Gear List

Canon C500mkii

NOTE: In support of the Seattle filmmaking community, I make much of my gear available for rent, at reasonable rates, on my ShareGrid.

Camera: Canon C500mkii. The C500mkii is a high-end digital cinema camera with raw capture resolving up to up to 5.9K in EF or PL mount.

Transportation: 100 percent electric. We strive for zero-emission filmmaking on all projects within 50 miles of Seattle.

dremel-lens-11

Zeiss cine-modified prime lens kit

Lenses:

  • Zeiss primes (matched set): 25mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.7, 85mm f/1.4, 135mm f/2.8.
  • Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro..
  • Canon 70-200 f/4 IS.
  • Canon 24-70 f/2.8 II IS.
  • Canon 24-70 f/4 IS.
  • Canon 40mm f/2.8.
  • Canon 35mm f/1.4.
  • 300mm f/4 and 1.4x Nikon teleconverter.
  • Tiffen Indie Pro IR ND kit.

Matteboxes:

  • Tilta CF matte box,
  • Genus Production matte box,
  • Genus Lite

Support:

  • Sachtler Flowtech 75 w/ FSB-8T and Ace XL heads.
  • Vinten Vision 5AS fluid head
  • Easyrig Minimax
  • Hipshot camera belt
  • Steadicam Merlin,
  • Aviator travel jib,
  • Wooden Camera Zip focus
  • Genus Bravo follow focus,
  • Zacuto mini baseplate,
  • Zacuto VCT Pro system
  • Tilta rig and matte box,
  • Genus Matte Box Lite,
  • Tilta V-lock battery plate.

Motion: Dana Dolly, Ronin-S, Rhino EVO carbon slider with motion control and Arc.

IMG_6219

LiteGear LiteMat2

Lighting:

  • Lightbridge Go (Cine Reflect Lighting System)
  • Aputure C120D II (2)
  • Aputure C300D II
  • Aputure C300D
  • Aputure Spotlight (26-degree & 19-degree)
  • Astera Titan 4′ LED tube light w/Snapgrid
  • LiteGear LiteMat2 kit.
  • LiteGear S2 LiteMat1 kit,
  • Dedolight DLED-7 with DP2 projection kit & parallel beam adapter;
  • Hive Wasp-100C w/Source Four Mini kit,
  • LiteGear LiteStix,
  • Aputure Amaran AL-MX.

Tungsten lighting:

  • Arri 650 Watt Plus tungsten fresnels + scrim kit (2),
  • Smith-Victor 720 650-watt open-face lights (2),
  • Lowel Tota 750-watt lights (2),
  • Lowel Pro Light 200-watt.

Light modifiers:

  • Modern Studio 6×6 grip frame with solid, ultrabounce and magic cloth.
  • Modern Studio 8×8 grip frame with solid, ultra bounce, and magic cloth.
  • Matthews 4×4 Road Rags frames (2) + solid floppy, ultrabounce floppy, silks, hi light, and grid cloth.
  • Intellytech 6 x 5.5 Fast Frame
  • 6′ Wag Flags (2), 4′ Wag flag
  • 3 Photoflex Silverdome cine softboxes (small to large with grids and speed rings),
  • 62″ Photoflex umbrella,
  • medium shoot-through umbrellas (2),
  • large and medium size China balls.

Sound:

Recorder/Mixers:

  • Sound Devices MixPre 3 recorder/mixer (4 track),
  • Zaxcom ZFR 400 bodypack recorder with timecode
  • Zaxcom ERX3TCD IFB
  • SD MixPre (original) (2 track),
  • Tascam DR-70D recorder (4 track),
  • Zoom H4N portable recorder.

Mics:

  • Sennheiser 8060 shotgun mic,
  • Audix SCX1-HC interior booming mic,
  • Octava MK012 “Bello Nero” hypercardioid condenser mic,
  • Sennheiser AVX wireless mic system
  • Sennheiser G4 wireless mic system
  • Rode Stereo VideoMic X,
  • Rode VideoMic Pro,
  • Sennheiser MKE2 lav,
  • DPA 4061 lav, 4063 lav
  • Tram TR50 lavalier,
  • Rode lavalier.

Timecode: 

  • Zaxcom ERX
  • Tentacle Sync E timecode generator boxes (3)

Other: Sennheiser HD 280 phones, Think Tank sound bag, Rode boom pole.

Touching the joystick enlarges the image 4x or 8x


Monitor/Recorder

  • Shogun Inferno w/ 4x SanDisk 480GB SSDs
  • Teradek Serv Pro client monitoring solution (streams video wirelessly to any IOS device)
  • SmallHD 702,
  • SmallHD 502,
  • SmallHD DP-6,
  • Alphatron EVF,
  • Zacuto Zamerican 12″ articulating arm,
  • Manfrotto hydrostatic 9″ arm.

Editing: 4K editing suite is Final Cut Pro X MacBook Pro 2018 laptop with Thunderbolt Raid. Davinci Resolve Studio for color finishing. SSD drives for location backup and workflow.

Grip:

  • 8×8 Modern Studio frame w/ Magic Cloth and solid
  • 6×6 Modern Studio frame w/ Magic Cloth and solid
  • 2 48×48 floppies
  • 1 40×40 solid
  • 4 Kupo Baby stands w/ short grip arms in 2 road cases.
  • 2 Low Boy combo stands,
  • 2 11′ combo stands,
  • 3 C-stands w/ grip arms,
  • 2 Gary Coleman c-stands,
  • Modern Studio menace arm,
  • 2 Matthews triple headers,
  • 9′ portable background stand with muslins and solid,
  • 48″ x 48″ Chimera diffusion frame,
  • 2 Manfrotto booms,
  • 4 light stands,
  • 2 Wag flags (6-foot)
  • Matthews Road Rags (4×4 collapsible steel frames),
  • Mini Grip Kit with dslr auto mount,
  • Multi-cart R12,
  • full range clamps, arms.

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10 thoughts on “Gear List

  1. Mark Thompson

    Thanks for a great website, I just bought a C100 mk II and made a few adjustments after reading your set up guide.
    If you can help, is there any way you can assign a button to enter slow-motion settings?
    Looking forward to a step into video, I’m picturing it working out well with the SLR.

    Cheers

    Mark Thompson

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Mark,
      I haven’t assigned this, but I believe it’s possible – just go to the Assign button, then select the button you want to change, (screen will turn blue) find the feature you want to assign, which in your case would be 59.976 frame rate, and select it.

      Reply
  2. Pascal Faeh

    Hi Dan

    Your blog is a big inspiration. Thanks for that!

    I am going to buy the Sony SF5. Looking very much forward to that. Since you are a big fan of the SF5, I was wondering why do you not have any Sony lenses? I am insecure if I should go for the regular kid lens Sony selp 18105g or if I should upgrade to the 18110g. Is it worth spending money on the upgrade?

    Besides that, my lenses are: Canon 70-200L, Canon 24 1.4, Canon EFS 10-22, Canon 24-105L, Sigma 18-35mm 1:8, Canon EFS 18-135

    Would be interested what you think

    Best regards from Zurich, Switzerland

    Pascal

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Pascal,
      Great question! I don’t have any Sony glass because I previously invested in EF mount lenses. And, EF lenses are easily adapted to the Sony E mount. Further, full-frame EF lenses used with a Speedbooster adapter gain almost one stop of speed (so an f/4 lens becomes effectively an f/2.8 lens). Further, it’s possible to adapt many other types of lenses (Nikon, PL, etc) to use the Sony E mount – but it is NOT possible to adapt Sony E mount lenses to work on Canon cameras. So that, in a nutshell, is why I haven’t bought any Sony glass.

      However, the first lens that may change my mind about that is the new Fujinon MK 18-55mm parfocal zoom. This lens is designed only for E mount because it would be impossible to design for EF and keep the compact form factor and price point. And it is an amazing lens for certain types of shooting. I will probably rent this lens for the time being, but may consider purchasing it at some point.

      Reply
  3. Christopher Nguyen

    Hey Dan! Chris here from Northern California. I have been following your blog ever since I got my C100 and used your guide to set it up. Wish I was nearby, would love to collaborate with you! Keep up the informative reviews and guides! I have a question about the Fujinon MK 18-55. I want that lens so much! Might have to wait for awhile though. Don’t have the funds yet lol. Just added the a6500 and that’s my first Sony camera. Love it! Have you ever tried adapting it from e-ef? Would that even work or is the flange an issue? Haven’t found any videos or articles on that at all.

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Chris,
      Great question. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to adapt the MK 18-55 (or any other E lens) to the Canon EF mount. You can only go the other direction – ie, from E to EF. That’s one of the things that makes Sony cameras so attractive – they can be adapted to shoot with just about anything. Canon EF, not so much. You can adapt Nikon to Canon, and you can adapt Contax-Zeiss to Canon. But you can’t go from Sony E to EF.

      Reply
  4. Christopher Nguyen

    Can’t wait to see some videos with the C500mk2!! I’m seriously considering the C300mk3 right now. Hopefully, will see some tests and footage soon from your C500mk2. Stay safe during these tough times!

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      I just shot my first project with it, and it really shined. The AF in particular enabled me to get shots that would have been very difficult to nail while wearing mask and rubber gloves. It’s the story of a nurse working a very long night shift in a COVID-19 ICU in Seattle:
      Covid Nurse

      Reply
  5. Larry

    Hey Dan,

    What do you think of the Dedolight + Parallel Beam and CRLS Ligthbidge C-Reflectors Combo? Are you using the combo to light subjects or increase the ambient light levels? I’ve been thinking about add the Parallel Beam to my DLH4(tungsten lights) along with a Kino Flo Celeb for documentary interviews.

    I really enjoyed the Kino Celeb review article. Thank You for sharing.

    Larry

    Reply
    1. Dan McComb Post author

      Hi Larry,
      You guessed it – I upgraded to the Dedo parallel beam adapter specifically for use with the CRLS. And it is amazing. Almost a full stop more light. In fact, I’ve measured it side-by-side against my Aputure 120d mkii with 19-degree spot attachment, and I’ll be damned if it isn’t just as bright! All this while being only a third the size. The only drawback, of course, is price. The Dedo’s are very pricey compared to the Aputure units. The parallel beam adapter alone will set you back $500. But if money isn’t a deterrent, you can pack a huge punch with those little Dedos and CRLS.

      I haven’t had time to do a single project using CRLS yet – just got my Go kit earlier this week. But I’ve played with them in my living room and I’m impressed with the way they allow you to work with fewer stands, by placing the lights on the ground (I use matthews baby sitr plates). So for the type of work I do, docs where we are trying to keep crew to a minimum, I see huge potential for CRLS. After I’ve had a chance to use them on real gigs, I’ll put together a proper post about it.

      Reply

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