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!  

Meet the staff: Ryan

Ryan Billings works in the rental department of Foto Care. A Foto Care employee for 5 years, Ryan has become a huge asset to the rental team. 

Photo of Ryan taken by Daniel Orren at Highline Stages

In rentals, Ryan's responsibilities include packing orders and providing support to rental customers for both still and video equipment. Most of his time is spent speaking with clients about the right gear for their shoot and coming up with solutions for all sorts of problems that can arise with a shoot. "It's sort of like being on 10 sets at once, but the guys I work with make it much easier," he says. 

Before joining the rental guys, Ryan freelanced for  two commercial photographers, assisting with location lighting, fine art printing, stuffing mailings, painting cycs, milling frames from fallen trees, "recycling the darkroom water to flush toilets" for the most eco-friendly photographer on the planet, among other tasks here and there. That is a wide variety of photography experience!

"My photography has progressed from shooting bands and environmental portraits, to wedding photography. I really enjoy shooting weddings because it is fast-paced and fairly diverse. I use just about everything I have learned shooting still life, portraits and landscapes to give the bride and groom a romantic perspective of their special day."

And speaking of special day, Ryan just got married!

We're so excited for these two lovebirds! 

"I just got married and it was an amazing day, I never expected it to go so fast and be so fun."

So if you've got gear questions, be sure to stop by the rental department and ask Ryan. And, throw a congratulations his way! 

Special Offer from Parlay Studios

Back in March, we featured Parlay Studios. Located in Jersey City, just minutes from lower Manhattan, Parlay Studios is the perfect place to shoot if you want to avoid the New York City hustle and bustle. This August, Parlay is offering photographers a discount on studio time and equipment for the entire month of August as part of their Open Studio Program. Click for more information.

“Helping grow and develop creative talent and expression is part of our mission,” says executive producer Adam Himber. “We feel that supporting new talent, and established artists, is a great way to grow our business and the artistic community in this area.”

With over 10,000 square feet of studio space, three different stages and ground floor, drive-in access, Parlay has been host to shoots and campaigns by clients like ALDO, BMW, Top Gear, MTV and Nordstrom. The studio is configured for photo and video shoots, has and extensive in-house inventory (supported by Foto Care) of lighting and grip equipment and is currently expanding into providing location services for film and television.

To take advantage of this great offer, copy and paste discount code: OSKSTRE8459 into the subject of an email message and send to studio@parlaystudios.com when you book a studio time or equipment rental.