Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Sep 11, 2022 by Alex Baker Leave a Comment

SmallRig is on a mission. They may be small by name, but they have big plans. Initially known for their camera cages, rods and handles, they’ve been scaling at an incredible rate and are excited to be expanding their range of products to better serve their customers.

DIYP had a chat with Wilson Chen from SmallRig about where the brand is headed and what we can look forward to seeing in the near future from them.

“We want to be able to give our users a full solution,” says Wilson. SmallRig has recently introduced audio solutions to their lineup with their new Forevala W60 wireless microphones.

They also shared with DIYP their first V Mount battery series. “It’s [the battery] quite popular here at IBC,” Wilson says. And it should be. Super compact, 99 watts, and comes in two other sizes as well, a 50W, and 155W.

But there’s more! But it’s kind of a secret…come closer…OK if you promise not to tell anyone we’ll share it with you.

SmallRig has produced a wireless follow focus system, and we got to give it a quick spin.  It was unclear how far along the pre-production stage this follow focus is, however, DIYP was able to try it out and play with it for a short time. It felt really good, was quite responsive and it didn’t disappoint. It would be great to follow up on this product in the near future when it’s fully launched and test it properly.

SmallRig hinted towards the ability to daisy chain multiple lens drive motors, potentially for aperture and/or zoom for larger production, as well as the usual focus. The unit seen in the video had a lens drive motor that was powered by a Sony NP-F battery, directly mounted on the 15mm rods. We hope that the final product that hits the shelves will also have Lemo or D-tap external power options. The focus unit we tried was a right-handed control with a bright, decently sized OLED screen with various info distance and setting info on it,  which seemed to be powered via a USB-C input with a removable grip which had room for a Canon LP-E6 battery in the grip.

All in all, it seems as though SmallRig is onto bigger and better things. It seems as though they want to conquer the imaging world. Watch this space!

The battery is available for preorder from $179, the microphones are available to buy now for $199.

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: audio, follow focus, Gear Announcement, IBC 2022, microphones, Small rig, V-mount battery

Alex is a commercial photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She mostly shoots people and loves anything to do with the outdoors. You can see her work on her website and follow her Spanish landscape adventures on instagram.

John Aldred is based in Scotland and photographs people in the wild and animals in the studio. You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube.

Dunja Djudjic is a writer and photographer from Novi Sad, Serbia. You can see her work on Flickr, Behance and her Facebook page.

Alex is a commercial photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She mostly shoots people and loves anything to do with the outdoors. You can see her work on her website and follow her Spanish landscape adventures on instagram.

Adam Frimer is a Guinness World Record holder, producer, and DOP based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Adam owns a production company that specializes in corporate marketing and brand strategy. His videos have collectively hit over a quarter billion views

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