Hits and misses of 2014

[Bamboopictures]

I will remember 2014 as an exciting year of compelling innovations that has tempted a laggard like me to overhaul my gear.
Some purchases have more than paid for themselves many times over. Others broke down before they broke even. What are your favorite and least favorite buys this year?

My favourites:
CX900 - Cheap and good! So good in fact, it's making my other camcorders look bad in post. May have to completely replace all my event cams with this winner.

A7s - Bought this to replace 2 cameras (GH2 and VG20) Finally, full-frame, XLR inputs, headphones jack, tilt-screen all in one tiny affordable package.

Brinno TLC200Pro- Loved it so much, I bought 4 and still waiting for more to come in stock. Simply the most reliable and effortless way to do long timelapse movies for construction, events, manufacturing.

Roland VR-3EX - This tiny AV mixer is a great space saver and time-saver and has been instrumental in the success of various livecasts I've produced this year. For just USD2200, it is a steal!

Misses:

W850-I love to love this camcorder but it keeps breaking apart! W850 promised so many things and is quite remarkable when it's actually working but alas, cheap plastics is its archilles heel, In just a few outings, it has lost its USB contact, casing coming apart at the seams. A lot to love about this tiny camcorder but its just too fragile.


Zoom H6: Again, a case of poor QC. Works great as promised. In fact, very quiet preAmp for the money. But done in by poor battery contact.

Haugpagge PVR Rocket- This HDMI recorder is big letdown. Used it as backup recorder for an event and it became unresponsive after 2 hours refusing to stop recording. Pulled the plug and the file was lost forever.

 

[JacePhoto]

Wow! Nice review and reflection.

In fact I didn't know most of the tools until I start to google for them. Am tempted to get them too, especially the time lapse brinno.

Thanks!

 

[shierwin]

Where did you get your Brinno TLC200Pro? Interesting gadget.

 

[Bamboopictures]

Where did you get your Brinno TLC200Pro? Interesting gadget.

Red Dot at Funan.

 

[RyanKhoo]

Brinno TLC200Pro- Loved it so much, I bought 4 and still waiting for more to come in stock. Simply the most reliable and effortless way to do long timelapse movies for construction, events, manufacturing.

Thanks Rodney,

Have also checked this out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNJFWnTTrs

But this can only output in 720p ...

Questions:

1) how expensive are the changeable the CS mount lens ?

2) can we adjust the aperture and shutter speed and ISO ?

Thanks

 

[Bamboopictures]

Thanks for your question Ryan. The brinno zoom lenses are rather pricey at about $350. But you can buy other third party CS lenses at much lower prices. The TLC200 Pro is fully automatic and only allows you to select exposure modes such as daylight, twilight or night.
The low light performance is spectacular.

 

[XsenseX]

I had a good experience with zoom h6. So far quite good after 9 mths. Much easier to control vs h4n.

Battery bay has been good to me so far

 

[Deunamist]

I had a good experience with zoom h6. So far quite good after 9 mths. Much easier to control vs h4n.

Battery bay has been good to me so far

I quite like the H5. I don't own it but have used it a few times. I gather the H6 should be far better than it!

not much purchases for me this year but I have a lot of of procurement planned for the beginning of 2015...

 

[kandinsky]

Wow! Nice review and reflection.

In fact I didn't know most of the tools until I start to google for them. Am tempted to get them too, especially the time lapse brinno.

Thanks!

+1. Haha. Same here. Had to google some of the products. The A/V mixer looks damn cool!

No big A/V related purchases for me in 2014. Picked up a new pair of headphones (Sony MDR-V6) for monitoring, as well as my first action camera (Sony AS20), and a U3 sd card. Was planning for a new comp system mid-year when the new iMac 5K came out, still waiting for more reviews to hear how the GPU/screen holds up after couple of months. First-gen products, always a bit iffy.

I do have an A7s on loan at the moment, and yeah, this is an amazing camera. Amazing HD. Coming from a GH3, it's nice to have access to super shallow DOF when I want it, plus it's refreshing to not worry about noise in low-light.

 

[Deunamist]

No big A/V related purchases for me in 2014. Picked up a new pair of headphones (Sony MDR-V6) for monitoring, as well as my first action camera (Sony AS20), and a U3 sd card. Was planning for a new comp system mid-year when the new iMac 5K came out, still waiting for more reviews to hear how the GPU/screen holds up after couple of months. First-gen products, always a bit iffy.

I just got the 5K iMac 27" a few days ago. Singtel offer at Sitex. Had it upgraded to 32GB at $580. comes with 1TB Fusion. not bad eh. still installing stuff onto it, I will let you know about the GPU/screen in two months. :bsmilie:

 

[kandinsky]

I just got the 5K iMac 27" a few days ago. Singtel offer at Sitex. Had it upgraded to 32GB at $580. comes with 1TB Fusion. not bad eh. still installing stuff onto it, I will let you know about the GPU/screen in two months. :bsmilie:

Whoo, nice man. :thumbsup: Didn't know singtel had a promo for it. Just looked it up, $125*24mths, that's a good 10% off. Did you also opt for the CPU and GPU upgrades? Yeah, do update after some months.

 

[Deunamist]

Whoo, nice man. :thumbsup: Didn't know singtel had a promo for it. Just looked it up, $125*24mths, that's a good 10% off. Did you also opt for the CPU and GPU upgrades? Yeah, do update after some months.

nah, still 2GB. they didn't have an option for that. only the RAM.

 

[RyanKhoo]

Thanks for your question Ryan. The brinno zoom lenses are rather pricey at about $350. But you can buy other third party CS lenses at much lower prices. The TLC200 Pro is fully automatic and only allows you to select exposure modes such as daylight, twilight or night.
The low light performance is spectacular.

OIC, thanks, Rodney.

So, we cannot reject some unwanted frame which was taken accidentally. I ofter have some fellas walking and stand in front of my camera when doing time lapse ... are we able to reject those frames ?

Thanks

 

[Bamboopictures]

Sure. Just drop the AVI file into FCPX and cut out the unwanted bits.