Australian rental house Camera Hire have just become a RED Authorised Rental House. Camera Hire is only the third Australian-based company (and second Australian-owned) to receive the accreditation.
Camera Hire’s Bevan Dally explained, “It’s fantastic to receive recognition for the service and support we offer… Becoming a RED Authorised Rental House also enables us to provide an even greater level of support to Productions that are shooting RED.”
Camera Hire’s stock of RED cameras include the Monstro 8K VV, Helium 8K S35, Gemini 5K S35 and Scarlet-W 5K S35 cameras. Becoming an Authorised Rental House also opens access to the newly-announced RED Ranger production camera. Dally explains, “We’ve had a strong offering and relationship with RED for a while now and look forward to continuing that partnership.
We’re also excited about the future, particularly as RED are showing they are listening to their client base, including rental houses.” RED has just expanded their Authorised Rental House Program to include access to a large loaner-pool of cameras and the option to purchase the new RED Ranger (which is available to RED Authorised Rental Houses only).
Camera Hire will be closed the public holidays and some extra days over the Christmas and New Year period.
Over this time, we will be offering discounts for hires that need to be returned later, due to our closing days and times. Please email or call us if you require a quote for equipment over this period.
Our Christmas and New Year Holiday dates are outlined below:
22 – 28 December 2014
Mon 22nd
Tue 23rd
Wed 24th
Thurs 25th
Fri 26th
Sat 27th
Sun 28th
8-6pm
8-6pm
8-5pm
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
Closed
Closed
(closed)
(closed)
29 Dec – 4 January 2015
Mon 29th
Tue 30th
Wed 31st
Thurs 1st
Fri 2nd
Sat 3rd
Sun 4th
9-5pm
9-5pm
9-5pm
New Years Day
9-5pm
Closed
Closed
(closed)
5 – 11 January 2015
Mon 5th
Tue 6th
Wed 7th
Thurs 8th
Fri 9th
Sat 10th
Sun 11th
9-5pm
9-5pm
9-5pm
9-5pm
9-5pm
9-1pm
Closed
12 – 18th January 2015: Normal Trading Hours Resume
Sydney-based photographer and videographer Michaela Skovranova recently hired an underwater and location kit for a two week shoot in Fiji. The shoot locations included the famous Cloudbreak, the jungles of Taveuni and various waterfalls scattered across the islands. We spoke to Michaela when she got back to find out how the shoot went.
Michaela Skovranova / Mishku on location in Fiji with one of our Aquatech Underwater Housings
“I was recently booked for a shoot in Fiji where I was shooting for THIS ISLAND LIFE, a fashion, travel and lifestyle blog that follows summer around the world. I was capturing both stills and video in a variety of situations, so I needed a lot of equipment, but at the same time needed to travel light, as we were island hopping every few days.”
“Shooting both in and out of the water was a crucial part of the brief, so I needed an underwater housing for my 5D Mark III that was both compact and versatile. With our main mode of transportation being by water, the housing quickly became the most important piece of equipment in my kit. Whether I was shooting an island from the back of a jet ski, a bikini from inside a waterfall or a huge swell from a tiny boat, I was able to capture the action above and below the waterline.”
“There aren’t many places that hire underwater housings, so it was great to be able to get all the equipment from one place. The kit I hired from Camera Hire included a rig, a variety of lenses, an audio solution and an Aquatech Underwater Housing for my 5D Mark III.”
“Even though I hadn’t shot with the Aquatech before, it was nice and easy to set up — just make sure you have the correct ports to fit your lenses. I went for a dome port which allowed me to do both over and under shots, while allowing room for an ND filter when I needed to capture video.”
“A handy tip is to set up custom functions in the camera before using the housing. This means you can change camera settings while the camera remains inside the housing. Because I was shooting all day, I had to perform several battery swaps while on water — thankfully this wasn’t too difficult!”
“The underwater housing was also light enough for me to swim and free dive for hours on end, while sturdy enough to scale a few waterfalls, too.”
It’s been an exciting couple of weeks in terms of new video camera releases. In the wake of NAB, the annual video trade show Blackmagic have announced a range of new cameras, RED have released the Dragon sensor update in a Scarlet body, amongst others. Keep an eye out over the coming months for some exciting new additions to the Camera Hire video range. Never before have we seen so many companies producing cameras capable of high end production at a relatively affordable price point, high frame rates and uncompressed recording were solely the domain of large productions with budgets to suit.
Below are the two Blackmagic press releases, outlining the URSA production camera and Studio camera releases.
Introducing the world’s first digital film camera designed to revolutionize on set workflow while featuring a user upgradable sensor and lens mount, large 10 inch fold out monitor and more!
NAB 2014, Las Vegas, USA – April 7, 2014 – Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic URSA, a new high end digital film camera designed to revolutionize workflow on set. Built to handle the ergonomics of large film crews as well as single person use, URSA has multiple accessories built in, including a massive 10 inch fold out on set monitor, large user upgradable Super 35 global shutter 4K image sensor and internal dual RAW and Apple ProRes recorders.
Because the sensor and lens mount assembly can be changed, customers can choose EF or PL lens mounts, or even a broadcast video sensor with B4 mount, then upgrade the camera in the future. The Blackmagic URSA EF model will retail for $5,995.
Blackmagic URSA is designed to be used on high end feature films, commercials, episodic television production, documentaries, electronic news gathering, music videos and more. When used on jobs with a large crew, customers can easily dress the camera with high quality cinema lenses, rails, follow focus, matte boxes and more. With built in scopes for exposure, focus and audio levels, built in dual recorders and the large 10 inch fold out on set monitor, customers can dramatically reduce on set equipment because it’s all built into the camera.
The Blackmagic URSA features a larger professional size that has the space for powerful cooling that allows higher frame rates while keeping the chassis cool and the fan quiet. The sleek futuristic machined aluminum design is incredibly strong and has been designed for large film crews while being able to be field upgraded to new sensors by the user. Each area of the camera has been divided into separate DOP, camera assistant and audio engineer work stations. The DOP station features a large 10 inch fold out on set monitor and separate 5 inch screen for settings, camera status and scopes. The camera assist station features a separate screen for camera settings, status and scopes and an audio station features audio meters, controls and audio connections.
Blackmagic URSA is a true professional digital film camera with a 4K sensor, global shutter and a wide 12 stops of dynamic range. The wide dynamic range is superior to regular video cameras or even high end broadcast cameras and results in dramatically better images that look like true digital film. The large Super 35 size sensor allows for creative shallow depth of field shooting and high resolution Ultra HD, 12 bit lossless compressed Cinema DNG RAW and Apple ProRes™ allow for easy post production workflow with minimum storage requirements.
The Blackmagic URSA features a modular camera turret that can be simply replaced by removing 4 simple bolts! The camera turret includes the sensor, lens mount and lens control connections and can be upgraded in the future when new types of sensors are developed. There are currently 4 models to choose from, URSA PL supports PL mount lenses and URSA EF supports EF mount lenses from Canon, Zeiss and more. Both of these models include the large Super 35 sized global shutter digital film sensor. The URSA Broadcast B4 model, available late 2014, features a broadcast video Ultra HD sensor and B4 lens mount used in broadcast. The URSA HDMI model has no sensor and its lens mount is replaced by a “cheese plate” of mounting points and a HDMI input, allowing any third party camera to get the benefit of the URSA camera body features.
“Our goal when developing the URSA was to build a camera that had all the cooling capacity for higher frame rates, and a large on set monitor as well as built in scopes so you had everything you need built into the camera itself. The problem with spending so much money building in such incredible accessories is that they become outdated as sensor technology moves on. So we designed the ability to upgrade the sensor so customers can simply bolt on a new sensor and turret assembly in the future!”, said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design, “We think this is a revolution and this upgradable design means we have been able to put a lot more effort into the design of the camera body itself and the quality of the screens, recorders, cooling system and processing power than would normally be offered. The result is one of the most amazing television products I have ever seen!”
Blackmagic URSA PL and URSA EF Key Features
Large high resolution 4K Super 35 mm sized sensor with superior handing of image detail.
Professional global shutter for smooth pans and image motion.
Wide 12 stops of dynamic range allows capture of increased details for feature film look.
Compatible with extremely high quality PL or EF mount lenses.
User upgradable design allows customers to upgrade and change the sensor and lens mount.
Built in dual CFast 2.0 card recorders allow unlimited duration recording in high quality.
Open file formats compatible with popular NLE software, such as Apple ProRes and compressed CinemaDNG 12 bit RAW. No custom file formats.
Support for ProRes HQ, ProRes 422, ProRes LT, ProRes Proxy recording at resolutions up to Ultra HD.
Features all standard connections, including dual XLR mic/line audio inputs with phantom power, 6G-SDI output for monitoring with camera status graphic overlay and separate XLR 4 pin power output for viewfinder power, 6G-SDI monitoring input, headphone jack, LANC remote control and standard 4 pin 12V DC power connection.
Built in stereo microphones for recording sound.
3 separate built in LCD monitors for camera settings and metadata entry. Large 10 inch screen folds out for full resolution HD monitoring with wide viewing angle and high brightness.
Supports Ultra HD and 1080 HD resolution capture in 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 up to 60 fps.
Features liquid cooling system allowing higher frame rates when future sensors support this feature.
Supports quick release tripod mounts and adding V-Mount and Anton/Bauer mount battery plates.
NAB 2014, Las Vegas, USA – April 7, 2014 – Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic Studio Camera, a new camera specifically designed for live production and available in 1080 HD and Ultra HD models.
Blackmagic Studio Camera is one of the most advanced broadcast cameras for live production because it includes features specifically targeted at the requirements of live production! Currently customers often need to use cameras designed for general video production for live work and this means they don’t get features that live production demands, such as large viewfinder, talkback, tally, optical fiber and a super strong metal design.
Inside the incredibly tough and lightweight magnesium alloy body, the Blackmagic Studio Camera features a very large 10” viewfinder, long duration 4 hour battery, talkback, tally indicators, phantom powered microphone connections and built in optical fiber and SDI connections that let you connect to a live production switcher with a single cable!
One of the problems of cameras used in live production is small viewfinders and the Blackmagic Studio Camera includes a massive 10 inch screen that allows incredible creativity when framing and accurately focussing. The viewfinder’s LCD is extremely bright and has a very wide viewing angle so it is perfect for use even in direct sunlight. The camera also includes a large fold up sun shield making it perfect for outdoor use and the sun shade also acts as a privacy shield when in use.
The Blackmagic Studio Camera features an active Micro Four Thirds lens mount that is compatible with an incredibly wide range of lenses and adapters. This allows customers to use high quality photo lenses for smaller setups or fixed camera use, and then use high end broadcast ENG lenses for large live broadcasts using an MFT to B4 lens mount adapter. This means customers can start out with a more affordable setup based on photo lenses and then move to larger but more expensive ENG lenses as they grow their business.
The Blackmagic Studio Camera includes a built in fiber optic connection, allowing customers to get the many advantages of long lengths and small size and weight of optical fiber for a single thin tether cable to connect cameras to your live production switchers. The optical fiber connection is bi-directional and carries HD or Ultra HD video with embedded audio, talkback, tally and even camera remote control. The built in talkback allows the camera operator and crew to communicate at all times during production using commonly available and very robust general aviation headsets for better quality talkback with better noise canceling at a much lower cost.
The Blackmagic Studio Camera supports the tally SDI standard used on the ATEM range of live production switchers and tally lights illuminate automatically with a light on the front for talent, and a light above the viewfinder for the operator, making it easy for the cast and crew to see which cameras are on air. To allow independent operation with only a single optical fiber cable, the Blackmagic Studio Camera also includes a massive 4 hour battery that means the camera has enough power for use on long live productions as well as setup time before the event starts. The operator side control panel allows instant access to focus, iris and on screen menu settings. On screen menus are overlaid on the viewfinder and slide on and off as needed.
“I have dreamed of a camera perfectly designed for live production for a long time”, said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design, “When we looked at how we would design a camera for live production what really surprised us was how small we could make it, but then the viewfinder would also become small. We did not want a small viewfinder, we wanted a very large viewfinder and so we ended up with this amazing camera that’s incredibly tiny, but then the viewfinder is incredibly large. It’s really a dream to operate a camera with such a large viewfinder and it’s amazing the detail in focus and framing that’s available to the operator! I totally love this camera and it’s my dream product!”
Blackmagic Studio Camera Key Features
High resolution 1080HD in HD model and Ultra HD sized sensor in 4K model.
Built in large 10 inch super bright wide viewing angle LCD viewfinder with sun shade.
Built in optical fiber and regular SDI connections for camera output and monitoring input.
Compatible with high quality Micro Four Thirds lenses. Compatible with other mounts via common third party adapters such as B4 broadcast lens mount.
Built in, two way digital quality talkback using high quality affordable general aviation headsets.
Includes front and rear tally indicators using tally over SDI protocol.
Features all standard connections, including dual XLR balanced mic/line audio in with switchable phantom power, headphone and microphone jack for talkback, LANC remote control and standard 4 pin XLR broadcast standard DC 12V power connection.
On screen menus for all camera settings.
Supports 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 and up to 60 fps in HD model, up to 30 fps in 4K model.
Compatible with ATEM range of live production switchers.
