#camera supports

Andyax: Shooting an Adventure Film with DJI RS3 PRO – Commentary

Lizzie Peirce: Which RONIN GIMBAL should you BUY?! [DJI RS3 Pro, RS3 & RSC2 Buying Guide] – Commentary

Ted’s World of Imaging: DJI – Introduction to Gimbals Workshop | Sydney (119550), Sat 10th Sep 2022, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm AEST

https://events.humanitix.com/dji-introduction-to-gimbals-sydney-119550 “Join us at Ted’s World of Imaging for the ULTIMATE gimbal workshop with DJI! Become a master of stabilisation, learning the in’s and out’s of what it takes to set yourself apart from the rest with this fantastic experience from DJI. In the world of DJI gimbals there’s just so much that you can do, and that long list of…

A Fujifilm X-Pro2 APS-C mirrorless camera attached to a 3 Legged Thing Airhed 360 professional panoramic tripod head via 3 Legged Thing QR11-LC L-Plate in Equinox Copper.

3 Legged Thing describes its new Eclipse colourway as “metallic slate with subtle hints of British Racing Green”, appealing perhaps to the patriots and Anglophiles in the photographic community but also useful in potentially drawing less unwanted attention to the presence of a tripod-using photographer in places where tripod laws and regulations still reign.

I rather like 3 Legged Thing’s beautifully anodized blue and bronze Equinox colourway and find mostly-grey Eclipse dull by comparison though the copper orange accents shared by each spice up the Eclipse look as much as it does Equinox.

Although I do not own a 3 Legged Thing tripod yet, I was lucky enough to try one out when I began the Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success project and learned firsthand how innovatively designed and carefully manufactured 3 Legged Thing’s products are.

3 Legged Thing’s 3 Professional tripod range – Leo, Albert and Winston

My experiences with the Equinox Leo Carbon Fibre Tripod System & AirHed Light, now updated in the form of the Equinox Leo Kit that includes the Airhed Switch, were so positive that I added the next model up, the Equinox Albert Kit which includes the Airhed 360, to my stills photography wishlist.

In the course of the tryout I discovered that the jewel-like colours and finish of the Equinox Leo drew in and even fascinated portrait sitters so they focussed more on the experience of being before camera and tripod, taking their minds off innate self-consciousness.

I was reminded how the relatively unusual sheet film and 120 roll film cameras I favoured for portraiture during the analog era created a similar fascination in my sitters and concluded that any hardware with that capability had to be a good thing.

Today’s digital cameras are bland-looking things in comparison to those hand-made marvels of optical and mechanical design and engineering to the point where I often blend into the crowd, or the darkness, even when standing right in front of a subject mere centimetres away from their eyes.

A tripod-shaped place in my heart

The legendary Leitz Tiltall tripod in silver and black. My first tripod was a black Tiltall, purchased after seeing so many great US female and male photographers relying on them in books and magazines. I still miss my Tiltall and it has a special place in my heart even though it was stolen years ago.

After almost a lifetime of being a tripod and monopod user when shooting photography and video, I have owned, sold off or lost through theft a great many of them and none has won a special place in my heart apart from the very first, a black Leitz Tiltall exactly the same as one depicted in the first photography book I bought about the work of two female photographers in the United States.

That first tripod of mine was described by its US makers as “The Leica of Tripods” and its high quality design and engineering prompted me to investigate Leica cameras, after which I quickly sold off my Nikons and invested in Leica M-System rangefinder cameras and lenses.

As the demands of my professional work increased, so did the size and weight of the tripods with which I attempted to replace my lost Tiltall.

Not one could have been considered a “micro-traveler” or even a “travel tripod”, terms 3 Legged Thing rightly uses to describe its Leo and Albert, and were more in the league of 3 Legged Thing’s Winston and beyond.

I owned all those many tripods in the days before carbon fibre and portability were considered common standards to aspire to and one British-made tripod in particular, bought for corporate photography assignments in the deserts of Western Australia, presented a real transportation challenge due to its size and weight.

Despite that, it was a stellar performer in the nastiest of conditions and I miss it still when needing a tripod capable of bizarre angles or positioning, or of carrying the heaviest of heavy loads; pity that particular model was discontinued when the company sold itself and the new owners chose to truncate the product range.

The QR11 Universal L-Bracket

The 3 Legged Thing QR11 Universal L-Bracket is available in Equinox Copper as model QR11-LC or in Eclipse Grey as QR11-LG.

3 Legged Thing’s new universal L-Bracket is available to two versions, the Equinox Copper-coloured QR11-LC and the Eclipse Metallic Slate-coloured QR11-LG. Your choice will hinge on how much attention you want to draw and whether you like copper colour.

Given I am considering buying an Equinox Albert travel tripod for easy carrying to shoot portrait-orientation head-and-shoulders portraits and landscape-orientation environmental portraits, I may well opt for a QR11-LC.

Being about to dip my toes into the multicoloured Equinox colourway, why not go that little bit further with an orange-ish L-Bracket to match the orange-y accents on the Albert?

Until coming across QR11 online, I had never seriously considered a universal L-bracket of any brand. Despite digital cameras of all formats being more similar in their sizes and designs than analog cameras of all formats could ever be, any “universal” accessory must of necessity be a compromise, neither fish nor fowl, good in parts but not perfect in all of them.

I had been leaning towards custom L-Brackets for all my cameras for the obvious reason that each is designed to fit its intended cameras perfectly, allowing full access to the camera’s functions and especially its battery and card compartments.

Then the downside of relying on a range of third party custom accessories marks became apparent, with sudden discontinuation of L-Brackets for still-current cameras, as well as the many variations between third party brands, and their design and manufacturing quality.

The last straw was when the only L-Bracket made for my number one portrait camera suddenly vanished off its maker’s website never to be seen again, just as I was ready to place my order. Strike that particular accessories maker off the wishlist.

From what I can tell by looking at 3 Legged Things’ product shots, the QR11 is one of the better-designed universal L-Brackets. I love its two camera strap attachment bars given I have standardized on a Peak Design Clutch and Cuff for every camera I own, only attaching conventional neck or shoulder camera straps when doing the two-camera documentary thing.

Another potentially useful element in the QR11’s design is its 1/4″-20 threaded hole for attaching accessories, making the QR11 a little more like a cage and less of a conventional L-Bracket.

Given the nature of compromise, the QR11 does not work perfectly  with every cameras in common use nowadays, but the 3LT team has tried out and documented its usability with a range of cameras from makers including Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon and Sony and I hope that they will soon add the results of their tests with current Panasonic cameras like the GX8, GH4 and GH5.

Other essential accessories for your 3 Legged Thing tripod

The 3 Legged Thing product world is built upon the Arca-Swiss quick release system and benefits from a working relationship with Peak Design, as proven by 3LT’s adoption of Peak Design’s square Arca-Swiss camera plate.

3LT makes quick release camera plates other than its square QR4, such as the rectangular QR6 and QR7. I am considering the QR7 with its strap connector and 62mm length as compared to the 38mm of the QR4 that comes with every 3LT tripod.

Many is the time I have put a camera equipped with QR4 or its Peak Design equivalent Standard Plate down upon a flat surface to watch it suddenly tilt over, with dismay at possible dire consequences to camera and lens. Will a longer quick release plate like the QR7 prevent this?

I am planning on converting all my tripods and tripod plates over to the Arca-Swiss system whether they are designed for stills photography or video and have been researching custom and third-party Arca-Swiss clamps. I have yet to make my final decision but 3LT’s two current clamps, the lever-operated Switch Clamp and panoramic 360-Clamp, are possible candidates.

Likewise I like the look of 3LT’s Stilettoz, Heelz and Clawz Footwear solutions for replacing the Bootz rubber feet that come with each 3LT tripod as standard.

I have photography and video tripods and monopods that come equipped with soft rubber or hard plastic feet that can be screwed upwards to reveal short metal spikes. Again, a neither fish nor fowl solution that could be bettered with exchangeable feet designed for each specific surface in varieties of hard or soft as 3 Legged Thing’s Footz have been.

Mould, the ever-present danger

A friend recently brought over his 3 Legged Thing Leo tripod and showed me how the synthetic pad attached to the strap of the 3LT tripod bag was covered in mould. Being justifiably paranoid about the presence of mould near photographic equipment, we immediately cleaned the mould off with Hydrogen Peroxide in the backyard then made this photograph.

At a certain point in this ongoing global warming aka climate change that out political overlords insist does not exist, mould suddenly appeared throughout apartments and houses in suburbs that had never experienced it before.

Mould infestations were formerly only the thing of inner city terrace houses with poor ventilation, tiny windows, no insulation, and little to no heating or cooling.

Cameras and lenses hate mould and so do I. Certain plastics and almost all leathers attract mould which embeds its spores into them then sprouts pale grey powder onto the outer surfaces. It is the simplest thing to accidentally transfer the powder onto your equipment then watch in horror as mould invades its insides and outsides.

I implore the 3 Legged Thing team to look into their plastics for process to mould infestation and replace them with anti-mould alternatives.

Future 3 Legged Thing products

The updated 3 Legged Thing website has helped me better understand their product range and many items in it go together. It has boosted my interest in them as a brand  and, from my time with an Equinox Pro Leo & Airhed Light Kit, one clearly capable of coming with uniquely creative and innovative hardware.

The folks at 3LT have hinted that more products are on the horizon and have not denied one persistent rumour, that a video tripod may be one of them.

I have two very good video tripods at the moment, one large and one small that is designed for travel. Both are far from what I really need, so I am looking forward to seeing what 3 Legged Thing comes up with.

Links:

3 Legged Thing

photographylife – What is Arca-Swiss Quick Release System?

Tiltall Tripod Support

Tiltall USA

Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success – 3 Legged Thing Equinox Leo Carbon Fibre Tripod System & AirHed Light

Untitled: Stories of Creativity, Innovation, Success – 3 Legged Thing: Why things cost what they cost… – UPDATED WITH COMMENTARY

Vimeo – 3leggedthing

YouTube – 3 Legged Thing

Great News! Director/Cinematographer Mike Figgis Has Redesigned The Legendary, Innovative Fig Rig Video Camera Rig

Just as I was wondering if we would ever see the likes again of movie director Mike Figgis’ innovative, legendary Fig Rig, welcome news arrives of the Fig Rig’s redesign for more contemporary video camcorders and hybrid cameras courtesy of The Guardian newspaper’s culture webchat with the creator of the Fig Rig himself, Mr Mike Figgis.  First version of the Mike Figgis-designed Fig Rig, made for…

The world's second camera that is integrated right with the mousetrap has been launched by Nikon, the Nikon Coolpix S1100pj. The objective replaces previous year's S1000PJ model.The latest S1100pj facilitates a 40 percent brighter 14-lumen in-house calliope absolute with an inbuilt. Additional improvements embrace a be conscious of screen interface that permits other self to nave and take in a video or picture just by touching the pertinent area from the beginning the screen, slide symptomize purpose that play photos along irrespective of music and single bear upon HD 720p movie microcopy with simple projection playback. The 14.1 megapixel Coolpix S1100pj even has a 5x climb lens mutual regard raise to Vibration Reduction and the 3inch touch sensitive LCD counselor near the 460k dots.The camera will be available newfashioned black, green, silver, and purple at the reasonable price.<\p>

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Sensor has been upgraded to present an effectual 14.1MP, although the 5x optical zoom lens yet train upon a asymptotic range involving 28 to 140mm. Screening look right through habituation to any arrange of camera shake, Nikon has dead-still S1100pj with the 5 conception VR system that make use of electronic and optical technique, and also a Champion Shot Selector system, Motion Detection & a highest perceptiveness upon about ISO 6400 ensuring images taken in any circumstances free from fog up.<\p>

The mint IXUS 115 HS is a point and shoot digital aerial reconnaissance camera entity launched by Prayer book.The camera has got 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor and carries the dimensions in relation to about 6.17x4.55 mm.The camera is power-driven in company with the Canon HS system, which comprise of high sensitivity sensor and DIGIC 4 imaging processor.This well groomed point and shoot camera supports unsame aspect ratios for instance 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9. This photopitometer is capable of shooting Full HD video with the slogging of upto 1920x1080 pixels 24 fps.<\p>

Coming to its Core, the iconoscope has a prestige with regard to about 121 g and has the measurement equals on 93.1x55.9x19.9 mm.The screen is speaking of 3-inch along with wide viewing angle TFT color lifeline that offers the resolution of in the air 230,000 dot pixels.The outstanding archetype can be supplemented on this Canon reader by the use with regard to SD, SDXC, SDHC, memory card and Multimedia Card, HC MMCplus card, MMCplus card.The astrograph boasts NB-4L Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery that is very much capable of taking 230 pictures at a single charge.<\p>

Performance wise, IXUS 115 HS eyeball carries the focal panorama of 5 to 20mm and the range of the Aperture is f\2.8 - f\5.9.The camera even supports Optical & Digital Fishtailing of around 4x.The Auto Focus has got 9 focusing points along with the range in respect to around 3cm Wide & 50 cm Tele.Auto sensitivity in relation with this camera by bill varies from ISO 80 to 3200.The detail shutter speed about the photochronograph varies from 15 in contemplation of 1\1500 sec.The Canon camera has inbuilt Cable that ranges from 30cm to up to 4.0 m Wide, 50cm to 2.0m Tele.<\p>

Virtuoso of the additional Differential including the Connectivity can be summarized after this fashion the point and shoot up camera has got some exceptional function known as an example Theaterlike Digest that records 4sec of video before captivating pictures.The improved Come home to Auto mode perceive up to 32 dissimilar prospects to go with the locus and adjoining.Alter ego unconnected immanent point and riddle cameras introduced by Vicar, this camera undistorted have 6 creative imaginative filters.<\p>