New toys um I mean tools

[Skyman]

Work just agreed to buy me a canon 550d with 18-200 lens and a beachtec audio adapter (lets me plug in xlr microphones to the camera) and a manfroto 585 modo steady. This will be a completely new way of shooting for me, but I can't wait to get my hands on it and get creative. I am really looking forward to the modo steady. it is a convertible steadycam / shoulder stock / table top tripod for lightweight cameras but it should allow me to get really creative with my camera work.

I ordered it yesterday and I hope it all comes soon!

[Photo-John]

That's great, Skyman! Congratulations. I look forward to hearing what you think about the 550D. And I think the 18-200mm lens is a great choice - I love mine. I bought it as part of the EOS 50D kit, just to try it out. But it was much better than I expected and when I sold the 50D, I kept the lens. I hope you like it as much as I do.

I am very curious about the Manfrotto Modo Steady. I am thinking I should probably buy one to keep in the backpack for shooting ski and mountain bike videos. What do you think? Will it fit in a hydration pack? Do you think it's a good tool for shooting action videos?

[Skyman]

I haven't used a modo steady, but I think it is a variant of a steadycam junior. I think if you want steady tracking shots without dolly's train tracks or other cumbersome expensive equipment then it should be a good option. The other thing about it is that it doubles as a shoulder stock so you can get much more stable hand held shots with a small video camera. I have been told that it will balance the weight of the 550d but if you change lenses you would need to recalibrate it. I will give you info about the beachtec as well, but I think this is a good option to get great sound as you can plug in much better microphones and manually control the audio gain. When It arrives I will have a play with it and then write reviews for each item.

[poker]

There is no way to monitor the audio on a Canon DSLR and plus the audio is always on auto-gain. The Canon 5DMKII is the first Canon DSLR to have manual audio that show levels. Many have turned to Zoom H4n to record audio separately.

There is also something called Juiced Link that somehow disables auto gain. I haven't done mush research on it.

http://www.juicedlink.com/

Enjoy the new gear!!!