What Should You Bring to a Video Shoot?

Previously on "What Should You Bring to a ____ Shoot", we talked about the equipment you might want to consider when shooting a wedding. On our second edition, we're going to talk about what you might want to bring when you have to shoot video.

I asked Daniel in our rental department what he brings when he does a video shoot, and the big name here is Canon. If you didn't already know, we carry the Canon C100* and C300 in the rental department, and it's become apparent that these cameras are two of the top choices in shooting video. A lot of that is because Canon's Cinema cameras are lightweight and compact; perfect for "run-and-gun" shooting. The file quality the C300 offers is truly impressive and easy to work with when editing. Each camera comes with the necessary accessories, including the grip and monitor.

Let's look at the rest of his list:

Equipment Daily Rental  Weekly Rental Sennheiser HD202 Headphones $8 $24 Sennheiser MKH 416 Short Shotgun Mic $55 $165 LED Video light bi-color 4x6" Gisteq $30 $90 Canon EF 16-35mm II f/2.8L Lens $35 $105 Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8 IS Lens $40 $120 Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L Lens $30 $90 Canon C300 Video Camera (includes grip and monitor) $400 $1,200 Sandisk 64GB Xtreme CF Card $20 $60 GoPro HD Hero3+ Video Camera with 16GB Micro Housing (includes GoPro Hero3 Battery Backpack) $45 $135 Total $663 $1,989

Let's talk about sound. Generally, you're going to want to shoot with a mic. Whether it's a tiny mic you clip onto your shirt, a handheld mic that you can pass between yourself and your interviewee, or, in this case, a shotgun mic you can affix to the camera, using a mic is the best way to avoid ambient that can really ruin a great video. If you're going to be shooting outside, you might also want to bring a "dead cat" to reduce wind noise. 

Listed above is the Gisteq LED Light panel, which is definitely something you may want to consider, especially if you're going to be talking with guests at an event. You never know how bright, or how dim, the light is going to be, so having this light, which you can attach right to the camera, is a good precautionary step. Not to mention, the ability to adjust the temperature of the light enables you to change the look and feel of your video. (Please note: the Canon C300 is fabulous in low-light situations.) 

Next, the lenses. Here, Daniel chose three different Canon EF mount lenses, which are great, because not only can you use them with this camera, but they also work with other EF mount Canon cameras, like the 5D Mark III. Just be aware, attaching these lenses to your cinema camera will offer a slightly different length than on your DSLR body. You may also want to try out Canon's Cine lenses. We currently have the:

	Daily Rental	Weekly Rental
Canon CN 24mm T1.5 Cine Lens	$125	$375
Canon CN 50mm T1.3 Cine Lens	$125	$375
canon CN 58mm T1.3 Cine Lens	$125	$375
Total	$375	$1,125

All of these lenses are tack sharp and offer amazing image quality and focal control. Play around with them to decide what lenses will work best for your shoot.

As you can see, Daniel also brings along a GoPro. More than anything, it's a nice camera to bring along to any shoot, for time-lapses and first-person video. Bring all mounts and accessories you think you'll need, including housing, because you never know. 

If you're planning on shooting for an extended period of time, as with any shoot, bring extra batteries; you never want to get stuck on a shoot without power. Also, always bring lots of memory and storage back-up. It never hurts to shoot more video than you need and back it up right on-site, just to be safe. Double check your list, and make sure you bring all of the cables, chargers and whatever else you may need. Those small bits and pieces may hold your shoot in the balance! 

For more tips and lists on what to bring to a shoot, stay tuned with our RentalBlog! And for a full list of equipment available in our rental department, click here.

*We also sell the Canon C100 Cinema camera.

Victoria Will's "Portraits Under Pressure"

On Tuesday, June 24th from 4:30-8:30pm, photographer Victoria Will will be here to talk about her techniques working in portraiture! You probably remember seeing some of Victoria Will's stunning celebrity tintypes taken at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Well, if you're interested in learning about her process as well as her experience in photographing such prolific names, such as Glenn Close, Anne Hathaway and Willem DaFoe, then you'll definitely want to this artist talk! We recently wrote a little bit about her tintype project on this blog when she stopped by to show us some of her originals, so check that out as well.

Portraits Under Pressure:

Celebrity portrait photographer Victoria Will discusses her lighting techniques for reading and shaping light for any type of portrait. Accustomed to working under tight time constraints, Victoria will share some of her secrets to working quickly on location or in the studio and talk about how to deal with clients in tricky situations while still getting what you need. “I had an assignment to photograph Justin Bieber last year. When it was all said and done—58 seconds after it began, I had shot him in two lighting set ups and had 22 frames to show for it.” Register for this event, here.

About Victoria:
Victoria began her career at the New York Post where she was a staff photographer. In a news environment responsible for headlines like "Headless Body in Topless Bar," Victoria honed her skills and her sense of humor. With a focus on commercial and editorial portraiture, her photographs appear on newswires and in newspapers and magazines worldwide, from the Associated Press to W magazine, The New York Times to Vogue. A graduate from Princeton University, she hails from Washington, D.C., but now resides in New York with her two French Bulldogs and photojournalist husband.

Upcoming Hensel and Chimera Events

ATTENTION PHOTOGRAPHERS
AND PHOTO ASSISTANTS!

You can never know enough about light and the different lighting systems available to you, so come by Foto Care on June 3rd and 4th for a couple of very special events presented by Hensel and Chimera!

On June 3rd from 9am to noon and 1pm to 4pm, Hensel and Chimera are teaming up for a training session for photographers and assistants. This training will include:

• Hands on training to be conducted for Hensel by Guido Puttkammer the Managing Director of Hensel Germany and Peter Levitt.
• Hands on training to be conducted for Chimera by Lynn Bryson from Chimera.

Both sessions are the same. For more information about Guido, and to register for a training session, just click on one of the times listed above.

On June 4th from 5pm to 8pm, we're having a Hensel and Chimera Open House. 

Open House Schedule: 

• 5pm-6pm: Social meet and greet with Hensel and Chimera representatives and photographers, assistants, companies, etc. Light refreshments will be served.
• 6pm-7pm: Key note photographer speaker Jarmo Pohjaniemi. Long time Playboy Photographer and owner of "Shoot the Centerfold" seminar and workshops.
• 7pm-8pm: Overview of the Hensel and Chimera products with company representatives. Hands-on experience and presentation.

Click here for more information about Jarmo and to register for this event. 

We encourage everyone to register before the event so that we can get an accurate head count, as we will be providing refreshments for each of these events!

Special Insurance Offer from TCP & Co.

Tom C. Pickard & Co., Inc., or TCP & Co., and Foto Care are pleased to announce a special offer of up to a 20% discount on rental equipment insurance for Foto Care customers that don’t already have equipment insurance through TCP & Co. when you subscribe.

TCP & Co. is the largest provider of insurance to the photography community in the United States. From photography professionals to enthusiasts, TCP & Co. has developed an exclusive insurance product using their 40 years of experience to protect photographers from catastrophic losses. Whether you currently have insurance or want to find out more, please visit the TCP & Co. site for your own individualized insurance quote.

They have the ability to develop specialized business insurance packages for commercial clients with flexibility as needed in today’s competitive business environment.

Their expert product knowledge formed over years of experience has given them the advantage in designing the insurance package that best fits your needs. Departments include:

·  Advertising Photographers

·  Photography Studios

·  Production Companies

·  Commercial, Personal, and Life, Health & Financial Services

This special 20% discount from TCP & Co. is now available to all Foto Care customers who are first-time subscribers to TCP & Co. Inc. At Foto Care, we do what we can to get you the equipment you need to get shooting and we'll work with you to ensure you know how to use your gear before you get to your shoot. Between our stellar and knowledgeable rental staff and the great people at TCP & Co., you're good to go!

Please Note: If you are a already an existing customer with TCP & Co, the discount does not apply.

We've Added a Ton of Profoto B1 Kits!

We've had the Profoto B1 kits in rentals for a couple of months now, but we've added a few more to the line up! The entire Profoto B1 kit goes for $45 (1-day rental), a spare battery is $20 and the TTL transmitter is $25. Call our rental department at (212)741-2991 to reserve the B1 today!

What Should You Bring to a Wedding Shoot?

We asked our wedding photographers in the rental department what they bring in their bags when they shoot a wedding, and here is what we found.

A great camera to use as your main camera body is the Canon 1D X, with a Canon 5D Mark III as a back-up. The 1D X is great for the fast-moving moments of the wedding. From the walk down the aisle to the kiss to the dancing, the fast frames per second (FPS) allows you to capture subtleties that you may miss while shooting a single frame at a time. The fantastic video quality on the 5D Mark III makes this camera a worthy companion (if you're asked to shoot a bit of video for the wedding as well). Fast, easy, and compatible lenses! 

Bring a nice assortment of lenses, including a 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 100mm macro,  and 35mm. Whether its a wide angle shot of the bridal party or a close up of the wedding rings, a variety allows you to shoot anything; never limit yourself. 

With the lenses and camera body, our shooters also packed a 600EX-RT flash, a Gary Fong diffuser and a small Speedlite soft box, which allows you to create softer lighting when there isn't a ton of light available. 

As with any shoot, there are always extras you'll need to bring with you. Carry lots of batteries! Camera batteries and charger, AA batteries for your flash, the charger for you laptop, etc. Bring all of them. Bring a lot of storage, both in memory cards and external hard drives. Especially if you have a second shooter, or an assistant, with you, download the images and back them up throughout the day, that way nothing gets lost.

Speaking of an assistant, bring one of those, too! It doesn't hurt to have someone there with you. Whether they're setting up lights, shooting along side you, or just carrying your stuff, having another person there to help you is worth it, both in cost and lack of headaches. But, please, don't put them in your bag. That's just cruel.

If you're interested in renting any of this gear for your next shoot, here is some pricing for you estimate (all prices are for a 1-day rental):

Canon 1D X: $195 

Canon 5D Mark III: $135

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 II USM: $45

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM: $40

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro: $35

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM: $35

Canon 600EX-RT: 30

Gary Fong: $6

Speedlite Softbox: $10

Do you bring different equipment with you when you shoot a wedding? We want to hear about it! Leave your list in the comments section, and you could be our next "What Should You Bring to a ______ Shoot" blog post!

Don't Forget! Our Hours for Passover are Extended!

Extended Hours During Passover

This year, we're keeping our doors open a little longer during Passover. From Tuesday, April 15th until Tuesday, April 22nd, our rental department will be open from 8am until 8pm! This is just Monday through Friday; Saturday we will be open from 9am to 4pm, as usual. 

Never fear, Foto Care is here (even later)!

Meet the Staff: Santi

Santiago Pino, or Santi for short, is the newest member of our Foto Care rentals team! Formally of Calumet and Lens & Repro, he brings many years of experience as an event photographer as well as an extensive knowledge of equipment and  photo techniques. 

"I am very excited to be here, and hope to add my talents to to those of an excellent rental team. I'll do my absolute best to make sure that your shoot goes as smoothly as possible."

So the next time you stop into our rental department, be sure to say hello! 

Thank You All for Attending the Profoto B1 Event!

We want to thank those of you that were able to attend the Profoto B1 Premiere event at Parlay Studios last week! 

The premiere was held to personally introduce professional photographers to the new Profoto B1, which is truly ahead of it's time. Cliff Hausner of Profoto spoke about the new lighting system after which attendees were able to get their hands on the lights to really learn more about it. And big thanks to Adam Himber from Parlay for sharing these photos! 

Photo: Quintin Perez & Ron Erick Odchigue

The models used for the Profoto Event: Janel Koloski (top) Christina Krasnyuk (bottom)
both are represented by True Models NYC

Weren't able to make it to the event? That's OK; we've got the lights in the rental department! Feel free to stop by rentals as ask about the B1. We're renting the Profoto B1 kit for $45 (1-day rental), an extra battery for $20 (1-day) and the remote for $25 (1-day). 

New Lighting Equipment in Rentals!

We've added some exciting new lights to the rental department! Welcome the ARRI Fresnel Tungsten lights and True Blue Series  

ARRI's versatile tungsten products meet the diverse needs of the lighting profession for projects of any size. ARRI tungsten can be used in every application where the highest light output is required. The Fresnel series is ideal for portable applications where compact but robust, lightweight tungsten Fresnel spotlights are required. This series includes the ARRI 150,  300 Plus and  650 Plus. Varying in size and power, we guarantee we'll have the perfect light for your shoot. We've also added the  T1 (1000w) and T2 (2000w) lights from the ARRI True Blue T series. Learn more about all of these lights on the ARRI website. Call our rental department at (212)741-2991 to reserve your lights today!

Pricing for 1-day rentals:

150w Fresnel -$20
300w Fresnel - $25
650w Fresnel - $30
T1 1000w Fresnel - $40
T2 2000w Fresnel - $50
600w Open Face - $20
2000w Open Face - $50

The Profoto B1 System

In case you’ve missed it, we now have the Profoto B1 Air ($45 for a 1-day rental) and the Air Remote TTL-C ($25 1-day rental) in our rental department! The B1 is wireless and runs on battery, making it incredibly portable and convenient. This system even sets exposure from your cameras TTL metering system for you! Max output is 500 watts and you will get over 200 full power exposures out of 1 battery; that is some serious power.

One great feature of the B1 is the LED modeling light (output equivalent to 70W Halogen). The low draw of LED allows you to use modeling light with battery power, not possible on older battery packs, like the B3 and B4, because the heads use halogen bulbs with a much higher power consumption. 

The TTL metering features are currently for Canon and Nikon only, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take full advantage of the remote capabilities. The hot shoe mounted remote allows you to control power and multiple units.

© Michael Mueller

BTS of Michael Mueller shoot

This is an ideal solution when you have to move quickly and need the exposure right the first time.

Want to learn more about the Profoto B1 system? You’re in luck! On Thursday, March 20^th from 5:30-8:30pm, Foto Care will be at Parlay Studios in Jersey City for a hands-on demonstration with the B1. Click here to register for this event.

For technical specifications and features, check out the Profoto B1 brochure here.

Field Recorders at Foto Care Rentals

You can now rent the Atomos Ninja 2 and Atomos Samurai Blade at Foto Care! These two camera-mounted field recorders take the video signal out of HDMI or HD-SDI and convert it to 10-Bit 4:2:2 ProRes or DNxHD.  Footage is stored on a swappable 2.5” Solid State Drive and transferred with a proprietary USB3 reader. As a monitor, it gives you focus assist, false colors, zebra, and the touch screen functions conform to what has become standard to us all (thanks to smart phones).

The Ninja 2

The Ninja 2 is the world’s most advanced HDMI smart production recorder, monitor and playback deck. Every part of its physical and operational design has been carefully crafted to deliver the ultimate experience in simple operation and mission critical reliability. The Ninja 2 combines multiple devices – external monitor, capture card, playback deck and cut edit suite – into a single tool. 

On-camera view

For media professionals working with DSLRs & HDMI cameras.

• Real-time monitoring, playback, playout & edit logging in the field
• 4.3” 800 x 480 touchscreen monitor
• Focus assist, zebra & false color monitoring
• Record direct from the sensor to 10-bit, 4:2:2 ProRes or DNxHD
• Trigger REC/STOP from camera (certain Canon & Sony models only)
• Timecode from camera (certain Canon & Sony models only)
• Uses inexpensive 2.5” HDD/SSD media
• AC/DC/battery with patented Continuous Power
• Battery adaptor plates for Sony, Canon & Nikon DSLRs (available July 2013)

With Ninja 2 you get focus peaking with multiple levels and colors for ease of use, false color in two modes, zebra 0-100% fully adjustable and blue-only for that quick exposure check!

All audio, even analog audio, is locked frame accurately to every video frame, never drifting or losing sync. If the digital audio is out of sync from the camera you can even adjust this on the fly by advancing or delaying the audio coming in – very smart!

With up to 2 channels of digital and 2 of analog audio always available to view and monitor on headphone jacks or line out, audio is taken care of. From mixing desks and line out to XLR adaptor boxes like Beachtek and juicedLink, AtomOS covers all your audio needs. 

The Samurai Blade

The Samurai Blade is the world’s most advanced smart production recorder, monitor and playback deck. Every part of its physical and operational design has been carefully crafted to deliver the ultimate in simple operation and mission critical reliability. The Blade combines multiple devices – external monitor, capture card, playback deck and cut edit suite – into a single affordable tool. It’s lightweight, tough and robust for operation in the field.

The new Samurai Blade offers a stunning 1280 x 720 SuperAtom IPS touchscreen, at 325ppi 179-degree viewing, 400nit brightness and multi-frequency (48/50/60Hz) operation, depending on video input, giving super smooth monitoring and playback. 


Packed into the light and mobile camera-mountable Samurai Blade are all the essential tools you need to set up on-site accurate colors and exposure including full waveform monitor functions - Vectorscope, RGB and LUMA parades. Each provides an intuitive transparent interface offering full screen, lower 3rd or bottom right corner positioning to give you a range of options when setting up, recording and playing back your shot.

The ultimate portable recorder for filmmakers.

Features:

• Unbelievable super-bright 5” IPS 1280 x 720 touchscreen monitor
• Full waveform vectorscope with zoom & RGB/luma parade displays
• Standard BNC connectors
• Real-time monitoring, playback, playout & edit logging in the field
• Focus assist, zebra & false color monitoring
• Record direct from the sensor to 10-bit, 4:2:2 ProRes or DNxHD
• S-Log/C-Log recording
• Trigger REC/STOP from camera (Canon, Sony, ARRI, Panasonic, RED, JVC)
• Timecode from camera
• Uses inexpensive 2.5” HDD/SSD media
• AC/DC/battery with patented Continuous Power

And so much more! To learn more about the Ninja 2 and Samurai Blade, check out the Atomos website. If you'd like to rent on of these recorders, they both rent for $85 for a 1-day rental and $255 for a weekly rental.

Artist Spotlight: Victoria Will

We had a very special visitor last Friday. Photographer Victoria Will stopped by the rental department to show us her most recent project: tintypes. 

Victoria has been making waves with her new series, having shot more than a hundred photographs of some of the world's most adored actors and actresses at the Sundance Film Festival. Her haunting photograph of Philip Seymour Hoffman, in particular, has been getting a considerable amount of attention as it is the last photograph of the actor before his untimely death earlier this month. The amount of care given in each tintype is incredibly apparent and we are so very excited for her! Check out a few images from this series below, and be sure to visit her site to see even more! 

We're hoping to put together a gallery show for Victoria some time really soon, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the date and time!