Greetings from NAB2004...

April 18, 2004

I'm back in Vegas for my fourth NAB. This time I've decided to play before I go to work on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center. My girlfriend, Kimberley, came along to enjoy a good tourist weekend.

We drove west away from the Las Vegas lights to Red Rock Canyon, an awesome federal park that has plenty of opportunities for exploring amazing rock faces.

The climbing was great, and it was the perfect workout for my legs before the marathon of walking on the convention floor.

In an attempt to take a picture of Kimberley and me on the top of the rocks, I unsuccessfully tried the self timer function on my digital camera.

I think the quote from Kimberley in this picture is "HURRY!"

This proved that "I ARE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER!" ...ha ha...

April 19, 2004

First stop on the floor at NAB was Miller Camera Support. Miller has been promoting its new Solo VJ tripod on b-roll.net, but I had not had a chance to see one in person. Gus Harilaou gave me the introduction to their newest tripod. The sticks are extremely light and sturdy and can easily lower to just a few inches off the ground. Very impressive.

They're sending us a sample to field test, so we'll have a product review very soon...

Thanks goes to Miller's Heidi Tobin for displaying that great Australian hospitality.

Then it was off to Sony booth to meet Toru Suzuki and Wayne Zuchowski. As always the magnitude of the Sony booth (needing it's own information booth and map) blew me away. I met with Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Zuchowski to talk about the new Sony XDCAM. This is Sony's new tapeless format and after a prototype display last year, this camera looks ready for prime time. 1500 cameras have shipped, and their getting run through the paces. Their promo video showed the camera car mounted while off-roading, on a speed boat zipping down white water rapids, and even sky-diving. All with no breakup in the video. A powerful argument against those who feel the Blue Laser can't hold up under pressure.

And to show how the disc system can beat tape, an XDCAM was kept in a freezer all day and then pulled out to shoot... even though the lens frosted up, and camera did not have any kind of "humidity" warning and kept on shooting.

The XDCAM is going head to head with the new Panasonic P2 format. They both want to be the new industry standard for tapeless media. We check out the Panasonic booth tomorrow.

Ikegami showed off a new version of its Editcam hard disk-based camcorder (DNS-33W). The Editcam was one of the first tapeless cameras, and has been around for years, but according to Ikegami's Jose Rosado, interest has picked up now that Sony and Panasonic are competing with tapeless cameras.

A few quick stops at Spider Support Systems and Barbizon... Spider Support builds lightweight, portable systems that allow you to carry your camera riser with you. Because you're not sharing space on a riser, you don't have to worry about your camera shaking every time the guy next to you sneezes.

Nebtek displayed the latest in displays... small portable LCD monitors that can mount on your camera to give you color accurate feedback as you shoot. Due to their special design, the screens stay visible even in direct sunlight.

Fujinon have their latest lens, the A18x7.6 ready for the show. This 18x ENG lens is said to be the widest lens with the largest zoom range on the market.

I also ran into Josh Harris from ENGgadgets.com. These folks have a great website filled with all the latest and greatest support equipment for shooters like us. Josh gave me some good ideas of fun equipment to check out tomorrow.

As always, we had our annual
b-roll.net NIGHT at the Monte Carlo Brewing company. The joint was cool, and they had good micro-brews that are brewed right on premises. Lots of shooters stopped by to chat and talk of what "toys" they found on the floor. Among all the great "b-rollers" who showed up, here's a shot of Richard Campbell ("TV Shooter"), of Atlanta, GA with his friends from the Weather Channel. Thanks to everyone who came to the party...

April 20, 2004

Needless to say after a good night of photog stories and cold beer, I was a little sluggish getting up this morning. After a traditional photog breakfast (sausage and egg biscuit from a drive-thru) I was back on the floor.

The first stop was Century Optics. Century is the leader in optical adapters and filters for television and film. You'll have a hard time finding a better wide-angle adapter for your ENG camera than Century. Now they're coming out with a line of adapter for DV and miniDV cameras. You can get the same look and feel from your smaller lenses.

My next stop took me to the Lite Panels booth. These guys get my award for coolest new product at NAB.

Basically, these are compact and lightweight LED panels designed to be around 5600K and fully dimmable (with minimal color shift). Only drawing 0.6 amps at 12V DC they'll barely drain on your camera battery. They mount on the camera with an Anton Bauer power tap or snap on a battery and the litepanel becomes a self contained wireless light.

The LEDs don't burn out, so you'll have great soft lighting for years to come... I want one of these!

The inventors of these Lite Panels have a Hollywood background, and these little lights have been used in "The West Wing" and "24."

Next up was 16x9, Inc. Jeff Giordano and his crew distribute some of the niftiest products you can find for TV shooters. The EasyRig (which we reviewed a few years ago) is just one of their unique products. The new Lux dimmable on-board camera light from Bebob Engineering. The fully adjustable HoldIt arms... perfect for extending the position of your camera light or LCD monitor.

Right next to 16x9 was the Petrol booth. Petrol is an Israeli based company known for it's quality camera bags and covers. They've extended their line of products to include a wide variety of DV camera bags complete with compartments for your laptop computer / editor.

My favorite innovative product from Petrol was the Flex Tent. This one man tent fits a shooter and tripod in a portable rain shelter with a window to shoot out of... This is perfect for those long "bad weather" live shot stakeouts. When you're done, the tent folds up into a bag the size of a large sun reflector (around 18" wide and about 5lbs).

Now it was time to see the other side of the great TAPELESS DEBATE. I went to visit with Jan Crittenden of Panasonic to check out the new P2. These cameras are based on the DVCpro50 camera already on the market. The only difference is that except the lens zoom servo, there are NO MOVING PARTS on this camera. The tape door is replaced by slots for PCMCIA sized cards filled with flash memory. Presently you can fill 5 slots with 4GB cards totalling 20GB. This gives your about 80 minutes at DV quality and 40 minutes at DVCpro50 quality.

The instantaneous nature of the media, with the added advantage of no moving parts looks great for Panasonic. The challenge right now is the price of the media. To fill up the roughly $20,000 camera with P2 cards will set you back another $10,000.

Granted these prices will drop and the storage capacity will increase, but for the time being, these prices may be prohibitive for many local TV stations.

The debate between Sony, Panasonic and others will rage on... stay tuned for more from the "battle field."

Also, check out the journals of last years trip to NAB...

DAY ONE April 7, 2003
DAY TWO April 8, 2003
DAY THREE April 9, 2003

Kevin Johnson of b-roll.net is off on his fourth annual visit to NAB. Las Vegas, NV plays host to manufacturers from all around the world, showing off their latest equipment. Broadcast standards like Sony, Panasonic, and JVC are present along with "new media" companies like Adobe and Apple.