All I have to do now is put it on the right camera, it's on my Canon 40D right now as an example. The Rode VideoMic looks pretty sweet though, doesn't it?

Can't wait to start filming. Should start about late June, already working on creating a small project. More details to come.

Big news in the world of HDDSLRs, the fine folks, including director Greg Yaitanes, over at "House". For the season finale they used only the Canon 5D Mark II for the entire episode, a first in television and HDDSLR history.


Sounds so epic.

I watched it and was blown away by the wonderful bokeh of the tight macro shots to the literal tight shots that made the 5D Mark II an obvious choice for the episode.

Courtesy: FOX Broadcasting Co. Youtube Channel

They used all L glass to bring out the best in what the 5D Mark II has to offer, including the 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.2, 100mm f/2.8 Macro.

Now word has it that next season will be filmed on all Canon 5D Mark IIs and 7Ds according to Canon Rumors. Instead of using Canon primes and zooms though, apparently they will be reconfigured to have PV and/or PL mounts, or look like this....

Courtesy: Cinema5D.com

Who will follow this trend now?

So I've solidified my decision that the Canon 7D will be mine by the end of the summer. Yes, that is right, the practically priced, multimedia overload, sadly APS-C sensor Canon 7D is in my sights and as soon as my funds are sufficient, that sucker is mine.


There is only one problem.... After capturing video, what do I use edit it all together into a nice piece for someone's viewing pleasure?

My MacBook Pro has iMovie on it, but I don't know if that is even a reasonable consideration. Checking the Apple website for compatible devices, and the Canon 5D Mark II was on the list. I'm just going to go on with the assumption the list has either not been updated yet for the 7D and the other Canon HDDSLRs, or something awful will happen...and I will cry.

I would think that the 7D would come with some sort of software, but with the searches that I have done, nothing has come up saying EXACTLY what it comes with other than the fact that, yes, yes it does come with a pack of CDs that may or may not allow you to edit it video on your computer, but you certainly can import and edit photos! Not what I currently looking for. I am perfectly happy with Adobe Lightroom 3 beta 2.

Then there's Final Cut. The Philip Blooms and Vincent Laforets, as well as news organizations use this as there go to for multimedia output. Is it worth it though to shell out the 1000 bucks for it? Sure there is the simplified version, but then again that looks like a $200 version of iMovie with a few more bells and whistles. Not knowing Final Cut or Final Cut Express, it's hard to say. I hear it's pretty simple, but then again, that's from someone that has been using it for a while, go figure.

So I guess this isn't a huge problem until I am holding the 7D and shooting video, but it is always nice to know.

I finally took my Tascam DR-07 out for a test run at the men's lacrosse game Saturday versus Lasell College, thinking it would be cool to put together an audio slideshow, not just to keep my skill sharp, but also to prove my worth even more to work.


Well listening to the audio, it didn't work out as I planned.

I need to figure out a better system for one. Lacrosse isn't one of those sports that I can just put the recorder behind the goal and feel safe knowing that it won't get run over. No, lacrosse they get to run AROUND the goal. So there goes getting up close audio like that, of course nobody has the great black bottom to their goal like field hockey...makes for epic audio when there's a goal.

Anyways, back to the situation I have found myself in. I put my recorder on the sidelines, and stepped back a few feet behind it, so that it wouldn't pick up the shutter of my camera. Nope. I guess it is more a stereo recorder than directional. Oh well. There is one lesson learned. So some of my audio has the click, click, click, repeated when the action was close, just when I also could be getting hopefully prime field audio. Go figure.

So I made my way to the Keene State College sideline and tried to get some audio there. Did better, but not great. This time around, I had the recorder in my back pocket, so every time I moved, guess what it picked up. So as I listened to 15 seconds of decent audio, I all of a sudden hear 5 minutes of talking, yelling, and my ass rubbing against the microphone of my recorder. AWESOME!


The recorder is awesome. I love the fact that I can take out the SD card and put it right into my computer, not have to worry about a card reader or cables. If only Apple could put a CF slot on their Macbook Pro laptops, than I would be the happiest person. One less 2.0 USB port taking up space. I need a to have my mouse and 1 TB external hard drive in!

I guess I am stuck with this audio until the 10th when the next home game is. Hopefully I can have figured out something by then. Pay some random freshman or sophomore in beer or something to hold my recorder where I say to and not do anything for an entire game. I'm sure they would love that.

Just a thought.

Being down a camera sucks.

When you sell your back up camera to your Dad to get money for a new camera to realize your primary is all of a sudden out of commission, sucks.

That happened a few weeks ago to me during basketball season.  I had to ship it off to Canon to have it fixed.  I was getting the Error 99 message.  One of the few banes of my existence when it comes to Canon cameras.  I love them, but I hate getting that message.  Turn it on, then off.  Take the battery out, and then put it back in again.  It's annoying.

Managed to work through the rest of the season though, and got the rig back fixed, just in time for spring sports...well sorta fixed.

You see, I treat my gear with the best care possible, I don't want it to look like it fell down a cliff face and still works, unless it fell down a cliff face and still works.

That is exactly how it was returned to me.  Looked great when I sent it, looks like hell now.  If only I had a photo before it got shipped off.

The worst thing about it all is when it came back.  I don't really mind the exterior as much as whoever was the numb nuts that worked on my camera did to it.  I can't shoot on high burst anymore like I used to.  My images are all coming out soft.  Too soft to do anything with sharpening.  I can shoot on burst and get the results I was getting before to reasonable, but when I'm shooting high action sports, I can't shoot three frames per second, I need that 6.5 frames per second.  At least everything else seems to be holding up well.

Lacrosse, softball, and baseball all are now starting up too, so I can't send it off again.  Looks like I have to wait until after May 8th, that's the last baseball game I believe at home, but there may be some games still afterwards, so it is all a toss up.

Maybe I can afford a 7D by the end of the semester.  HA!  That will be the day.

Nikon photographer Chase Jarvis has opened me up to a new way of looking at photography...using your camera phone as a legit way of creating art and capturing life as it happens.


Jarvis wrote a book called "The Best Camera: Is the One That's With You" and even though I haven't read it, or even had a chance to even look at it, browsing the website and the Apple iPhone application that he created with it is remarkable. It makes me jealous at one point, but then stop and realize that regardless of what is happening, there is always something to take a photo of.


I was sitting in my school's dining commons, bored, and so I pulled out my phone and started playing with it just as most college students would, but instead of texting someone, I decided to take photos. This isn't the greatest photo in the world, but the 3 megapixel camera on a cell phone isn't suppose to go up against a Canon 5D Mk II robust 21 megapixels.

SLRs are by far the most superior cameras that are on the market for there ability to let the photographer create the best possible image with the best possible accessories available; lenses, flashes, etc. Point and shoots are getting exceptional quality photos now though thanks to new technology, but nothing like SLRs. The camera phone on the other hand, is a fun addition to a tool we use for communication everyday, but has become much more than that.

Thanks to new smart phone applications and the ability to do edits on our cellphones and then upload them to our computers, the way photo creating and sharing has drastically jumped. Everywhere on Twitter and Facebook there are people with Mobile Uploads from the scene out of a car window to group of friends at a restaurant. They are the gateway to everyone getting into digital photography.

Happy New Year two and a half weeks into the next decade. Expecting a lot to happen in the coming months, all of which is out of budget but is all really cool to read, form an unbiased opinion, and blog about anyways.

Ok, so I thought that I would have done a field test with the Tascam DR-07 audio recorder like I said I would in my pervious post. This thing called "work" sort of got in the way of it and I haven't been able to put together my story. I have the story all set, but getting to it has been back burner.

The idea was to go to the local skate park, which happens to be Rye Airfield in Rye, New Hampshire. It is a massive indoor skate park in what used to be an airplane hanger. The concept I have worked up is what do kids that go to skate parks when it's warm out do when the "season" changes? So this is briefly what I came up with. I want to take my camera and recorder and capture images of BMX bikers and skateboarders doing tricks and interacting, as well as capturing natural sound from the bikes and skateboards grinding on metal rails and ledges to landing on ramps and maybe a crash too.

Then come the interviews... My favorite part. Finding someone that will talk to me, but not just talk to me, go to a quiet part of the park and answer a few questions. I mean they aren't hard questions, it is just hard when there is music blaring or someone is speaking over the loud speaker. It may have its challenges, but I'm confident, once I can figure out work and school and getting back here.

It's an interesting project, and I can't wait to put into practice. I've used everything so far, except the biggie, the audio recorder. Then, I'll be able to put together a nice multimedia slideshow of the transition from summer to winter for BMX bikers and skateboarders.

Should be exciting.