SHAPE introduces the 40” WAGON cart
Another cart to take a look at.
SHAPE is entering the production, camera, and DIT cart game with the introduction of their 40” WAGON. The most obvious comparison to this cart would be Inovativ’s own offerings such as their Voyager or Apollo carts.
The SHAPE camera cart weighs 116-pounds unloaded and can fold for transport (but honestly, this thing is way too heavy for me). I haven’t seen one in person but it looks to be a near-copy of the Apollo cart at a fraction of the price ($1899 at pre-order). You get what you pay for though as the SHAPE cart only comes with a 3-year warranty.
Have you used one? Let me know what you think below!
Braided USB-C tether cable
A test of a braided USB-C tether cable for extreme durability on set.
One of the most common issues I encounter as a tech is having my very expensive USB-C tether cables go kaput because of extreme bending due to the use of a cable lock or tether block. Sometimes, there isn’t much I can do as the cable is just a tool to complete a job (there’s no way I’d be telling a photographer to stop holding a camera a certain way or anything), so in the end, I end up trashing way more cables than I’d like. Of course, on big jobs, this just ends up being seen as a consumable good and that’s fine considering all the other things rented on a shoot.
However, I still don’t like the waste of it all so I’ve been testing my own braided USB-C tether cables and so far they are really preventing the extreme bending through the design of the cable itself. It’s the best case scenario! The braided cables are a lot more durable and actually physically cannot be bend backwards onto a tether block due to the construction of the braided fabric sleeve. It’s designed this way for durability and no photographer I’ve used it with lately has even noticed the change in cable. It’s invisible design at work!
I’ll do some further testing before opening it up to the masses but honestly, this looks like the solution I’ve been searching for for over 5+ years.
New RoboCup accessory adds a plate to the mix
New accessory for RoboCup owners.
I believe the RoboCup was originally designed for boating to hold fishing poles, but over the years, the place I’ve seen it used the most is on photo sets and photo/video carts to hold drinks. Nobody I know has the “large cup holder” attachment, but I can totally see myself and others buying into this super durable and easy to install “plate” to add to a standard RoboCup setup.
The RoboCup Plate slots directly into one of the RoboCup’s cup holders and lets you have a protruding surface to place phones, other cups (like mugs), keys, and even hard drives or small routers. No drilling necessary. Plus, at the end of the day, you really can toss this across the room and into a case without having to worry about it breaking.
How to loosen a stuck ball joint on an articulating arm
Quick tip for stuck articulating arms with metal ball joints.
I use an articulating arm like this Smallrig one to mount some random accessories to my laptop station when I’m out in the field at work. But lately both of the ball joints have gotten a bit “sticky” due to the ocean breeze and water occasionally coming into contact with the joints. Short of buying a new arm which isn’t that expensive, I wanted to see if lock lube or metal lubricant would work to loosen the ball joint without losing the ability to later have the ball joint lock precisely in place.
Well, good news. The lock lube works! I picked up a small spray bottle of lock lube metal lubricant and sprayed the tiniest amount into the metal ball joints of my articulating arm and it instantly loosened it up when unlocked. It was like new! And more importantly, when I lock the articulating arm, the lube does not make the ball joint slip at all.
Godox MA5R is an LED fill light and power bank for your iPhone
A handy MagSafe light for exploring (and I guess food photos).
I have one of these small rectangle shaped LED RGB lights but have never considered how one simple addition would make it just that much more useful. That change? MagSafe.
The Godox MA5R has digital creators in mind with its MagSafe LED RGB light attachment but I’m specifically seeing this as a useful fill light for urban exploring. And with the power bank feature, I don’t really have to worry about my phone dying while I’m stuck in a dark basement somewhere.
In all seriousness, this is kind of neat. I’m not 100% sure if you can disable MagSafe charging to prolong the light battery (it all draws power from the same source), but if you can and the light can remain fixed on your phone via MagSafe without transferring power, that’s pretty great! One less thing to carry when jumping over those fences or crawling through those windows.
These USB-C right-angle pigtails are great
My attempt at trying to not make USB-C tether cables an expendable.
I’ve slowly transitioned out of full-length 10M USB-C cables and have started to use 3ft right angle pigtails with a 10M USB-C extension instead.
The reason for this is because the failure rate across the board with the bending of a cable on a TetherBlock (or anything similar that prevents cables from being yanked out during tethered shooting) due to the cable not returning the same side as the camera USB-C port is just too high. It’s not my job to tell a photographer how to hold the camera, but I can tell you that in the midst of high-intensity shooting, that cable is being bent backwards onto the plate/bottom of the camera rather than falling graciously over the hand of the photographer. No biggie, but after thousands of dollars of ruined cables, I’m opting for a more economical solution that I can control.
Pairing a cable like this Silkland 3ft fully-featured right-angle USB-C cable to a 10M extension means that in the worst-case scenario, I am replacing a $15 piece of equipment rather than a nearly $200 one.
As always, I am looking for a product that can do multiple things and this short USB-C pigtail does the job. It features 240W PD charging, a theoretical 20Gbps transfer speed, and even 5K monitor support if I ever need the world’s least useful monitor cable. The braided cable is an added bonus to keep bends to a minimum due to cable stiffness.
There is no right way for anybody to shoot, but if I’m doing my job correctly, I can silently steer clear of potential problems using this method…and save some money in the end.
A list of every USB-C camera tether cable color
A comprehensive list of USB-C tether cable colors.
I’m a digital tech by profession and over the years one of the hardest items to reliably procure in my setup is a USB-C camera tether cable.
Many people often confuse USB-C as a connection protocol rather than a connector type because initially manufacturers were advertising their “new” USB-C cables with the fastest speeds available at the time of its launch. However, as the USB protocol matured, cable makers started flooding the market with USB-C cables that were sometimes transferring at USB 2.0 speeds. These cables were identical to all other USB-C cables on the market except on price (but the reason wasn’t always clearly labeled). See the bottom of the chart here on how the USB-C connector could potentially cover USB 2.0 speeds.
Today, the USB-C connector covers everything from display protocols like HDMI and DisplayPort to Thunderbolt, and a plethora of power delivery speeds ranging from 5W to 240W. All of this on top of what most people need primarily which is maximum transfer speed.
In the photography world where the bare minimum requirements for cables are 10M/32ft reach, USB-C cables are only available from a select few makers. Here’s the definitive list (so far) of all of the different colors you can get that will work on set.
ORANGE
The most well-known USB-C tether cable comes from one of the oldest makers, Tether Tools.
They are not my preferred cable by any means, but they seem to do the job if budget is higher on the list than reliability or if your setup stays in a studio all the time. Their USB-C cable comes in black as well, but it’s iconic orange is hard to miss on BTS videos.
HYPER BLUE
LVNA Cables based out of Los Angeles make a Hyper Blue cable in limited quantities. Their options are limited so choice should be rather simple once you narrow down your needs (basically, are you shooting on the GFX 100 II?).
I use their cables, I like them as a company, and they generally ship fast with great customer service.
Their cables come with additional options in all-black as well.
PRICE: $149 for the Hyper Blue
PINK (FLAMINGO)
The 10M Pink/Flamingo USB-C cable from ROCK CAMERAS is available locally for those of you who are in London. They are the only company I’ve seen so far that also makes a Lemo to USB-C cable at 10M.
They also make an active extension at 10M if you prefer to use pigtails.
All of their cables come in standard black as well but the pink is where they stand out.
PRICE: £100.00
YELLOW
Cobra Tether is based in Germany and supplies reliable tether cables out of Europe. If you see a yellow cable on set, chances are you are working with a crew member out of Europe. Their tether cables come in 10M lengths and they also have 10M active extensions, all in yellow.
If you prefer the classic black, they have that option as well.
PRICE: $150 USD for the 10M cable and $130 USD for the active extension
RED
Area51 Tether Co is based in the US and supplies USB-C tether cables in a variety of configurations. As far as I know, they have the largest cable options available at the sacrifice of quite possibly the most confusing naming convention ever.
As they were one of the first companies to mass-market USB-C tethers, they command a premium price: The 10M cable is $185. I use them, I can vouch for their reliability, but if all other cables are also available and in stock ready to ship, I will sometimes steer away from Area51 on price alone.
Interestingly, they DO NOT make cables in all black.
PRICE: $185
BLACK
While most of the USB-C cable manufacturers on this list also make a black option, Nine Volt seems to only make their IQ Wire cables in black. They are however the only maker on this list that makes a single 15M cable, priced at $189.
These cables are no-frills-do-the-job-right kind and are not flashy at all with a very reasonable price to boot.
PRICE: $129 for 10M
ARCTIC BLUE & MAGENTA
I’m including the Mathorn cables in this list because they are technically tether cables but they currently only come at maximum lengths of 5M/16ft (not ideal for commercial shooting applications in my opinion).
The company is based in Poland so if you’re in that region and want to save on some shipping costs this is one place to look.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen anybody use this cable in a commercial setting.
PRICE: $40 USD (???)
PURPLE
Kondor Blue and YouTuber Gerald Undone are coming out with this 15ft purple USB-C cable that delivers 10Gb/s transfer speeds, 4K display support, and 65W power delivery.
I’ve not used this cable (it’s only on pre-order right now) but I know Kondor Blue makes decent cables and on paper the specs of this cable should work with USB-C active extensions to create a hybrid-colored cable length at 10M. Of course, your mileage may vary but I thought I’d include it here anyway.
Kondor Blue makes a number of shorter USB-C cables in different colors (pink, blue, red, black).
PRICE: $40
Fujifilm digital camera shutter count in Capture One
Did you know you can see shutter count in Capture One for Fujifilm cameras?
I’ve used Capture One for over a decade and I feel like I’ve somehow missed this over the years. To be honest, I don’t even know if this is a “new” or old feature but I just found out by accident yesterday that Capture One will show the shutter counts for Fujifilm cameras in the CAMERA SETTINGS menu if you search “Shutter”.
Just wanted to put it out there in case anybody needs this tip or is looking for something similar on other camera models.