September 2008 - ULB3 Universal rod mount bracket from Ronford Baker

We have just got in a new ULB3 Universal support bracket for the Sony F900 from UK engineering firm Ronford Baker. The ULB3 also fits the Sony 700,750,XDCAM and Panasonic Varicam and HDX900 and allows us to shoot cinema-style with matt box and follow-focus (on 15mm rods). The ULB3 is also available in our rental equipment.

August 2008 - Redrock m2 delux shoulder mount kits

We've added a couple of Redrock delux shoulder mount kits to our production and rental kit. These shoulder mounts have carbon fibre rods and can be used with ordinary non-shoulder mount cameras (like the Sony Z1, V1 and Panasonic HVX200) as well as with the Redrock M2 lens adapter system, giving front and back rod mounts for Matt boxes, the Gekko lenslite and battery plates.

"we broke our old Ikegami shoulder mount tripod plate when filming Rogue and have been looking for a replacment system for a while" said Mark Brindle. The Redrock kits are very modular and can be used in multiple ways for quick switching between tripod or hand-held shooting"

August 2008 - New Azden FMX 42-4 4ch audio field mixer

We have just got in a new Azden FMX 4ch audio field mixer - the FMX42-4. Providing 4 balanced XLR line/mic inputs with individual level and pan controls plus switchable 48V phantom power and limiting with a great backlit UV meter, 1K tone generator, 2 balanaced XLR mic/line outputs with headphone monitoring in a rugged outdoor field bag. This unit is battery powered from AA batteries which last a good while.

May 2008 - Gekko daylight LED lenslite kit with flying ballast

We have added a Gekko Lenslite into our production and rental kit. The lenslite is a daylight LED ring light system which mounts on 15mm rods and can fit cameras with lens diameters up to 110mm. Our unit has a top flag, diffuser and clear holder for gels, a flying ballast with dimmer and seperate on/off for each of 4 quadrants of the light ring. It works great with our Redrock 35mm lens adapter system and fits the Sony F900 just fine.

The lenslite is ideal as a daylight fill (6000k, 128fc at 3foot), as a beauty light or eyelight.

May 2008 - More HD production kit

We have added a Losmandy Porta-Jib into our production and rental kit with 150mm bowl mount to fit our Sachtler video 30 II head and tripods."we needed a jib which can take lots more weight then the abc crane...the Porta jib was an ideal choice" said Mark from Maniac Films.

We also added a Tamuz Falcon 15.4 inch full 1920x1080 HD field monitor too with HDSDI inputs and battery plate for field use, plus a heavy-duty vesa mount from VF Gadgets to allow the monitor to be put on a standard lighting stand. The picture looks superb!

<more info on our video equipment rental services>..

April 2008 - Rycote s-series windshield plus PAG Vmount batteries and plates

Weve been getting in more equipment and have added the Rycote S-series modular windshield system to give us good all round protection for audio recording in the UK. "the s-series is very quick and easy to use" said mark Brindle "weve gone for the largest windshields to allow more flexibility for renting and to be able to fit a radio mic tx unit inside too".

We have also added a new 4ch Pag all chemistry charger and a set of Pag L95 Li-ion V-mount batteries to our production and rental kit. These are certified air transport safe.

We have been sorting out our powering systems too with a selection of V-mount power plates and specially made regulator plates from UK-based Hawk Woods. We can now power all our cameras, monitors, downconvertors, redrock systems and Dat recorder with V-mount batteries.

April 2008 - AJA and Redbyte HD converters into production and rental kit

Yet more kit this month including the HD10A-12V HD component to HD-SDI converter from AJA to allow connection of the Sony F900 and HVX200s to our new tamuz monitor (coming soon) and the HD2SD downconverter from Redbyte design to allow us to monitor simultaneously on SD monitors and the modified Sony viewfinder for handheld Redrock work. Weve also upgraded our Panasonic HD monitor to HD-SDI to make it all compatible.

<more info on our HD equipment rental services>..

February 2008 - P+S Technik skater accessories

Weve been getting some more accessories for our skate dolly and have added the P+S Technik laser pointer and steadybag to give us more flexibility in using our skate dolly. We've had some custom metalwork made to fit these items to our skate dolly (non P+S Techniks) and the results are great! We've also got in some P+S Technik Clipgear Focus Rings for some of our Nikon lenses too.

January 2008 - More Moose bars from Ronford Baker

Weve been very impressed with the lightweight support handles from Ronford Baker , so we had to get some more! Made from high tensile aluminium, the Moose bars fit both 15mm and 19mm rods, they are adjustable and comfortable too - with extension options too. Moose bars are available from our rental equipment.

November 2007 - Edit suite upgrades with 8Core MacPro and matrox MXO

Following Moores law were had to upgrade our edit suite yet again from dual-core G5s to 8Core Macpro hardware, adding a few extra Terra bytes of RAID storage in more Sonnet Tempo external storage devices, plus a matrox MXO DVI box for colour grading using an Apple 23" LCD Cinema display at the same time. "The G5s were not powerful enough to run the new 'Color' application and were staining a bit with rendering DVCProHD 1080 streams, so we decided it was time to move up" said Mark Brindle at maniac Films. "Leopard is usable - not 100% stable but defiantly usable..however its a pity not all the apps can yet make use of the extra processing speed..were running a few BOINC applications to use up the spare capacity in the interim.."

Contact us about wet or dry hire of our FCP Studio edit suites for HD colour grading or general editing - we also rent out a macbookpro dual-core 17" laptop edit system for P2 captures and assembly edits.

November 2007 - More heavy duty rental kit

We have added to our rental kit with a 150mm bowl Ronford-baker baby tripod and spreader (medium weight) plus a fully-serviced Sachtler Video 30 II head with 3 stages of counter weight plus dual pan-handles, and a tall Sachtler aluminium 150mm bowel tripod and spreader. Ideal complement for our Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter rigs which need extra counter-weight and support when fully rigged with an HD monitor on-board.

October 2007 - more Redrock m2 rentals kits

We've added another Redrock M2 cinema lens adapter to our rental kit, plus a few more Nikon prime lenses. We have rented out a few kits this month to Edinburgh and London for a music video shoot (details and links soon) and a short film. We have Nikon prime lenses to rent including 14mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135mm, 180mm and 80-200mm. The Redrock M2 helps create 'the film look' by projecting a 35mm size image and when coupled with cinema lenses or Nikon primes, can be used with SD or HD video cameras to give a very shallow depth of field. We also have some great HD monitoring solutions for rental, plus Panasonic HVX200s and P2 cards, Firestore and mobile FCP edit packages. Contact us for kit list and rates.

September 2007 - Panasonic HD Field Monitor added to rental kit at Maniac Films

Weve added the new Panasonic BT-LH80W 7.9inch HD monitor to our HD rental kit. The Widescreen multi-format HD electronic viewfinder & production monitor with pixel-to-pixel mapping at 1080 and 720 plus built-in waveform monitor and focus assist features is a solid performer and comes with a custom-fit portabrace case and a set of IDX V-mount batteries and charger in a pelican hard case.

Ideal for getting critical focus in HD on the HVX200 via analog component HD, it can also be fitted with an HD/SDI interface and an optional cable link to be used as an EVF replacement with Panasonic cameras like the HPX500. Available for rental from maniac films.

May 2007 - Sony 801 Viewfinder mod for RedRock M2 35mm adapter

We have been making our RedRock M2 35mm adapter kit more handheld-friendly by adding a modified high quality Sony 801 viewfinder and Ikegami Shoulder pad to the Panasonic HVX200 rig to allow a much more flexible mode for shooting handheld.

"I love the shallow depth of field we can achieve with the Redrock M2" said Mark Brindle of Maniac Films "but handheld work has always been difficult with an external LCD screen for focusing...but with the new Sony viewfinder system and shoulder brace, the whole rig is easier to manage."

For more information on 35mm lens adapters and accessories from RedRock then look on the RedRock website (www.redrockmicro.com) or read our article about Depth of Field and 35mm lens adapters (pdf version).