Reported by Mat Gallagher and Dan Chung:

The Newsshooter.com team at work

I’ve had a couple of weeks now to think about this year’s NAB show. It brought some truly stand out products that combined simplicity with technical awesomeness, which was good to see this after many years of over complex, not quite right designs.

Kessler is one company that I love because of their elegantly designed sliders and their new Pocket Jib Traveller is no exception (see video). The unit has been painstakingly designed to not only pack to as small a size as possible but it also has been made lightweight, thanks to the drilled sections in the body. Something no one else has even considered.

G-tech’s drive system is storage made simple. Their latest devices (see video) are highly proficient field drives, the larger of which uses a raid system for speed, and plugs into a base unit once you’re back in the office for super quick transfer speeds.

Rigs wise, it was nice to see Zacuto’s Recoil looking much improved (see video) and I love the ergonomics of their new shoulder pad. The restyled Tornado follow focus was also great. There was innovation from Movcam (see video), and Matt Allard was particularly impressed with their F55 rig. Top marks also go to Redrockmicro (see video) for their lovely little Gopro cage.

The highly anticipated Dietygear Mira loupe, shown to us by DP Sebastien Devaud (see video), is not cheap but really transforms the C300 screen into a high quality EVF. Teradek’s new wireless product line, meanwhile, includes the Bolt wireless SDI transmitters (see video) which have some really interesting options.

Away from large sensor devices, we have the Canon XA20 and XA25 (see video). Finally compact camcorders are getting the specs that they should have – amazing stabilisation, XLR jack packs, 20x lenses and SDI. It will be interesting to see how good these little cams are against the Sony NX30

Blackmagic pocket cinema camera

Blackmagic’s pocket cinema camera gets my top award for the show (see video). It’s a fantastic looking camera that most of us here are already pre-ordering. The one big question though is, can they deliver? Will they be able to ship sufficient quantities at launch? We will see in July.

Airbox inflatable soft boxes are such a good idea. Why did no one do this before now? These have been around for ages for strobes but with a cooler LED sources, they make perfect sense and combined with the latest, most powerful LED panels, like the Cineroid LM400 (see video), the results are very good.

Steadicam’s Solo was a big hit at the show (see video). The combination Steadicam and monopod still has the legendary construction, balance and smooth operation of the bigger Steadicam – it can be used on its own or with an Arm and vest. I can see it finding a home with many news shooters wanting something that packs in a suitcase. While the Movi was getting a lot of attention, I think it could actually be the Solo that finds its way into more real world shooters bags. The Solo is a fraction of the cost of Movi yet able to get 90% of the moving shots you might want to get.

On the lens front there were lots of new high end offerings – mostly anamorphic – beyond the reach of the average shooter. For the news and documentary shooter though, there was one interesting high end bit of info: Canon has a 35mm servo Zoom lens in development. No more info yet but let’s hope it is more affordable than the excellent but pricey Fujinons.

Zeiss NEX lenses

Perhaps more relevant were the newest Zeiss offerings in DSLR and NEX lenses. Working samples of both the new NEX range and their ultimate 55mm f1.4 were shown at the show. The 12mm f/2.8 and 32mm f/1.8 NEX lenses have working AF with cameras like the FS700 and FS100. The 12mm looks like a great option for solo Steadicam work. Even though it is primarily a stills lens the new 55mm f1.4 has a very cinematic feel; the focus is beautifully smooth and the sharpness is outstanding.

Convergent Design’s Odyssey 7 and 7Q are stand-out monitors and recorders (see video), with a great range of ‘a la carte’ options for users. The Odyssey 7Q is great news for Sony FS700 owners, too, as it is fully compatible with its 2K and 4K (compressed) formats.

DJI Innovations Phantom copter gimbal mount

DJI Innovations latest Phantom copter (see video) mounts a GoPro in a gimbal unit that stabilises the camera and also allows tilt control from the remote. This system can even be added to older Phantom models and really transforms the copter.

Freefly’s Movi rig is truly incredible (see video) and is undoubtedly one of this year’s highlights. You have to wonder if it will have the same kind of success as the Steadicam. For now though, costing around $15k, it is probably out of the news shooters reach.

NAB 2013: News Shooter Wrap-up with Vincent LaForet from Teradek on Vimeo.

Dan Chung, Vincent LaForet and Matt Allard wrap up this year’s NAB show live from the Teradek booth.

Reported by Mat Gallagher:

In case you missed the live shows, here are some more of the talks we hosted on the Teradek booth.

NAB 2013: Hexolux from Teradek on Vimeo.

Matt Allard talks to Pete Smith from Hexolux about their new LED lights that are focusable, stackable for a large bank of lights and have a high CRI rating that makes them behave like a regular tungsten light.

NAB 2013: Steadicam from Teradek on Vimeo.

Dan Chung talks to Garret Brown and Robin Thwaites from Steadicam about using their rigs for documentary shooting.

NAB 2013: Diamond Brothers from Teradek on Vimeo.

Dan Chung talks to the Diamond Brothers – Josh and Jason – about their work and what it is actually like shooting with the Blackmagic camera in a real production environment.

NAB 2013: Vincent Laforet and Freefly Cinema from Teradek on Vimeo.

Dan Chung and Matt Allard talk to Vincent LaForet and Tabb from Freefly about the Movi rig, a non-mechanical gyro stabilised (brushless motors) unit born from a helicopter.

NAB 2013: Small HD from Teradek on Vimeo.

Matt Allard talks to Dale Backus of Small HD about the DP7 OLED monitor display. This unit features a 7.7in display with 1280×800 resolution and 100% of the NTSC colour gamut. It also boasts touchscreen with proximity sensors, HDMI, composite and component ports. It is fully programmable and has just about every feature you’d want from a field monitor. They also discuss the High Bright version, which can be seen clearly, without the need for a hood in almost any lighting condition.

Reported by Jonah Kessel:

NAB 2013: Glidecam Takes Mobile Flight from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Glidecam, the popular camera stabilization company gave us a look at a couple new toys they have brought to NAB 2013. Jonah Kessel looks into a new 3-axis gyro stabilization modification allowing Glidecam users to fly their cameras smoothly in cars or helicopters. Glidecam also demonstrated their new iGlide, a stablization device for iPhone, smart phones or hand held devices. The mobile steady cam will be available in most colors of the rainbow.

Interview shot by Chuck Fadely and Rick Macomberand.

Reported by Jonah Kessel

NAB 2013: Vincent Laforet talks mobility, money, and MōVI from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Jonah Kessel talks to Vincent Laforet and Tabb Firchau from Freefly Systems about MōVi, a stablization system that Laforet calls “game changing.” Laforet had been building hype on his web site in the weeks before NAB 2013 about the device. With the announcement of the system, Laforet released a new short film titled “MoVi” with an accompanying behind the scenes.

On his blog, Laforet writes, “This launch has been as much, if not more fun, than the Reverie / Canon 5D mkII for me and Freefly systems!”

While no one seems to be contesting the amazing footage, the comments section of Laforet’s blog are representative of an industry wide discussion happening: Is this product really a game changer?

Freefly describes their product as:

A handheld 3-axis digital stabilized camera gimbal, so advanced, it redefines the possibilities for camera movement. The heart of the gimbal is Freefly’s proprietary high performance IMU and brushless direct drive system. The gimbal is 100% custom designed in-house by our engineering team. No compromises were made to accommodate off-the-shelf brushless motors, motor drives or IMUs. Creating the gimbal from scratch allowed Freefly to precisely execute our vision for the next generation of stabilized camera gimbals. In creating this camera gimbal, we aim to empower a new era of stabilized cinematography. Freefly MōVI – “The New Moving Picture.”

Preorders for the system are expected to go on sale tonight with a $3,000 deposit and will ship in the fall of 2013. Smaller and larger models are also in the works.

See Freefly’s web site here and Laforet’s videos below.

MōVI BTS from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

MōVI from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Video by Chuck Fadely and Rick Macomber.