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REVIEW - Hollyland MARS 400S PRO Digital Wireless Transmi...

HOLLYLAND MARS 400S PRODigital Wireless Video Transmission SystemBuilt by Hollyland and costing around £600 the Mars 400S is an easy-to-use wireless video transmitter/receiver system – it will be right up the alley of anyone who, like me, considers an instruction manual to be nothing more than box padding. The body is made of metal as opposed to...

Submitted by Phil Vinter

Published 12 February 2021

NAB 2019 Highlights

The NAB Show in Las Vegas never loses its capacity to surprise. With NHK already transmitting in 8K and the Tokyo Olympics just a year away, this might have been the year that 8K equipment prices descended from the stratosphere to just plain expensive. The main trends at NAB 2019 were an increasing focus on HD-HDR, Media-over-IP and 4K. 8K was pret...

Submitted by Paul MacKenzie

Published 04 June 2019

Rotolight Anova Pro 2 User Review

The Anova PRO 2 is the fourth generation of Rotolight’s studio/location light, offering 70% more power output than its predecessor. It is claimed be one of the brightest LED lights ever launched in its class, delivering 10,700 lux at 3 feet yet consuming only 72 watts. Figure 1 shows the front with accessory mounting spigots (1), optional barn door...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 21 March 2019

State of the Nation - November 2018

There is an interesting seminar called Size Matters at the KitPlus Show – organised by the publishers of this fine magazine – at MediaCityUK in Salford on 6 November. It’s a talk by cinematographer Alistair Chapman on the way that camera technology is changing, and in particular the size of the electronic device which creates the image is growing....

Submitted by Dick Hobbs - new

Published 09 November 2018

Sony HDC-4800 Review

First announced at NAB 2016, the Sony HDC-4800 is a studio camera system capable of shooting 4K/UHD at up to 8x or full HD at up to 16x. With a price point upwards of £250,000 it is a very high-end product with a wide feature set. In Sony's own words, "This is the future of live production, designed to satisfy the storytelling aspect of modern spor...

Submitted by Andy McKenzie

Published 09 November 2018

What is Serial Communication

Don’t get me wrong - the advent of IP technology has done wonders for the broadcasting universe, especially here in Special Cams land where changing a setting could have involved a rather long walk and climb to a remote camera location! Nevertheless, this said, I still feel that serial communication is a huge contender - not only just in the realm...

Submitted by Mike Colyer

Published 07 June 2018

Steadicam M-1 Volt: Tried and Tested

Early in November some of us lucky Steadicam Operators from around the UK were invited to try out the new Tiffen M1 Volt, which is essentially an electronic motorized horizon assist unit attached to the gimbal of the latest Steadicam M1. Is it a good idea? As experienced Steadicam Operators, directors or producers, why would we be interested? Let’s...

Submitted by John E Fry

Published 12 February 2018

A Bluffers Guide to Batteries

The Christmas decorations are down; the family have all headed home – and the New Year’s festivities have drawn to a close. I put my hand up to it – I’m a little drained. As such, I figured I’d start the new year with a Bluffer’s Guide to Batteries. With the cold weather setting in, it can be a nightmare to pick the right disposable batteries for s...

Submitted by Mike Colyer

Published 12 February 2018

Power linking just got better

Sometimes batteries can be interesting and this year with IDX is one of those years with not only improvements in the V-Lock range there are significant changes within the 7.2volt area. Firstly and for the very first time in Europe the updated Power Link battery system the IPL range will be shown on the IDX stand at IBCFor years now, the HL-9 has b...

Submitted by Yasushi Wada

Published 19 October 2017

A Bluffer Guide to....CMOS

i I like to break my employers\' cameras. For me, there is nothing more exciting than considering a daring location to install a micro camera system. It could be in a trackside breaking board at a motorsport event (culminating in slightly-too-extreme close up of, say, a Porsche bumper) - or a system installed a tad too high up a tree in a jungle (w...

Submitted by Mike Colyer

Published 01 August 2017

Health and Safety gone mad

The first true broadcast television service started 80 years ago, on 2 November, 1936. Its home, famously, was Alexandra Palace, a vast and really rather run-down building on top of Muswell Hill in north London. Originally opened in 1873, and re-opened in 1875 after a catastrophic fire, it was built primarily as an entertainment venue. Indeed, it w...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 13 January 2017

Realising the ideal

On 26 July 1916 there was a public meeting in New York. It was called by a group led by Charles Francis Jenkins (and more on him in a moment). But the guest speaker was Henry D Hubbard, at the time the secretary of the US National Bureau of Standards. This is some of what he said: "Interchangeability of parts is an important principle of standardis...

Submitted by Dick Hobbs.

Published 24 August 2016

A Marathon Filming Review

Issue 113 - May 2016 A marathon filming review... 60+ interviews filmed, edited and promoted within 24 hour... A 26 mile marathon in anyone\'s world is a long way with cobbles, uneven surfaces, steps and thousands of people in your way. However I\'m not talking about the recent London Marathon but our ‘adventures\' at NAB 2016 in Las Vegas. If you...

Submitted by Simon Tillyer

Published 20 May 2016

Loudness Measurement and Control Strategies For The UK Br...

by Manik Gupta Issue 113 - May 2016 A common issue that today\'s broadcast ,cable, and satellite operators face is inconsistent loudness. Over the years, the loudness levels of some commercials have been deliberately increased to catch audiences\' attention. Ultimately, inconsistent loudness between regular programming and advertisements has discou...

Submitted by Manik Gupta

Published 13 May 2016

The World Of Risk

by Leighton Chenery Issue 112 - April 2016 For those who follow the World Economic Forum in Davos, the forum provides a fascinating insight into the minds of our top business leaders\' and politicians. Risk was again the topic of the day. From Brexit to China\'s debt issues, from migration to food shortage, oil price to climate change, the discuss...

Submitted by Leighton Chenery

Published 25 April 2016