I was fortunate enough to be covering new gear at NAB for Filmmaker Magazine. It was my first time there and overall a great experience. There was a lot of cool updates and little gear solutions like clever light stands or inflatable softboxes, but no one item that totally blew me away. Here are some of my overall observations of the festival as a whole: 4 Observations from a First Time NAB Experience.
In no particular order, here’s a rundown of what I wrote about.
DJI is releasing their own gyro stabilizing rig like the MoVI called Ronin. It’ll be $5k.
I got to play with the GH4 before it came out and learned a few things. I adjusted my order to drop the YAGH Interface. The upcoming Atomos Shogun looks like a better solution.
Edelkrone has a whole series of pocket rigs, ranging from sliders to handles to rails.
Handy grip gear from Manfrotto and Matthews.
iOpgraher is a handy iPhone / iPad rig.
Tenba has a camera bag just for GoPros.
The two big camera announcements were Blackmagic’s URSA and AJA’s CION (lots of caps). I was more impressed with URSA.
Lowel is coming out with a small LED fresnel light. It’s adapted from a handheld rig they have which really only has a use for event videographers. But now it’ll be stand mountable with a battery accessory. Decent option on the low end of LED glass lights.