Shooting a wedding... prepare, and then be flexible

I got the chance to shoot my wife's cousins wedding and reception on last Saturday.  I felt like I really had my stuff together and was as prepared as I could have been.  It felt like it was planning for going into battle.  All the things that I have read and learned from all sorts of sources on the internet made my time really enjoyable, and challenging.  So I tried to do it all.  Shoot video and shoot photos.  I kick myself for missing things, or wishing I had X piece of equipment handy, or not doing more.  I look back now and realize that I could have done so much more.  But all that doesn't matter now.  All I can do is put together the best possible video and edit the best possible photos to capture the day.  In the end, I loved it, and I think they will love the final product too.

Here is what I came away with for the video:
Here is the link in case the video doesn't play. http://5d2.smugmug.com/Weddings/Jen-Wedding/i-R8gpQJd/0/1080/JenWeddingCompilation-1080.mp4

Here are the photos:
http://5d2.smugmug.com/Weddings/Jen-Wedding

Things I did right
I brought almost everything that I own, equipment wise.
I made a shot list for all of the "wedding events" so that I knew what was coming, and what was left.
I watch other wedding videos to get ideas.
I made people laugh and got some very good shots.
I didn't settle with good enough shots, I took on complex shots that paid off.
I stayed out of the way.  I did my thing, and hopefully was not distracting to the guests.
I got all the shots on my shots list.

Things I did wrong
I left the Zoom H4N on Phantom power, which sucked the batteries dry in minutes, not hours.  Lost audio files of the ceremony because of that.
I didn't carry both cameras with me at all times.  I should have.  I need a belt/holder for second and third cameras.
I didn't start the GoPro because of my fear of running out of battery in the middle of the ceremony, and I didn't have any good spot, or way to mount the camera in trees.
I didn't bring an assistant to hold a reflector or a diffuser.
I didn't set the shutter speed and ISO on some of the inside shots and got harsh shadows.   Single flash system does not hold up well with large wedding parties.
I didn't balance the stabilizer to perfection so I had to post stabilize.
I didn't use the jib for the wedding ceremony, to get shots over the crowd standing for the bride entering. Although, this was probably good since I would have had to change the depth of focus and could have really screwed it up.

Things that I learned
In the end, I am happy with what I was able to do.  It was worth the hours of planning, the equipment testing. But here are the little things that I learned along the way.

1. Don't try to be the photographer and the videographer.  You really need multiple cameras and multiple people shooting to do video well.  There are so many angles, and movements that you need to do with video to make it interesting.  And of course to capture all the little moments you really need a dedicated photographer.  Switching back and forth, and making sure all the settings for the cameras switch as well, is not a good place to be in.  It can be done, but I would not recommend it.  Also, don't try to shoot anything if you are suppose to be in it.

2. Don't let the batteries run out on a Zoom H4N while recording.  If you do, take out the card and put a new card in so that you have a chance of recovering what you did record.  There is a good chance you can, but not if you replace the batteries and continue recording to the same card.  Don't leave phantom power on, if you aren't using a powered condenser mic.  I had the Sennheiser G3 wireless mics that don't need phantom power, and I left it on and got maybe 30 minutes of record time.

3. Learn how to make people laugh.  People are usually pretty solemn at weddings, but if you bring out the joy, however you can, you will be remembered and you will get shots that look like people are really glad to be there.

4. Plan ahead as much as possible.  Get there early, and if possible, go there before hand to scout out the great locations for shots. If you are looking for good spots while people are waiting for you, they will get bored and frustrated.

5. Learn how to direct people to do what you want.  Chin down, turn to your left, step forward need to be direct and assertive.  For those few moments, you are the boss and you can't be timid about asking for what you want.  This does mean that you have to do it in a way that stops people relaxed and happy.  Don't be a photo Nazi. Be a stewardess on a first class flight to Hawaii.  Happy people make better photos and video.

6. Don't waste people's time trying to get your camera to work.  You should take a test shot as people are gathering for you, check the settings to make sure you know what is best for the situation, and then shoot.  Talk to people while you are shooting so that they have some feedback.  If you are stuck staring at the back of your camera, or spending time adjusting things, people will get bored and not listen.

7. With large groups of people, take lots of shots.  If there are kids in the shot, don't try to hard to make them look at you, chances are that if you are being entertaining to the group, the kids will look as well.  So catch them when they do by taking more shots.  If you are any good with Photoshop, you will be able to edit the perfect shot with a composite of multiple shots.
 
8. Make sure you set expectations up front.  Shooting is about 1/6 the battle.  Remember that for every good picture, I spend about 10 minutes per photo.  From every 1 minute of good video, I spend about 6 minutes of editing.  So, why does that matter? Because you want to set expectations about what it will take before someone is going to get your final product(s).

Canon 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern In-depth review

Hi all, Dave here.  For a very informative and very helpful review for anyone looking at the decision to buy the Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera, watch the video.

For those that like to read, here is a summary text of the review.
Reasons why I was looking at the 5D Mark III to replace my 7D.
1. Moire and poor anti-aliasing.
2. Lens purchase decisions fork in the road (crop vs full frame)
Compared to the 7D, the 5D Mark III is better at everything, higher quality build, built for video, full HDMI out.  Then came the 6D, full frame.  Mega pixels, focus, no headphone jack, but GPS, Wifi, didn't have the video quality of the 5D Mark III.
Compared to 5D Mark III and the Cinema series C300, C500 to get to 4K $$$ and missing features

And then came Magic Lantern video raw...
 -24fps 14bit raw video that blows away 8bit compressed video and competes with RED at least at 1080P
 -Promise of even better future... MLV format, ISO less HDR video (14 stops of dynamic range), compressed RAW, Sound, stabilized features/bugs

Things I love about the 5D Mark III
Camera features:
 -focus speed, FPS photos, auto-focus settings
 -no aliasing, no moire,
 -sensor is better, beautiful photos,
 -less noise at high ISO
 -600EX flash, High speed sync,
Magic Lantern features:
 -video quality
 -color depth 14bit amazing dynamic range ,
 -focus peaking,
 -zoom, mixed with 70-200 IS II L, amazing 600mm Zoomed video at F2.8
 -intravalometer,
 -histogram,
 -scopes,
 -advanced bracketing,

Things you will have to live with...
It is not perfect... yet.
- Setup/install/update of Magic Lantern not for the weak (hard to find and know the instructions are correct)
- Upgrades fixed pink frames but removed audio
- Raw video post processing steps/time (Rawanizer -> After Effects/Camera Raw-> Premiere)
- No audio sync, all separate and external (Zoom H4N)
- Sometimes flaky (video recording errors, pink frames, slow to start recording)
- 11 minutes of video per 64GB better know what you want and not waste time rolling
- Shooting Raw video in full hot sun temp issues

Is it worth it...
 - Resounding YES!  For the price and the quality and features, YES, you would have to spend $$$$$ on RED + accessories to get the quality with not all of the features (no photos), or double on Black Magic Cinema and get a cropped lens coverage with less features (no photos).

Accessories that you have to have:
 - A video editing capable computer to process the Raw video
 - Komputerbay 64GB(1000x) $120 or 256GB (1200x) $600
 - CarrySpeed VF-3 (used to see live video focus peaking)
 - Zoom H4N, H1, H6 (Quality sound recording)
 - Tripod with a Fluid head for smooth video pans

Fire dancers in video raw

Hi all, I had the chance to attend the Luau at Thanksgiving Point this year. It was my first time. I gotta say, it was fun! When I got there, I was thinking that parking was going to be a nightmare. It wasn't. Smooth as silk, easy in, easy out. After parking, the line for getting in was at least a quarter mile long. I got in line thinking that I didn't even know if they were going to be sold out, or worse, run out of food. But the line moved pretty fast and I got in pretty quickly. The lines for food were fairly robust, but the cater company was keeping up nicely.  I waited until most people got their food before getting mine, it gave me time to walk the gardens a bit and shoot some video.

If you haven't been to Thanksgiving Point Gardens, or if you are like me and thought that the gardens were just in back of the shops, first of all you would be wrong, and second, you really need to see this place.  It is tucked away just to the north of the golf course clubhouse.  It is HUGE!  It will take you a couple of hours to walk around this place.  There are waterfalls (and they are not tiny), streams, hills, and the flowers of every variety and breed, all manicured and on display.  Seriously, you couldn't find a more amazing place hold, and to shoot, any type of event.

You see, if you take a camera into the gardens, it will cost you a photography fee of $100.00.  You can bring 2 people with you but anyone beyond that has to pay $10.00.  If you just want to walk around and take pictures with your iPhone, only $10.00.  The luau cost $21 for entry and food.  So, I figured if I was able to go to the luau, and take pictures with my equipment, I was saving myself 100 bucks.  Turned out I was right.  I brought everything but the quadcopter, which would have been cool... but after the latest news report of someone crashing into a crowd of people, I think it might be best to stay away from formal crowds of people.

So I shot some with the Canon 7D (16-35L II), and most of the Luau entertainment with the Canon 5D Mark III (70-200L IS II) using Magic Lantern Raw video.  Take a look.

Sundance ski resort... a little piece of heaven

Hi all.  One of the most amazing places here in Utah is Sundance ski resort.  It is about 15 minutes up Provo Canyon. My family try to make it at least a few times a year to see the sites and take in the fall colors. While the leaves haven't changed yet, I could definitely see signs of colors coming.  (photos of last year below)

While they don't have any cool amusement types of rides like Park City, they do have amazing scenery, food, drinks, biking, hiking, and just about anything outdoors that you could want.  They also do weddings, company parties, family get-togethers and everything in between.  They also keep the ski lift running to take people up on top of the mountains!  Some of the hikes that they recommend also start at the top of the mountain.  Even if you are just looking for a little refreshment while traveling in the area, Sundance is great place to stop in for a treat.

I gotta say, I have been kicked out of a lot of places trying to shoot some aerial shots with the quadcopter. Some really stupid places that had no real reason other than just "no".  I was approached by a security guard at Sundance and I thought for sure that this was going to be just another "no" type of place... To my utter surprise, he actually pointed me to a open area that I could use and film to my hearts desire.  He not only said "YES", but helped me out!  Awesome place, awesome staff.  Thank you for your hospitality Sundance!

click for high res version

How to shoot the Milky way in a time-lapse, it's harder and easier than you think

Hi everyone.  I searched and search the internet for good information about how to shoot a time lapse of the milky way, surprisingly, I didn't find a whole lot of useful information.  Sure people are willing to share the settings on the camera, but to find the secrets of where to shoot, and how to shoot.

My guide to shooting night time time-lapse 

There are several things that have to come together before you try to go out and shoot.  The first is the phase of the moon.  You need the moon to not be out.  You can check the sunrise and sunset of the moon by your location at this site.

The next thing to check is the weather, check it here.  Make sure you check the cloud cover and the movement of the clouds at least a few hours before you go out somewhere.  You need the sky to be clear and you also need to know how much wind.  The reason for this is not only clouds, but the wind can kick up a lot of dust.  If there is a storm front coming in, chances are pretty good that along with that storm will kick up dust.

Ever here of light pollution?  Most of the time, if you live near any sort of city, you are going to have light pollution.  This is caused by all the lights that we keep on at night that end up reflecting and bouncing all over the place.  To find a place near you that has a dark enough sky, search here.

Ok, now we need to talk about equipment.  You need a camera, preferably a DSLR, with the ability to shoot long exposures.  How long? 10-30 seconds.  Most DSLR cameras can shoot up to 30 second shots in any mode.  You also need a wide angle lens.  The reason for this is because stars move.  If you zoom into a part of the sky, that smaller location will move more than looking at a whole lot of the sky with a wide angle lens.  You need a tripod and it needs to be stable.  The next thing is a intervalometer.  This is a device that will take a series of pictures at a specific interval.  I use Magic Lantern firmware which puts this capability in the camera.

That's it really.  There are lots of other equipment that can be used, but you don't need those things to take a good timelapse.

So I followed the steps above and this is location that I came up with:

It was far enough away to get out of most of the light pollution for my area and away from any traffic and close enough to drive within a couple hours.  The moon rise was 10:00 am so I didn't have to worry about the moon getting in the way, and the weather was mostly clear.  Because this is a timing thing that only happens every once in a while, I was willing to risk having a few scattered clouds.

Setting up

You need to find a location that has some amount of the earth in the shot.  You need this because without reference to something on the ground, it is hard for anyone watching to really see the amount of movement that is going on.  Also, because you are going to be shooting at a large aperture value (i.e. 2.8), you need to make sure that anything that is closer to you (like trees or bushes), isn't so close that you lose focus on the stars because of the depth of field.  Some of the more advanced shooters will increase the F-stop to allow for a larger depth-of-field to allow for this very thing.  You will then have to either increase the ISO, of increase the shutter speed to account for this.

I set the camera up, pointed at the horizon, and manually focus the camera.  Focus can be the most tricky part of setting up.  I usually end up turning on video mode, or live preview, and then pointing the camera at a star that is bright, and then manually adjusting focus so that the star is focused.  You may have to increase the ISO settings to above 3200 in order to really have the camera be able to "see" the stars.  If the stars are not bright enough, then you may have to resort to pointing at a man made light out in the distance to set the focus.

Next thing to setup is you camera settings.  Here are the ranges that you will want to test with:
Camera Manual mode
Lens: Turn off Autofocus
Lens width: 11mm - 24mm  (depends on crop or full frame camera)
ISO: 1600-6400
Shutter speed:  10-30 seconds
Aperture: F2.8 - F5.6
Intervalometer: Every 1-10 seconds (depends on how fast the shutter speed is)

Set the picture style to Faithful
Set the White Balance to 3200 K.  Do not leave it on Auto White Balance.

So take some test shots.  Keep the ISO as low as you can, but capture as much light as you possibly can. Try ISO at 1600, Shutter speed at 25 seconds.  In the camera preview mode, just remember that in really dark environments that the screen will look a lot brighter than the actual photo (or video frame).

Taking the sequence of shots

So now set the Intervalometer to take a picture every (shutter speed) + 1 second.  The length of the video will depend on how many shots you take.  Remember that every frame is only 1/24th or 1/30th of a second in video.  So for a 10 second video, you need 240 shots.  If you are taking 2 shots a minute, you need to shoot roughly 2 hours worth of shots.  This also may depend on the capabilities of your camera, but most should be able to handle it.  If you are using Magic Lantern on a Canon camera, this will work. I have tried using long exposure noise reduction and because it take quite a bit of time to process each frame in camera, I don't recommend it.  You can do better noise reduction in post. 

 
Obviously keeping the camera still is assumed.  If you have a lot of wind, you may want to make sure that you tripod is sufficiently weighted down to resist any movement.

That's it for the shooting part.  In my next blog post I will go over how to process the frames into a video.

 
 

Swivi 5.6 External Monitor for DSLR in-depth review

So you are thinking about buying a Swivi 5.6 external monitor for your DSLR Camera?

Reasons that I thought about buying… 
If you have watched my review on the Canon 7D or the Canon 5D Mark III, you know that one of the hard things about using a DSLR for video is focus.  I went down the path of getting a viewfinder that attaches to the back of the camera in my review of my viewfinder.   With that review, I also talked about how it exposed the quality of the LCD quickly becomes the issue of being able to really see focus.  I also found that watching things back on the same small 3 inch LCD. especially when I was trying to share the video with those around me became a huge issue.  So for shooting things that I wanted the ability to see focus, as well as play things back, I needed something that would be large enough and of course battery operated.  Along came the Swivi... I read several reviews of people who got pre-release over at Cheesycam and Oliviatech who liked what they were seeing.  I also found the price to be within reach.  Honestly at the time, I didn't understand focus peaking but it seemed like this would be something that would come in very handy.  It really really did make a huge difference to be able to see where the focus really was.

Here is what I actually use it for.....  
I have found that this is very useful for almost every situation shooting video.  The Swivi attaches to the camera mount at the bottom of the camera and swivels either to the side or just overlays the back of the camera.  I found the resolution to be a huge jump from the LCD of the back of the 7D.  When I take it out in public, people tend to be in awe of it, and other photographers tend to be jealous of it.  The monitor sun hood comes in very handy when trying to deal with blocking the sun.  Obviously, this is not an super bright LCD or OLED screen, so being able to see in direct sunlight is a must.  Also being able to attach the sunhood in either direction gives some great flexibility.  It is plastic so the durability is worry some.  I have been very careful with being hard on it.  I have always left it behind when shooting on hiking shoots.  The focus peaking that is built into the monitor is pretty good.  I have seen other high end monitors that do a much better job, but it is very useable.  Indoor shots are usually the ones where I use it the most.

Here are the things I didn't expect or didn't like
So probably the biggest problem that I have had is getting it to stay tightly connected and not swivel when attached to the camera.  The wheel that allows you to screw to the mount at the bottom of the camera takes a lot of force to get a tight enough fit to really stay put.  I have found that pulling the right edge up against the camera is the only way to really make it not swivel on the 7D.  For what ever reason, this didn't seem to be the case with the 5D Mark III.  The other strange thing that I noticed is that if I leave a battery in, which it takes the same LP-6 (the video says EP-6, whoops) Canon battery as the camera, it will actually drain the battery within a day or so.  Even if the monitor is not turned on, it seems to suck battery power. My fix for this is to always place the battery that I am using in upside down when not in use.  This way it doesn't drain the battery.  The power button is a little strange as well.  Turning it off takes holding it down for a full second or two before it powers off.

The color reproduction is good.  Good enough that I rarely find enough color difference between the back of the camera and the monitor, although there is some.  Brightness is good as long as you are not in direct sunlight. The sunhood helps but it isn't quite enough to really see well in that much sun.  Sunsets work well though.  Bootup time isn't great.  It does take a while before the camera recognizes the signal and switches to the monitor.  Some of that is the camera though.  It has a button that allows it to go full frame or cropped.  It is mostly useless on the 7D.  The menu and rocker wheel to select and modify settings like brightness and contrast works well enough.  Swiveling the monitor feels like you might break it off.  The fact that it is made of plastic makes it feel cheap but as long as you don't twist it the wrong way, you should be fine. When it is not rotated, and even when it is, access to the buttons on the left side of the screen are hard to get to.  But, access to the scroll wheel on the right is.  So recording is easy, but playing back is not because the play button is on the left side.

Here are the super cool things that I love about it
I have to say that it was really nice to be able to see a level of detail that I could not see just looking at the back of the camera.  The resolution bump from the LCD of the back of the camera to this monitor is enough that it adds a huge value.  Having the focus peaking available, at least before Magic Lantern started working on a 7D, was worth the money alone.  For the price, this was a great addition that allowed me to step up to a level of cinematography that I expected.  The fact that it uses the same batteries for me was a huge plus.  It meant that all my power options were sharing the same type, so in a pinch, I could swap things around if needed.

I like the ease of mounting and the cable that is rotate-able to prevent it from getting messed up by rubbing or pushed sideways.  I have also gotten several adapters and a longer HDMI cable to be able to mount on a jib/crane away from the camera.  Although it doesn't help with being able to remotely focus the camera, it does help to be able to see the shot as you are shooting from the back of the crane.  

Let me know what you think.  Send a comment.

Canon 7D in-depth review

So you are thinking about buying Canon 7D?

Reasons that I thought about buying… 
Canon is a strong brand. I had a Canon film camera and I also bought a Canon T2i (now upgraded to a T3i) years ago when I got back into shooting.  I had friends who got the Canon 5D Mark II (now upgraded to a Mark III) and I wanted one.  The things that were really important to me were the mega pixels, and the ability to shoot video.  The pictures per second, the crop factor…although there were benefits, I didn't really understand them fully at the time. I also knew that the camera needed good lenses, and I couldn't afford both the 5D and some good lenses.  I knew that I wanted high quality glass, probably a 24-70 2.8 and a 50mm 1.4.  My main focus was going to be shooting stock photography of common things.  I knew that I wanted to shoot some landscapes and shoot portraits.  For video I also wanted to shoot stock video of locations and people.  And of course, I wanted to capture all the school activities and cheerleading of my girls.

Here is what I actually use it for.....
I started down the path of shooting stock photos.  After getting into it, and shooting several things, I found that there are a lot of rules about shooting stock photos.  And this is a club that other photographers do not necessarily want new members.  This is pretty typical though.  I shot outdoor landscapes and took it to shoot cheer competitions.  I had shot with a Sony HD Camcorder in the past which always left me frustrated with the quality of the picture.  I bought the Canon 50mm 1.4 lens first, thinking that the light sensitivity would allow me to get more great shots even in poor indoor lighting.  The camera with this lens, performed really well in low light, but shooting outdoor landscapes with a lot of light did not give me the flexibility that I thought it would.  And the inside cheerleading shots, while much higher quality than the Sony, forced me to have to pan back and forth even when sitting at the very top of the bleachers.  I think the biggest problem for me, even now with DSLR shooting is focus.  Getting focus to happen fast and accurate is an art form.  It takes lots of practice and you need the right tools that I didn't originally have at the time.  I have taken a lot of photos as well.  I have used the on-camera flash for some of them.  I liked the fact that this camera had a flash for those moments that you want to treat it like a point and shoot.  Since I was determined to make good photos and good videos, the cheaper price on the camera allowed me to add more things to it later on.  And with the firmware update that was released, some of the audio missing features are significantly better now.  I have shot a lot with this camera.  It has performed well even in extreme conditions.  I have shot in brutal Utah cold, humid Oregon coast, hot southern Utah.  I have never dropped it in water, unlike the zoom audio recorder and a flash, but it has gotten slightly wet at times.

Here are the things I didn't expect or didn't like...
The crop factor of the camera with the 50mm lens was narrow.  I hadn't done the math to realize that 50mm meant it was really a 80mm lens.  I didn't realize how much I would have to move back to shoot any people or things.  Don't buy a fixed lens for your first lens. A lot of people really like the 28-104 f4.  I bought a 24-70 2.8.  It has been a great lens. Shooting photos in almost any condition with the a lens like this is great.

It took a lot of work to figure out how to best focus.  If you get used to looking through the viewfinder with photos and setting focus, when you are in video mode, the viewfinder is obviously blocked by the mirror so you have to use the video screen to check focus.  Doing this is almost impossible without digitally zooming in.  Which means following and changing focus is impossible without adding other viewfinders or bigger screens, or magic lantern firmware on. There is no autofocus while recording unless you like your video to look weird while the lens searches for focus in the middle of a shot.

The on-camera mic is not bad if you don't care about quality audio.  If you do care, you are going to have to get some sort of mic, or mic's to go with the camera.  The AGC, or Automatic Gain Control, tries to get the most signal and compresses the sound to raise it to a level without clipping.  For someone who just wants to shoot without worrying about the audio, this feature can come in handy.  For someone who wants to get the best quality audio possible, not so much.  If you upgrade to a mic, you will hear the difference.

One of the features that this camera has is micro focus adjustments.  I found that my 24-70 lens wasn't tack sharp in a lot of my photos.  At first I thought maybe it was camera shake or just me doing something wrong.  After much research, I found that some combinations of cameras and lenses can be off just a bit when focusing.  I used this feature to have the camera recognize this lens and automatically adjust the tiny amount required to get accurate focus.  If you are going to be using lots of different lenses, this is a very helpful feature.

Moire patterns are something that I didn't really understand in video.  Wow, do they become bad news. I shot a training video where I had a shirt with horizontal stripes.  I was shocked when every subtle movement became a huge distraction.  I went to my friend Google to find an answer.  Turns out the only answer is to blur the crap out of the video - kinda pointless if you are trying for something sharp.  Problem is, you don't really have any control of them, it's because of the sensor.

Here are the super cool things that I love about it...
If you are going to get serious about shooting video or photos with a DSLR, you can't go very wrong with any of the Canon's.  While some have more features to enable you to extend things even further into some creative areas, the thing I have enjoyed about the 7D is it's modularity.  I have been able to get into slowed waterfall types of shots, astrophotography, HDR photos, night time video, wireless audio, sports photography and sports video, multiple flash types and sizes for all types of shooting,.. the list goes on and on.  The lenses that are available hit every price point and every feature.  And glass doesn't lose value.  There will always be upgrades, and more features that everyone has to have, if you can afford it.  For me, this has been a great camera and a great bunch of shots.

Common Settings that I use and will add on to later videos
Picture Styles
AEB HDR photos
Audio Manual settings
Max ISO settings High noise reduction
Video record settings

Reviews... where to start??

So I put together the long list of equipment that I have purchased over the years... and it is substantial.  I got back into photography and videography as a way to capture the fun things that my kids were into.  My son has become the guitar player that I always wished I could become and my daughters are into cheerleading mostly.  Both my daughters are excellent cheerleaders.  My second daughter, switched it up by getting very interested in playing violin.

I also found myself needing to produce training videos for work.  I have always been into producing music, so the idea of taking audio production to another level, mixed with video, seemed compelling.  So I have spent a lot of time watching, learning, growing and then producing videos.  Of the equipment that I have chosen to procure, having a camera and lens that allowed me to capture the scenes was probably the most important purchase I have made.  So I am going to start there.

Here is a list of equipment that I am going to review.  Leave me a comment if anything of the things here you would like to hear more about first.

Main components
Canon 7D
Canon 5D Mark III
Zoom H4N
Canon Lenses - 24-70mm 2.8 L, 16-35mm 2.8 II L, 50mm 1.4
ePhotoinc Video light kit + Greenscreen backdrop
60 LED on camera video light
iPad split beam glass teleprompter
GoPro Hero 3 Black
DSLR Camera Jib/Crane
Handheld DSLR Stabilizer
Video "super" Computer

Software
Adobe Premiere CC
Adobe AfterEffects CC
Davinci Resolve (lite)

Aerial Videography
DJI Phantom Quadcopter
DJI Zenmuse gimbal for Phantom (coming soon)