It has a five-step counterbalance system, and its mounting plate slides a full 104mm to help achieve balance. But what is most amazing about the Ace is the price: Sachtler quality at a mass-market price point.

Schneider Optics
iPro Lens System
$199
The iPro Lens for Apple's iPhone 4 is just fun. Every iPhone user captures dozens of photos with his camera, and serious photographers wish they could change focal lengths. With the iPro Lens kit, which consists of a back for the iPhone 4 and two screw-on lenses, the iPhone 4 camera becomes even more versatile. Current shipping lenses are a fisheye and a telephoto. The fisheye captures a full 165° for a distorted and true fisheye effect.

Tiffen
Dfx v3
Video version $699
Tiffen has just updated its amazing collection of more than 2,000 software filters to version 3.0. New in this release are additional filters and GPU acceleration for faster rendering and display. Tiffen ships Dfx v3 for still photos, a standalone version and a video version in the same installer. The purchased license determines which versions are activated. Our readers would be most interested in the video version, which works with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro 6/7 and Avid NLE systems. Essentially, Dfx provides software emulation of the full range of Tiffen glass filters in a customizable user interface. Among the major additions to version 3 is a complete collection of film stock emulations.