Proaim Linear Camera Slider Review

Only $200 AUS to buy a 3 foot slider and have it sent to my door, via ebay. Too good to be true?

The price, service and packaging were excellent, but what about the product?

Sadly the Proaim 3' Linear Camera Slider performs like it costs. Despite the good packaging the product arrived bent. Bends can cause different amounts of force to be needed in moving your camera along the rails, as the 4 separate sliding interfaces hit small humps or slumps and grab, particularly if you are using a weightier lens. This can result in jerky motion. The lack of sturdy design means the slider is vulnerable to further bending.

Most annoying for me is the fit of the base plate to rails. The tolerances are big enough to allow a measure of rocking which can cause camera jolt, particularly when you have a heavy lens. If you tighten the 4 grub screws provided you can reduce rock, but then you are stuck with a stiff and non-slidey experience.

This piece of equipment may be fine for hobbyists but pros will get frustrated...(and they will spend more on an alternative product anyway!) Despite this I would not write off other products from Proaim, but will check the reviews first.

Happy Dogs

I started out wanting to do some colour isolation using Photoshop but then changed my mind to see if a similar result could be achieved in the basic Sony Vegas Platinum Pro software in rapid time. What you see here involves no layers, just one video track, with a some tweaking of colour and saturation. There are a few little breakouts for sharp eyed, but generally a good result for a proof of concept.

Happy Dogs on King William Rd from Simon Ladd on Vimeo.

How much time will lapse before you can pronouce Eyjafjallajokull?

More great time lapse from the Canon stable, with motorised dolly.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Andrew Loyd Webber eat your heart out

Autotune is so over used unless of course its by these guys (The Gregory Brothers):

Music video shot with DSLR

According to PB, this Blues Brothers-inspired video was shot by Paul Lawson using the 7D DSLR. Good filmic quality and shot within the limitations of the camera...ie: no rapid pans so no rolling shutter, etc.

Amazing comparison between DSLR and film.

This series of test comparisons of movie capabilities between the new breed of DSLRs and the benchmark of film, is compulsory viewing for anyone seriously considering HD movie making. Here are links to the first 2 in a series of 3 comparisons:

http://www.zacuto.com/shootout

The final comparison takes on colour and green screen. So far these are real eye openers, so I guess its not totally surprising (though I am slightly awestruck) that the finale to the TV series "House" was shot with a 5D Mkii.

Moon Rise Time Lapse Tester

I'm getting the hang of time lapse using my Canon EOS 7D. Check out this is a very brief tester shot for "Tall Stories - Micro Movies", with music by evocative audio (also me). The weird brown night sky is curtesy of a nearby bush fire. The 16 or so seconds is made up of 444 still shots, and the night time section is in 0.5 slow mo.

Moon Rise in the Burbs from Simon Ladd on Vimeo.