From: Mike Venable, Chief Photographer, WLFL How many times have you gone into an old house or office and could not find a plug in? Especially a plug in with 3 holes (1-for the ground). My solution, I went to Home Depot and bought a “light bulb fixture” screw in adapter, plug in. Just remove the bulb from the lamp, screw your AC adapter in and it is magic! Camera…
Wrap that Rascal (Part 2) From: Howard Grace With the rash of hurricane scares here lately, I needed a surefire way to waterproof my stick mike, I used an idea I got here on B-Roll and took it a step further… I got a fresh trash bag, and after removing the windscreen, i pulled a small piece of the plastic bag over the top of the mike… pull it taught,…
SAVE SOME BREAD [12/5/03] From: Adrian Kill NHDTV Cable ID can be a pain in the butt, so a simple and cheap way to id your myriad of cables is by saving the little plastic thingies off you bagel, bread, muffin and rice cake bags. They make handy reusable labels that you can mark up with a sharpie. And snap onto your Audio and Video cables. They make cable ID…
From: Eric J. Smith, Director/Director of Photography, Puritan Films I rarely use anything but my “Preset” white balance. Preset defaults your white balance to 3200 Kelvin degrees (except on some newer cameras where there is an ENG menu setting to switch between 3200 and 5600 Kelvin degrees). It is as if you were shooting color film, where you don’t have a white balance button, and must use filters. This usually…
When using a lav mic, tie a very loose knot in the wire that will help control the mic from being jerked around if it is pulled on, which can cause the mic to rub across the clothing making a nasty noise. When using a wireless transmitter in the heat of summer, wrap the transmitter in a non-lubricated condom. It will keep condensation out. Non-lubricated condoms are also good protection…
From: Austin "Liveshot" Reeves, Orlando, FL Being a nightside photog, I have to use my batt-light a pretty fair amount. I’ve experimented with low watt bulbs, high watt bulbs, and finally think I have come up with the perfect setup. Using a fairly high watt bulb, take a piece of HEAVY diffusion (frost gel) and cut it the same size as a swing-door (for like a diffusion filter) on your…
From: Ron After many aggravating years of covering hurricanes I’ve come up with the perfect hurricane wear. First, you’re going to get very wet, so no cotton. The beauty of hurricanes (if there is one) is that for the most part they are warm storms. I wear nylon surfer trunks, t-shirt covered with a light weight breathable rain jacket and a pair of Teva sandals with velcro straps. I just…