VL: The matte box fills two important roles in filmmaking – and unless you are using glass that can take screw-on ND filters – it’s a MUST.   Ergo if you are using a 14mm lens, or any cinema glass or the Zeiss ZEs – a matte box is absolutely essential.   The main advantage of this matte box is that it swivels out (rotates from the top right with a release pin.)  This allows you to keep your ND / ND Grad etc filters in place and very quickly change lenses.   When you use Zeiss CP.2 a lens change can take less than 10 seconds.  If you have a number of filters – especially grad NDs – changing lenses can become quite a chore.   This is a great matte box – but on the larger side.  I would not recommend you mounting it on a car mount on a high speed vehicle/aircraft for example.   One note:  don’t forget the Donuts!  The donuts is a round rubber piece that surrounds your lens and effectively seals the matte box to your lens – and doesn’t allow any light to creep in from behind.  Doing so can lead to some pretty terrible reflections on your filters that can be hard to diagnose the first time it happens to you.Matte boxes are also essential for moving Grad ND filters up/down and rotating them – something you can’t do with screw on filters. Keep that in mind (and see below for more on this.)

Description (from Redrock Micro): The microMatteBox Standard Bundle is a great base kit to get started using a matte box. It comes with everything you need to help control light and flare using a matte box and filters, and can be upgraded later with the microMatteBox Flag Bundle, additional filter stages, or a 19mm swing-away arm. Rubber donuts provide a flexible method of fitting your 35mm lenses or camera to the microMatteBox to prevent light leaks.

VL: A solid follow focus system – greatly improved over the first version.

Description (from Redrock Micro): The microFollowFocus version 2 is a new version of the award-winning microFollowFocus. The new version sports a quick release clamp, lighter weight design, and compatibility with the Redrock 19mm follow focus clamp.

VL: If you don’t want to modify your lenses (with permanent gears) this is the way to go.  Some people like the extra "throw" you get given the larger diameter.  I prefer not having to mess with putting gears on lenses as it can take time and the lenses obviously take more space in your bag/case when you leave the gears mounted.   With EF lenses that rotate endlessly – you need to make sure to align these carefully with your follow focus unit so that the tightening section never makes contact with your FF gear.  Overall – this is an excellent way to start.  As you work on more expensive productions – the time you take to put these on and off justifies CP.2 lenses or permanent gears on your glass in my opinion.

Description (from Redrock Micro): microLensGears are industry-standard film pitch (0.8 mod 32) designed to gear your still photography lenses (canon, nikon, pentax, etc.) for use with the microFollowFocus.

VL: This is a critical piece of kit when you mount a 200mm 2 or longer.  I’ve mounted an 800mm lens to a 5D MKII with this piece with excellent results.   You’ll find that trying to line up the height of the lens handle with the body can be difficult or impossible – therefore you’ll come to rely on this piece of kit to support the weight of your long lenses on a RedRock system or any 15mm rod system.  It’s a very small piece that I never leave home without and absolutely essential to me.

Description (from Redrock Micro): The Redrock Micro microLensSupport is designed to attach to any 15mm rod/rail system–such as Redrock’s microRodSupport–and provides added support to large 35mm or cine lenses. This is especially useful when attaching long zooms or telephoto lenses to an M2 lens adapter or when shooting DSLR video. The lens can be adjusted, by way of a vertical riser and repositionable thumbscrews, for the most optimal position.

VL:  These are pretty critical to balancing your rig.  It it’s front heavy – making smooth tilts will become very very difficult – not to mention movement in general.

Description (from Redrock Micro): The microBalance Starter Kit enables counterbalance weights to be attached to any 15mm rod setup so rigs can be conveniently and comfortably balanced (instead of front heavy). Additional microBalance counterbalance weights can be added in single weight increments to exactly and economically meet your needs.

VL:

Description (from OConnor): The OConnor O-BOX WM Set (15mm LWS) is a matte box that includes the O-Box WM matte box, a wide mini sunshade, top flag, two 4 x 4" filter frames, two 4 x 5.65" filter frames, and a 15mm LWS rod bracket.

VL: There are an incredible amount of handles out there for handheld configurations.   I recommend you try them all and see which works best for you if you have the privilege of being in a a market such as LA or NYC.   I’ve found these O Grips work extremely well for me because a. when you lock them down they don’t slip.  And that’s essential with any grip.   Second you can articulate two of these (I recommend you have 4 – 2 pieces to form each handle) in almost every angle you can conceive of.  If you’re pulling focus off of a follow focus unit you can articulate the O Grips to accommodate the best balance feel for yourself in terms of placing the handle near the FF unit.   You can also use this to prop the camera up on the ground -a substitute for a high hat in a pinch (if the camera is locked off of course.)   And you can also use these on the Viewfactor cage as and overhead handle.See this unit in use in the video below at the 6:25 Mark.

Description (from OConnor): Constructed with a solid titanium core for extreme durability and reliability, O-Grips feature smooth-functioning, single-handle ball joints with a maximum payload capacity of 44 lbs (20 kg) – making them ideal for work with both smaller and larger cameras.  Modular O-Grips are stackable for custom applications and can be configured to create double or even multi-joint handles. Each grip is fully adjustable and is capable of a half sphere of stepless articulations.

VL: This is the high end of follow focusing units – it’s incredibly smooth and has different gears for different speeds.  It’s one of the units that you use for life.

See this unit in use in the video below at the 6:03 Mark.

Description (from OConnor): The CFF-1′s multifunctional, modular design eliminates the hassle of having to juggle separate bridge plates. A single, easy to use snap-on bridge clamps effortlessly onto either 15mm or 19mm studio rod systems. (An optional LWS bridge is also available.) The OConnor integrated approach lets the operator straddle the line between both standards with ease and efficiency. With the lowest clearance available in a double-sided studio unit, OConnor’s follow focus is ideal for large diameter lenses—and protects the user’s equipment investment by ensuring compatibility with optical systems now and into the future.

VL: I’m s huge fan of these cages for a number or reasons.   One it holds the camera in place incredibly solidly.  There is absolutely no wiggle room for movement.   When you start to mount follow focus motors on your HDDSLR system – you’ll start to see some flex due to the torque of the motors – and that translates into unwanted camera movement.   This cage eliminates that flex – and offers a variety of mounts – including one to support the new colloar at the base of the Zeiss CP.2 lenses making the mount rock solid. (The standard Canon EF lens mount allows a bit of flex/movement which is not a good thing.)   This cage also makes it incredible easy to mount mornitor arms, handles, accessories to the cage as it has numerous screw-in mounting points – and it also makes it incredibly easy to mount the camera to just about any grip kit/car mount etc. The other main reason I love this cage is the power distribution.  I will mount an Anton Bauer battery toward the rear of my camera system (which helps balance out weight) and will also power the camera, two monitors and/or follow focus motors – all off of one battery.  Gone are the days of carrying around dozens of 5DMKII batteries, a separate battery for each monitor, and yet another for the motors.   One Anton Bauer powers everything – and this is an incredible time saver. It should be said that a RedRock Micro system is likely a much more realistic start for the majority of HDDSLR users out there.   That being said for those who start to use these cameras on commercial and TV sets – this type of accessory will quickly become indispensable. You can see this cage and many of the accessories on this page in the video below:

2010 HDDSLR Gear Video from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Description (from Viewfactor): The Contineo powered cage surrounds your HDLSR camera with a billet aluminum structure that securely holds your camera while providing numerous mounting points for accessories. Additionally the cage provides regulated power to your camera and accessories using an external cine-style battery (not included).

VL: This is silly – but one of the biggest wastes of times on set – is finding the record button on these cameras.  Especially when you switch between all models – not to mention when you start to gear your kit with cables and monitors etc.  It’s a pain and means you often leave the camera running much longer than you need to for fear of missing a critical shot.   Being able to trigger the camera on and off instantly is key – it saves you a lot of CF and hard drive space over time and pays for itself on the first shoot.

Description (from Viewfactor): The Origo start and stop switch was designed from the ground up to be the most robust switch made. To date Origo is being used on over 700 cameras worldwide. The ability to start a time-lapse, frame ramp, or many other camera functions while remaining on the ground has never been easier. An audible beep for recording make sure everyone knows you are rolling. Along with the MANTIS from Element Technica you never have to take your eye off the action.

VL: This is a GREAT add on – as you’ll find that space becomes very very limited on the bottom rods once you mount a FF system, a matte box, and handles.   This top set of rods can be a life saver when it comes to adding that FF system or set of motors from above on the relatively compact Zeiss CP.2 lenses or especially on the smaller Canon glass.

Description (from Viewfactor): This is a thin bracket for use with the battery plate or for placing rods anywhere on the cage.  The bracket allows you to mount the battery plate either vertically or horizontally on matte box rails. You can also mount the bracket on the top of the contineo cage to provide top rails or mount it anywhere on the sides or bottom of the cage.

VL: You gotta mount that battery somewhere – and you’ll find that this plate with the Lemo connector allows you to power an entire system off one Anton Bauer battery (see Contineo cage above.)

Description (from Viewfactor): The Contineo Anton Bauer battery plate has several mounting options that allow easy mounting to Contineo powered cages.  The unit includes an 18" cable with 2-pin Lemo connector that plugs into the power input of the contineo powered cages.

VL: I’m not even sure I need to say anything about this unit – it is probably THE SINGLE MOST POPULAR HDDSLR accessory out there – and probably the first purchase I recommend to EVERYONE getting into HDDSLR.  This will allow you to mount the eyecup over the LCD of your camera and see what you’re shooting in bright daylight.   This is a MUST have until you get into external monitors – which in turns will lead you into much more complex setups and power/rig/balance requirements.   This is a no-brainer purchase and still the best finder out there to date optically.That being said – I have come to rely on external monitors more and more myself – as I don’t find the rear LCDs to have a great enough resolution to pull critical focus or judge exposure.   Nevertheless – this is what you likely need to get going as you try your hand at HDDSLR video.

Description (from Zacuto): The Z-Finder Pro 2.5x is another one of Zacuto’s Optical Viewfinders that allows DSLR cameras to have the correct form factor for video. It offers 2.5x focusable magnification (3x is available),a 40mm diameter Zacuto optical designed lens, an anti-fog coating protective cover, an eyecup preventing extraneous light leakage, a diopter and a field of view perfectly matched to 3” LCD screens. The diopter allows you to dial in the focus to match your eye.

VL:  I have fond this arm to be incredibly reliable for my Marshall 7" and 6.5" LCD monitors.   It has two little teeth on the top that prevent the monitor from rotating (small detail but genius) and you can mount and unmount this onto your rod system WITHOUT having to slide the base plate on or off – which is a huge time saver.  I’ve found that this arm does an incredible job of NOT slipping.

Description (from Zacuto): The Zonitor Handheld mount kit allows you to quick-release a monitor from a Zamerican articulating arm and the arm from the Zacuto 15mm Z-Mount or 19mm Zandy. This kit allows you to mount any device with a ¼ 20” (or 3/8 16”with ¼ 20” to 3/8 16” adapter) screw hole, such as an external on-board monitor, lights, and/or hard drives, using a Zamerican Arm.

VL:  If you’ve ever wanted to quickly slip a monitor / EVF / Sound device onto a camera with a SOLID connection – this is the gadget you can’t be without (I know I can’t.)  There’s NOTHING worse than those monitor arms and trying to screw them in (or unscrew them) when you’re in a hurry.   This is THE solution against that.  I have one on my matte box and two on my Epic – I can easily put my EVF or LCD anywhere I want within seconds.

Description (from 16×9 Inc.): 16×9 Inc.’s Cine Lock enables fast and easy non-thread mounting and removal of the arm and its cargo through an ingenious dove tail design. The device is made up of two parts, a male and female wedge/dove tail plate. The male plate is fitted onto the top and bottom of a Noga articulating arm. The female piece is attached both to the surface where the arm will be anchored, and onto whatever object the arm will hold. Once all pieces of the device are in place, the arm can easily be mounted onto a camera handle or tripod, for example — and a monitor or light can easily be mounted onto the arm itself.

VL: This is the unit I rely on for all of my timelapse photography.   You can dial in pretty much any setting / duration / interval setting.  It’s compact and I have one with me at all times – you never know when the timelapse urge will hit!

Description: This is a remote switch with an 2.6ft cord and a self-timer, interval timer, long-exposure timer, and exposure-count setting feature. The timer can be set anywhere from 1 second to 99 hours, 59 min., 59 sec. A new dial enables you to easily enter the numeric settings with a single thumb. The LCD panel can also be illuminated.

VL: This is mostly a photography tool that has become an industry standard tool for news/studio/and sports photographers.   You can use it to trigger cameras from a distance, or strobes, or as a very fancy time lapse trigger – all at a pretty great distance.   This is the unit most photographers use to trigger cameras at the Olympics or other big events – wiring a camera takes far too long and is seldom an option.   You can place this unit on your hotshoe and everytime you fire your main camera – it will fire your other receivers (that are attached to other cameras or to your strobe set.)  Therefore every time you fire you main camera – you can be firing any number of other cameras from a multitude of other angles all at once.  Pretty nifty. For those going to large events where many photographers have these pretty common units – you can request a custom ID/Channel on your set of Wizards.

Description (from LPA Design): The PocketWizard MultiMAX Transceiver is the world’s most innovative and advanced digital radio triggering system available in the photographic market. With its sophisticated trigger time control software and transceiver communication capabilities, the MultiMAX model opens up limitless creative possibilities for the professional or serious amateur photographer.

VL: ND filters are an ABSOLUTE necessity when shooting video/film.   For still photographers: remember that in video you shutter speed is mostly locked down at 1/50th of a second – therefore when you go out into bright sunlight – you can find yourself at f/11 or f/16 at 100ASA depending on where you.   Therefore NDs are one of the single most common tools in film – to keep the apertures open and the depth of field shallow.   Unless you’re shooting indoors or at night – you can’t leave with a set of NDs – period.  These are of course rectangular filters – meant to work with matte boxes.  You can of course use circular screw on filters on your Canon EF glass to do the exact same thing.   If you are using cine lenses or CP.2 lenses – you’ll need to use a matte box and these type of filters.  (p.s. make sure you always get the correct sized filter for your matte box – there are different sizes out there to accommodate smaller and bigger matte boxes.) One important note:  people always ask me if they should spend money on their filters or go the cheap route.   My answer is: why in the world would you put a cheap/or worse plastic filter – in front of your $1,000-$3,000 lens???  It sounds insane when you think of it that way doesn’t it?

Description (from Schneider): Schneider Neutral Density (ND) filters are designed to control exposure or depth of field under various lighting conditions without affecting color or contrast.

VL: When you don’t have a huge lighting budget – or well frankly on pretty much ANY production – Grad NDs are a life saver. You will often find yourself in a situation where the foreground subject is much darker than your background or sky (or vice versa.)  You can either light the foreground the subject – or knock down the sky with GRAD ND filters – that go from dark to light in a gradual linear fashion.   Some have soft edges (very gradual shift from light to dark) or hard edge (pretty sharp line.)  I use both very frequently to get that perfect sunset sky – when the foreground is in shadow for example-  and not have to pull out a single light…  Grad NDs are worth their weight in gold.  (N.B: you’ll have to use a matte box with these.  Matte boxes will allow you to raise/lower and rotate these filters so that you place them perfectly on your frame… be careful when you move the camera though… as the Grad moves with you!)

Description (from Schneider): Neutral density glass filters (also known as NDs) produce a grey neutral tone and are used to reduce light, enabling more control over exposure and depth of field without affecting colour or contrast.  Our High Definition ND Glass Filters are available in graduated filters, both in hard and soft edge.

VL: If you wonder why other videographers/filmmakers/DP’s films look so rich – have deep skies – or the water in their frames look so much better than what you’re shooting… chances are they’re using a polarizer.   Some never shoot without one.   Besides eliminating unwanted reflections/glare – these filters really help to saturate colors, darken skies, and lead to a richer image.   You do lose close to 2 stops of light as well.  Lastly – the part of the sky that is 90 degrees to the sun will go the darkest with a polarizer – in other words shoot at right angle with a polarizer.  If the sun is behind you as you shoot – the polarizer will do almost nothing.

Description (from Schneider): Polarizers are commonly used to control glare on water and to allow the camera to see below the surface. They are also used to reduce glare on car bumpers and to control reflections on plate-glass windows. Polarizers are so versatile that they can perform the opposite functions as well. Some cinematographers use polarizers to increase or enhance reflections, simply by changing the filter’s setting.

VL:  We used the Classic Soft 1/4 filter while working with the C300 on "Mobius" to cut down on the harsher edges in the HD video. This helped promote an overall look that was as filmic as possible. While we used the 1/4 strength, the filters are available in strengths from 1/8 to 3

Description (from Schneider): Schneider Classic Soft filters are made possible by state-of-the-art optical technology, and a proprietary Schneider manufacturing technique that produces a Micro-Lenslet™ array. This filter blends small wrinkles and blemishes while maintaining overall sharp focus that conceals the fact that a softening filter was used. In the normal range of exposure, this filter imparts only a closely confined, very subtle glow to highlights. If large amounts of overexposure exist in a scene, like a "blown" window, Classic Soft filters add a stylish glow that keep the scene’s contrast under control, while adding a romantic look. This filter is available in strengths of 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, and 3. These strengths achieve a range from subtle to heavy diffusion.

VL:

Description (from Schneider): Schneider Optics Sahara Gold Solid filter is especially useful in creating a rich warm scene, for an old Technicolor look. This filter approximates 3/4 the color correction value of an 85 filter. Can also replace an 81EF for a cool look. Holds skintones better than 81EF.

VL: These are the same filters as mentioned above – but these are meant to screw on directly onto your Canon EF lenses.  There is no longer a need for a matte box.  So I do carry these around with me as well – for car mounts etc. where mounting a matte box could become dangerous as they in effect become big wind sails…

Description (from Formatt): Fader ND filter allows you to adjust neutral density freely from ND2 to ND400, providing 2 to 8 stops added density. Perfect for creating a slow shutter speed. With one single filter, you can change to a different density buy simply rotating it. Lens caps and filters can be attached at the front of this fader ND.

VL:

Description (from Petrol): The new Transparent DSLR Plus Rain Cover is the ultimate weather protection for DSLR cameras fully equipped with video modifications, such as a viewfinder, follow focus, camera plate, etc. – on or off a tripod.