DV Expo West Part 1: Great Video Gear, Steep Prices
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Every year, thousands of attendees come to the Los Angeles Convention Center for DV Expo West when heavy-hitter OEMs including Sony, JVC and Panasonic show off their best-and-brightest pro and consumer video equipment. While the big companies attract most of the attention, some of the smaller vendors also have some brilliant items on display.
Whether you are a professional videographer or you have just bought a Mini-DV camcorder from Best Buy, DV Expo this year was a jaw-dropping experience, both in amazing technology and amazing prices. Unfortunately, quality gear doesn't come cheap.
Anton Bauer
Anton Bauer, the popular video battery company, now sells shoulder mounts for Mini-DV camcorders. Its Statis mount system perfectly balances the camcorder on your shoulder with a battery and camcorder that counter balance each other. The system reduces arm fatigue, allowing you to shoot longer. In addition, camcorder shake is mostly eliminated.
The Statis comes with a 45 watt hour battery and a small video light. It can also attach to tripod via a quick-release slide. The Statis camera mount retails for $1,195.
The new Dionic 160 battery weighs only 3.4 lbs yet provides an amazing 160 watt hours of juice, which should power most camcorders for about six hours. The battery can handle a 10 amp draw, because of its mil-spec lithium ion cells. This allows video gurus to use heavy duty lights with their camcorders.
