By Dan Chung

Audio Developments are a British company that specialise in broadcast audio mixers. At the show they were demonstrating an interesting mixer aimed at Canon DSLRs and especially the 5D mkII. The AD071 is a three channel mixer with limiters designed to compete with the popular Juicedlink and Sound Devices MixPre-D products. It is quite lightweight but yet feels robust. It has a multi-segment LED audio level meter is very nice to use. It has an attenuated unbalanced output for going direct into a DSLR as well as twin XLR outputs for feeding a professional video camera.

Video by Felix Clay.

By Dan Chung and Sarah Li

Beijing based audio company MicW were showing a simple microphone setup for the Ipad and Iphone at BIRTV. It can be used with audio software from the App store to turn an Apple device into high quality portable audio recorder. Previous setups for external mics on the Iphone that I have seen have been somewhat more complex.

The i436 comes with a small splitter cable that allows the use of headphones to monitor what is being recorded, although the monitoring quality seemed variable. The mic is small enough to keep with you at all times in case you need to make an audio recording. It might also prove useful for dual sound recording for DSLR or live crosses over Skype from iOS devices.

The MicW i436

The Sennheiser MKE400 mic on a Canon 600D

Sennheiser is the World’s best known manufacturer of professional microphones. This coming Thursday evening they are holding an event at Jacobs in London to highlight their latest audio solutions for HDSLR and video cameras. Come along and check out all their newest products with Sennheiser’s own audio experts on hand. One of the biggest issues that photographers and videographers face when shooting on cameras like the 5DmkII is audio – so please come and get some good advice on how to improve.

I’ll be there talking about my experiences of doing audio for DSLR and also showing some of my latest work. If you are free that night please come and say hi. I am also doing a full day DSLR video workshop with Jacobs the next day – I believe there are still one or two places left so contact them if you are interested.

The event runs from 6.00pm to 9.00pm at the Jacobs Pro Lounge on New Oxford Street. There is a limit of 50 places and there will be drinks and refreshments. If you want to attend please contact Donal or Henrietta on 02074366996 or email prosales@jacobs-photo.co.uk

By Dan Chung

Many thanks to all those who came to my ‘HDDSLR in the real world’ training workshop at Jacobs Pro lounge in London last week. One unexpected pleasure was to have some top Associated Press and Bloomberg news photographers along as participants.

Also a big thank you to Nick Millen of Canon UK for coming along to support the event and bringing his expertise as well as the latest lovely L lenses with him on the day. We had a good discussion on a range of topics as well as gear available to try from Manfrotto, Jag35, Zacuto, Redrockmicro, Genus, Pinknoise Systems and IDCphoto.

Canon's Nick Millen (L) hides from the camera

Some lovely Canon glass including the new fisheye zoom

Apologies to those we could not accommodate this time; we felt it was much better to keep the class small and more personal. As it was oversubscribed, Jacobs and myself are organising another session on July 1st. Again it will be open to all, but those of you who were on the waiting list last time and didn’t get a place will have the first option to attend this one. As before we are keeping numbers below ten.

This is what news photographer Jason Alden had to say about the workshop – “I had an excellent day on Dan’s course, it really helped answer all the questions that I would otherwise have to learn through making mistakes. The course was ideally pitched for the working Editorial Photographer who just needs technical direction to get them on their way. Well worth the time and money; I’m certain it will prove a good investment.”

The workshop will be £150 for the day ( 10am-5.30pm ) and will take place on Friday, July 1st at the Jacobs Pro lounge, 74 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1EU.
 
To book a place please contact Henrietta or Donal on 0207 436 6996.

Interviewing Tony Blair with a 5DmkII with assistant Xiaoli Wang and a boom mic (out of shot)

I get a lot of questions about audio for DSLR and on July 7th I’ll be giving a seminar about the subject in Bristol, showing the various practical approaches I take to get good audio for my real world videos. DSLR video guru Phil Bloom will be there too, talking about how he records his audio using dual system sound. It’s £30 for the day and there are other sessions as well from experts. If you are in the UK I think it will be well worth the trip.

Getting good audio with a boom connected via Sennheiser EW100 radio mic to a 5DmkII

Below are the details from Rycote:

Objective for the day: to demystify the black art of audio, through a seminar programme and hands-on experience with industry experts in a demonstration area.

Through a series of seminars and hands-on experience with industry experts in a demonstration area, we will address a range of issues, including:

- Recording directly to the camera vs. recording separate audio?
- How to record audio in different scenarios?
- How do I eliminate wind noise from my recordings? What about handling noise?
- Portable recorders, Lavalier mics, Wireless microphones – which one should I use?
- Guide tracks? Reference audio?

The Watershed - venue of the Rycote DSLR audio day (photo courtesy of the Watershed)

Come and join us no matter what your level of audio knowledge is!

Confirmed Seminars;

Chris Woolf- Understanding Audio Concepts
John McCombie- HDSLR Audio Solutions from Pinknoise-systems
Dan Chung- audio case study
Philip Bloom- audio case study

Please note seminars will run from 9.30AM to 5PM, and are available by ticket in advance only (£30.00 per ticket)

Hands-on experience/trade show area (open to the public)- 9AM to 7PM
Come and meet the manufacturers
Hands-on experience of various audio products and accessories
Listen to individual mics and appreciate the differences
Products provided by Canon, Pink Noise Systems, Sennheiser, Rycote and Sound Devices
Networking opportunities in cafe/bar area throughout the day

Additional details:
When: Thursday 7th July 2011, 9AM to 7PM
Where: Watershed, Bristol - A short distance from Temple Meads Station! Ample car parking close by.

Trade show area: open to the public
Seminars: £30.00 for the day
Book your tickets now!
Contact sales@rycote.com, or phone us on 01453 759 338.

Confirmed Exhibitors;

Canon
Sennhesier
Pink Noise
Rycote
Shure Distribution- Sound Devices mixers etc
Photo Professional Magazine
Institute of Videography
Korro Consultancy- Apple Master Trainer Final Cut Studio & Adobe certified trainer

Hotel packages available with Radisson Blu, Ibis and Marriott, College Green – please mention The Watershed.

While there are a lot of great training courses for pro photographers wanting to transition to video in the US there are far fewer in the UK. Luckily my friends at Jacobs Digital Photo & Video are now offering some great seminars right in the centre of London during May.

A previous event at the Jacobs Pro lounge in London

They are being held at the Pro lounge in the basement of Jacob’s New Oxford street store which is a meeting place for photographers from across the capital. They hold regular events for the photographic community and I love to drop in there to check out new equipment and talk to old friends whenever I’m in London.

There will be two one day training events The first of these will be on Thursday 5th May run by camera guru Nick Wilcox Brown. Nick is a camera, technical and software trainer for the Image Consultancy. His course will offer an introduction to shooting video, essential accessories and editing.
 
Nick has over 20 years experience as a stills photographer for leading advertising, editorial and commercial clients. More recently he has been experimenting with and training clients on the lastest generation of video DSLRs and Camcorders.

The second will be a dedicated audio workshop with John McCombie of Pinknoise systems on Friday 6th May. Audio is one of the most important aspects of video and John has 20 years of experience working as a soundman. He will be covering various aspects of recording audio with DSLR, the inherent limitations, practical solutions and separate sound recording. I recently had the pleasure of working with John on a DSLR documentary shoot and I can honestly say that what he knows his stuff inside out.

His course will cover how to get great audio with the Canon DSLRs like the 5DmkII and 7D as well as the Panasonic Lumix GH2. Microphones covered will be – directional gun mics, hand held reporter mics, radio mics, and stereo mics. Preamps on hand to learn how to use will be the Juicedlink DT454, DS214, Sound Devices Mix Pre and the NEW Audio Developments AD071. Suspensions and windshield solutions from Rycote will feature as will audio recorders from Zoom and Tascam.
 
The cost of each course is £150 (inc VAT). This price includes a £25 Jacobs voucher to use in-store.
 
Places for both days will be limited as these are intensive workshops.

Call Jacobs on +44 207 4366996  and speak to Donal / Henrietta to reserve your place.

Sound Devices were showing their new PIX 220 HDMI and PIX 240 HD-SDI external recorders. They record in either Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD quicktime files to compact flash cards or SSD drives. They also feature a built in 5 inch 800×480 monitor. They also have 2 channels of mixer grade XLR audio inputs. Construction looks to be solid.

The new MixPre D audio mixer is an upgrade of the original MixPre with added features making it more suitable for DSLR use. It can be mounted under the camera and also has a USB interface so it can be used to feed a computer too.

Shot by Seppe Van Grieken and Johnnie Behiri.

Bruce Sharpe the creator of Pluraleyes and Dualeyes audio sync software talks us through some of it’s features and gives us his tips on how to get the best results for sync sound.

Shot by Johnnie Behiri and Seppe Van Grieken.

The new Rycote shock mount with a Zoom H4n recorder

Tim Constable of Rycote has been in touch to let me know that his company have launched what he believed to be a first – an effective suspension to eliminate the biggest problem of portable recorders – handling noise.

He told me “The suspension will offer excellent isolation from all vibrations, shocks and handling noise. The suspension mounts directly onto any portable recorder with a 1/4″ screw thread. The suspension can then be mounted on a 3/8″ male thread, mic stand, boom pole, extension handle or be attached to a camera hot shoe. The 180° swivel allows for easy orientation of the recorder so it can point in the exact direction of the speaker.

It uses the patented “Lyres” to give unequalled isolation & robustness. Unlike rubber or elastic suspensions the Lyre is unaffected by temperature extremes, and so can be used in the harshest of environments. The suspensions are available in 2 kits- the Portable Recorder Suspension and the Audio Recorder Kit.

The basic suspension includes a hot shoe attachment that makes it easy to mount on a hot shoe directly or on the 20cm hot shoe extension offered by Rycote. The latter enables the use of the portable recorder and lite panels etc on the camera. The audio recorder kit also offers an extension handle, so that the recorder can be handheld and a mini windjammer to increase versatility enable use outside. This makes it ideal for most aspects of capturing video on HDSLR cameras.”

Rycote also make a wide range of mini windjammers to fit most portable recorders. You can see more details here.

Here’s a quick roundup of some interesting bits of gear that have caught my eye in the past week or two:

Ikan has a new LED light range. Most interesting is the ILED-One which at only $99 but has a metal body and a choice of 3200 or 5600K colour temperatures.

Kessler Crane has a really interesting looking tripod head called the Hercules 2.0

Dslrnewsshooter contributor Sam Morgan Moore contacted me to tell me about his evolution of his Half inch rails system. The rig is designed for lightweight run & gun and now uses 15mm rods as an option. It will be available to buy soon.

Jared Abrams over at Cinema5D has just got an interesting ultra-light rig called the Chosziel DV balancer to test. I’m interested to see how it performs.

Jag35 have a new wired Electronic Follow Focus on the market. They also have a prototype wireless version which may be available at some point in the future. I have this unit to test and it is a very fun piece of kit.

Another innovative Follow Focus option has gone on sale called the Okii USB – I am not sure how well this will work as it uses the Canon USB connection to control an AF lens using it’s own inbuilt motor. Hopefully there will be some reviews soon.

I don’t normally look at compact stills cameras on this blog but here is a potentially interesting duo from Sony – handy because they both shoot Full HD 1080p/60P AVCHD at 24Mbps. DPreview has the low down on the new Cybershot DSC-HX100V and DSC-HX9V.

The Sony HX9v

Rycote, manfacturers of audio accessories, have been in touch to say they have a some nice mount solutions for the new Rode VideoMic Pro.

Rode VideoMic Pro in Rycote mic mount