NAB Show 2018: Camera Recap

May 11, 2018

After John and I took our little trip out to Mt. Zion and nearly dying from walking up a million switchbacks (and the fact that I’ve only walked on paved, level concrete for the past decade), we made our way back to Sin City to get ourselves ready to hit NAB 2018.

Mt. Zion National Park

Getting onto the show floor, especially for my first time, I wanted to avoid the naivety trap of seeing all of this new (or relatively new) equipment being introduced and believing it’s going to change the way professionals work on set. I also wanted to avoid being the disgruntled, jaded industry professional that thinks everything is a novelty or gimmick (especially approaching it from a rental stand point, where we have clients that span from low-budget DSLR shoots, multicam commercial shoots, and everything in between.) I was curious as to what I was going to find that may, in my opinion, start making moves towards more efficient workflows on-set that were practical and reliable. To my satisfaction, there were definitely companies and products that are starting to push the idea of practical redesigns of systems that have already been adopted into industry standards rather than the newest thing nobody needs.

Stabilizers / Gimbals

As soon as we got onto the show floor, the DJI booth greeted the crowd with their Ronin 2 setup on their new Master Wheel system (their version of the Alpha Wheels) and the Force Pro (DJI’s version of the Mimic). Surprisingly, the big crowd was surrounding the Ronin-S, a single hand stabilizer for DSLRs and small form factor cameras. I was surprised to realize that it took this long for DJI to put something like this out, considering they were heavily into the consumer gimbal game years ago. Although the Ronin-S isn’t going to change the game, it does feel good in the hands and used alongside their DJI Focus, it provides a clean and very simple setup for a DSLR or small form factor with the ability for operator to pull focus with a thumbwheel and control the “head” with a thumbstick. It’s not an upgrade over the MX, but it does put the ability to up production value for those who have been monopoding or hand holding during event or doc coverage.

DJI Ronin-S

GOOD

As much as people may believe that DJI is not meant for the professional market, it looks like they’re doubling down on their Ronin 2 ecosystem and providing accessories that their counterpart (Movi) have already had success with, providing a significant upgrade to payload and compatibility with bigger camera systems. This is not something that would replace any true remote head, but creates a notch somewhere between the bespoke proprietary camera control systems meant for small one-man-band situations and bigger productions with something like a Lambda head.

DJI Accessories

DJI Accessories

BAD

It’s hard to figure out how reliable anything new from DJI will be and if these accessories are going to be gimmicks or if they will be something medium-sized productions will start to utilize to get the shots they wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. Admittedly, the Ronin 2 has some very practical features and has been standing up to whatever we throw at it so far, it’s just a matter of time before we see how and if these new control accessories will be utilized.

Higher Capacity On-Board / VCLX Battery Solutions

One piece of equipment I knew I wanted to explore were batteries. It’s a fairly straight-forward part of the camera system and even though there are some really smart features that are being implemented, the most important to me was capacity and quality. There were a million booths with their iteration on the Gold Mount / V-Mount battery systems, however I was excited to see companies like BlueShape and SHAPE making high-cap 270wh / 290wh onboard batteries due to them having a little more history within the industry and (hopefully) more quality control and client support. They also feature higher amperage output for use with lights like the Skypanel at 100% output or camera systems like the newly released Alexa LF. On the VCLX-style end, Block Battery has presented a VCLX solution that uses an array of removable cells for more manageable self-service and can also be purchased in a Nickel Metal Hydride chemistry (safe for travel) or Lithium Iron Phosphate (ground travel only, but much lighter weight.) A 560wh Lithium Iron Phosphate block battery from them weighs about 28lbs and can charge in supposedly 3.5hrs. You can purchase a battery “balancer” which bays all 10 cells from the Block Battery with two extras bays so you don’t have to rebalance two separate cells if you discover a couple are bad in your original 10.

Higher Capacity On-Board / VCLX Battery Solutions

GOOD

The ideal upgrade to on-board batteries and VCLX solutions for me would be higher capacity, lighter weight, and practical price-point, which all seem to be hitting with the BlueShape and SHAPE brands. The inclusion of higher amperage for lighting is a practical addition and I’m sure will play great with popular lights like the SkyPanels.

Higher Capacity On-Board / VCLX Battery Solutions

Higher Capacity On-Board / VCLX Battery Solutions

BAD

A lot of neat, but (in my opinion) unnecessary features are being implemented into batteries and chargers, like RF chips, travel discharge, remote on / shutoff (to make sure clients aren’t using batteries longer than rented?) or Bluetooth pairing along with apps to view diagnostics. I feel like these are novelty features that may have their uses with mega rental houses, but I’d rather my money go towards capacity and output.

Integrated On-Set Camera Workflow Solutions

The thing I found most exciting when looking at all the new equipment offerings as a whole, is that it looks like companies are starting to branch into looking at simplifying or integrating equipment solutions as a singular product. Although not new to this year, the most notable to me were wireless director monitor solutions from SmallHD/Teradek with the 703 Bolt and wireless focus monitors with the SmallHD FOCUS TX/RX monitors. Although currently they don’t have the best range, max range is 300’ with the 703 Bolt and 500’ on the FOCUS monitor(either TX or RX), the idea seems to me that it could get past the novelty factor once they implement at least a 500’ (preferably 1000’) distance across all units. With Teradek integrating with RTMotion, there will almost undoubtedly be some kind of follow focus system that houses a monitor, hand unit, and receiver all in one. Now whether that would be a practical unit that professional AC’s would want to use is another question.

Integrated On-Set Camera Workflow Solutions

I was also pleasantly surprised with the Arri CForce Mini RF Motor, which is a CForce Mini motor that will connect directly to the WCU-4 or SXU-1 hand units. This enables lens mapping on any camera without the need for an external MDR like the UMC-4. Compatibility with Cinetape is still the same, requiring an LCube to display sonar readouts to the Arri hand units. It’s exciting to see such a huge player in the market, that’s known for designing expensive, high quality systems, push into something that is relatively experimental that not only serves the drone industry now, but could simplify standard handheld or ground mounted processes as well.

Arri CForce Mini RF Motor

Arri CForce Mini RF Motor

GOOD

It’s encouraging to see companies who have proven themselves in their respective arenas try new ways of simplifying or integrating components into the workflow of mid to higher end shoots without adding too many features or novelties that change the fundamental use of purpose of what they’re supposed to do. Simplicity means speed and everyone knows time is money when it comes to production.

BAD

With any product that uses radio or wireless connectivity, the fear of relying on “soft” connections instead of hard is very real and warranted. Although, technically, you wouldn’t be replacing the fact that todays solution for wireless directors monitors or wireless follow focus needs wireless signals, you would be putting what would be reserved for an external unit (like a Teradek Rx on a directors monitor build or an MDR for a follow focus system) directly in the internals of the monitor or motor which, maybe ignorantly, makes me feel like might make it less reliable or harder to diagnose and find a solution for on set.

All in all, it was an eye opening experience to see that much gear in such a (relatively) small footprint and helped bring context to how these new systems might work with how they are being used currently or in conjunction with new systems being shown on the same exhibition floor. Being able to speak directly with engineers or those working in development gets you great access to those who may be able to shed light on the inner workings of why it was done the way it was or how they envision it working with current systems. Seeing cameras, monitors, lenses, support, and filters in person is much more useful than any amount of literature, videos, or photos can provide and will let those who take their time taking a close look be able to give insight if or when some of these products make it into circulation on set.

Written By: Auggy – Camera Rental Manager

Auggy
Whenever he’s not taking care of our camera gear at Expressway, he’s playing an unhealthy amount of video games, eating Cronuts, and looking out of windows existentially.